East Timor – Election Campaign – Sea Rescue – Monsanto GE U-Turn – Mexican Explosion

EAST TIMOR – INDONESIAN WITHDRAWAL: Indonesian soldiers have been completing there withdrawal from East Timor. They are leaving behind them a city in ruins. BBC: Does the departure lessen the chance of violence or enhance it? Thousands of militia members are assembling outside of Dili and preparing an attack on the peacekeepers.

EAST TIMOR – WAR CRIMES: Some NZ MPs are supporting a push for war-crimes investigators to be sent to the territory. Matt Robson and Phil Goff both say NZ should offer police officers to immediately begin investigations in Dili.

CAMPAIGN BEGINS: PM Jenny Shipley says National offers the best track record in tax, industrial relations and overseas trade – the key issues she says in the election. Meanwhile Labour leader Helen Clark says the key issues are the economy, health and superannuation.

SEA RESCUE: A lone sailor is in hospital after reporting chest pains and then being rescued by a helicopter off the Marlborough Coast. The yacht has

MONSANTO GE U-TURN: The American biotechnology firm Monsanto says it will investigate traditional methods of improving crops following a meeting with organic farming and environmental groups.

MEXICAN EXPLOSION: Two explosions rip through a marketplace in Mexico killing several.

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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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