HEADLINES & NEWS
There are signs today of a breakthrough in the bitter waterfront dispute with two separate moves to get the parties into mediation. The dispute that's hit several South Island ports over the last three months are over the use of largely out-of-town labour by Mainland Stevedoring to load logs on ships for the forestry company Carter Holt Harvey. The fight has moved to Nelson this week where there have been angry scenes at a waterfront picket line, and four people have been arrested in clashes between police and protestors. Now the Labour Department has announced that it's got agreement from all parties to attend mediation. Mediation Services Manager Mike Feely explains. CUT Meanwhile is a seperate move Nelson Mayor Paul Matheson says he's pressing ahead with [illegible] to mediate a local solution and hopes to have a first meeting with all parties by early next month.
I asked him why he thought it was still necesary. PREREC
Helen Shea is at the Port of Nelson and joins me now. LIVE
The Prime Minister has been at the home base of key Māori voting support today and she's been told that her government has not performed well and she is being put on notice.
Helen Clark and seven of her ministers went to Ratana Pa near Wanganui today - the seat of critical Māori voting support for the Labour Party. The occasion of the visit is celebrations marking the anniversary of the birth of the Ratana prophet and church founder, T W Ratana. Mark Torley is at the celebrations and joins me now. LIVE
BUSINESS NEWS with CLARE SZIRANYI
A major business lobby group says the Reserve Bank should cut interest rates to stimulate domestic growth as the world economy slows.
The bank today left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 6-point-5-percent, citing the stronger kiwi dollar, a cooling world economy and slowing price rises as showing that inflationary pressures have eased. The chief executive of the Auckland-based Northern Employers' and Manufacturers' Association, Alasdair Thompson, says the bank's next move should be to cut rates. CUT Chief economist at Westpac Trust Adrian Orr had picked the Official Cash Rate would remain unchanged - I asked him what impact a slower world economy is going to have on interest rates in the coming months. PREREC
Petrol giant BP was forced into a price backdown today as some of its competitors raised their pricves but reisted the pressure to go all the way to match BP. Caltex and Shell will raise the petrol price by 5 cents a litre and diesel by 2 cents a litre from midnight tonight.
BP has put petrol up 7-cents a litre, and diesel 5-cents a litre on Monday, but pulled its prices today to match Caltex and Shell's forthcoming rates. Liz Banas has more. PKGE
A population explosion of rats and stoats has wiped out a prime breeding colony of the rare forest bird, the yellowhead. The Department of Conservation revealed the disappearance of yellowhead from Mt Stokes in the Marlbourgh Sounds to Parliament's environment select committee today. Our political reporter Bryan Crump was there. PKGE
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with STEPHEN HEWSON
The Fiji coup leader, George Speight, and 12 of his accomplices today made an emotional appearance at the magistrates court in Suva.
Speight and 15 of his supporters are charged with treason in relation to last year's May coup against then Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudry.
Our Fiji correspondent Shalen Shandil was at court today and he joins us now. LIVE
A Wellington teenager attending a youth forum on cannabis law reform at Parliament today has made an appeal for better understanding of how young people are affected by cannabis and why they use it. A review of the law is being carried out by a Parliamentary Select Committee and todays forum is a way [illegible] encouraging teenagers to have their say. Alexandra Grace who is 19 says she doesn't use cannabis anymore because she doesn't like it, but she knows many people who do - including some who've been prosecuted and who now have a criminal record. PREREC
In Chile, the former military ruler Augusto Pinochet has been questioned for the first time by a judge seeking to try him on human rights charges. The Judge, Juan Guzman, spent just over two hours in the General's Sandiago residence. Judge Guzman will now decide whether to re-arrest General Pinochet or whether he cannot go to trial because of poor health. The leaked results of recent medical examinations suggest that General Pinochet is suffering from moderate dimentia. I asked our correspondent in Chile, James Reynolds, why the judge questionned the General at his home, rather than in a court room. PREREC
In the US, there appears to be growing momentum behind a campaign which seeks compensation for the descendants of Africans who were enslaved. Slavery officially ended in America 135 years ago and some campaigners have spent decades fighting for reparations on behalf of its victims, but without any [illegible]
[illegible], as our North American correspondent Malcolm Brown reports, proponents feel that attitudes are changing. PKGE
The Department of Conservation's black stilt recovery programme has today released nine birds bred in captivity near Twizel, in the South Island. The black stilt is one of the most endangered wading birds in the world. DOC says the wild population is about 48 - with only seven productive breeding pairs. I asked Emily Sancha, who's with the captive breeding centre for the black stilt, how they ensure that the birds being released aren't killed by predators. PREREC
MANA NEWS
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