HEADLINES & NEWS
Pressure is growing on the Government to reverse its decision to allow the Fijian sevens rugby team to visit New Zealand for an international tournament next month. The Government's stance is at odds with its counterpart across the Tasman, which decided to ban the Fijian team from the Australian leg of the competition because of the Fiji coup last May. Bryan Crump compiled this report. PKGE
Joining us now is acting Foreign Affairs Minister Jim Sutton. LIVE
Wellington commuters are facing major delays this evening after scrub fires at [illegible], north of Porirua have closed the train line north of the city. The fire has affected about 30 hectares and in some parts is burning on both sides of the railway line. It's also disrupting traffic on State Highway One between Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay. Assistant regional commander Ray Kennedy says no houses are being threatened by the blaze. I asked him what problems the fire is causing. PREREC
The Wellington police are advising affected commuters to delay their return home by at least two hours as there is already queue of stalled traffic several kilometres long. Fire engines are blocking part of State Highway one, causing major disuption to drivers while the railway line remains closed, affecting train commuters. READER
BUSINESS NEWS with CATHERINE WALBRIDGE
Inflation has hit its highest annual level for five and a half years. Statistics New Zealand says the Consumer Price Index increased by one-point-two percent in the last three months of last year, taking inflation for the whole year to four percent.
[illegible] well above the Reserve Bank's zero-to-three percent target range, and would normally make a rise in interest rates inevitable. But economists say inflation has peaked and will subside rapidly this year. I asked our Economics Correspondent, Stephen Harris to explain the lack of concern. PREREC
The mother of the New Zealand soldier killed in East Timor says she's not confident that justice will be done when the main suspect sought for killing her son goes on trial in Indonesia. The suspect has been named as Yacobus Bere (YUK-O-BUS BERRY), a former commander of a pro-Indonesian militia group in East Timor who is now in police custody. Private Leonard Manning, who was 24, was killed in July last year, while on patrol with other New Zealand soldiers in East Timor. Private Manning's mother, Linda, says she's pleased that Bere is now in police custody. PREREC
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with STEPHEN HEWSON
Police investigating the killing of the Ashburton teenager, Kirsty Bentley, have today confirmed that her father has altered his statement and that they will be re-interviewing him. The 15-year-old disappeared on New Years Eve two years ago while walking her dog. Her body was found more than two weeks later 40 kilometres away from her home. It was reported last month that Sid Bentley had changed his mind about where he was on the day his daughter disappeared. To find out more about today's development, I'm joined by our Christchurch reporter John MacDonald. LIVE
Telstra Saturn has reassured rugby fans that they will be able to see a games in a forthcoming All Black tour even if they're not in the company's coverage area. Telstra Saturn has won the rights to broadcast the tour of Argentina, Scotland and Ireland at the end of the year. The cable operator's roughly 25-thousand pay television customers are solely in the Wellington region - and that's sparked concern that other rugby fans around the country will miss out. Jane Patterson has more. PKGE
Around 300 people attended the official opening of New Zealand's biggest leisure pool in Dunedin this morning. The 450-thousand litre pool is part of a 10.8 million dollar Moana complex redevelopment which aims to put Moana Pool [illegible] on the calendar of aquatic sports as a serious venue. But that won't happen until stage two of the upgrade is completed in April. When the upgrade is complete the training venue of New Zealand's most successful Olympic swimmer, Danyon Loader, will also be the largest aquatic centre in New Zealand. Graham McKerracher was at the opening. PKGE
Physiotherapists are being told they will have to pay a new 25 dollar fee this year to help cover legal costs as a result of an unprecedented number of complaints last year. 15 of the 20 complaints relate to the chest-tapping treatment of premature babies at National Women's hospital between 1992 and 1994 which resulted in five babies dying and eight suffering brain damage. The Physiotherapy Board's registrar William Whittaker says normally it would get only five complaints a year, and the new levy on physios will bring in 60 thousand dollars to help cover the extra investigation costs. I asked him for his reaction to the increase in complaints.
American plans to construct a national missile defence - or NMD - system look set to become the focus of intense international scrutiny in the near future. Incoming US president George W Bush has pledged to press ahead with technology [illegible] defend America and its allies from ballistic missile attack - a move which is fiercely opposed by nations like Russia and China. Malcolm Brown reports from Washington. PKGE
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