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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The police in Wellington have hit out at rugby officials for failing to report an assault on a visiting French player. Today they launched an investigation into the attack which they've now revealed was videoed by his assailants. Sometime between 2 and 4 o'clock yesterday morning, after the All Black test, Mathieu Bastareaud (MAH-chew BAHS-tear-oh) was set upon near the Holiday Inn in central Wellington. He now has a suspected fractured eye socket and has spoken today to the police about what happened.
Inspector Pete Cowan is the police area commander for Wellington city. PREREC
Thank goodness for the Australians - new figures show that for the first time more than a million have visited in a year, despite the global recession that's hitting tourism hard. Arrivals from across the Tasman have gone up four percent compared to May last year - overall the number of visitors from all countries is down three percent. We'll have more on the Australian tourists shortly - first we take a look at other figures out today which show the number of people coming to live here had its strongest monthly increase since 2003. Net migration rose to abut 2,700 in May. Economists say this is good news Dominick Stephens is a Research Economist at Westpac - he joins us now. LIVE
As we said earlier more than a million Australians visited over the last 12 months - a record figure and against falling visitor numbers from almost everywhere else. The Tasman neighbours spent 1 point 8 billion dollars in the year ending May. Tim Cossar is the chief executive of the Tourism Industry Association. PREREC
The Prime Minister John Key says it would be unacceptable for Familes Commissioner Christine Rankin to become involved in a campaign to overturn the child discipline law. Ms Rankin has previously opposed the law, and the Vote No lobby group initially said she would attend today's campaign launch. A campaign organiser later said that was a mistake, but suggested Ms Rankin may have been muzzled. Ms Rankin was not at today's launch but some of those that were say she will be speaking out. Rowan Quinn reports PKG
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Patrick O'Meara
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Returning now to our lead story - the weekend assault of French rugby player Mathieu Bastareaud (MAH-chew BAHS-tear-oh) in downtown Wellington. France's star centre was set upon near the team hotel in the early hours of yesterday morning, suffering a suspected fractured eye socket and requiring stitches to his cheek. The police have expressed frustration that the first they knew of the attack was not from rugby officials, but in media reports this morning. The New Zealand Rugby Union's chief executive Steve Tew joins us now. LIVE
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17.30 HEADLINES
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Seven people have been injured in severe turbulence on a flight from Hong Kong to Perth, in the latest incident involving an A330-300 Airbus. A Qantas spokesman says the flight - with 219 people on board - had been in the air for four hours when it hit an air pocket over Borneo. One passenger described the plunge as "like falling out of a 30-storey building". Others say the turbulence hit without warning and was over quickly: CLIP Qantas says nothing was wrong with the aircraft and the turbulence was purely a meteorological event. Earlier this month the same model of plane, operated by Jetstar, was forced to make an emergency landing in Guam following a fire in the cockpit. That incident came a week after the Air France crash in which 228 people died. We're joined now by ABC reporter Pamela Medlen in Perth: LIVE
Growing numbers of Wellingtonians are heading to the soup kitchen, and the Night Shelter is struggling to cope with its highest number of guests in 40 years. As Teresa Cowie reports, the increasing numbers of homeless people in the capital are pushing the services that help them to the brink. PKG
A furniture company has been fined for deliberately breaching the Fair Trading Act by misrepresenting the sale price of goods. Redpaths Furniture, which operates stores in Auckland and Hamilton pleaded guilty in the Manukau District Court and was fined 28-thousand dollars, plus court costs of nearly four thousand dollars. Andrew McRae reports. PKG
There are reports that an email at the centre of a political scandal in Australia has been found - and is a fake. The email is purported to show the Prime Minister's office making representations to the Treasury on behalf of car dealer John Grant, Kevin Rudd's friend and political donor. Since then, Australia's opposition leader has called on Mr Rudd to resign over what's becoming known as the OzCar scandal. The ABC's political reporter Danny Morgan joins us now. LIVE
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA
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The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission opens today with year long negotiations over a possible compromise between anti-whaling countries and Japan at a critical stage. Some see the negotiations as a way of reducing the number of whales killed each year but others have grave reservations.
From the meeting on the Portuguese island of Madeira here's the BBC's environment correspondent Richard Black : PKG
New Zealand is moving closer to becoming a cashless society - according to a new report from the Retirement Commission. The study says the number of people using cash has dropped over the past three years from 84-per cent to 77-per cent. Ben Brown reports PKG
The days of grotty student accommodation in Dunedin could be numbered, thanks to a new ratings system being considered by the City Council and Otago University and Polytech. The aim of the Housing Accreditation Scheme is for all students to have access to affordable, sustainable and good quality housing. It would involve a star rating, based on criteria including safety, condition and energy efficiency, with the results to be posted on a website. Students on Hyde Street say it would be a useful system. CLIP Dunedin's Deputy Mayor Syd Brown joins us now. He joins us now: LIVE