Checkpoint FOR MONDAY 15 MARCH 2010
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The biggest cyclone to hit Fiji for decades has laimed one life and caused damage in the northern islands but its full force is yet to hit.Cyclone Tomas is currently a category four storm and is battering Fiji's northern island of Vanua Levu, with winds up to 175 kilometres per hour. Authorities say one woman died when she was swept out to sea by waves on Friday as the cyclone was bearing down.Here's our reporter Leilani Momoisea. LIVE
Our former reporter Michelle McGuiness lives in Suva and is bracing for the cyclone which is expectedto hit the capital later tonight. PRE-REC
New Zealand Cricket has just confirmed the Black Caps tour to Zimbabwe in June will not go ahead.The tour was postponed last year because of political instability.The prime minister John Key had this to say at his post cabinet press conference this afternoon. CLIP New Zealand Cricket's chief executive Justin Vaughan says they've taken the government's advice on board . PREREC
Listening to that was cricket journalist Richard Boock. LIVE
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1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH Naomi Mitchell
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Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (pron: Apposit Wa-chechy-wa) has rejected an ultimatum by tens of thousands of protesters to dissolve parliament or face further demonstrations.
Supporters of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra warned that if their demand wasn't met, their first step would be to march on the army barracks where the prime minister is sheltering.
The ABC's Conor Duffy is outside the barracks and joins us now: LIVE
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The biggest cyclone to hit Fiji for decades has already claimed one life and caused damage in the northern islands but its full force is yet to hit.Cyclone Tomas is currently a category four storm and is battering Fiji's northern island of Vanua Levu, where winds of up to 175 kilometres per hour have ripped roofs off houses and uprooted trees.Authorities say one woman died when she was swept out to sea by waves, on Friday as the cyclone was bearing down.Joining us now from Fiji is Anthony Blake the operations manager at the Disaster Management Office. LIVE
People living at Mapua near Nelson have been assured they are unlikely to suffer long term health effects as a result of the clean-up of the most contaminated chemical site in New Zealand. The Ministry of Health has released a report on the health risks from the three year clean-up of the Fruitgrowers Chemical Company site.Despite its assurances, some residents aren't satisfied. Geoff Moffett was in Mapua today for the report's release, and joins us now: LIVE
Plans have been unveiled for a 350-thousand dollar Rugby World Cup sculpture in the Capital. Weta Workshop has submitted its concept for the 15 foot artwork to the Wellington City Council. Armed with a photograph of a model of the piece, reporter David Reid took to Wellington's streets to find out what the locals think. PKG
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WAATEA NEWS
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The United States President Obama says he is outraged by the weekend killing of two US citizens who became the latest victims of the Mexican government's war on drugs.Three people connected to the US consulate in Mexico's most violent border city Ciudad Juarez were shot dead by suspected drug gang hitmen. Nearly 19-thousand people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a military assault on the country's powerful drug cartels in 2006.The ABC's Barney Porter has more. PKG
Forest and Bird has been accused of scaremongering for releasing details of what it says are the government's plans to open up more conservation land for mining. The group says some of the high value conservation land under consideration, including land on the West Coast, could only be mined by destructive open cast methods. But the mayor of the Grey District says increased mining CAN coexist with conservation values. Matthew Peddie reports. PKG
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, John Key, is accusing the media of hysteria in their reporting of the mining debate.And he wouldn't respond to information released by Forest and Bird about specific conservation areas that may be opened up to mining. CLIP John Key says the discussion document will be released in due course - likely to be in a few weeks.And he says it will look at all of the conservation estate, not just land protected under Schedule Four of the Crown Minerals Act. CLIP
The Sensible Sentencing Trust has gone to court asking for permission take private prosecutions against the Police and the Corrections Department over the Graeme Burton case.Burton was paroled in 2006 and went on to kill Karl Kuchenbecker in the Wainuiomata hills while on the run from the Police in January 2007.And Judith Ashton, whose daughter Debbie was killed in a head-on car crash caused by a disqualified driver on parole, has also joined in the legal action. Our court reporter Ann Marie May was at today's hearing at the Wellington District Court. PREREC