National Radio Midday Bulletin

TROOPS: More Kiwi troops are to be sent to East Timor. The PM has just announced the contigent will be at full batallion size. This means another 450 troops.

TROOPS ARRIVE: The first Kiwi troops arrived in Dili today. 140 will be there by the end of the day.

McKINNON: Don McKinnon says future peacekeeping missions may be jeopardised as UN members continue to fail to pay their dues – the US especially.

WORLD BANK: The international community has endorsed an independent East Timor at a meeting organised by the World Bank and have commited to rebuilding the country.

REFUGEES: The first of 300 Timorese refugees may arrive in New Zealand as early as next week.

OSH: Occupational Safety and Health say the Tranz Rail case of a man losing his leg in an accident is a wake up call to employers and other companies. It is the fourth OSH prosecution on Tranz Rail since 1997. Tranz Rail have paid out $27,000 in fines.

CREECH: Wyatt Creech will shortly announce a new Wellington Hospital will be built on the Newtown site.

QUEENSLAND: The police in Queensland are concerned about the disappearance of a Kiwi couple in Australia yesterday. The couple left a motel at 11.30am in a car and have not been seen since.

DAIRY: The New Zealand Dairy Group say they will have to dump millions of dollars of milk unless an agreement can be reached in a dispute with Contact Energy over power supply to their factory.

CHECHNYA: There are increasing calls for Russia to halt the bombing of Chechnya as 100,000 refugees flee the area.

NASA: NASA say the hole in the ozone layer has shrunk – to 9.8 million square miles.

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