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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Two truck drivers are tonight lucky to be alive after their vehicles collided and were engulfed in flames as explosions ripped through the calm Waikato morning. A tanker carrying a full load of diesel and a freight truck towing a trailer came to grief about two kilometres north of the Te Rapa Dairy Factory, closing state highway one and causing lengthy traffic delays. Andrew McRae reports. PKG. And for the latest, Andrew is at Te Rapa LIVE
If you're an Aucklander you'll get your say on how the city's run in the future - as part of a Royal Commission of Inquiry. The inquiry's terms of reference have been decided - after endless debate about how to streamline the way the region's run. Joy Reid reports PKG
Palmerston North is going to keep going as a trans-Tasman tourism destination after an Australian airline agreed to fill the role left vacant by Freedom Air. The Air New Zealand subsidiary is pulling its services from the city from March next year after deciding to ground its budget airline. Freedom's spot on the Palmerston North airport tarmac will be filled by fledgling airline Oz-Jet, which plans to fly to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Oz-Jet's international operations manager, Allen Tyson says there's money to be made from flying out of Palmerston North. CUT
Vision Manawatu Chief Executive Andrew Powrie says having the new airline onboard is absolutely fantastic. CUT
Palmerston North International Airport Chief Executive Officer Garry Goodman joins us now. LIVE
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BUSINESS NEWS
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The Department of Conservation has identified one hundred new camping grounds for development, with the first four to open this summer. The Conservation Minister Chris Carter says the move is in response to the decline in New Zealand camping grounds, with many bought up by developers in recent years. He visited the first of the new DOC camp grounds near Nelson today, and our reporter Geoff Moffett was there PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The Prime Minister has told reporters she feels it was appropriate for her to comment on the ongoing court cases involving 16 firearms defendants. At last night's post-Cabinet press conference, Helen Clark said it made no sense to her that - in her words - the Māori Party did not want the defendants charged, despite them having - in her words - at the very least illicitly used fire arms, constructed molotov cocktails and trained themselves in how to use napalm.
Miss Clark said it was absolutely extraordinary in this context that the Māori Party was demanding that Trevor Mallard be charged with assault following his punching of the National MP Tau Henare. Miss Clark says she wouldn't have made that statement on the active court proceedings, if she didn't feel it was appropriate. Before an engagement at Tauranga Hospital, she was also asked about Trevor Mallard taking anger management classes. CUT The Māori Party has said that it feels that armed police used stormtrooper tactics in the weapons raids and their roadblock at Ruatoki was overkill. The 16 defendants who were arrested on October the 15th are next due in court in Auckland on Thursday. None of the defendants faces charges relating to napalm, no convictions have been made and no trial dates have been set. Well, Matthew Farrell was our reporter asking the last question there. LIVE
David Benson Pope's political future looks even more in doubt today with a senior union figure announcing he wants to stand as Labour's candidate in the Dunedin South electorate. Don Pryde, is the the president of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, and also a member of the Dunedin South local electorate committee which helps decide who will represent the party in the safe Labour seat. Mr Pryde was unwilling to talk to Checkpoint. With us now is our Political Editor Brent Edwards. LIVE
In Fiji, eight soldiers wanted for the high-profile murder of a teenager have been stopped from leaving the country for peacekeeping duties. The soldiers and a police officer who have been charged with the murder of Sakiusa Rabaka had passed through immigration and were on a plane to Iraq, when they were stopped from leaving. The 19 year-old died in Nadi in February some weeks after being taken to an army camp, where he was allegedly severely beaten.
Here's our correspondent in Fiji, Vijay Naryan PREREC
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WAATEA NEWS
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A woman accused of murdering a 10 month-old baby in South Auckland, has been released on bail following her first court appearance. A Destiny Church member, who was among those in court providing support to the accused and her family, says he helped persuade her to approach police. Our reporter Lisa Thompson was at the Manukau District Court for this morning's appearance and filed this report. PKG
If you're male and 65 or over...new figures show you're more likely to suffer a work place accident - or worse. One in four people killed in work-related incidents last year were aged 65 or over. And this age group also suffered work-related injuries at a much higher rate than younger people. Katy Gosset reports. PKG
An intellectually disabled man is facing his second cold night in the bush near Te Kuiti wearing nothing but a tracksuit and t-shirt. About 30 searchers have been combing an area around the Mangaokewa Viaduct Reserve today, after two men in their 50s became separated from an IH group. Rescuers found one of the men in the early hours of this morning, but 51-year-old Lewis Munro is still missing. Senior Sergeant Rob Van Kelken (KULKUN), of the Te Kuiti Police, says teams have been searching a five kilometre area. PREREC
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