National Radio Midday Report

Qantas/Air NZ Deal - Dirty Diesel - Dairy Merger - Dash-8 - Embassy Bombings - Reserve Bank - E-Spying – Rankin - Northland Flooding - Fiji Election - Oz Cars - Corrosive Drinks

- QANTAS/AIR NZ DEAL: Alliance is unhappy with a Qantas bid to buy a majority stake in Air NZ. Alliance Leader Jim Anderton says Alliance is unlikely to support any move to allow Qantas to take a 55 per cent stake in the cash strapped airline. National Transport Spokeswoman Belinda Vernon says the Government risks losing international landing rights if they allow over

- DIRTY DIESEL: Commercial fishermen have been talking about taking legal action against the oil industry as dirty diesel is being drained form their fuel tanks and replaced with new fuel.

- DAIRY MERGER: A date set for dairy farmers to decide whether to proceed with the proposed Dairy mega-merger.

- DASH-8: The defence in the Ansett Dash-8 manslaughter trial has told the jury at the High Court in Palmerston North that the Crown has failed to prove that pilot Gary Sutheran was negligent on the day he crashed the plane, killing four people.

- EMBASSY BOMBINGS: Two followers of a Saudi dissident face separate hearings to decide if they will be executed for their part in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.

- RESERVE BANK: The Government has proposed changes to the structure of the Reserve Bank, but will consult finance ministers from all the other parties in Parliament before implementing them.

- E-SPYING: An Internet law specialist says individuals and organisations in New Zealand are not currently protected from having their emails spied on. The European Parliament has released a report on Echelon that says the scope of the network is not as extensive as first believed.

- RANKIN: The Crown has told the Employment Court that the employment relationship between state services, departmental chief executives and the Government does not fall under the Employment Relations Act, in a preliminary hearing to see whether the Employment Court can hear the Christine Rankin case.

- NORTHLAND FLOODING: Bach owners in a Northland settlement of Mangawhai have been advised to check their baches for damage after overnight flooding.

- FIJI ELECTION: Fiji’s deposed Tupeni Mbamba has broken away from the Labour Party ahead of the general election, saying it’s leader Mahedra Chaudhry is arrogant and dictatorial.

- OZ CARS: The LTSA says the latest crash test results on Australian large cars show a steady improvement in safety.

- CORROSIVE DRINKS: A Tauranga school pupil’s science project has dispelled the theory that Coca-Cola erodes teeth the fastest of any beverage. Energy drink V was found to be the most corrosive.

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