TV3 NEWS: 18/02/2001

News, sport and weather.
Main stories:

A flotilla of antinuclear protest yachts have set sail to confront two freighters carrying plutonium through the Tasman in protest at it becoming a Nuclear Highway.
Richard Allen (Ranui Skipper); Simon Boxer (Greenpeace International); Tony Atkinson (Flotilla Spokesman).

Saddam Hussein is threatening to retaliate for yesterday's air strikes by the US and Britain.
George W Bush (US President); Robin Cook (British Foreign Minister).

Hundreds of Kurdish refugees trying to escape Iraq were on a ship which was run aground off the coast of France.
Linda Kennedy (BBC Reporter).

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party won two seats in the Queensland state election, but the big winner was the Opposition Labour Party which won a landslide victory.
Peter Beattie (Labour Leader); John Howard (Australian PM); Pauline Hanson (One Nation Leader).

Last night's Hero Parade was flamboyant although crowd numbers were down.
Voxpop.

The UN is warning that hundreds of thousands of people are at risk in Afghanistan due to famine and extreme cold.
Larry Thompson (Refugees International).