EAST TIMOR: Dili and Darwin - New Gallantry Awards - Taiwan Quake - Cancer Inquiry - Hongi Photo Row

EAST TIMOR - DILI: The Peacekeepers have made their first arrests and so far not a single shot has been fired. For the first time militia members have been arrested and have had their guns confiscated. Australian Catamaran arrives to cheers on Dili wharf. Troops continue their patrols at night with night sights. Militiamen are still around. UN compound reinhabited it has been ransacked over the past few days. Operation "stabilise" is proving a success.

Steven Parker Live In Dili: There is plenty of muscle here. The brigade HQ is at the airport and now has several Militia prisoners. How much has been destroyed? Seeing it first hand the level of destruction is huge. Throughout the city there is carnage. How are the people? (Lost link)

Outside of Dili the intimidation continues. In hills houses burn. In streets some forced deportations still appear to be taken. For the East Timorese the nightmare is not yet over. Militia looting still continuing. Scale of destruction in Dili is huge.

Live to Dili - Continued: NZ Commander - the operation is going very well. The airport has been secured. Some NZ troops are here and more will arrive shortly.

EAST TIMOR - DARWIN: NZ Soldiers have arrived in Darwin and are preparing for deployment. Acclimatisation training will begin shortly.

NEW GALLANTRY AWARDS: Unveiled by PM.

TAIWAN QUAKE: 7.6 quake hits Taiwan and hundreds are dead. The quake struck in the dead of the night. Over 3000 Taiwanese were caught in the quake. 640 are dead, 1200 are missing 3000 are injured. Little boy says he was so scared he held on to his mother. 6 million homes were left without power. Taiwanese NZers were worried. Fate of 200+ NZers in Taiwan is unknown.

CANCER INQUIRY: Preliminary tally of Gisborne pathologist recordings has found 157 high-grade abnormalities occurred in 5000 slides. Only 20% of these were found by the pathologist. Another 20,000 slides still need to be checked. An inquiry has been launched by the Minister of Health.

HONGI ROW: A row has broken out over the use of a Hongi photo of Bill Clinton used on the Tourism Board website. Sir Hugh Kawharu was not consulted about use of the photo - Clinton was.

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Alastair Thompson

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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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