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TV3 News
Centrepoint - Petrol Prices - Snakes Alive - Air Force - MP Poll On Cannabis - Clinton on Kashmir - Fire Funeral
CENTREPOINT: Bert Potter gets $50,000 as the Centrepoint commune gets rid of him. In a High Court decision Justice Cartwright says Potter and his supporters - all paid $49,000 each to leave - are no longer readily employable. Centrepoint is to be renamed.
PETROL PRICES: Petrol Prices are on the way down as the war heats up between the government and oil companies. BP, Caltex and Challenge all cut petrol prices by two cents. The Deputy PM is not impressed. Crude oil price has fallen by 20% in two weeks. BP says that the timing of the price fall only coincidentally followed his comments on the subject.
SNAKES ALIVE: Second snake to arrive in NZ has been identified as a pit viper much less deadly than the snake found in Petone last week. Conservation groups are calling enough with the two snake finds. Rod Donald - if things as big as snakes are getting in then what about moths. Marion Hobbs says that we should not get too excited about the finds.
AIR FORCE: Defence top brass have told pilots to hold fire over their F16s disappointment. The comments from the pilots were raised today in Parliament. Minister says that discipline is up to the Chief of Defence. Keith Locke a Green MP quoted asking who the Skyhawks might be used against to raise morale.
MP POLL ON CANNABIS: A TV3 news survey of MPs has found that MPs are split over decriminalisation. 110 MPs polled. 40 support decriminalisation, 39 are against and 31 are undecided. Annette King explains she is against legalisation but in favour of decriminalisation. Dover Samuels says that decriminalisation would mean social genocide for his people. PM won't say whether she has had a toke or not.
CLINTON ON KASHMIR: Bill Clinton has called on India and Pakistan to hold talks on Kashmir following the death of 35 Sikhs in a massacre.
FIRE FUNERAL: Fire fighters out in large numbers for a 17 year old volunteer member of the Morrinsville Fire Brigade killed when his fire-truck rolled down a bank.
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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