Queenstown Floods – Green Party Website – Northern Ireland – Jury Trials – NZ/SA Relations – Auckland Infrastructure

QUEENSTOWN FLOODS: Worst is still to come. Queenstown and Wanaka are now cut off by flooding. Flooding is forcing evacuations of homes and businesses in central Otago. Queenstown is at its highest level since 1878.

GREEN PARTY WEBSITE: Conservation Minister Nick Smith says he finds it unbelievable that Nandoor Tanzos is not behind a sabotage link on the Green Party web site. Tanzos says the Nats are panicking about Coromandel.

NORTHERN IRELAND: Breakthrough in Northern Ireland peace process. 24 hours after George Mitchell set in train incremental steps towards peace his plan is emerging. The mood of cooperation is showing through in statements from David Trimble and Sinn Fein.

JURY TRIALS: The Law Commission says that if the number of hung juries does not fall then majority juries should be considered.

NZ/SA RELATIONS: NZ has had a rare opportunity for bi-lateral discussions with South Africa. Thabo Mbeki – the SA President – has been invited to NZ for a state visit.

AUCKLAND: Infrastructure Auckland says it will be reviewing its funding policy after its first round of grants. So far it has given away $1.6 million for 12 projects.

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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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