Nuclear Guinea Pigs – John Yelash – Medicinal Cannabis x 2 – 13 Tonnes Of Coke – Cold Blast – Russian Seals Victims Of Nature

NUCLEAR GUINEA PIGS: A Kiwi nuclear guinea-pig veteran recalls experiencing a nuclear test up close. The ball of flame from the explosion was blinding, says the former wing commander. Another also remembers the experience. Both were given special clothing and told to walk into the fall out zone. They haven’t had any health problems as a result. The area, Maralinga, where the test took place, is still deadly. “It was awe-inspiring”, says the veteran.

JOHN YELASH: The Government is looking at how to recover $35,000 of money paid to defamed actor John Yelash. The Government says that Yelash has breached his own confidentiality clause by saying how much he was paid. In the house today the Opposition are very concerned about the secrecy clause. Attorney General Margaret Wilson says that Peter Williams introduced the secrecy clause. Peter Williams denies this absolutely. Yelash says the whole matter makes him want to go back to prison. JANE YOUNG LIVE: Hugh Rennie QC says that both Wilson and Williams can be right. Rennie says that Williams may have raised it, as if in passing, but may not have “introduced” it. The Opposition are smelling the whiff of a win on this. They know the public don’t like secrecy.

MEDICINAL CANNABIS: The US Supreme Court has dealt a blow to AIDs and HIV patients who believe marijuana is a medicine. The ruling from the supreme court says that co-operatives providing the drug can be shut down. Judge Clarence Thomas delivered the decision. The decision is a split decision and allows use, just not supply.

MEDICINAL CANNABIS: Pro-cannabis campaigners in NZ say the decision in the US is not a damning blow. Last week tetraplegic Daniel Clark wasn’t sent to prison for possession of 850 grammes of the drug. Nandor Tanczos says that clinical trials in the UK of the drug have been very successful.

13 TONNES OF COKE: More than 13 tonnes of cocaine has been found on a fishing boat near San Diego. Authorities were suspicious that fishing equipment on the boat did not work. The cocaine is worth more than a billion dollars.

COLD BLAST: Canterbury received a blast of wind, rain and hail today. Fueled by a cold front, those caught unawares were shocked by speed of the storm’s arrival. A frosty night is expected overnight by Augie Auer. At Mt Hutt the first day of snow making is welcomed with the southerly blast. Wellington’s balmy summer was also brought to a quick end by the cold front.

SEALS STUCK IN WHITE SEA: Thousands of seal pups are starving to death in the Arctic because of a cruel act of nature. They are stranded in the White Sea, miles away from their feeding grounds. They were supposed to be blown to their feeding grounds. On shore soldiers have begun feeding some seals.

© Scoop Media

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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