HEADLINES & NEWS
Convicted double murderer Mark Lundy has been given one of the heaviest prison sentences ever imposed in recent years, being jailed for 17 years without parole for killing his wife and child. Last month, Lundy was found guilty of murdering Christine and Amber Lundy in the family home. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 13 year non parole period. But today in the High Court in Palmerston North, the Crown sought to have the minimum non-parole period extended. Our reporter Jill Galloway was in court - she joins me now. LIVE WITH DROPINS
Anti-prison protestors have demonstrated at a historic hui between the Prime Minister and Northland's Ngapuhi people in Kaikohe today. The hui was to seal the peace accord between the government and Ngapuhi, reached at Waitangi this [illegible] But Helen Clark and Cabinet Ministers also had to face more than fifty Ngapuhi people angry that a prison is to be built at Ngawha - Lois Williams filed this report. PKGE
The High Court has imposed an interim ban on the screening of the controversial French Film Baise Moi. The sexually explicit and violent film was to have been screened with an R18 classification tomorrow night in Auckland at the Incredible Film Festival. The Society for the promotion of Community Standards took the case against the film. Society spokesperson David Lane has welcomed the court's interim ban. CUT The film festival's organiser Anthony Timpson, however, is not so pleased.
He now has two gaps in the programme, with an interim injunction also over the Japanese film Visitor Q. I asked him if the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards was behind both interim injunctions. PREREC
BUSINESS NEWS WITH JOHN DRAPER
To South America - and Venezuela's army has rebelled against the President Hugo Chavez, seizing key installations and airports to prevent him fleeing the [illegible] The rebellion came after 12 people were killed and more than a hundred wounded during opposition protests in the capital Caracas. The army's commander General Efrain Vasquez (efrain vas-quez) says he can no longer be loyal to the president after what the attacks on the Venezuelan people. The BBCs Gillian Mikale (mich-alay) reports from Caracus. VOICER
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff has been meeting with the Cook Islands Prime Minister Robert Woonten over a proposed trial to inject live pig cells into diabetics. New Zealand medical authorities have already rejected the experiment which the Auckland company Diatranz is now seeking to conduct in the Cook Islands. There are fears that the process risks passing animal viruses onto humans. I asked Mr Goff whether the Cook Islands Government is also likely to reject the trial. PREREC
A scientific breakthrough looks set to revolutionise mussel farming. The industry is worth two hundred million dollars a year - but until now has had to rely on eggs - or spat - being harvested in the far north and transplanted to mussel farms around the country. After six years work, scientists at Nelson's Cawthron Institute have developed techniques allowing spat to be commercially bred in hatcheries. Geoff Moffett reports that opens the door to better mussels through selective breeding. PKGE
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with STEPHEN HEWSON
School support staff will have their criminal records checked from this month in a bid to make schools safer for children. Legislation that comes into effect on April the 22nd, makes it compulsory for school boards of trustees to check new employees criminal records. Existing employees will also be subject to a police check, but this process will be phased in region by region, with a pilot scheme beginning shortly in Wairarapa and Southland. Fiona Wilde reports. PKGE
The fate of New Zealand's bid to co-host the World Rugby Cup with Australia will be determined by the International Rugby Board in Dublin next week, amid warnings that failure will hurt Trans-Tasman relations. Australia is pushing to [illegible] the cup alone after New Zealand failed to meet conditions in time. But a former Australian Rugby Union chairman Ross Turnbull says there is more at stake in hosting what is a major world sporting event. CUT
Former All Black and coach Brian Lochore says if New Zealand is cut out it could spell trouble. CUT
Gerald McGee, a former diplomat and now director of the New Zealand Institute for International affairs, says there is more than simply sport at stake.
PREREC
The National Party says the Prime Minister's endorsement of the Greens in Coromandel shows that Labour is desparately looking for a new coalition partner. Helen Clark has indicated that while Labour will stand a candidate in Coromandel, they will be concentrating on the party vote, and will not discourage people from voting for Jeanette Fitzsimons as the local MP. Our reporter, Julian Robins, takes a look at the politics behind the move. PKGE
An international tobacco company is vowing to appeal against an Australian court ruling awarding 700 thousand dollars damages to a Melbourne woman. The Supreme Court ordered British American Tobacco to pay the money to Rolah McCabe [illegible] is dying of cancer. A key point in the finding by Justice Eames was that [illegible] company, on the advice of its law firm Clayton Utz, destroyed documents vital to the case. But British American spokesman Scott Hailstone says they acted within the law. CUT
But Rolah McCabe's law firm Slater and Gordon is determined to fight the appeal-senior law partner Lisa Nichols says the documents destruction will be a key point. PREREC
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