1700 to 1707 NEWS
A mountain guiding company in Franz Joseph has had its licence suspended by the Department of Conservation because of major safety concerns. Barrie Stuart Arthur, one of two men who died on Mount Aspiring on Tuesday worked for the Franz Josef Guiding Company. DOC's area manager for Franz Josef, Bob Dickson says the company is co-operating with the department and will have an audit of its safety plan completed by next Tuesday, at which time DOC will decide whether to lift the suspension. LIVE
The Auckland City Council is warning ratepayers will have to pay if it buys two of Auckland's key waterfront marinas from the Government. The Government plans to sell the Westhaven marina and the Hobson West Marina it's buying from the Ports of Auckland for 54 million dollars to the Auckland City Council. PKG
[illegible], the Navy is trying to rescue over a hundred villagers threatened by rising floodwaters near Suva after the latest bout of flash flooding. The National Disaster Management Office says it has no indication that anyone has died in the flooding, although other reports say eleven people are missing. Heavy rain of up to 100 millimetres fell in Fiji overnight. The Fiji Times chief of staff, Verenaisi Raicola, says west of Suva the whole of Navua town and surrounding settlements are under 2 metres of water. PRE REC
1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH TODD NIALL
The South Canterbury District Health Board says in hindsight it should have suspended a Timaru surgeon before he almost killed a patient by cutting her main heart artery while removing her appendix. Samiuela Tonga was stood down in March 2003 after the severed aorta incident, which followed two other botched operations the previous year.
The Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Patterson has found that the DHB should have done more to stop Dr Tonga from doing further surgery saying the hospital has a duty to protect the public. The DHB's chief executive Craig [illegible] says he accepts Ron Patterson's finding that the health board did not move quickly enough. PRE-REC
The hostage situation in Iraq has taken a violent twist with the killing of one of the four Italians kidnapped in the country. Japan is also trying to confirm media reports, which say two Japanese civilians are the latest to have been kidnapped in Iraq, in addition to three taken hostage last week. Italy confirmed the death of one of those kidnapped after video footage was sent to the television channel Al Jazera. The abductors are demanding that Italy withdraw it's forces from Iraq. Italy, like Japan, has been a staunch supporter of the United States in Iraq. BBC PKG.
1730 HEADLINES
SPORTS NEWS WITH STEPHEN HEWSON
The Palestinian Prime Minister has denounced the US President George Bush's implicit support for Israel's claim to some West Bank settlements. Mr Bush has backed Israeli plans to withdraw from Gaza and part of the West Bank, but indicated support for Israel's right to keep some of the settlements. Analysts say the US president's backing is historic and shifts long-held US positions. Washington correspondent Laura Iiyama reports. PKG
The government has given go-ahead for a 215-million dollar redevelopment of both Waikato and Thames Hospital. The Minister of Health, Annette King made the announcement to staff in Hamilton and Thames today. The Waikato District Health Board says the project will mean staff and patients won't have to work and stay in overcrowded and in some cases, sub-standard conditions. And for Thames, which was under threat of closure at one stage, it confirms the hospital's future. PKG
Age Concern New Zealand says a growing number of older people are being ripped off by trusted friends or relatives who hold their enduring power of attorney. A new report shows that, of 244 older people who gave financial control to someone else - more than 20 per cent were abused. The Chief Executive of Age Concern, Garth Taylor, joins me now. LIVE
An expert in dealing with sexual offenders believes churches should not cut all ties with leaders who are found to be sexual predators. Dr Bill Marshall, who [illegible] directs two sexual offender programmes at Canadian prisons, has addressed the Australia and New Zealand Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers in Auckland today. He's one of a number of speakers addressing the conference, which, as Sarah North reports, is a first for New Zealand. PKG
Across South Africa votes are being counted at the end of the country's third democratic elections since the end of apartheid. The governing African national congress looks certain to win with early partial results giving them about 60 percent of the vote. The new parliament would then re-elect President Mbeki for a second five year term. PKG
The war against drugs has just taken on a two new weapons. They're called Tess and Dallas and they're the country's first dogs trained exclusively to sniff out white-powder drugs such methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Until now Customs Service dogs have been trained to find both white powders and cannabis. The labradors graduated today from the Police Dog Training Centre in Trentham, and national training co-ordinator Dave Huff says the change is a response to the huge increase in methamphetamine traffic across the border. He says they're following a successful British and Australian practice. PRE REC
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