Christmas Island Refugees – Refugee Crisis Threats – Gavin Dash Verdict – Racism Conference – Fiji Elections – Macedonia – Social Workers – Power Crisis – Metro College – Truck Crash

CHRISTMAS ISLAND REFUGEES: The 433 asylum seekers from Christmas Island are now set for a trip to Papua New Guinea aboard an Australian troop carrier. The asylum seekers were moved by inflatable dinghy between the boats. From PNG 150 will be flown to NZ while the rest will go to Nauru.

REFUGEE CRISIS THREATS: Packages containing bullets and detonators have been sent to the leader of the Australian Opposition and the Australian Greens to intimidate them over their stance on the asylum seekers.

GAVIN DASH VERDICT: The family of murder victim Gavin Dash say they are disappointed in the verdict of not guilty on grounds of insanity for the killer of their son, David Gates.

RACISM CONFERENCE: The US and Israel has pulled out of a UN conference on racism in Durban. Washington has decided there is no point in staying to argue the case against prejudice against Israel. Efforts had been underway to find a compromise. The South African government said the withdrawal was unnecessary and unfortunate.

FIJI ELECTIONS: Only two seat results of the 71 seats in the Fijian elections have so far been declared. There have been a high level of invalid votes, ballot paper mixups, and counting delays.

MACEDONIA: Macedonia’s Parliament has resumed its debate on a Western backed peace plan. Significant constitutional reforms for the Albanian minority are part of a Western mediated peace agreement.

SOCIAL WORKERS: There is a call to improve the standard of social workers as registration rules are introduced. A children’s advocate says the changes are welcome, but says that training course standards are too low.

POWER CRISIS: Comalco NZ says it will not increase production until lake levels and inflows are back to normal. Low inflows to hydro lakes are continuing even though energy Minister Pete Hodgson says the crisis is nearly over.

METRO COLLEGE: There were angry scenes at a meeting last night to discuss the future of Metropolitan College.

TRUCK CRASH: SH1 has reopened after a fatal truck crash this morning.

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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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