** CKPT RUNDOWN FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 24****
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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AIR NEW ZEALAND JOBS - 470 jobs to go, mainly in Auckland head office, over next year. Engineering, Printing, and Manufacturing Union furious, saying it's come hard on heels of drama over engineering jobs. National secretary Andrew Little says Air NZ got that move wrong and has probably got this one wrong, too. Comment also from airline chief exec Rob Fyfe and aviation analyst Peter Harbison. (Monica Holt)
AUSTRALIA - WHEAT BOARD SCANDAL - former senior exec Tim Goodacre (now with Zespri) appears before inquiry, denies he knew anything about bribes to Saddam Hussein. He says although he got emails telling him about the payments, he hadn't read them. (ABC)
DRUG SMUGGLING CASE - South African woman Linda Martin found guilty of importing Class A drug. She was caught with cocaine hidden in statues in her suitcase when she entered Auckland airport 2 years ago. She was travelling on a false passport and has told court she was given the suitcase in Brazil by a member of a Nigerian drug gang. Sally Wenley
reports live.
U.S. - LEE TAMAHORI - NZ film director sentenced to 3 years probation after being arrested during prostitution swoop in Los Angeles. He had sought sex with an undercover policeman and was dressed as a woman. Mr Tamahori made plea bargain and pleaded no contest to charge of criminal trespass in return for charges of prostitution and loitering being dropped. Frank Mateljan, Los Angeles Attorney's Office, explains how plea bargain works.
PRESIDENT CLINTON addresses Global Business Forum in Auckland. Several thousand people paid up to $2,400 to hear him speak. (Eileen Cameron)
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1720 BUSINESS NEWS WITH RICHARD SCOTT
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BUS CRASH - woman involved in crash with Rangitikei College school bus appears to have driven car into path of bus at intersection on SH1 near Bulls. She had to be helicoptered from scene while the 40 students on bus were shocked but unhurt. I/v with college deputy principal Kelvin Tong.
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1730 HEADLINES
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SPORTS NEWS WITH STEPHEN HEWSON
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AIR NEW ZEALAND JOBS - in unexpected move, airline announces that 470 jobs are to go, mostly in head office in Auckland over next year. This brings total number of job cuts recently to around 900. Live i/v with Business editor Patrick O'Meara.
DETERGENT POISONING - paediatricians call for mandatory child-resistant packaging for dishwashing powder after reviewing horrific cases of 11 childen admitted to Starship Hospital. They had swallowed the detergent. I/v with Dr Fiona Miles who investigated the case studies.
HAY FIRE - SH1 south of Temuka in South Island closed because 300 hay bales are on fire on farm 3 metres from road. Thick smoke is drifting across the highway. Live i/v with Temuka's chief fire officer, Richard Webb.
FUTURE HOUSING - authors of "Future of Housing in New Zealand" report say housing industry needs to look to future. Report suggest in next 25 years, NZ will have more gated communities, high rise apartments, and factory-built homes. (Darren McKenzie)
AUSTRALIA - BEATEN WORKER - case of 16-year old Cook Island boy savagely beaten for months by his employer prompts warning about vulnerability of young Pacific Island and Māori workers who've just arrived in Australia. Sam Kautai was beaten with claw hammer and is now
brain damaged and blind in one eye. I/v with Andrew Ferguson of Construction Union in NSW.
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WAATEA NEWS with Eru Rerekura
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