National Radio Midday Bulletin 12:40PM, 13 Jun 2013 ----------------------------------------------- 1. Wellington financial advisor David Ross of Ross Asset Management, who is accused of operating a $400 million Ponzi scheme, has been charged with false accounting and theft. 2. Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler has signalled the bank could introduce new rules to restrict low deposit mortgage loans as early as August to help curb rampant house prices in Auckland. 3. Christchurch City Council planning committee chair Sue Wells says she can’t understand why the Government is trying to paint issues with its building consent process as a crisis when council staff have the matter in hand. 4. Prisoners will be soon put to work rebuilding earthquake damaged houses in Christchurch after Corrections Minister Anne Tolley this morning turned the sod on new construction yards at Rolleston Working Prison, where prisoners are expected to refurbish around thirty Housing New Zealand houses each year for the next five years. 5. Justice Minister Judith Collins has told a Parliamentary select committee she has no plans to lower the legal threshold for what constitutes racism in New Zealand. 6. The heritage-listed Wellington Town Hall is safe from demolition after the city council decided unanimously to refurbish the building, which is expected to cost $40 million. 7. The Defence Force will shortly release the findings of a military court of inquiry on the deaths of five New Zealand soldiers in Afghanistan last year. 8. The Wellington City Council is on the hunt for a phantom dumper who has been dumping toxic waste material into the Karori sewerage system. 9. One of the country’s biggest publishers, Harper Collins, is cutting staff as it tries to cope with what it says is an increasingly tough market, 10. The man who helped his flatmate Jeremy McLaughlin hide evidence after he had murdered Christchurch teenager Jade Bayliss has been sentenced to 200 hours community work. 11. A former CIA employee who leaked information about how the United States has been monitoring emails, phone calls and internet use through the Prism surveillance programme says he intends to fight any effort to extradite him from Hong Kong. 12. A poll in the United States has found about one in three Americans thinks NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden is a patriot and should not be prosecuted. 13. Auckland Theatre says a $5 million funding boost from AUT University means work can begin on the $35 million Waterfront Theatre, but another $3.7 million is still needed for the project and the public’s help will be sought to raise the funds. 14. In Canada, the Government of the mostly French speaking province of Quebec has unveiled legislation allowing terminally ill patients to kill themselves with a doctor’s help, the first law of its kind in Canada. 15. One of Nelson Mandela’s grandsons has thanked people from South Africa and around the world for the many messages of support the family has received since the 84-year-old former president was admitted to hospital five days ago with a recurring lung infection. 16. Facebook, the world’s number one social media website, is adopting the hashtag, one of the most recognised features of its rival Twitter.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:41:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015