*** Checkpoint FOR FRI 2 OCT 2009
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Four New Zealanders have now been confirmed dead in the Samoan tsunami and there are grave fears for two others. More bodies have been recovered today. 125 people have now been killed in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga. Ben Brown reports PKG
Meanwhile an aid worker in Samoa says the situation is dire with over-flowing hospitals, people still stuck in the mountains and a severe shortage of food and water. Dayan Eager works for a non governmental organisation and has spent today travelling through the worst region in the South East of the island. He's attending a meeting between NGO representatives and the disaster management committee about now. We spoke to him just before he went into the meeting. PREREC
The acting Prime Minister Bill English has met with the Samoan Consul General in Auckland this afternoon to work on arrangements to get emergency supplies into Samoa. HMNZS Canterbury is on stand-by for Samoa, awaiting final decisions about its cargo. Here's our parliamentary chief reporter, Jane Patterson. PKG
Our reporter Leilani Momoisea is in Samoa - I spoke to her moments before coming to air. PREREC
And to Indonesia now where Rescue teams are digging through the rubble of buildings shattered by Wednesday's massive earthquake, in which some 11-hundred people have died. Thousands more in the city of Padang are feared trapped under collapsed houses, hospitals, hotels and schools. The national disaster management centre says more than 2-and-a-half-thousand buildings have been damaged.
Amelia Merrick is the Jakarta-based Operations Director for World Vision Indonesia. She says the situation is extremely grim. PREREC
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH
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In what is being billed as the Fight of the Century, the two heavyweight boxers, David " the Tuamantor" Tua and Shane "Mountain Warrior" Cameron will battle it out in Hamilton tomorrow night. Today, the two squared off at the official weigh-in. Andrew McRae was there and filed this report PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The New Zealand Defence Forces have been on the ground in Samoa since yesterday, assisting with the major disaster relief effort.
Among the personnel who've been sent are medics, engineers and environmental health officers. Part of their task is to establish exactly what the scale of the devastation is, and where assistance is most needed. A spokesperson for the New Zealand defence operation, Group Captain John Cummings, joins us now: LIVE
Papers released today show the high-powered group reviewing the tax system has again come out in favour of a capital gains tax.
Our economics correspondent, Nigel Stirling, reports. PKG
Fears are growing for the safety of a Malaysian tourist who's been missing in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park for 48 hours. The Police say 32-year-old Kok Wong was only lightly clothed, and was ill equipped for two nights in the outdoors. The search for Mr Wong resumed this morning with 26 people out on foot, along with a search and rescue dog combing the Hooker Valley and Red Tarns area for any sign of Mr Wong. LIVE
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA
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President Barack Obama has described international talks on Iran's nuclear programme as constructive. Top American and Iranian officials met overnight in Geneva for rare one-to-one talks during key negotiations over Iran's nuclear activities. Speaking afterwards Mr Obama said Iran should now take concrete action. CNN's Jill Doherty reports : PKG
By tomorrow the world will know which city is to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Chicago, Madrid, Rio De Janiero and Tokyo are all in the running to host the event as CNN's Pedro Pinto reports : PKG
An aftershock measuring magnitude six-point-three was recorded southeast of Tonga today. The US Geological Survey says the quake was situated at a depth of 10 kilometres and was an after-shock of the quake measuring eight point zero that devastated Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Raphael Abreu of the USGS says the new shock is part of a series that may go on for months. PREREC
The remains of what researchers say is the oldest early human ever discovered have been found in Ethiopia. The fossils include a partial skeleton of a female, dated at more than four million years old.
She's been nicknamed Ardi. The BBC's Pallab Ghosh reports: PKG
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