Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics

Monday, 5 December 2005, 4:31 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics

TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS:
Foreign Affairs: Hostage's Friend Calls All To Evening Vigil
Foreign Affairs: PM Welcomes Turkey's PM To New Zealand
Politics: Benson Pope Speaks On The Police Report
Employment: SuperSizeMyPay Campaign Spreads To KFC
Health: Over 160,000 More Women Receive Breast Screening
MORE HEADLINES
Russian Greenpeace Activists Await Chinese Toxic-Slick's Arrival
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
Pressure Mounts For Release Of Transcript Of Bush & Blair Discussing Bombing Al Jazeera

SCOOP COLUMNS:
MalcontentX: PlameGate is the Wrong Scandal
No Right Turn Talks Turkey
Public Address: Keith Ng on Hong Kong and Much, Much More
Suzan Mazur on Sotheby's and Provenance
MORE COMMENTARY

OTHER NEWS (Just Politics):
Education: Susan Cullen Welcomes Inquiry Call
Maharey Says NCEA Quirks Under Control
POLITICAL HEADLINES
POLITICAL COLUMNS

Foreign Affairs: Hostage's Friend Calls All To Evening Vigil

"I am a personal friend of Harmeet Sooden kidnapped on the 26th of November. I am gathering friends for a vigil for Harmeet and his companions (Monday) at Aotea Square at 6:00 pm, every one is invited regardless of religion or political views. I only want to pray for the life of my dear friend and to see him out of harms way. I can not say how important the presence of the media is in this vigil given the dead line of December 8th for their execution. It maybe our only possible way to have our plea heard by their captors in Iraq." See... Letters: Vigil For Harmeet Sooden 6pm Monday [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00023.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00033.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00070.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00040.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00016.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0511/S00569.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00007.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00023.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00023.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00035.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00029.htm

Foreign Affairs: PM Welcomes Turkey's PM To New Zealand

- Prime Minister Erdogan, you were my host this year at the ninetieth anniversary commemoration of ANZAC Day on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and also in Ankara, and I am very pleased now to host you in New Zealand so soon afterwards. To most New Zealanders, the mere mention of Turkey evokes Gallipoli – and this is without doubt the key feature of our shared heritage. It is events around that peninsula which draw our people to Turkey year after year. See... Address at State Luncheon for the PM of Turkey [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00056.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00030.htm

Politics: Benson Pope Speaks On The Police Report

- Cabinet Minister David Benson-Pope says the expected release tomorrow of police files into historic allegations made against him will vindicate his position. Mr Benson-Pope said that throughout the investigation he was careful not to make comment on the investigation. However, now that the investigation had concluded he does not feel constrained talking about the case. Mr Benson-Pope says that his office has talked to a Sunday newspaper about information contained in his police files. See... Minister says report vindicates his position [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00042.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00054.htm

Employment: SuperSizeMyPay Campaign Spreads To KFC

- KFC workers in Balmoral went on strike Saturday in opposition to youth rates, which allow young workers to be paid less for doing the same work as their older counterparts. More than 150 strikers and supporters turned up for the event, which was organised by the Unite workers union as part of the SuperSizeMyPay.Com campaign, with representatives from the Green party, the Maori party, and workers from other KFC stores all aiding the effort. The Post Primary Teachers Association, the union representing secondary school teachers, was also backing the strike. See... KFC Workers Strike Against Youth Rates [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00036.htm

Health: Over 160,000 More Women Receive Breast Screening

- More than 160,000 women have been screened for breast cancer since the extension of the screening programme 14 months ago – a 23 per cent increase over the previous 14-month period. See... Breast cancer screening extension meets target [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00045.htm

MORE HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00044.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0512/S00034.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0512/S00040.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0512/S00007.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0512/S00020.htm

Russian Greenpeace Activists Await Chinese Toxic-Slick's Arrival

- Russian-Chinese Border, Russian Federation — Eighteen days after an explosion at a chemical factory in Jilin Provence launched a huge 80 kilometer (50 mile) slick of cancer-causing benzene down the Songhua River, and nine days after the Chinese government admitted to suppressing the news, activists from Greenpeace Russia are in place and awaiting the slick to slide across the border. See... Toxic slick heads for Russia [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00084.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00082.htm

MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00079.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00076.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00075.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00074.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00073.htm

