Thursday, November 10, 2005
Finance Minister Michael Cullen denies a National claim that the Government appears to be preparing the ground to impose a capital gains tax on investment properties. This week Dr Cullen confirmed he had asked Treasury to consider what options were available to slow down the economy, and National finance spokesman John Key said it was clear he "wants to pour cold water on the Kiwi love affair with home ownership". Dr Cullen said on Tuesday he had asked the Treasury to consider available options to slow the economy. This was because lifting interest rates as the Reserve Bank had been doing was "clearly less immediately effective" than was the case five or 10 years ago. He said there were not many options and they were not "exactly attractive". Demand for investment property has been one of the reasons for the housing boom, which in turn has helped keep the economy boiling and driving up inflation.
Meanwhile, house prices in Auckland are predicted to shoot up 15 per cent in the next three years, rising faster than in most others areas, according to forecaster Infometrics. Auckland will be matched only by Wellington, but prices in other areas will rise more sedately, stay the same or fall. House price forecasts by 2008: Northland, up 11 per cent; Auckland, up 15 per cent; Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne/Tauranga, up 11 per cent; Taranaki/Manawatu/Wanganui, unchanged; Wellington, up 15 per cent; Christchurch, unchanged; Otago/Southland, down 4 per cent.
The superannuation increase agreed between Labour and NZ First is limited to the next three years, but Grey Power wants both parties to permanently enshrine it in law. The deal that helped Labour to form a Government included a move to boost the standard couple's rate from 65 to 66 per cent of the average weekly wage from next April 1. The Treasury calculates it would mean about $4 more weekly for most superannuitants. A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Michael Cullen confirmed that the rate change would last only for the life of this Government.
Tired doctors working long and erratic hours are putting patient safety at risk, research has found. Four out of 10 doctors had made a fatigue-related medical error over a six-month period, a Massey University study of 1366 junior doctors found. Twice as many doctors scored as excessively sleepy on a standard test compared with the general population; nearly half (42 per cent) reported having fallen asleep at the wheel driving home from work and most said work patterns caused problems in their personal life.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suffered his first major parliamentary defeat as the nation's leader over new counter-terrorist powers, raising fresh questions about his authority. The House of Commons voted by 322 to 291 against plans to let police hold terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge, as about 40 Labour MPs refused to support him. Parliamentarians later voted in favour of a much lower, 28-day detention limit, up from 14 days now.
Two 17-year-old Christian girls were shot yesterday in the second recent attack of its kind in Indonesia. Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern said two armed men shot the girls – Siti Nuraini and another identified only as Ivon – at close range with pistols near a Pentecostal church in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Both girls are in critical condition, in a coma. The attacks followed the beheadings of three Christian high school students in the area late last month.
Television programmes are now showing double the number of sex scenes aired seven years ago, says a study out Wednesday. The Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 70 percent of all shows included some sexual content, averaging about five sex scenes per hour. That's up from about three scenes per hour in 1998, and from nearly 4.5 scenes an hour three years ago.
A major battle for control of the internet is beginning between the USA and the United Nations. Since 1998, domains and addresses on the Internet have been controlled by the hitherto obscure Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a public-private, non-profit organisation based in Los Angeles and operating under the very loose supervision of the United States Department of Commerce. The US wants to turn ICANN into a private corporation, remaining on US soil. Many other countries, however, mostly in the developing and newly industrialised world - but as of last month the European Union too - want the governance transferred to a body under the aegis of the UN, in which everyone would have a say. The US does not plan to give up easily. American backers of the status quo argue that the internet has been a tool for free expression and democracy the world over. Ominously, among the countries pressing most strongly for a more internationalised and governmentalised structure are such beacons of liberty as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, all concerned to limit the flow of information to their restless citizens.
NZ's Chief Censor Bill Hastings wants a review of the labelling and classification of computer games in New Zealand. In the latest annual report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, tabled in Parliament yesterday, Mr Hastings said that unlike films, computer games that were not restricted did not have to be rated or labelled in New Zealand. But times had changed, he said: "Games have become more realistic and hugely popular. Some are developed solely for an adult audience. Foreign labels don't reflect Kiwi standards and research shows many people don't understand them."
Meanwhile, house prices in Auckland are predicted to shoot up 15 per cent in the next three years, rising faster than in most others areas, according to forecaster Infometrics. Auckland will be matched only by Wellington, but prices in other areas will rise more sedately, stay the same or fall. House price forecasts by 2008: Northland, up 11 per cent; Auckland, up 15 per cent; Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Gisborne/Tauranga, up 11 per cent; Taranaki/Manawatu/Wanganui, unchanged; Wellington, up 15 per cent; Christchurch, unchanged; Otago/Southland, down 4 per cent.
The superannuation increase agreed between Labour and NZ First is limited to the next three years, but Grey Power wants both parties to permanently enshrine it in law. The deal that helped Labour to form a Government included a move to boost the standard couple's rate from 65 to 66 per cent of the average weekly wage from next April 1. The Treasury calculates it would mean about $4 more weekly for most superannuitants. A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Michael Cullen confirmed that the rate change would last only for the life of this Government.
Tired doctors working long and erratic hours are putting patient safety at risk, research has found. Four out of 10 doctors had made a fatigue-related medical error over a six-month period, a Massey University study of 1366 junior doctors found. Twice as many doctors scored as excessively sleepy on a standard test compared with the general population; nearly half (42 per cent) reported having fallen asleep at the wheel driving home from work and most said work patterns caused problems in their personal life.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suffered his first major parliamentary defeat as the nation's leader over new counter-terrorist powers, raising fresh questions about his authority. The House of Commons voted by 322 to 291 against plans to let police hold terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge, as about 40 Labour MPs refused to support him. Parliamentarians later voted in favour of a much lower, 28-day detention limit, up from 14 days now.
Two 17-year-old Christian girls were shot yesterday in the second recent attack of its kind in Indonesia. Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern said two armed men shot the girls – Siti Nuraini and another identified only as Ivon – at close range with pistols near a Pentecostal church in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Both girls are in critical condition, in a coma. The attacks followed the beheadings of three Christian high school students in the area late last month.
Television programmes are now showing double the number of sex scenes aired seven years ago, says a study out Wednesday. The Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 70 percent of all shows included some sexual content, averaging about five sex scenes per hour. That's up from about three scenes per hour in 1998, and from nearly 4.5 scenes an hour three years ago.
A major battle for control of the internet is beginning between the USA and the United Nations. Since 1998, domains and addresses on the Internet have been controlled by the hitherto obscure Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a public-private, non-profit organisation based in Los Angeles and operating under the very loose supervision of the United States Department of Commerce. The US wants to turn ICANN into a private corporation, remaining on US soil. Many other countries, however, mostly in the developing and newly industrialised world - but as of last month the European Union too - want the governance transferred to a body under the aegis of the UN, in which everyone would have a say. The US does not plan to give up easily. American backers of the status quo argue that the internet has been a tool for free expression and democracy the world over. Ominously, among the countries pressing most strongly for a more internationalised and governmentalised structure are such beacons of liberty as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia, all concerned to limit the flow of information to their restless citizens.
NZ's Chief Censor Bill Hastings wants a review of the labelling and classification of computer games in New Zealand. In the latest annual report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification, tabled in Parliament yesterday, Mr Hastings said that unlike films, computer games that were not restricted did not have to be rated or labelled in New Zealand. But times had changed, he said: "Games have become more realistic and hugely popular. Some are developed solely for an adult audience. Foreign labels don't reflect Kiwi standards and research shows many people don't understand them."
