Knowledge Wave - Treasury Changes – Code Red Virus – Air New Zealand – Tertiary Education – Israel – Abortion – Christine Rankin – Queen Mother – Sheep Population

KNOWLEDGE WAVE: The Government is making no promises that it will act on any of the recommendations that come out of the Knowledge Wave conference beginning in Auckland today. The PM says the Government already has an action plan. She says he conference will fail if it concentrates on what the Government can do.

TREASURY CHANGES: Social action groups have welcomed a rethink in the way governments spending decisions are made. Treasury has indicated it will consider the social as well as economic impact of government policies. Government has welcomed the report.

CODE RED VIRUS: An Anti-Virus company in Britain says that the “Code Red” virus which is expected to be activated at midday NZ time attacks without warning and does not require human interaction. The worm will attack only business computers.

AIR NEW ZEALAND: Australia’s transport minister is lobbying the NZ Government on behalf of Qantas who want to buy a bigger stake of Air New Zealand.

TERTIARY EDUCATION: A proposal to test whether tertiary courses should be publicly funded has found favour with the Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey.

ISRAEL: Tension is high in the West Bank town of Nablus following the deaths of eight in an Israeli Helicopter rocket attack. Israel has expressed regret for the deaths of two children. 54 Palestinians and 17 Israelis have died since a ceasefire began on June 13th.

ABORTION: The release of the Abortion Supervisory Committee’s report has raised questions on why the rate of abortion is rising fastest among women aged over 40.

CHRISTINE RANKIN: The case of former Work and Income Head Christine Rankin has come up in Parliament with the first reading of a State Services Bill that will merge the Ministry of Social Policy with Work and Income NZ.

QUEEN MOTHER: The Queen Mother is suffering from mild heat stroke. The Queen Mother is expected to recover quickly however. She will turn 101 this Saturday.

SHEEP POPULATION: The sheep population has fallen sharply over the last two years.

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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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