HEADLINES & NEWS
There are fresh developments in the Air New Zealand crisis this evening, with Singapore Airlines dropping its opposition to the Government taking a shareholding in the troubled national carrier. Last week Singapore Airlines and Brierley Investments, Air New Zealand's major shareholders, agreed in principle to a rescue package that would see them injecting 300 million dollars into the airline while the Government will loan it more than half a billion dollars. But the terrorist attacks in the United States are hurting the aviation industry, damaging Air New Zealand even more - and that means the rescue package will have to change. Our economics correspondent Brent Edwards has been following the latest events. LIVE
[illegible] Air New Zealand staff representatives and management have been meeting in Auckland discussing survival strategies. The president of the Council of Trade Unions, Ross Wilson, was at the meeting and joins me now. LIVE
The international aviation industry is suffering huge job losses in the wake of the terror attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Since the attacks, nearly one hundred thousand aviation workers have lost their jobs - the biggest cuts were announced today, with the top two United States carriers, United and American Airlines slashing 40 thousand jobs between them. Other airlines are also cutting jobs, impacting on the giant aircraft maker Boeing. It has announced it is cutting its workforce by 30 thousand, saying the decision is directly attributable to the attacks. I spoke to Boeing spokesman Tom Ryan in Seattle, asking him why the company had decided to layoff this many employees. PREREC
Meanwhile, the United States has taken its first military step in the war against terrorism, which it has launched in response to the terror attacks. It is deploying warplanes to the Persian Gulf in an operation codenamed Infinite [illegible] as our Washington correspondent Vicky Ford reports. PKGE
The grim task of removing the rubble continues at the World Trade Centre in New York and at the Pentagon in Washington. Our reporter, Shona Geary, is in New York and I asked her whether there's any hope at all of finding survivors in the World Trade Centre. PREREC
BUSINESS NEWS WITH PATRICK O'MEARA
The Māori girls boarding school, Queen Victoria, is closing - but already plans are being made to start a new school on the same site. Queen Victoria has been struggling to get enough students and has recieved critical reports from the Education Review Office.
Sally Wenley reports. PKGE B/ANNOUNCE: And there will be more on this story later in Checkpoint in Mana News.
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with ANDREW GREENWOOD
As the American government prepares its response to the terror attacks on New York and Washington, in New Zealand, hundreds of people have marched on Parliament, calling on the US not to launch an all-out assault on Afghanistan. The prime suspect, Osama bin Laden, is believed to be sheltering in Afghanistan, and American pressure is growing for Kabul's ruling Taliban party to hand him over.
Today, a hundred American warplanes have been deployed to bases in the Middle East, in what's seen as preparation for a retaliatory strike. Political reporter Jane Patterson was at today's peace rally in Wellington and filed this report. PKGE
Returning to our lead story and the latest developments in the Ansett Airlines crisis. Our reporter Eric Frykberg is there and joins me now. LIVE WITH DROP IN
In Nauru, more asylum seekers have been taken off the Australian navy ship Minoora this afternoon, joining the hundred who were taken ashore and put in a detention camp yesterday. Many of those on the Minoora are the Afghani refugees [illegible] aboard the cargo ship Tampa off Christmas Island. The 120 men, women and children who disembarked today have spent nearly 30 days at sea - they will now remain on Nauru until their applications for refugee status assessed. Our reporter, Barbara Dreaver, is in Nauru. LIVE WITH DROP IN
A Parliamentary committee has unveiled details of a wide-ranging inquiry into the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission. The Māori Affairs Select Committee's terms of reference include investigating what has prevented the distribution of fishing assets for more than a decade, the way the system operates, and how to fix the hold-up.
The committee will also inquire into the role and background of individuals involved in negotiations, they way they were appointed and paid, and the role of the Commissioners and their pay. The committee's chairman, John Tamihere told me the resources distributed by the Commission haven't filtered down to Māori communities. PREREC
The Drug Foundation is critical of plans to close the needle exchange programme for addicts in Manawatu and Hawkes Bay, saying it is shocked by the decision. The programme is run nationwide to supply drug addicts with clean needles in an effort to curb diseases like HIV and Hepatitis C, which can be spread through needle sharing. Simon Nimmo, the programme's national co-ordinator, says the closures could also lead to an increase in crime. I asked him why the exchanges were closing down. PREREC
MANA NEWS
CLOSE & THEME