Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics

Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 6:41 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
LEAD STORY: Peters Seeks Answers From Police Over Dead Man's Alleged Assault
Cullen Challenges National To Present Alternative "Costed" Budget
Commissioner: "Sense Of Realism" Needed Over Too Busy To Investigate Claim
SCOOP IS IN THE HOUSE:
MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:
Scoop Report: Tiredness And Fatigue Is Killing Sex Lives
Scoop Report: GE Rice Said To Treat Vitamin A Deficiency
UN Head Exonerated In Iraq Oil For Food Corruption Probe
Indonesian President Postpones Visit To NZ and Australia
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

SCOOP COLUMNS:
More Russell Brown On Schiavo
Divining The Imperial Nature Of US Foreign Policy
Guest Opinion: SOS in the Himalayas
Upton Online Considers The Constitution

OTHER NEWS (Just Politics)
Don Brash Considers An Early Election
Govt Expresses Condolences To Indonesia Over Quake
MORE POLITICAL HEADLINES:

LEAD STORY:
Peters Seeks Answers From Police Over Dead Man's Alleged Assault

Rt Hon Winston Peters today demanded answers from the Police Minister on the events surrounding the death of a man following an altercation with an off duty police officer in Auckland last November. Michael Famodun, 33, who died last month, left a detailed account of how he was assaulted in the Countdown car park in Lynnfield by a police officer who objected to him using a space set aside for the disabled. See... Victim Seeks Justice From The Grave - Peters [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00565.htm

Cullen Challenges National To Present Alternative "Costed" Budget

- Finance Minister Michael Cullen today challenged the National Party to produce a full alternative budget after he presents his sixth budget on 19 May. “Labour in opposition produced fully costed and comprehensive alternative budgets based on the same accounting principles and economic assumptions used by the government of the day. That gave great confidence to financial markets, the Reserve Bank and independent observers that Labour’s proposed programme added up fiscally," Cullen Said. See... Cullen Challenges Brash: Show Us The Numbers [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00553.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00555.htm

Commissioner: "Sense Of Realism" Needed Over Too Busy To Investigate Claim

- Commissioner Rob Robinson says all complaints to Police are important and even though not every incident might be attended the information provided helps build up the intelligence database which informs deployments of patrols. Mr Robinson said that he had received an assurance from Papakura Police this morning that Police had dealt appropriately with the South Auckland Dairy owner on each of the four occasions over the last year that Police had received complaints from him. See... All complaints are important to Police [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00248.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00542.htm

SCOOP IS IN THE HOUSE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00571.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00544.htm

MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00563.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00556.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0503/S00330.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00254.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00252.htm

Scoop Report: Tiredness And Fatigue Is Killing Sex Lives

- Feeling listless? Feeling over-tired and fatigued? Feeling too tired for sex? Marietta Gross reports that a United States study has found 58 per cent of Americans are too tired for sex. That's the findings of a study by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) that concludes idleness caused by sleep shortage is a factor for connubial problems and also neglect of marital duties. See... Tiredness, Fatigue Killing Your Sex-Life? [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00300.htm

Scoop Report: GE Rice Said To Treat Vitamin A Deficiency

- Marietta Gross reports that over 250 million people worldwide suffer from Vitamin A deficiency but scientists have found that GE "golden rice" is able to address symptoms such as infantile blindness. Scientists have genetically engineered a rice variety, so that it stores a large amount of a preliminary-stage vitamin A. See... GE “Golden Rice” To Combat Vitamin A Deficiency [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0503/S00072.htm

UN Head Exonerated In Iraq Oil For Food Corruption Probe

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today his exoneration by an independent committee probing alleged misconduct and mismanagement in the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme for Iraq of any wrongdoing in the award of a contract to a firm that employed his son came as a "great relief" after so "many distressing and untrue allegations." See... Annan Oil-For-Food Exoneration 'Great Relief' [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00450.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00439.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00438.htm

Indonesian President Postpones Visit To NZ and Australia

- Prime Minister Helen Clark has expressed New Zealand’s condolences to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in the wake of the devastating earthquake off the island of Sumatra. Helen Clark spoke to the Indonesian President by telephone. President Yudhoyono has postponed a planned visit to New Zealand this weekend in the wake of the 8.7-magnitude quake. It is expected the visit will now take place on 6 and 7 April.See... PM expresses sorrow to Indonesia [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00547.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00440.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00445.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00434.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00403.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00539.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00404.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00427.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00426.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00251.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00250.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00249.htm
[13] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0503/S00240.htm
[14] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00425.htm

MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00444.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00446.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00442.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00441.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0503/S00435.htm

SCOOP COLUMNS:
More Russell Brown On Schiavo

- I promise, I'll get off the Schiavo case and get local again. But I've been getting a few "you disgust me" emails from people in America. The thing that strikes me is that their perceptions are taking shape in textbook conspiracy theory style: start ... See... Public Address 30/03/05 - Once More ... [1] MORE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00299.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00288.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00289.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00282.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00275.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00262.htm

Divining The Imperial Nature Of US Foreign Policy

- Three seemingly unrelated recent events highlight the imperial nature of the Bush administration's foreign policy: U.S. F-16 sales to Pakistan, the creation of an office in the State Department to plan for future U.S military interventions in developing nations and the indefinite detention in Guantanamo prison of a German man held on the basis of secret evidence that even U.S. intelligence disputes. See... Ivan Eland: Three Strikes for Empire [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00298.htm

Bernard Weiner Considers An Alternative Future For Rumsfeld

- It was several years after the Bush Administration had left office, in what has been called the period of "Restoration of Constitutional rule." Criminal indictments were about to be unsealed, naming the architects of the former regime's foreign wars/torture policy and martial law-type domestic rule. See... Rumsfeld Grilled at Truth & Reconciliation Hearing [1] 30 March 2005 |

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00297.htm

Guest Opinion: SOS in the Himalayas

- Nearly three months after King Gyanendra dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s multiparty government and assumed full political powers, international discussions continue to be narrowly framed around the need to restore democracy. See... Sanjay Upadhya: SOS in the Himalayas [1] MORE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00296.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00295.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00294.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00264.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00268.htm

Upton Online Considers The Constitution

- The OECD’s survey of expatriate skills sparks a predictable debate; Chris Laidlaw and Jim Hopkins adopt a novel and unpredictable way of injecting new life into the old republican cause; and Bernard Cadogan challenges constitutional commentators to lift their game. See... Upton-on-line: Special Recycled Arguments Issue [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0503/S00290.htm

- We are six months out from the latest date on which the next general election can be held, and the Beehive spin machine has the media bustling around examining the likelihood of an early election - perhaps in July. Labour's run of good luck is drawing to a close, with rising inflation - the result in turn of a huge surge in public spending and a range of additional regulatory costs loaded onto the business sector - driving interest rates higher. See… Don Brash Writes No. 53: An Early Election? [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00552.htm

Govt Expresses Condolences To Indonesia Over Quake

- Prime Minister Helen Clark has tonight expressed New Zealand’s condolences to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in the wake of the devastating earthquake off the island of Sumatra. President Yudhoyono has postponed a planned visit to New Zealand this weekend in the wake of the 8.7-magnitude quake today. It is expected the visit will now take place on 6 and 7 April. See... PM expresses sorrow to Indonesia [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00547.htm

MORE POLITICAL HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00567.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00560.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00563.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00559.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00550.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00549.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00564.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00546.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00562.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00568.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00566.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00557.htm
[13] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00558.htm
[14] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00556.htm
[15] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00561.htm
[16] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0503/S00548.htm

ENDS

© Scoop Media

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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