1700 to 1707 NEWS
The boxer who killed his baby daughter ten years ago is under pressure tonight to show he's a changed man and deserves a place on New Zealand's Olympic team. Soulan Pownceby served four and a half years in prison for the manslaughter of his baby daughter in 1994. He's also admitted to six assaults between 1998, when he got out of prison, and 2000. The executive of Boxing New Zealand will meet tonight to discuss its decision to nominate Pownceby for the Olympic team. Pownceby has not been returning calls today, and his coach Phil Shatford says he has not been in contact with him since this morning. Mr Shatford is defending the the boxer. CUT
Helen Clark says Pownceby needs to apologise for his actions. CUT
Tom O'Connor has been involved in amateur boxing for 45 years. Also a former police officer, he provided the New Zealand Olympic Committee with a character reference for Saul Pownceby. The boxer was also part of the team Mr O'Connor managed on its trip to the Oceania Championships in Tonga in April. Tom O'Connor joins us now. LIVE
The New Zealand Olympic Committee's Secretary-General and CEO, Barry Maister joins us now. LIVE
The Minister for Child Youth and Family, Ruth Dyson has been grilled in parliament over the case of a six week old baby boy, who's fighting for his life in Starship Hospital. A 26-year-old woman reappeared in the Tauranga District Court today on assault charges and was remanded without plea to reappear next month. Members of the Opposition have criticised Child Youth and Family for not doing enough to protect the child. Our Social Issues Correspondent Leigh-Anne Wiig has been following the story. Q + A
The National MP David Carter has laid a formal complaint with the Speaker over allegations concerning another member of Parliament. He's asked Johnathan Hunt to investigate what he considers to be a breach of Parliament's standing [illegible]. Our political reporter has been following the story and joins us now Q + A
1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH PATRICK OMEARA
MPs at Parliament are under increasing pressure from both sides of the Civil Union debate with the first vote on the Bill now two days away. The Civil Union Bill would allow same-sex and de facto couples to legally register their relationships, and most parties are allowing MPs a conscience vote on the issue. Here's our parliamentary chief reporter Clare Pasley. PKG
1730 HEADLINES
SPORTS NEWS WITH STEPHEN HEWSON
The government of the Pacific Island nation of Nauru has fallen after a no confidence vote, following a government minister defected to the opposition.
The vote followed threats by President Rene Harris to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections - a matter parliament was due to consider on Thursday. The Parliament has been in a stalemate for months with Mr Harris and several ministers spending months in Melbourne, supposedly trying to resolve the country's debt problems. Joining us now is the ABC's Pacfic correspondent in Melbourne, Bruce Hill LIVE
National MPs have dumped any plans to water down the nuclear ships laws. The party's leader Don Brash told Radio New Zealand last week that National was unlikely to go into the election with a policy to change the law, and that there would be no change without a referendum. Today National's caucus backed that view, and has decided that the anti-nuclear legislation should be left unchanged. Joining us now is our political editor Kathryn Ryan Q + A
A disagreement between two women at a party escalated into a major confrontation between two South Auckland street gangs, the High Court at Auckland has heard. The Crown has set out its case against three men accused of murdering 16-year-old school boy Jordan Adams in Otahuhu last September. The Prosecutor Brian Dickie told the court he died after being hit in the head repeatedly with a wheel brace and a plank of wood as he lay helpless in the gutter, Mr Dickie said partygoers at a Lippiatt Rd house were mainly associated with the Onehunga Central Stylers, a 'crew' or gang styled on the New York Bloods and Crips. Jennifer Dann was in court. Q + A
Literally tons of old tyres could be destined for a new life as anything from playground mats to fuel sources, under a new scheme, launched today to curb the numbers being dumped. Each year, millions of tyres are thrown away and many of them end up in landfills. But the new scheme, called Tyre Track, aims to reduce the chance of old tyres winding up, ditched on roadsides, in rivers and in hazardous illegal stockpiles. Patric Lane went to the launch, and filed this report. PKG
The Advertising Standards Complaints Board has ruled an advertisement by The Warehouse urging children to eat a one-kilogram easter egg within 15 minutes breached advertising guidelines and was socially irresponsible. The advert featured a toddler and the chocolate egg, with the phrase "Take the Challenge, measure yourself on the pig-o-meter". The Board found it breached advertising codes by encouraging excessive consumption of particular foods. The Board's executive director, Glen Wiggs, says the codes were introduced in 2001 because of efforts to curb youth obesity. PRE-REC
The Department of Conservation has tried out a new way of releasing whales who become entangled in cray pots, after a Kaikoura man died trying to free a whale last June. Tom Smith had helped DOC with previous releases but was killed when he was struck by a whale's tail. Katy Gosset reports. PKG
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