Checkpoint FOR WEDNESDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2012
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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It's still too close to call in the race to be the next President of the United States, with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney neck and neck in several battleground states. Florida and Ohio are the most crucial of those, and both are incredibly close. Some major US TV networks are saying that with polls now closing across the country that Barack Obama appears to have an easier path to clinch the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
Significantly he looks to have won Pennsylvania, as well as blocking the Republican's grab for New Hampshire and Michigan. Exit polls indicate a high voter turnout which generally favours the Democrat candidate. Here's how a few voters cast their ballots. CUT
Our political correspondent in Washington is Nick Harper LIVE
All eyes are on the lynchpin state of Ohio - Henry Gomez is the lead political reporter for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. PREREC
In Florida - the result is still too close to call - with almost 90 percent of the vote counted Obama has 49.9, Romney 49.3.
Early voting this week was plagued by long delays. Deidre McNab is the President of the League of Women Voters in Florida - she was worried bad weather this morning would keep people away from polling stations but she says then the sun came out. PREREC
The Prime Minister is rejecting a call for the former Department of Labour Minister, Kate Wilkinson to go from the cabinet altogether. Ms Wilkinson quit her Labour portfolio following the release of the report on the Pike River mine disaster, but retains her other ministerial warrants. Here's our political reporter, Liz Banas PKG
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Kate Gudsell
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About 100 people marched through central Wellington today to Parliament to protest over what they say is a social housing crisis. The protestors presented petitions with more than one-thousand signatures to MPs from the Labour, Green and Mana parties. Craig McCulloch was at the march. PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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As you just heard the main TV networks are now calling the presidential election for Barack Obama. The President is spending election night in his home town Chicago. Also there is our correspondent Nathan King. LIVE
Americans in New Zealand are closely following the election result in the US. Beth Coleman is with the American Club at bar in Auckland's Ponsonby LIVE
The Republican challenger Mitt Romney is in Boston, along with our correspondent Malcolm Brown LIVE
Tomorrow it's China's turn to make a big political choice. China's Communist Party Central Committee will meet to select new leaders as well as the members of the Commission which controls the country's armed forces. The China Congress is an elite event involving hundreds of delegates as the ABC's Brendan Trembath reports: PKG
The Prime Minister has for the first time categorically denied he called the world's richest footballer, David Beckham, thick as bat shit. Under some intense questioning in Parliament this afternoon, he told the House he did not use the bat word. Here's our political reporter, Chris Bramwell PKG
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17.45 MANU KORIHI
Tēnā koutou katoa, good evening,
A hapū leader says a stoush at the Ngāpuhi AGM at the weekend has cast doubt on the Rūnanga’s fitness to lead the iwi.
Tensions are running high between the rūnanga, and hapū who reject its claim of mandate to settle the Ngāpuhi treaty claims.
Witnesses say a man hurled a plastic seat at the chairman Sonny Tau, claiming he was failing to control the AGM after a woman threatened to punch another woman who questioned the accounts.
The Kotahitanga leader Pita Tipene, says the incident reflects poorly on the Rūnanga’s leadership - and its ability to manage the claim negotiations.
NGAPUHI-PITA TP
IN: There is a push
OUT: ...Shouldn't be there.
DUR: 18"
Pita Tipene of the hapū alliance, Te Kotahitanga.
A spokesperson for the rūnanga says it was a Kotahitanga supporter who threw the chair, and was asked to leave the marae - and the AGM ran smoothly from that point.
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The Auckland company, Zodiac Holdings, is appealing against a decision denying it the right to take more water from Whangārei’s Poroti Springs.
Zodiac applied to the Northland Regional Council to double its allowable take from the springs, to launch an export water-bottling business that's been ten years in the planning.
But the council refused, saying Zodiac had no reliable way of monitoring the flow of water, or the impact of its take, on Māori cultural interests.
Lois Williams reports:
ZODIAC VCR
IN: Zodiac says...
OUT: ...Lois Williams.
DUR: 40"
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Loans are being made available to budding Māori businesswomen who might have been rejected by the main banks.
The Government-funded Māori Women's Development Incorporation is lending again, following a
two-year review of its operations.
The Chief Executive of the Incorporation, Teresa Tepania-Ashton, says they're there to help Māori women get ahead - and applicants can borrow up to 50-thousand dollars.
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A Māori navigator on board a waka expedition to Rapanui or Easter Island says their connection with Tangaroa or the ocean has been very rewarding on cultural and personal level.
Two double-hulled sailing canoes Te Aurere and Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti have just left the island of Mangareva in French Polynesia, their final pit stop as they sail toward Easter Island.
Speaking by satellite phone, Jack Thatcher says one of the highlights has been catching tuna and seeing the tropical native birds reminding them they're close to land.
WAKA TANGAROA TP
IN: THE OTHER THING...
OUT: ...WAS PRETTY AWESOME.
DUR: 15"
Jack Thatcher - speaking by satellite phone off the coast of Mangareva in the South Pacific Ocean.
That's Te Manu Korihi news, I'll have a final bulletin in an hour.
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The BBC's Ben Tornquist is following the presidential race from Washington - he's at Republican Party function there and joins us now LIVE
Beekeepers in Northland say someone is sabotaging their businesses, by destroying hives and killing millions of bees.
The high price of Mānuka honey, and competition for space in areas still rich in Mānuka, is thought to be the reason behind the vandalism. Bridget Mills reports PKG
There are unconfirmed reports coming out of Syria that several senior army officers have defected. Seven generals are said to have crossed into Turkey today Martin Cuddihy reports: PKG