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Dear
homesick Kiwi,
New Zealand Mother's Day is
the 9th May (just over two weeks from now). As always,
we're offering our service to those of you who have
'forgotten' - you can order from our special selection
of Mother's Day gifts and we'll deliver within NZ, gift-wrapped
with a card.
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| NEWS |
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Tens
of thousands of Kiwis gathered around
the country and around the world for the
dawn service to mark ANZAC day on Sunday. Despite
security warnings, a crowd of 15,000
attended the Gallipoli service - guarded
by more Turkish police and army than opposed the ANZACs
in 1915.
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| A
crowd of 5000 anti-foreshore legislation demonstrators
walked
over the Auckland harbour bridge on Monday,
as part of a protest hikoi gathering from
around the country to converge on the capital on the 5th
May - the day Parliament votes on the bill. |
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| Despite
this fresh opposition momentum, it looks like Tariana
Turia, a Maori minister who has been making things
tough for her PM, has succumbed to a leadership charm
offensive and withdrawn
her threat to force a by-election if she is
sacked for voting against the Government. She'll probably
take time-out on the back benches instead. |
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| And
in the spirit of both ANZAC and the hikoi, Maori
activists repulsed
an attempted landing by the Army on a Wanganui
beach. The training exercise had apparently not received
approval from local iwi leaders. |
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| Richard
Prebble, the ACT party leader, has resigned and a
keenly-fought battle
for the ACT leadership looks likely with four
hats in the ring already. ACT has been condemned to popularity
pollings within the margin of error by National's rebound
(now 10 points clear of Labour) eroding their support
base. |
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New studies have revealed Wellington is in even
greater danger from massive earthquakes
and tsunamis than originally thought. Scientist Phillip
Barnes said this was "probably the most exciting
thing" scientists had found in the Cook Strait area.
Unless, presumably, you live in Wellington. |
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Also,
combined
student loan debt reached $7 billion
Pirates
attacked a Kiwi-crewed ship in the Malacca Straits
The "small but feisty" NZ Ballet
received positive reviews in the UK
and Peter
Jackson was ranked up there with the Pope and
Osama bin Laden by Time magazine (influential people). |
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| SPORT |
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In
weeks nine and ten of the Super 12:
-
Auckland was hammered by the Stormers (51-23) then beat
the Cats.
- Waikato beat the the Sharks then the Stormers
- Wellington lost to the Waratahs and Otago, who had
a bye the week before
- and Canterbury beat the Cats and the the Bulls.
The
Canterbury Crusaders and the Waikato Chiefs are now
safely in the semi-finals. The Auckland Blues still
have a fighting chance, the Otago Highlanders have a
mathematical chance and the Wellington Hurricanes have
no chance.| Table
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| The
Kiwis lost
the league test against Australia, 37-10,
but put up a brave fight in the first half. |
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| ONLY
IN NEW ZEALAND |
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| A
shaggy merino sheep, Shrek, has been the centre
of media attention from around the world amidst
speculation that he is the wooliest sheep ever
after evading shepherds and the shears for six years.
That's come to an end - it's all coming off later this
week at the hands of our champion shearer. |
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| And
Helen Clark has thrown
down the gauntlet to would-be streakers.
She promised her bodyguards were fast and effective in
response to Marc Ellis's challenge to Sport's Cafe viewers
to streak in front of the PM. |
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