HEADLINES & NEWS
More evidence on the movement of the man accused of murdering his wife and daughter have emerged in the Palmerston North District Court today. Mark Lundy is charged with killing Christine and Amber Lundy whose bodies were found in the family home in the city last August. Two Justices of the Peace will decide if he should be committed for trial. Jill Galloway is covering the case. and joins me now. LIVE
Middlemore Hospital in South Aucklnad has been forced to put off surgery as the city's patient overcrowding crisis deepens. The region's three hospitals - Auckland, North Shore and Middlemore - are over flowing, with Accident and [illegible] patients being forced to wait in corridors.
Middlemore Hospital's acute care manager Vivien Blake says there have been more than 220 people through in the last 24 hours and there are usually about 20 people in the corridors at any time waiting for beds to come up. I asked her why there's been such a big influx. PREREC
A controversial retrospective law change on GST is coming under close scrutiny by a Parliamentary committee. The proposed law change will block inbound tourist operators, and education providers with foreign fee-paying students, from trying to claim back millions of dollars in GST they say they should never have paid. But heavyweights in law and accountancy have told Parliament's finance and expenditure committee that backdating tax law in this way is virtually unprecedented, and challenges fundamental rights. Our political reporter Kathryn Ryan was at today's hearing. PKGE
BUSINESS NEWS WITH CHRISTINE CESSFORD
For the first time, Japan has admitted using overseas aid to bribe member countries of the International Whaling Commission to support its stance on a [illegible] to commercial whaling. The admission comes just ahead of a Commission meeting in London which is to vote on a proposed South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. At last year's meeting, six Carribean countries with no interest in whaling supported Japan on virturally every motion it put forward including defeating the sanctuary proposal. Now the head of Japan's fisheries agency Maseyuku Komatsu has admitted Japan bought the votes with promises of overseas development aid or O D A. CUT And Mr Komatsu told the ABC minke whales are like insect pests. CUT
Sara Duthie from Greenpeace will be at the IWC meeting lobbying countries to support the proposed South PAcific Whale Sanctuary. I asked her what she thought of the Japan's admission it uses aid money to buy votes. PREREC
Police, private investigators and scrap metal dealers are joining forces to try and stamp out the growing problem of manhole cover thefts in Auckland. In the last month, over 200 of Telecom's aluminium covers worth an estimated 100 thousand dollars have been stolen in the region. Anna-Louise Taylor reports. PKGE
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with RICHARD CROWLEY
The Israeli army is sending armed reinforcements to the West Bank after a further escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence. Army officials say the move is because of what they call the flagrant violation by Palestinians of the ceasefire between the two sides. It comes after some of the worst violence in the region in recent months, including a suicide bombing and mortar attacks by Palestinians - and Israeli helicopter strikes. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Robert Berger joins us now. LIVE
In Australia - the focus of the hunt for a gunman suspected of shooting and kidnapping a British tourist has shifted from the Northern Territory to South Australia.
Tourist Peter Falconio is feared dead after he and his girlfriend Joanne Lees were ambushed by a man who flagged them down. Ms Lees was bound and gagged but managed to escape - Mr Falconio hasn't been seen since. Here's our Australia Correspondent Stephanie Baird. PKGE
A crucial funding decision for Auckland's proposed downtown transport centre has been put off at the last minute following a disagreement between the Auckland City Council and the regional funding body Infrastructure Auckland. Infrastructure Auckland had been about to discuss granting only one third of the ninety million dollar contribution sought by the council when Auckland mayor Chris Fletcher suggested the funding body had changed the rules at the last minute. Our Auckland reporter Todd Niall joins us now. LIVE
A credit agency says a new code for the handling of credit information is unnecesary and unworkable. The Privacy Commission is proposing new codes for the way credit and telecommunications information is dealt with. Liz Banas has been looking at the issues. PKGE
In the US, the government is considering whether to fund controversial research on embryonic stem cells. A new survey shows 63 percent of Americans and Britons, 72 percent of Australians and 65 percent of New Zealanders support the work. But opponents in the United States are calling on President George Bush and US lawmakers not to allow stem cell research. Our Washington correspondent [illegible] Huff reports. PKGE
In Fiji- there've been reports that the country's military wont allow the return of the deposed prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, if he wins office in next month's general election. Mr Choudrey who leads Fiji's Labour Party was ousted in last May's coup lead by George Speight, who is about to be tried for treason. I asked our correspondent in Fiji, Shalen Shandil what exactly the military has said. PREREC
MANA NEWS
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