EAST TIMOR – New Zealand – Australia – Terror. OTHER NEWS – Presidents Leave – Hurricane Floyd – Ansett Lockout – Spanish Plane Crash.

EAST TIMOR – NEW ZEALAND: The defence minister says the main contingent of NZ peacekeepers will be ready to depart in a few days. Max Bradford said an advance force would leave soon and the main bulk of the force would leave on Monday. Cabinet is meeting to discuss the deployment,

EAST TIMOR – AUSTRALIA: Australia is determined to succeed as the leader of the peace-keeping force. Alexander Downer says other peace keeping forces had less clear mandates while this mandate is very clear.

EAST TIMOR – TERROR: One of the 12 remaining UN observers fears that the peacekeepers will be unable to deal with the terror in Timor as the militias are moving into West Timor where they are continuing to harass East Timorese.

PRESIDENTS LEAVE: The last of the world leaders in NZ for APEC, Chinese Premiere Jiang Zemin, leaves today. Presidents Clinton and Kim left last night.

HURRICANE FLOYD: Coastal residents are bracing themselves on the East Coast of the US for the arrival of hurricane Floyd. The hurricane has now been down-graded to a grade 3 storm. Two days ago it was grade 5.

ANSETT LOCKOUT: 125 Ansett pilots are locked out of work this morning.

SPANISH PLANE CRASH: British holidaymakers whose plane broke apart when landing in Spain say they feel lucky to be alive.

© 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.

CONTACT ALASTAIR THOMPSON

• Mobile - 021707044
• Twitter - @althecat
• Google+

• Linkedin
• Facebook
• Email - alastair@scoop.co.nz