Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics

Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 5:49 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
LEAD STORY: Scoop Report: Newspaper's Battle Draws PM To Centre-Stage
SCOOP IS IN THE HOUSE:
Ministry Of Agriculture And Forestry Investigating Foot And Mouth Threat
Chief Censor Bans Peron Publication As "Objectionable" - Peters
Goff Considers EU Expansion And NZ's New Northern-Front
MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:
Palestine/Israel: Quartet Recommits To Two State Solution
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

SCOOP COLUMNS:
Sam Smith Ponders The Absence Of US Christian Moderates
Steve Weissman Investigation Part IV: America's Religious Right
William Rivers Pitt Wonders What Went Wrong With The GOP?
MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY:
"…The Intelligence And Facts Were Being Fixed Around The Policy."

OTHER NEWS (Just Politics)
Brash's Parliament Question-line Designed To Test PM's Integrity
Govt Announces $70m For Health Research
Govt Amends Legal Aid Income Threshold
NZ Agrees In Principle To South East Asia Treaty
MORE PARLIAMENT HEADLINES:

LEAD STORY:
Scoop Report: Newspaper's Battle Draws PM To Centre-Stage

Both the National Party and the ACT Party have somehow obtained ‘briefs of evidence’ prepared for the aborted Doone Vs Fairfax defamation case. Among the briefs of evidence held and released by National and ACT, was the brief of evidence of the Prime Minister along with former Sunday Star-Times journalist, Oskar Alley and former editor of the Sunday Star-Times, Sue Chetwin. See... PM Hits Out At Politicisation Of Doone Defamation [1] . See also Kevin List's backgrounder... Fairfax Makes PM An Offer She Can't Refuse [2] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00119.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00117.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00207.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00202.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0505/S00145.htm

SCOOP IS IN THE HOUSE:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00215.htm

Ministry Of Agriculture And Forestry Investigating Foot And Mouth Threat

- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Director of Biosecurity Barry O’Neil said today that MAF and Police were responding to a claimed deliberate release of foot and mouth virus on Waiheke Island. As part of this precautionary response a controlled area notice has been issued which restricts the movement of livestock and risk material on and from the island while the investigation proceeds. There are no restrictions on people travelling to or from Waiheke Island. See... Biosecurity Foot & Mouth Threat Investigation [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0505/S00102.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0505/S00163.htm

Chief Censor Bans Peron Publication As "Objectionable" - Peters

- The Chief Censor has advised Rt Hon Winston Peters that the publication “Unbound” published by Jim Peron has been classified as “objectionable” because it promotes the exploitation of children and young people for sexual purposes. See... Peron Paedophilic Publication "Objectionable" [1] EARLIER:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00218.htm

Goff Considers EU Expansion And NZ's New Northern-Front

- With its liberal democratic and human rights values, the ability of Europe to be a force in the world is a positive factor for New Zealand. It is clearly in our interests for the Common Foreign Policy (CFP) to work effectively. To protect and advance New Zealand’s interests in Europe, and beyond, increasingly we will need to pay close attention to the development of the CFP. See… Goff Speaks On EU's foreign and security policy & implications for NZ [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00210.htm

MORE NEW ZEALAND HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0505/S00099.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0505/S00098.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0505/S00157.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0505/S00098.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00222.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00217.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0505/S00074.htm

Palestine/Israel: Quartet Recommits To Two State Solution

- The Quartet working to restore peace in the Middle East – the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russian Federation – today reiterated its willingness to help Israelis and Palestinians with the hard work and difficult decisions needed… See... Quartet Reaffirms Commitment To Two-State Solution [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00170.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00176.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00171.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00169.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00153.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00164.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00162.htm

MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00165.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00160.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00158.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00155.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0505/S00151.htm

SCOOP COLUMNS:
Sam Smith Ponders The Absence Of US Christian Moderates

- The failure of Christian moderates to take on publicly religious extremists who claim the same Bible and theology sadly brings to mind the failure of liberals to take on Joseph McCarthy. See... Sam Smith: Where Are The Christian Moderates? [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00126.htm

Steve Weissman Investigation Part IV: America's Religious Right

- Rev. Tim LaHaye thinks deep thoughts. Co-author of the best-selling Left Behind and Babylon Rising novels, the 78-year-old evangelical probes the mind of God as revealed in Holy Scriptures. See... America's Religious Right (IV): Pie in the Sky [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00125.htm

William Rivers Pitt Wonders What Went Wrong With The GOP?

- I have trouble imagining what it must be like to be a Republican these days. The party of Lincoln and TR, the party of fiscal responsibility and small government, has become so profoundly separated from its roots that it is barely recognizable anymore. Millions of people who proudly call themselves Republican must, I think, be dealing with a quiet yet insistent voice within. Something, whispers that voice, has gone wrong. See... William Rivers Pitt: The Millstone [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00124.htm

MORE SCOOP COMMENTARY:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00128.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00127.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00123.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00121.htm

"…The Intelligence And Facts Were Being Fixed Around The Policy."

- The document almost reads like satire. "Bush wanted to remove Saddam," reads the leaked secret British intelligence memo [1] dated 23 July 2002, "through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." You don't say. See... William Rivers Pitt: Criminals Belong in Prison [2] MORE:

[1] - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1593607,00.html
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00099.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00100.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00108.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00089.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00065.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0505/S00047.htm

Brash's Parliament Question-line Designed To Test PM's Integrity

- National Party Leader Don Brash says the Doonegate case is all about Helen Clark's integrity, not the former Police Commissioner's. "This is a simple matter about whether the Prime Minister is telling the truth. The brief of evidence she gave to the High Court just a few weeks ago, and what she told Parliament and the public last week give two very different stories. See... Helen Clark's integrity on the line, not Doone's [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00230.htm

Govt Announces $70m For Health Research

- The government will invest an additional $70 million over the next four years to fund priority health research and to strengthen the health research workforce, Research Science and Technology Minister, Steve Maharey said. See... Health Research gets biggest boost in a decade [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00227.htm

Govt Amends Legal Aid Income Threshold

- Legal aid eligibility income thresholds, which have not been changed since 1969, will be amended under a Legal Services Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today. See... Budget 2005 - New legal aid criteria [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00225.htm

NZ Agrees In Principle To South East Asia Treaty

- New Zealand has decided in principle to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia, the Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Monday. See... NZ to accede to Treaty of Amity and Cooperation [1] ALSO: Joint Declaration of Cooperation - NZ and Viet Nam [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00208.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00205.htm

MORE PARLIAMENT HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00208.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00226.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00224.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00222.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00221.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00210.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00209.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00217.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00231.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00229.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00216.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00214.htm
[13] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00211.htm
[14] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00213.htm
[15] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00232.htm
[16] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00233.htm
[17] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00218.htm
[18] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00212.htm
[19] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00219.htm
[20] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00228.htm
[21] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0505/S00223.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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