F16 Decision - Studnets Happier - Timberlands - Childrens Rights - Chechnya - Joseph Heller Dies

F16 DECISION: Former ACT MP Derek Quigley says he will need more information on the F-16 deal before he can make a judgment on the purchase.

STUDENTS HAPPIER: The NZUSA has welcomed the governments move to scrap interest on some student loans. Karen Skinner says work on student loans is welcome. Skinner says she hopes the government will reinstate

TIMBERLANDS: ACT's Ken Shirley says the Timberlands beech logging was sustainable and would have been a model for sustainable native forest management. Forestry Minister Pete Hodgson disagrees and says that felling beech trees upsets native birds nesting sites.

CHILDRENS RIGHTS: The Commissioner for Children wants the law to be changed so smacking children is an assault.

CHECHNYA: Russia has admitted the loss of a bomber over Chechnya saying the crash was due to a technical fault. The Russian air-force has been concentrating on the Argun Gorge. Shali has been given an ultimatum.

JOSEPH HELLER DIES: Novelist Joseph Heller - author of Catch 22 - has died aged 76. The novel Catch 22 is an absurdist black farce.

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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.

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