National Radio Midday Report

Mortgage Rates – Family Court – Abandoned Baby – Middle East Violence – Missile Umbrella – Runaway Train – Bogus Triads – Boy’s Golf – Plane Sprays – Dash-8 – Air Points – Nelson Water – Costume Auction

- MORTGAGE RATES: Home owners got another bonus today as floating mortgage rates fell in the wake of the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut base rates. Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash told the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee that the move to cut the OCR from 6% to 5.75% was a fine balance of judgement.

- FAMILY COURT: FAIR, a Father’s support group is angry the chief Family Court judge was questioned by a parliamentary select committee secretly over the role of the court in child access disputes between parents.

- ABANDONED BABY: Napier police are considering laying charges against a 22-year-old woman after the discovery of a six-month-old baby abandoned in a pram.

- MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE: Five people died during a day of violence in the Middle East that saw mass Palestinian protests about the creation of Israel in 1948.

- MISSILE UMBRELLA: US officials are holding talks in Beijing about America’s controversial proposal for a missile defence shield, which has sparked warnings of another global arms race.

- RUNAWAY TRAIN: A runaway train carrying industrial acid rolled across North West Ohio for 106km with no one on board until an engineer jumped on board and hit the brakes.

- BOGUS TRIADS: Police in Auckland say Asian students pretending to be triads are intimidating and extorting new immigrants.

- BOY’S GOLF: The Rotorua Boy’s High School have retained their world intercollegiate golf title, and Sam Hunt also successfully defended his individual title.

- PLANE SPRAYS: MAF has rejected concerns from and American flight attendants’ union that the spray they use in passenger planes are causing health problems.

- DASH-8: The jury in the Dash-8 case has heard evidence from the designer of the approach to the Palmerston North Airport approach. Ansett Dash-8 pilot Gary Sutheran is on trial for manslaughter after crashing, killing four people, on his approach to the airport.

- AIR POINTS: MPs have done a U-turn on a policy allowing them to keep air points after they leave parliament. This morning MPs from all parties agreed that air points accumulated on parliamentary business be forfeited when they leave parliament.

- NELSON WATER: After nearly five days of having to boil drinking water in Nelson, residents are expecting to have their normal supplies by this afternoon.

- COSTUME AUCTION: 7000 costumes from Hercules and Xena are going under the hammer in Auckland.

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