Further report on the P lab discovered in Fiji yesterday. A forty year-old, the alleged financial mastermind behind the operation, has been arrested in Hong Kong.Tony O'Connor (Fiji Customs Director-General).
The ACT Party, among other groups, has accused the Accident Compensation Corporation of 'wasting' almost $800,000 of taxpayer's money in spending associated with its 30th birthday celebrations. Heather Roy (ACT Party MP, List); John Miller (law lecturer).
The Reserve Bank today raised the Official Cash Rate, causing floating mortgage rates to rise to a high of 8.1%. Discussion of the effect on the booming housing market. Tim Mahar (TRM Building); Dr Alan Bollard (Governor of the Reserve Bank); Brendan O'Donovan (Westpac Chief Economist).
In the wake of Don Brash's 'Orewa Speech', the Government is to spend almost $700,000 over the next two years reviewing its policies to ensure they are based on need rather than race. Helen Clark (Prime Minister); Gerry Brownlee (National MP, Maori Affairs spokesman); Trevor Mallard (Minister of Race Relations); Dr. Pita Sharples (Maori Party Co-leader).
The National Party is calling for maximum sentences to be given to any person with a long history of criminal offending. Tony Ryall (National, law and order spokesman); Peter Johnston (Dept. of Corrections); Rick Barker (Minister of Corrections).
A Nobel Peace Prize nominee and three other Kurdish activists have been freed after spending a decade in a Turkish jail. Their release is expected to boost Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
At the G-8 Summit in Georgia (USA), the US and Britain called on NATO to send troops to Iraq to bolster peacekeeping troops there. However, French President Jacques Chirac strongly opposed moves to involve NATO troops. George W. Bush (US President); Tony Blair (British Prime Minister); Jacques Chirac (French President).
Thousands of people have lined the streets of Washington to honour former US President Ronald Reagan. Dick Cheney (US Vice-President).
There are security concerns in the tiny Pacific Island state of Palau ahead of the Pacific Arts Festival taking place there next month. Belhaim Sakuma (conservationist); Sandra Pierantozzi (Palua Vice-President); Phil Goff (NZ Minister of Foreign Affairs).
Controversy surrounds the choice of former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett as the Opposition Labor Party's candidate for one of its safest seats. Critics allege Garret has not voted for at least ten years. Peter Garrett (Labor Party candidate).
The lobby group Philanthropy New Zealand has launched a new book, A Toolkit for Giving, challenging NZers to make the 'art of giving' part of their routine. Glen McDonald (Vincents Art Workshop); Erin McMenamin (Supergrans); Robyn Scott (Philanthropy New Zealand); voxpop (donors).