Pressure Mounts For Release Of Transcript Of Bush & Blair Discussing Bombing Al Jazeera

- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is coming under opposition pressure to release a memo which reportedly show that he dissuaded President Bush from ordering the bombing the Head Quarters of Al Jazeera TV in Qatar, an ally of the United States. See... Pressure to Release "Bomb Al Jazeera" Transcript [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00374.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00364.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00363.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0304/S00223.htm#target

MalcontentX: PlameGate is the Wrong Scandal

- Take the case of "outed" CIA agent Valerie Plame-Wilson, and the "crime" for which some senior members of the Bush Administration may be facing jail time. Of all the thoughtful observers I routinely scan across the internet, I have found only two that come close to the heart of the matter. One is a rather brief reflection from a somewhat anonymous observer (who has nevertheless proven his/herself to be consistently astute). The other comes from investigators Ralph Schoenmann and Mya Schoen, who have provided a meticulous and well-documented analysis (in audio format) upon which I will be relying somewhat for my analysis here ... See... MalcontentX: The PlameGate Affair is A Smokescreen [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00022.htm

No Right Turn Talks Turkey

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan touches down in Auckland tomorrow on the first state visit of a Turkish PM to New Zealand. I've been wondering what to say about this since I saw the government's press release on the visit last month. Turkey has a poor human rights record: according to the US State Department's 2004 country report on Human Rights Practices in Turkey, while the Turkish government "generally respected the human rights of its citizens" ... See... No Right Turn: Turkish PM Erdogan In Wellington [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00030.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0511/S00375.htm

Public Address: Keith Ng on Hong Kong and Much, Much More

- Hong Kong's 'Honkies' aren't really known as the ripping-some-mad-shit-up type. But they try. Around 100,000-200,000 of them took to the streets today in a massive demonstration to protest against plans by the Government to slow down democratic reforms in Hong Kong, perhaps indefinitely. Ahem. Except not quite so confrontational. It was more a... widely attended march "aimed at expressing discontentment over the government's package proposals for Hong Kong's constitutional development". See... Public Address 05/12/05 - Mentor As Anything [1] ALSO

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00026.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00015.htm

Suzan Mazur on Sotheby's and Provenance

- Proceedings resume December 5 in the trial of the dean of ancient art dealers -- Bob Hecht -- and former Getty museum antiquities curator Marion True. Will Sotheby's be called to answer questions about some of the items listed by Italian prosecutors as looted from Italy -- particularly the Euphronios pieces? The priceless Euphronios cup -- painted with the image of the fallen Trojan war hero Sarpedon -- is the earliest known work painted by the Athenian master, last seen intact publicly in New York in 1990 on the Sotheby's block ... See... Suzan Mazur: Sotheby's & The Signed Euphronios [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00017.htm

MORE COMMENTARY:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00024.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00028.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00027.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00014.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00013.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00012.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00011.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00010.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00009.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00008.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00007.htm
[12] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00002.htm

Education: Susan Cullen Welcomes Inquiry Call

- Responding to Bill English’s call for an inquiry into her programmes; Mahi Ora, Lifeworks and Kiwi Ora, Susan Cullen said today she’d welcome the chance to finally get the truth told. The programmes of Te Wananga o Aotearoa are the most successful innovations to tertiary education. “There are no models like them currently in the world”, she said. The success for the students and communities is evidenced by the halving of Maori unemployment in the last four years. See... Wananga Chiefs Daughter welcomes calls for inquiry [1] ALSO:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0512/S00012.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0512/S00018.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0512/S00043.htm

Maharey Says NCEA Quirks Under Control

- Education Minister Steve Maharey has reassured students that the NCEA system is working and that there is no cause for concern around this year's biology exam. "In the case of the Biology exam there has been a routine adjustment made to the marking schedule after looking at a test batch of scripts," Steve Maharey. "The process has not been stopped and the papers have not been reassessed. "It is very important people understand that issues will arise around NCEA. What is also important is that NZQA is dealing with these issues quickly and as part of the system. See... Minister reassures students on biology exam [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00057.htm

POLITICAL HEADLINES:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00051.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00047.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00046.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00043.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00050.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00049.htm
[7] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00048.htm
[8] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00044.htm
[9] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00041.htm
[10] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00053.htm
[11] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00052.htm

POLITICAL COLUMNS:

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0512/S00055.htm

© 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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