HEADLINES & NEWS
Work and Income may have to review 15-thousand cases where beneficiaries were forced to repay welfare benefits after a government-ordered report revealed that it may have wrongly forced them to give back the money. The report by an Auckland lawyer says that between 1996 and 2000 the department did not apply to correct test to assess whether beneficiaries were in marriage-type relationships. Our social issues correspondent Shona Geary compiled this report. PKGE
The two teenage girls who may hold the key to the death of a Waitara man have been found in Palmerston North and now helping the police with their inquiries. A homicide invesitagtion was launched on Monday morning after the body of 60 year old Kenneth Piggot was found in the Waitara River, not far from a pub [illegible] he'd been drinking the night before. The police have been looking for two 14 year old girls since a hitchhiker picked them up near Mr Piggot's abandoned car 120 kilometres south of Waitara. Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward says the girls are being interviewed at Palmerston North's police station and have not been charged with anything yet. I asked him if it's likely they will be. PREREC
The Ministry of Fisheries says an undercover investigation into the illegal poaching of paua and rock-lobster has shown Asian crime gangs are involved in illegally exporting the shellfish. The Ministry launched the investigation's final phase today, sweeping on properties across the country. Over 140 fisheries officers backed by police, navy and airforce personel mounted silmultaneous raids in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, Wellington and Christchurch. More than 100 people will be questionned over the next few days -I asked the Ministry of Fisheries National Compliance Manager Dave Wood who is being spoken to. PREREC
BUSINESS NEWS WITH JOHN DRAPER
[illegible] Rugby Union says it's making considerable progress towards eliminating sponsorship clashes at stadiums as it pulls out all the stops to restore New Zealand as a rugby world cup sub-host. The union is meeting stadium bosses from the five main centres tomorrow to see how close it can come to the cup hosting requirement of having stadiums 100 percent "clean" of rival advertising. The ban on rival ads also applies to a half kilometre radius around the stadiums, but as Andrew Greenwood reports, businesses in that zone are standing firm about their hoardings. PKGE
Four young grave robbers have been jailed by the Wellington District Court. Last month the four, who are aged 18 to 21, admitted removing a baby's coffin and body, moving an urn containing ashes, and smashing numerous headstones and crosses in the capital's Karori Cemetery. Our Court Reporter Merle Nowland was at the sentencing and joins me now. LIVE
Motorists, homeowners and golfers are clashing on Auckland's North Shore as urban sprawl pushes houses and highways closer to fairways. Our reporter Sally Wenley went for a round. PKGE
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with STEPHEN HEWSON
The UN secretary general Kofi Annan has appealed to the Israelis and the Palestinians to stop fighting and resume peace negotiations. Israeli forces have killed more than 30 Palestinians in their biggest offensive in the West Bank and Gaza since Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Middle East war. In an unprecedented statement, Mr Annan said both sides had the right to live in peace within secure borders. But he described the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign as morally repugnant, and was also very critical of the Israelis. Even as Kofi Annan urged restraint - Israel's tanks continued to roll. CUT
The ABC's Tim Palmer was in Ramallah when about 150 armoured vehicles, including tanks, entered the city. PKGE
An extra 400-million dollars will be spent on primary health care in the next three years, in a move the government says will give at least 300 thousand people on low incomes cheaper health care. The move will eventually see the Community Services Card gradually phased out. The Health Minister, Annette King today announced the long awaited details of the primary health package. CUT The new funding will come from the three-billion dollar funding package for District Health Boards, announced by the minister last December. Ms King says the government is also boosting the GP subsidy for children under six, in a bid to maintain free or very low cost doctors' visits for young children.
The announcement has been welcomed by Healthcare Aotearoa, which provides primary health care to 140 thousand mainly Māori and Pacific Islanders nationwide. Peter Glensor is the group's national coordinator - while he is unsure exactly how much money his organisation will get, he's confident it will mean better access and cheaper health care. PREREC
Fiji's Foreign Minister is urging New Zealand businesses to invest in his country, which he says has suffered in the wake of the May 2000 coup. A visiting Fiji government delegation led by minister Kaliopate Tavola met with the New Zealand Fiji Business Council in Auckland this afternoon. New Zealand businesses have been told that while Fiji has suffered economically since the coup, things are starting to look up.
Our Pacific reporter Barbara Dreaver was there. PKGE
The government can now push through its ban on transplanting animal cells or tissue into humans, after the Green Party announced its earlier doubts have been allayed and they will now support the legislation.
The Auckland company Diatranz is seeking to inject live pig cells into Cook Island diabetics in an experiment that New Zealand medical authorities won't allow here. There are fears that the process risks passing animal viruses onto humans.
The Greens' co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says while Diatranz has told her there is no risk of this happening, other scientific and medical opinion has persuaded her such trials should be put on hold. PREREC
An American woman has been found guilty of drowning her five children in a bath, despite her lawyers' arguments that she was insane at the time. Judith Smelser reports that Andrea Yates could now face the death penalty. PKGE
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