Checkpoint FOR THURS 16 APRIL 2009
***************************
1700 to 1707 NEWS
***************************
The author of his own misfortune - that's how a judge described sports broadcaster Tony Veitch today as she sentenced him for kicking his former girlfriend in the back and fracturing her spine.Veitch pleaded guilty at the Auckland District Court this morning to injuring Kristin Dunne-Powell with reckless disregard.Six other assault charges against him were dropped.He has been sentenced to 9 months supervision, 3-hundred hours of community service and fined 10-thousand dollars.Laura Davis was at court and filed this report. PKG
Tony Veitch wouldn't talk to Checkpoint - his lawyer is Stuart Grieve QC. PRE-REC
Three people have been killed, two are missing and dozens have been injured in an explosion on a boat carrying asylum seekers off the Western Australia coast. The police say the boat, which had 49 people aboard, was intercepted by Australian authorities late on Wednesday and was being towed to Darwin when the blast occurred.
It's believed the people on board were from Afghanistan. Four Navy personnel were also injured in the blast.
Our correspondent, Sarah Hawke, has been at a Royal Darwin Hospital media conference and joins us now :
LIVE
The military regime in Fiji is preparing to issue a decree to re-instate judges who were sacked last week.
Fiji's president revoked the constitution and dumped the judiciary after its Court of Appeal ruled the regime in power since a military coup in 2006 was illegal. Teresa Cowie reports. PKG
Journalists and foreign correspondents in Fiji have been warned the Emergency Regulations could be extended for another 30 days if any negative reporting is published against the interim regime.The journalists were ordered to a meeting at the Ministry of Information this afternoon.Radio New Zealand's correspondent in Fiji Matelita Ragogo (rahng-ong-o) is with us now. LIVE
***********************
1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH
************************
***********************
17.30 HEADLINES
***********************
The Government is putting the brakes on the planned housing development at the former Hobsonville Air Base because it's worried the houses won't sell.The Housing Minister Phil Heatley says the project is still going ahead but at a slower pace than originally planned.Here's our political editor Brent Edwards. PKG
The jury in David Bain's retrial has been told by a Crown witness that suicide can be reasonably excluded as his father's cause of death. Mr Bain is charged with murdering his parents and three siblings in 1994.The defence argues that his father Robin Bain turned the gun on himself after shooting his family. But a pathologist, Professor James Ferris, said in his view the muzzle of the rifle would have been too far away from Robin Bain's head for him to have fired it himself. Matthew Peddie has been at the High Court in Christchurch, and joins us now. LIVE
A meeting between Auckland leaders and the Minister of Local Government over the contentious super-city plan has brought about little progress, but has been described as positive by all parties.It was the first opportunity for the leaders of all of Auckland's eight councils to discuss the government's plan with Rodney Hide.Joy Reid has more...
PKG
Prison Officers at two of the country's newest prisons walked out of meetings with the Corrections Department to discuss controversial double bunking for prisoners.The meetings were with staff at the Springhill Prison in North Waikato and the Auckland's Women's Prison.The Department didn't respond to our request for an interview.
Beven Hanlon is the national president of the Corrections Association of New Zealand - he joins us now. LIVE
Britain has been marking the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy in which 96 Liverpool football team supporters were crushed to death. The disaster happened at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield. The game had barely started when it became clear that Liverpool supporters at one end of the ground were being crushed. The referee abandoned the game after just six minutes.
About 30 thousand people attended the memorial service at Anfield the home of Liverpool Football Club.
The BBC's Richard Bilton was there. PKG
***************
17.45 TRAILS
****************
WAATEA
****************
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned the New Zealand Government that it is nearing the limit of how much it can boost spending to fight the recession. The Paris-based club of rich nations issued the statement as part of its regular health-check of member countries.It also slammed New Zealand's productivity record and said structural changes to the economy are needed in order to close what it calls a signficant income gap with other developed nations. Our economics correspondent, Nigel Stirling, has read the report and joins us now. LIVE
One of Colombia's most notorious drugs barons Daniel Rendon alias Don Mario has been arrested. He's been taken to the capital Bogota after being captured in his stronghold in northwestern Colombia. A two million u.s.dollar reward was offered for his arrest. The BBC's Jeremy McDermott reports from Colombia: PKG