Checkpoint FOR WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2010
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Andy Haden may be about to lose his job as the Rugby World Cup Ambassador after making comments about sports stars and sexual assaults on young women. Less than two months after apologising for using the work 'Darkie" in connection to race-based rugby selection, Mr Haden said this on the Sky TV show, Deaker on Sport, on Wednesday. CUT
The Prime Minister and The Rugby World Cup minister, have responded quickly and strongly. Murray McCully is due to speak to Haden shortly. Mr McCully, says it's not possible to combine the roles of television rugby shock-jock and 2011 Ambassador. A member of the voluntary organisation, the Roundtable on Violence Against Women, Sandra Dickson, says it's embarassing that New Zealand has a Rugby World Cup ambassador who makes sexist and racist comments. CUT
Andy Haden has not returned our many calls - Murray McCully is unavailable to
appear on Checkpoint tonight. The Labour's Party's Rugby World Cup spokesman, Trevor Mallard, says Mr Haden has gone too far and must be removed, and he joins us now. LIVE
The Civil Aviation Authority has banned a Canterbury-based ballooning company from operating saying the risk of people being killed or injured is too great. Complaints started about Up Up and Away started late last year and there was a spot audit in March - but CAA director Steve Douglas is defending the time it took to ground the company. He says the authority found multiple failings. PREREC
The Crafar family has failed to stop the sale of their 16 North Island farms that were put into receivership last October. Their last minute appeal to the High Court in Auckland for an interim injunction failed to convince the judge they have the financial backing to be able to buy back the properties worth around 200 million dollars. The receivers, KordaMentha, are currently considering bids for the 13 dairy and 3 dry-stock farms after tenders closed on Wednesday. The family is also looking at a claim for damages against the banks and the receivers saying the creditors have behaved unfairly and the farms are being mismanaged. The Crafars will have to lodge 50 thousand dollars security if they want to pursue those claims. Here's KordaMentha's Brendan Gibson. PREREC
Allan Crafar says he didn't have the time to come up with the evidence needed to convince the judge he could buy the properties. I asked him why he'd gone to court in the first place. PREREC
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH PATRICK OMEARA
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Canterbury's A-list of rugby superstars has just gone up by one. The regions already home to Ritchie McCaw and Daniel Carter who attract crowds of fans - and groupies - where ever they appear. Now another pin-up-boy has joined their ranks with the arrival of Sonny Bill Williams, a former league player with an infamous off-the-field reputation of his own. Williams spoke to media for the first time in Christchurch today, Monique Devereux was there. PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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Wellington's Lambton Quay was closed off for a couple of hours this afternoon after a large sheet of glass fell from the 20th floor of a high rise building. The police and fire service cordoned off the busy retail strip near Cable-car lane. Joining us now is Thorndon Fire Station Officer Grant Haywood who was at the scene. LIVE
Authorities in China have seized 38 tonnes of milk powder laced with melamine - with tests finding levels of the toxic chemical up to 500 times beyond the permitted limit. In 2008, six babies died and nearly 300-thousand fell ill after drinking melamine-laced milk powder manufactured by the Sanlu group, part owned by Fonterra. The New Zealand company says it has no connection to the latest case. We're joined now by the ABC's Tom Iggulden on the line from Beijing. LIVE
The forestry industry is celebrating its best year in decades thanks to Chinese log exports pulling it out of the doldrums. Official figures show the country's timber harvest to the end of March was the largest ever for the period. But there's disagreement about how long the boom can last. Here's our forestry reporter, Ian Telfer. PKG
Papers released by the Treasury show it was at loggerheads with Inland Revenue over cuts to the company tax rate in the Budget. The Treasury won the arguement after the Government cut the company tax rate below the trust rate and top personal rate. Our economics correspondent, Nigel Stirling, has been looking over the papers and joins me now. LIVE Q&A
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA WITH CATRIONA MACLEOD
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The spy scandal in the United States has come to a sudden end - with the ten Russian agents expelled from the country after a swap deal was reached. They appeared in a New York court earlier today, and pleaded guilty to spying for a foreign country while living undercover in the US. More serious money laundering charges were dropped. Our correspondent Nathan King is in New York: LIVE
First it was East TImor, then maybe Papua New Guinea, definitely not Nauru and it could end up being East Timor after all. Julia Gillard's plans for a regional processing centre for asylum seekers appear to be unravelling although the Australian Prime Minister insists discussions with the East Timorese are still happening and there was never a firm plan. Clinton Fernandes is a senior lecturer in politics at New South Wales University - he has a special interest in East Timor where he is at the moment. PREREC
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