HEADLINES & NEWS
There's been a major breakthrough in the long running secondary teachers pay dispute with news that an independent arbitration panel can now start work on reaching a settlement. The teachers union the PPTA has just announced that 76 percent of its members have voted for arbitration after spending six days considering the proposal.
The President of the PPTA Jen McCutcheon joins us now. LIVE
The Education MInister Trever Mallard joins us now. LIVE
Police are piecing together the details of a kidnap plot they thwarted in Wellington overnight. Three men have been arrested and charged with a number of offences including attempted kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap. Two of them [illegible] a brief appearance in the Upper Hutt District Court today - the third did not appear as he is receiving treatment for dog bites. Police were alerted to the plot when a small concealed bunker was found in a forest park near Upper Hutt by a member of the public two weeks ago. Our reporter Patric Lane has been following developments - I asked him when police swooped. PREREC
Detective Inspector Norm Cook who headed the investigation says it was a little different from the usual kidnapping case police deal with. PREREC
BUSINESS NEWS WITH JOHN DRAPER
It's D-Day for the Rugby Union hierarchy over the world cup debacle. Representatives from the country's 27 provincial unions are meeting now behind locked doors in a Wellington hotel considering the independent report into how New Zealand lost the right to co-host next year's Rugby World Cup. Our reporter Antony Byers is following developments - he joins us from outside the meeting. LIVE WITH DROPINS
Israel has killed 11 people in an air raid on the Gaza Strip home of one of the [illegible] of the radical Islamic organisation Hamas. But it's still unclear whether the attack by a F-16 fighter plane has killed Salah Shehada (sell-lay sha-har-day), the leader of Hamas's military wing. The United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has condemned the attack, accusing Israel of failing the legal and moral responsibility to take all measures to avoid the loss of innocent life by using a missile against a residential apartment building. The ABC's Jerusalem correspondent Mark Willsey reports. PKGE
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with ANDREW GREENWOOD
Returning to our lead story - and secondary teachers have accepted the government's offer to put their increasingly bitter pay dispute to arbitration. The dispute has seen teachers strike, send pupils home and refuse to co-operate with the new high school qualification, the NCEA. But on Checkpoint this evening, Jen McCutcheon, the president of the teachers union the PPTA, said her members have voted in favour of an independent arbitration panel. CUT Joining me now are parents Gordon Caley from Dunedin and Ross Scott from Christchurch. LIVE
In Papua New Guinea, election violence has now claimed the lives of at least 30 people, as the country waits for a Supreme Court ruling on on the fate of the disastrous poll which started on June the 15th and is due to finish on Monday. Thousands of votes have been destroyed by armed bandits and five people have been killed in more election related attacks over the weekend. In one incident two men were shot and women and children forced to jump into a river by gunmen who burnt down more than 100 houses.
The AAP's correspondent in PNG Jim Baynes has been at the Supreme Court which is hearing evidence from the Attorney General's lawyer about stolen and lost ballots in many electorates. PREREC
Health authorities are warning all farmers to take steps to ensure they do not spread the potentially deadly e-coli bacteria after several children needed medical treatment after contracting the infection. Three of the children had to have kidney dialysis treatment after contracting a strain of the bacteria known at Vtec (Vee-tec) while in Rotorua. The Bay of Plenty medical officer of health Phil Shoemack believes two of the children may have contracted the infection [illegible] visiting a petting zoo. He warns that the Vtec bacteria can be life threatening. PREREC
Political infighting has seen the Mayor of Hamilton ousted as the chairman of the council's most important committee. The council has voted 8 to 6 to replace David Braithwaite as the Chairman of the powerful Strategic Planning and Policy committee, which oversees all the council's major work. Our reporter Andrew McRae was at the meeting. PKGE
Tranzrail has announced its quitting its train passenger business The company says it wants to complete the sale of its Wellington commuter network by the end of the year, and plans to quit its Auckland passenger service when its contract expires next July. It has also said it intends to quit its half share in Transcenic, its long distance passenger service. Our business editor John Draper joins me now. LIVE
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