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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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A new deal to save hundreds of baggage handling and check-in jobs at Air New Zealand is under threat. The two unions involved in the dispute over the potential outsourcing of up to 17 hundred jobs can't agree over the deal. And now the Council of Trade Unions has been called in to mediate, as Kate Williamson reports. PACKAGE
The Whangarei police say a young music fan killed by a hit and run driver last night, may have been lying in the middle of a carpark because he wanted to look at the stars.The 18 year old was an overseas student attending a local high school, but police won't say yet which country he was from. The young man was spending the night at the Okara shopping centre with friends, waiting for tickets to go on sale this morning for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. Most of the group was camped out next to the Rebel Sports store, but the young man was lying in the middle of car park when he was run over. Police say his family are on their way to New Zealand and should arrive tomorrow. Detective Shane Pilmer says he's still getting to the bottom of what happened. PREREC
The Prime Minister Helen Clark has condemned the past behaviour of Clint Rickards in the midst of mounting opposition to his reinstatement as Auckland's top cop. Auckland City's Mayor Dick Hubbard waded into the debate this morning, saying he doesn't want Mr Rickards back in his job.But one observer of the court cases involving the suspended Assistant Police Commissioner says Mr Rickards is the victim of a witchhunt.
Despite twice being acquitted of historical sexual offending Clint Rickards remains stood down on full pay, while employment issues are dealt with...Sarah Bristow reports. PKG
A judge has handed down the most severe sentence yet for one of the Pitcairn Islanders found guilty of historical sex crimes. Brian Michael John Young has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for a raft of historical sex crimes. And a short time ago Shawn Brent Christian, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for rape.Jean Edwards is at the Pitcairn Supreme Court sitting in South Auckland. LIVE
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1720 BUSINESS NEWS with Patrick O'Meara.
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In the United States, the two front-runners for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination have found themselves competing for the same key voting bloc.Senators Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton have spent the weekend courting African American voters who will have a big say in who will be the Democrat candidate for the presidency.And Senator Clinton wheeled out her ultimate political weapon - her immensely popular husband.The ABC's Washington correspondent, Michael Rowland, reports. PKG
The Prime Minister Helen Clark has waded in to the debate about a convicted rapist who was allowed to father a child while in prison, saying those rights should go on hold.Peter Mana McNamara was one of four men jailed for the abduction and rape of a young woman in Mount Manuganui in 1989.McNamara made confidential arrangements for a prison doctor to collect a semen sample.
Although not illegal, the Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor has expressed concern at the case and wants to find out how it happened. Miss Clark says allowing someone to father a child is in her view, inappropriate. TWO CUTS OF PM
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1730 HEADLINES
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SPORTS NEWS WITH David Reid
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Violence has flared in East Timor's capital Dili - following the failed bid to capture rebel leader Alfredo Reinado.International police fired rubber bullets to disperse groups of violent youths throwing rocks.Authorities also dispersed 500 people who tried to protest outside the Australian Embassy.UN spokeswoman Allison Cooper is on the line with the latest from Dili. LIVE
Details of a well structured and organised criminal enterprise to import huge quantities of crystal methamphetamine have been revealed in the Auckland District court today.A depositions hearing is underway for six men arrested over the country's biggest drug seizure.The haul was discovered in two separate shipments from China after the investigation by the police and customs began early last year. Hannah Ockelford was at the Auckland District Court. LIVE
More teens in Auckland are drinking and driving - and they don't care about the consequences.That's the message from the Auckland police after a weekend drink-driving blitz netted twenty-six teenagers driving under the influence.The Auckland road policing manager, Inspector Heather Wells, says this reflects a distressing trend. One teen - a sixteen-year-old girl - had a breath alcohol level six times over the legal limit. PREREC
The crown has been summing up its case against Nelson chef Glenn McNeil in the Norfolk Island murder trial today.The island's Supreme Court has heard that Mr McNeill's claims that he does not remember confessing to the killing of Sydney woman Janelle Patton are "totally unbelievable".Instead the crown prosecutor has urged the jury to think of Ms Patton's desperation as she tried in vain to fend off her knife-wielding attacker in March 2002. Correspondent on Norfolk Island, Roger Maynard LIVE
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA
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New Zealand's plan for hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2011 ticks all the boxes, according to a visiting delegation from the International Rugby Board. The IRB's spent the afternoon in Auckland being briefed about details of the Eden Park upgrade for the big event by Rugby New Zealand. Chairman of the IRB, Syd Millar, LIVE.
We're all being asked to turn on the charm for our friends across the Tasman.Tourism New Zealand's launched a TV ad campaign in Australia - telling our neighbours we're painting the country "green and gold" for them this autumn.Annual Australian visitor numbers topped 900-thousand last year, and efforts are being ramped up to pull in even more.Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism chief executive Ian Bougen (Bough-jin) and Leigh Atkinson, an Australian travel writer who visits New Zealand regularly. LIVE
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