Rape Apology - Double Dose For Child Crime - Hitmen - NZ First List - Alamein Kopu - Economy -Seattle Shooting - Death Penalty - Indian Cylone - Weather Rescues - Racing Discrimination

RAPE APOLOGY: The Department of Child Youth and Family have made a public apology to a rape victim. Dean Hiropi taught a boy placed in his care to be a rapist. Hiropi today pled guilty to the rape - his young accomplice is already serving seven years . The department says there was confusion between two social workers on whether a police check had been done on the man. The youth was living in a shed with a dog at the house of Hiropi - a patched Mongrel Mob member.

DOUBLE DOSE FOR CHILD CRIME: Commissioner of Children Roger McLay says that sentences for violence against children should be twice as hard as those for violence against adults. His comments come in relation to the four year sentence imposed on the father of a boy killed when he tossed him against a wall during a rugby match. The child was crying. The killer said he "just cracked". Judge said that what he had done was "totally unacceptable". Roger McLay says he would like a double dose rule for violence against children.

HITMEN: Police believe the vicious beating of a couple at Labour weekend was the work of hitmen. They have set up an informants line for the case. 0800 Hitmen.

NZ FIRST LIST: War of words inside NZ First. Jenny Bloxham calls Peters a dick-wit for dropping her because she doesn't have a penis. Peters says he is astonished at Bloxham's remarks and say they may explain why she has been dropped. PM is appalled that Jenny and Robyn have been treated in this way. Mr Peters should explain why he finds it difficult to recognise women, she says. Bloxham says she feels entitled to react in the way she has. Ditto Robyn. Peters says that members have to be prepared to accept the results of the process.

ALAMEIN KOPU: No joy and no party list for Mana Wahine. Alamein Kopu says she missed the deadline for getting her list in by minutes.

ECONOMY: Economy on the rebound. Unemployment down. Sales up. Retail sector helped by APEC, Netball tournament. As the economy expands unemployment is dropping. The PM is taking the credit. Job prospects helped today also by a new $130 million timber mill in Whangarei. Labour says there is an unprecedented brain drain taking place. Economists expect that in two weeks time the Reserve Bank will push up interest rates.

SEATTLE SHOOTING: Two men are dead and two wounded after another workplace shooting - this time in a Seattle shipyard.

DEATH PENALTY: Second accused sentenced in gay murder in the US has been given the death penalty.

INDIAN CYCLONE: Farmland under water. Communities heading home. Now believed 10,000 to 20,000 people killed. 2 million left homeless. Hilltop villages have become islands.

WEATHER RESCUES: Rescue operation underway west of Cape Reinga. Yacht Gajet called an SOS. Boats have been diverted to the area. Group of trampers trapped in the Waitakere ranges by a swollen river is being rescued with a line being strung to get the group out.

RACING DISCRIMINATION: NZ Thoroughbred Racing found to be discriminatory and awarded $8000. She was fined $1500 for racing a horse illegally. Her husband was convicted of assaulting her. He has since been given an exemption but she hadn't. Human Rights Commission says the thinking of the rules is of a bygone day.

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Alastair Thompson

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Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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