Checkpoint for Wednesday 25 MARCH 2009
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Fisher and Paykel Appliances has become the first company to take up the offer of government subsidies to save jobs. The company has negotiated an agreement with the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union that means 300 workers at the Auckland refrigeration assembly plant will move to a 35-hour working week next month. The government and the company will split the cost of three and a half hours pay per week and the remaining one and a half hours will be taken as paid leave.The chief executive of Fisher and Paykel Appliances, John Bongard, says the six month deal will save 60 jobs. PRE-REC
A South Auckland liquor store owner charged with attacking a group of youths who came to rob his store will not have to stand trial. The two presiding JPs at a depositions hearing at the Manukau District Court have dismissed the case against 40 year old Virender Singh saying there is not enough evidence to convict him. Virender Singh is happy with today's turn of events but says the police should never have charged him in the first place. CLIP
Virender Singh's lawyer is Greg King. PRE-REC
It's now widely expected that the former Prime Minister Helen Clark will be confirmed in a top ranking position with the United Nations within the next 24 hours.Miss Clark applied for the job earlier this year, after stepping down as the leader of the Labour party following the party's 2008 election defeat. Here's our parliamentary chief reporter, Jane Patterson.PKG
A report into a police shooting in Christchurch in which a man was killed has found that the officer responsible was acting in self defence. Minutes before 37-year-old Stephen Bellingham was shot dead on Stanmore Road in September 2007, he had been smashing parked cars with a golf club and a hammer. A report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority says the senior sergeant who shot Mr Bellingham was justified in using lethal force - but that he'd limited his options by putting himself in close proximity to a man on a violent rampage. Officer A arrived on the scene shortly before two others and the report says best practice would have been not to approach or confront Mr Bellingham but to stay back and attempt to cordon and contain the situation.It says the potential exised for three officers to have overpowered the man. Here's the Assistant Police Commissioner Viv Rickard. PRE-REC
A Samoan woman has appeared in court charged with abandoning and assaulting a newborn after she secretly gave birth on a flight from Samoa to Auckland.The 29 year old woman allegedly left the baby on the flight on Thursday in the aircraft's toilet cubicle.Belinda McCammon was at the Manukau District Court court and joins us now: LIVE
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BUSINESS NEWS
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David Bain's defence team spent much of the day in court pointing out discrepancies in the initial police investigation of the murder scene. David Bain is being retried for the murders of five members of his family at their home in 1994. His defence is that his father, Robin Bain, committed the crime before killing himself and that the police made a mistake in never properly investigating that scenario.Monique Devereux has been in the High Court in Christchurch, and filed this report. PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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As we reported earlier, Fisher and Paykel Appliances has become the first company to take up the offer of government subsidies to save jobs. The company has negotiated an agreement with the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union that means 300 workers at the Auckland refrigeration assembly plant will move to a 35-hour working week next month.
The head of the EPMU is Andrew Little. PRE-REC
Rare film discovered of Sir Edmund Hillary preparing for the Trans-Antarctic expedition in the late 1950s has been described as an historic gem.The 16 millimeter black and white film was found in a clean-out at the Palmerston North company, CB Norwood, the company that provided tractors for the race to the South Pole. Andrew McRae filed this report. PKG
The Automobile Association and the trucking industry are calling on the government to scrap road user charges on diesel cars and instead include them in the pump price. It comes as an independent panel on the road user charges system prepares to report its findings to the Transport Minister next week. Catherine Hutton reports. PKG
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WAATEA NEWS
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New Zealand navy veterans sent to Mururoa in the early 1970s to protest against French nuclear testing will apply for the compensation being offered by the French government. Paris has earmarked about 24 million dollars for military and civilian staff who witnessed the tests and says that includes other nationalities. From 1972 to 1974, Peter Mitchell served on the HMNS Canterbury which the Labour Government sent to Mururoa.The 62 year old, who lives in Tauranga, says he continues to suffer from the effects of the radiation. PRE-REC
The global economic crisis doesn't seem to have dampened the enthusiasm of the crowds that have poured into the South Island Field Days at Lincoln in Canterbury.This year the event coincides with the World Potato Congress, which Canterbury is also hosting.Our rural reporter Carla Gray was at Lincoln: PKG
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