Chinese Olympics Bid – Global Warming – Mobil Protests – Crowe And Kidman An Item? – Jamaica – Taupo Murder – Dirty Diesel – John O’Shea Funeral – Sky Tower Climbs Offered

CHINESE OLYMPICS BID: Chinese Olympic Bid. The Chinese think they deserve to win the Olympics for 2008. However human rights campaigners think they don’t. Opponents of Beijing say that China has been cracking down hard on dissent. In one recent incident during a Three Tenors concert a Western photographer was beaten by police for photographing the arrest of a ticket tout.

GLOBAL WARMING: The long term forecast is bad. A government ordered assessment of Global Warming says that temperatures are likely to rise significantly over the next 100 years. Pete Hodgson says that climate change is coming, sorry Minister, it is already here. He says there will be major changes. They will be positive and negative. Kiwifruit will move south, snow will disappear and Auckland will experience more floods.

MOBIL PROTESTS: An international day of protest is underway against Mobil. In Auckland banners were hung on stations and pumps clamped. Greenpeace accuse Mobil of paying George Bush to abandon the Kyoto Protocol. Mobil issued a statement this afternoon saying it was working on an alternative to Kyoto.

CROWE AND KIDMAN AN ITEM? - Kiwi Gladiator Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman are being linked romantically at a small Fijian tropical resort. Crowe and Kidman were linked in recent reports in Los Angeles. Crowe was seen leaving Fiji today with another Australian star from the hit TV show La Femme Nikita.

JAMAICA: Authorities in Jamaica say Jamaica is now under control again following several days of gun battles in which 23 people have died. The leader of the Jamaican opposition who came out on the streets for a reclaim the streets march says that police snipers have been terrorising the community. Holidaymakers are still arriving, but there are concerns that damage will have already been done to the billion pound a year tourism industry.

TAUPO MURDER: 32 year old Jason Johnson was the man bashed to death near Lake Taupo. Police offered Johnson a place to stay shortly before he died after he was released from custody.

DIRTY DIESEL: The MSA has ruled out dirty diesel as a cause for a fatal fishing boat accident on the West Coast.

JOHN O’SHEA FUNERAL: 800 people packed into one of the country’s largest cinema for the funeral of film maker John O’Shea today.

SKY TOWER CLIMBS OFFERED: Special excursion trips are being offered to the top of the crows nest on Auckland’s Sky Tower. The adventurous few will get 15 minutes, climbers will have guides and safety harnesses. Tourists seem to like the idea. A jump from the tower will also be opening soon.

© 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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