TV3 News

Thursday, 24 August 2000, 6:22 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

Dollar – Gulf Air Crash – Balkans Shooting Incident – New Governor General – Submarine – Chicken Fire – Olympic Walker In Crash – Raincoat Brand Wars At Rugby

DOLLAR: The dollar in your pocket was today worth less than it ever has been worth. Petrol prices may rise. Finance Minister Michael Cullen attended a business conference today and said that the cause for the fall in the dollar was a German business confidence survey. Dr Cullen says there is nothing the Government can do about the nuances of markets. Traders say the dollar is still vulnerable. Wool prices today went soaring on the back of the low dollar. But not everyone’s a sheep farmer.

DOLLAR: As politicians and businessman argue about who to blame it is NZers who are paying. Tourists arriving from the US say that the low dollar is a boon. Kiwis returning home however say that it is very expensive to travel. Four years ago the Kiwi was on 70 US Cents. The Big Mac index shows the effect of the falling dollar on what it costs to buy burgers in Kiwi dollars. BP says every one cent fall in the dollar increases petrol prices by 1.5 cents at the pump. But you can still get a bargain at the Warehouse and Stephen Tindall remains optimistic about the economy.

GULF AIR CRASH: A Gulf Air airbus crashes in the sea a few kms from Bahrain Airport. Fishermen, US fifth fleet sailors and emergency services rushed to the scene and found lots of bodies and debris. There have been no survivors The plane had circled Bahrain airport before it went down. Gulf Air has a good safety record. The Airbus plane is computer controlled and some pilots have found it hard to fly.

BALKANS SHOOTING INCIDENT: A NZ Peace-Keeper is being investigated after being involved in the shooting of a British soldier in the Balkans. Two NZ military police have been dispatched to question him.

NEW GOVERNOR GENERAL: Dame Silvia Cartwright will be NZ’s next Governor General. She says she will miss being a judge. She will be the second woman GG. Most of the top jobs in NZ will soon be held all by women. She doesn’t expect this to be a problem. She says she is looking forward especially to the cultural aspects of the job. Dame Silvia was educated in Dunedin. In 1986 she headed the inquiry into the cervical cancer Unfortunate Experiment . Congratulations have been rolling in all day. Dame Silvia will take over the job in April next year.

SUBMARINE: Vladimir Putin says he feels responsible for the deaths of 118 sailors in the Kursk nuclear submarine.

CHICKEN FIRE: Lots of chicken chicks were killed in a fire on a farm.

OLYMPIC WALKER IN CRASH: A car crash in Wanganui almost ruined the Olympic hopes of a Russian Olympic walker when the car he was in was hit from behind.

RAINCOAT WARS AT RUGBY: Canterbury rugby fans are angry that they were not allowed to wear Canterbury Draught raincoats at a rugby match. DB is sponsoring the Canterbury NPC team. Security guards are getting the blame for being over zealous.

© 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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