1700 to 1707 NEWS
Doctors are being warned not to prescribe ANY anti-depressant medicines to children and adolescents except under special circumstances supervised by a psychiatrist.
The Medicines Adverse Reactions Committee has NEVER officially approved the use of the newer anti-depressants which include prozac, and NOW the older anti-depressant drugs specifically recommended for children and adolescents are off limits.
The latest information about the drugs known as tri-cyclics or TCAs shows little evidence that they're effective, and that there is a risk of heart rhythm disorders.
The Committee has also re-issued its warning about newer anti-depressants known as SSRIs saying their safety and effectiveness for children have not been established.
PRE-REC Dr Stewart Jessamine
A [illegible] recruitment drive is underway in the Pacific to get Samoan immigrants to fill jobs in New Zealand prisons and the construction industry.
It follows a boost in the annual number of immigrants being accepted from Samoa, because the Immigration Service failed to meet its Samoan quota by more than a thousand people over the past two years.
This year, over 15 hundred places are being offered for Samoans wanting to become New Zealand residents - up from just over a thousand in previous years. Both the Corrections Department and representatives from the Construction Industry are in Samoa, trying to recruit the potential migrants.
PKG Helen Vaughan.
The Waipareira Trust has revealed the tax on a 195 thousand dollar payout to the Cabinet Minister John Tamihere was payable by the trust, not by Mr Tamihere.
The Minister has been under fire for not paying tax on the golden handshake he recieved when he quit the Trust as chief executive to stand for parliament.
The trust's deputy chair, Naida Glavish, says the tax responsibility belongs to the Trust, not the Minister.
[illegible]-REC Naida Glavish
And the Waipareira Trust has given a further explanation of what the money paid to Mr Tamihere was for.
The current chief executive Reg Ratahi says he understands how confusion has arisen over the initial statement by the Trust's chairperson Enon Delamere that the payout was for work the MP would do in Parliament.
Today Mr Ratahi told me the money included bonuses for Mr Tamihere's previous two years as well as payment for work on a treaty claim, on achieving an agreement with the local tribe Ngati Whatua, and on work for a Waananga, or Māori university.
PRE-REC Reg Ratahi
MPs have received their annual pay rise - averaging about 3 to 4 -percent - but even those expressing outrage over the increase are loathe to commit themselves to donating the extra cash to charity.
Their rates and allowances are set by the Remuneration Authority - which considers a range of factors including comparable private sector wages, inflation and what the public considers acceptable.
PKG Jane Patterson
1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH PATRICK O'MEARA
The police have walked through the last known movements of Iraena (eye-RAY-nuh) Asher today in the hope it will jog the memories of any other witnesses.
The search at Piha for the missing 25-year-old is now in its eleventh day.
PKG Eileen Cameron
The ousted Government in French Polynesia has suffered a further set-back in a last-minute legal bid designed to buy it more time in which to cling to power. A Papeete court has thrown out a legal challenge by the Speaker of the Territorial Assembly on a date for the presidential election, increasing the likelihood that it will meet to elect a new president before the weekend.
Mr Temaru's legal war is to continue in french courts, but close observers say he cannot hope to win against a judiciary that is stacked against him and his cause.
PKG Karen Brown
1730 HEADLINES
SPORTS NEWS WITH STEPHEN HEWSON
Two Kuwaiti men have been found guilty of conspiring to forge passports on the largest scale the New Zealand police say they have ever seen.
[illegible] Ajeil FAR-hard a-JEEL and Riyad REE-yad Sultan have been on trial at the Auckland District Court on a raft of forgery charges following a police sting on their Mt Albert flat last October.
LONG VCR Jennifer Dann
Police have defended the timing of the arrest of a man at Nelson hospital, minutes after the birth of his daughter.
The man was taken away on a breach of bail charge, while the new-born baby was placed in the custody of Child Youth and Family.
The father says he was wrongly arrested and will take up the matter with the Police Complaints Authority.
LIVE Detective Sergeant Tony Bernards
There are new warnings out about prescribing anti-depressants for children and adolescents.
Doctors are being warned that a group of older anti-depressant drugs specifically recommended for children and adolescents should now not be used except in extreme circumstances.
[illegible] Medicines Adverse Reactions Commiittee says the latest information about the drugs known as tri-cyclics or TCAs shows little evidence that they're effective, and that there is a risk of heart rhythm disorders.
The Committee has also re-issued its warning about newer anti-depressants known as SSRIs (which include prozac) saying their safety and effectiveness for children have not been established.
LIVE Dr Alan Fraser.
A new chair has been elected to the Auckland Regional Council.
Mike Lee represents Auckland city and has been on the Regional Council since 1992.
Mr Lee who's described as an environmentalist wants to work on clean air and water, as well as solving the region's transport problems.
LIVE Mike Lee
A former Christchurch theatre has opened it's doors to the public as part of the city's Heritage Week, and is hoping locals will rally in support of it's preservation.
The old Odeon Theatre building on Tuam Street was bought in the 1980's by the Assembly of God church - but sold to developers last year.
While it has some protections, through the City Council and the Historic Places Trust, it's future remains uncertain.
PKG Erina O'Donohue
MANA NEWS
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