Diabetes Costs Warning – Qantas Collapse – Friendly Fire – Taiwan MP Visits – Foot And Mouth (Pheonix The Calf) Super Bill – Waterfront Wars – Fiji – Tourism Report

DIABETES COSTS WARNING: Health Officials are being urged to spend an extra $50 million now on diabetes and treatment to avoid spending $300 million in the future. The costs will rise to $1 billion if systems are not improved warns Professor Bevan.

QANTAS COLLAPSE: The Union that represents many of the workers from Qantas are considering taking legal action against the directors. Engineering Union spokesman Andrew Little says staff and the public are entitled to know about what went wrong and whether the airline was ever viable.

FRIENDLY FIRE: The Commander of US forces in the Persian Gulf is recommending disciplinary action against the pilot responsible for bombing NZ SAS Major John McNutt and several other soldiers during an exercise.

TAIWAN MP VISITS: The Chinese Embassy has written to several MPs who went to Taiwan telling them they shouldn’t have gone. The warning comes amid a background of rising tension with Taiwan.

FOOT AND MOUTH: Britain is to relax its fire-break culling of healthy live stock around Foot and Mouth outbreaks in response to the public response to the plight of white calf Pheonix who accidentally escaped being killed. More than 2 million animals have been slaughtered.

SUPERANNUATION BILL: Four business groups have voiced their opposition to the planned pre-funded superannuation scheme. The groups include the Employers Federation, The Manufacturers Federation, Federated Farmers and the Business Round Table.

WATERFRONT WARS: Carter Holt Harvey says it is taking legal action to prevent pickets at South Island Ports. The injunction being sought does not prevent peaceful protests. The Waterfront Workers Union says the legal action may make the dispute worse.

FIJI: The Police in Fiji say they may try to extradite a former Colonel from the Army from New Zealand. The Colonel has been reported saying he knows who the seven “coup makers” were.

TOURISM REPORT: Tourism Industry leaders say a report showing the importance of tourism is important. The report says that one in 10 NZ workers are employed because of the tourism industry. The report was completed by Statistics New Zealand.

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Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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