Meningococcal Gold Rush IV: Novartis Vaccines' MeNZB Assertions Examined - Throughout the debate surrounding the controversial MeNZB vaccine, Chiron (now called Novartis Vaccines) has remained strangely silent. On 14 November 2006 they broke that silence in a press release to criticize MeNZB vaccine researchers Ron Law and Barbara Sumner Burstyn. Law and Sumner Burstyn had publicized that Novartis have dumped the MeNZB vaccine technology in favour of trialing a genetically modified Meningococcal B vaccine. See... MGR IV: Novartis Vaccines Enters The MeNZB Debate
Australia: Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin Dies - At 11am, 4 September 2006, Steve Irwin was fatally wounded by a stingray barb to his heart while filming a sequence on Batt Reef off Port Douglas for a new TV series. Emergency services were called from Cairns Rescue Base and met Croc One, Steveâs rescue vessel, at Low Isle on the Great Barrier Reef. The Croc One crew performed constant CPR during the thirty-minute dash to Low Isle, but Steve was pronounced deceased at 12 noon by Queensland Ambulance Services personnel.See... Steve Irwin ALSO:
Weather Watch: South Island Braces For Trouble - Weather forecasts for the weekend are a big concern for Civil defence authorities in the South Island. With many Canterbury communities still reeling from Monday's snow storm, concerns are that more communities will be caught unawares. Canterbury's Civil Defence Emergency Planner, Jon Mitchell, says people should stock up in time. See... Weather forecasts for the weekend a concern ALSO:
Intelligence: NZSIS Failures Focus Criticism On Core Of Labour Govt. - Paul Buchanan writes: Political instability and collective violence in Fiji, the Solomons, East Timor raises questions about NZ's intelligence and security capabilities in its primary area of geostrategic concern, the southwestern Pacific Rim. Since the NZSIS receives most of external threat assessment data from the External Assessment Bureau (EAB) in the Prime Minister's department, the failure to collect and accurately analyse intelligence on these regional hotspots extends to the core of the Labour government. See... NZ Intel Failure Evident In Timor Leste Crisis ALSO:
Disasters: Kiwi Journos In Quake Devastated Pakistan - Just prior to Christmas New Zealand journalist Jon Stephenson, assisted by an Asia New Zealand media award, toured earthquake devastated Pakistan. Accompanying Mr Stephenson on the two week trip through the often fought over and now ruined province of Kashmir was BFM host Rebecca Wright. During his travels Mr Stephenson learned from aid workers that the response to the earthquake had been paltry, in terms of both foreign aid and media interest. See... Pakistan Images Part Two: Life Amid The Rubble ALSO: