Qantas Air New Zealand Purchase Fears – Terrorism Convictions – Business Confidence – Pilot Trial – Indonesia – Nimby Offensive – Dodgy Diesel – Auckland Hospital Lab – Rat Poison Crash

QANTAS AIR NEW ZEALAND PURCHASE FEARS: The Tourism Industry Association is concerned a proposal from Qantas to buy a stake in NZ could push up the cost of flying across the Tasman. John Moriaty says 600,000 Australian’s holiday in NZ every year and he doesn’t w

TERRORISM CONVICTIONS: Four followers of Ossama Bin Laden have been convicted by a Jury in New York of plotting to kill Americans around the world. Two of the men now face a possible death penalty in relation to bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: The latest National Bank Business Confidence survey says optimists now outnumber pessimists by just 4% compared with 30% in March.

PILOT TRIAL: The Jury in the Palmerston North trial of a pilot on manslaughter charges will retire today to consider its verdict, after six weeks sitting. Hugh Rennie will sum up the case for the defence this morning.

INDONESIA: The Indonesian Parliament will decide today whether to call for the impeachment of President Abdurrachman Wahid. State Prosecutors and supporters of Wahid both believe Wahid is innocent. A major operation has been launched in Jakarta to protect the Parliament.

NIMBY OFFENSIVE: The Leader of the Alliance has launched an offensive against “not in my back yard” (NIMBY) syndrome concerning the establishment of a youth justice facility in Christchurch. His comments follow the decision to abandon plans to build at Mandeville.

DODGY DIESEL: A major overnight operation in New Plymouth should have the tuna fleet back in action today following problems with dirty diesel. A spokesman for the refinery company says a spiderweb of activity is involved in the operation.

AUCKLAND HOSPITAL LAB: An Auckland District Health Board hospital laboratory is likely to be re-accredited by the end of June.

RAT POISON CRASH: Traces of poison have been found in mussels taken near the site of a rat-poison spill in Kaikoura, sparking a full scale monitoring programme in the area.

© 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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