1700 to 1707 NEWS
Internal Affairs is reviewing previous passport applications to seek if an allegations against two Israeli citizens are a one-off incident. The two men are facing charges relating to attempts to fraudulently obtain a New Zealand passport. There is speculation the two men may be agents to the Israeli secret service, Mossad. The Prime Minister was questioned about the case at her post-cabinet media conference today. Our political reporter Clare Pasley was there. Q + A
In a landmark decision the Pitcairn Island Supreme Court has ruled the trials of 13 men facing a raft of charges including rape and sexual assault can be held in New Zealand. The court has been sitting at the Papakura District Court after it was moved from Adamstown on Pitcairn, which is a British territory. The court has been hearing preliminary matters into the case, which involves [illegible] of sexual abuse on the island, including whether the island has British Sovereignty. Anna-Louise Taylor has been at court and filed this report. PKG
There is expected to be an outpouring of grief in Fiji as the news travels that the paramount chief Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara has died at the age of 83. The Prime Minister of 22 years was an important figure in Fijian politics from when the country gained independence in 1970 right through until George Speight's coup in 2000. Our reporter Catherine Wilson has looked back at his life. PKG
The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard says Australia's commitment to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will not be swayed by Spain's decision to withdraw its troops. Spain's new Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has ordered the country's 1,400 troops to be brought home as soon as possible. But Mr Howard says the withdrawal of Spain's troops would encourage an uprising by radical Shi'ites and will cause more bloodshed. CUT
I asked Aldo Borgu, a military analyst, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra whether Spain's withdrawl of troops will lead to an upsurge in violence in Iraq. PRE-REC
The Nelson coroner has asked why a man with intellectual disabilities was placed in the care of a depressed man who later killed him. Ian Smith is inquiring into the death of Gary Chambers who was fatally stabbed by his landlord, Joe Baryluk, in Nelson on Christmas Eve in 2001. Baryluk was sentenced to seven years jail last year for the manslaughter of his intellectually impaired boarder. Mr Smith says one of the several support agencies helping Mr Chambers should have been able to find out he was not living in a safe haven. Gary Chambers' brother, Lester says Baryluk is up for parole in six days and it will be a travesty of justice if he is freed two and a half years into his sentence. CUT
Geoff Moffett has been attending the inquest and joins us now. Q + A
1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH PATRICK O'MEARA
Hairdressing, beauty courses and dance may be the answer to keeping reluctant female students at school. The principal of Rotorua Girls High School told a secondary conference in Wellington today that it's important that schools give validity to the things that young people enjoy. Annette Joyce joins us now LIVE
1730 HEADLINES
SPORTS NEWS WITH RICHARD CROWLEY
The National Party says it will scrap the Treaty of Waitangi education website launched by the goverment this afternoon, calling it an expensive exercise in taxpayer-funded propaganda. The website is a key part of the government's six and half million dollar Treaty education programme announced in last year's budget. The site was supposed to be launched on Waitangi Day but was delayed while experts checked its contents. National claimed the delay was because of the government's panic following the massive public response to Don Brash's race relations speech in January - something Labour has denied. National's Murray McCully has been promising to keep a close eye on the website for signs of political correctness - he joins us now with State Services MInister Trevor Mallard LIVE
The government's being called on to help fund urgent flood protection work on the Thames coast. The local district council and the Waikato Regional Council [illegible] come up with a plan costing nearly 12 million dollars and they want central government to contribute nearly five million of it. Andrew McRae reports. PKG
Fiji's disaster management committee has been told the cost of damage from the recent flooding is five million dollars and could end up being be much higher. The committee met this afternoon, the first chance it's had to sit down and asess the likely aid requirements. The government estimates it may have to provide food supplies for at least another two months. At least one thousand people are still in evacuation centres and it could be a week before they can return home. Alison Cupitt from the Red Cross in Fiji joins us now LIVE
The American National Security Adviser, Condaleezza Rice, says the Bush administration did not know of or approve in advance Israel's assassination of the Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi. Dr Rantissi was killed by an Israeli rocket attack in Gaza City at the weekend.
Condaleezza Rice says President Bush had no advance knowledge about Israel's actions. CUT
Dr Rantissi is the second Hamas leader to be assassinated in less than a month. [illegible] Prime Minister Ariel Sharon praised the army for the air strike on Dr Rantissi and vowed Israel would keep hunting militants. His words at translated. CUT
Professor Gillian Triggs is the director of the Institute of Comparative International Law at the University of Melbourne. She says the failure of the US to condemn the assassination encourages Israel to carry out these type of attacks. PRE-REC
MANA NEWS
CLOSE & THEME