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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Tensions in court today, with tears shed as family members testified against each other in the police sexual assault case. Assistant police Commissioner Clint Rickards and former officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum are accused of kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 16 year old girl in Rotorua in the 1980s.
Our reporter Sarah Bristow is at the High Court in Auckland. LIVE
Air New Zealand's profits are flying high, with the national carrier making 74 million dollars in the six months to December, an increase of 61 percent on the same period the previous year.The company will pay shareholders a special dividend of ten cents a share which gives the government as the majority shareholder about 80 million dollars.Here's the finance minister Micheal Cullen. CUT But despite the profit announcement Air New Zealand says more still needs to be done to cut costs, including sorting out its controversial plan to outsource baggage handling and check-in services which could see the loss of 17-hundred jobs.The Engineering Printing and Manufacturing Union says the profit increase shows Air New Zealand is not in crisis and can afford to treat its workforce humanely. Air New Zealand's chief executive Rob Fyfe joins us now. LIVe
The National Party's tried to drive a wedge between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister over his comments on the war in Iraq. But in response to questions in Parliament Helen Clark told MPs Winston Peters had simply expressed his honest opinion on the issue. Here's our political editor Brent Edwards. PKG
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1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH Baden Campbell
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Fiji's former police commissioner, the Australian Andrew Hughes, has spoken for the first time about the threats which forced him to flee the troubled Pacific Island nation. He says that before last December's coup, the military in Fiji plotted to kidnap his family and hold them to ransom.Mr Hughes was honoured by the Australian Federal Police comissioner, Mick Kelty, last night, along with Shane Castles, the former Solomon Islands police commissioner, who has been banned from returning to Honiara. The ABC's Samantha Hawley reports. PKG
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1730 HEADLINES
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SPORTS NEWS WITH STEPHEN HEWSON
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Euthanasia campaigner Lesley Martin is to be struck off the nursing register , after a ruling by the High Court. Ms Martin was jailed in 2003 for attempting to murder her terminally ill mother. Following the conviction the Health Practictioners displinary tribunal imposed severe conditions on her returning to nursing if she wished, but stopped short of cancelling her registration.The Nurses Professional conduct committee asked the High Court in Wellington to overturn that decision and has been successful. Lesley Martin joins us now. LIVE
State-owned farmer - Landcorp - says the only way to stop the planned sale of a block of publicly owned land on the Coromandel Peninsula, is if the Crown intervenes. The 11-hundred hectare Whenuakite Station near Whitianga is on the market and tenders close this week. Tribal leaders from Tainui met at Whenuakite today - and are lending their support to the Hauraki Iwi who're making a last ditch effort to halt the sale. Monica Holt reports: PKG
National's unveiled a new tax policy, aimed at boosting the amount of money people - and businesses - donate to charitable causes. This is in the wake of the leader John Key's 'underclass' speech, where he said the private sector should be more involved in helping New Zealand's less fortunate. Our political reporter, Jane Patterson filed this report. PKG
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA
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The Wellington City Council is considering a plan to use the city's trolley bus wires to enable most households and businesses to access high-speed broadband internet services.The Wellington Stagecoach bus service, CityLink, already has a 50 kilometre fibre network operating on its trolley bus wires within the CBD.And it's commercial director Ian Turner, supports the proposal to use the existing trolley bus network to lay 100 kilometres of fibre optic cables across the entire city. CUT TradeMe's CEO Sam Morgan spoke to councillors earlier this month about why broadband is needed to give the city a competitive advantage. CUT The mayor of Wellington, Kerry Prendergast joins us now
Thieves have ramraided a pharmacy in Queenstown and stolen what the police are describing as substantial quantities of pills used to manufacture methamphetamine. The raid happened just after ten o'clock last night - forensic tests are being done on a stolen maroon station wagon found nearby. The man in charge of the cae is Detective sergeant Grahme(Graham) Bartlett. PREREC
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