Hello, everybody. Autumn's having a little play at the moment. Jack Frost nailed Raetihi to minus-4, Turangi, minus-3. Frontal rains swept across Southland and Fiordland, and a high is trying to squeeze in the sunshine. And there's more of all three tomorrow. What's up for your place ` coming up. Right now, it's 6 o'clock. Due to the live nature of ONE News we apologise for the lack of captions for some items. This is ONE News, with Simon Dallow and Pippa Wetzell. Tonight ` the battle ends for the families of the Pike River miners as they quit efforts to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones. SOBBING A moving tribute to the NZ triplets killed in a fire in Qatar. we cross live for the latest on the investigation. MP Shane Jones is to be investigated over granting a Chinese millionaire citizenship. A happy reunion after hours lost in the bush, but we get a startling admission about how these children were supervised. Kia ora. Good evening. The battle is finally over for the families of the 29 Pike River miners. After holding out hope for 18 long months, they've now abandoned the fight to recover the bodies of their loved ones. This follows a meeting with Australian experts who said there is very little chance of getting the bodies out. Lisa Davies has been getting reaction in Greymouth and joins us now live from there. TWO WEEKS AGO, THE FAMILIES WANTED TO BLOCKADE BUT THE MEETING HAS MADE THEM STOP THE FIGHT The Monk family fought hard to bring their son Michael home. To have him here in their garden, to keep him close. The monument for us is a very important thing here at our house. We look at him every day. But last night, those hopes were extinguished once and for all at a meeting with international mining experts, who rate the likelihood of getting back into this volatile mine safely as incredibly low. The families now realise for the first time that the risk of people's lives getting into that mine to recover our guys is far too much. Cloe Nieper lost her husband, Kane, when the mine exploded. Her son lost his father. He knows that his dad is up in the sky surfing, and he gets gutted because he knows that he can't see his dad. She says as much as she wants him out, it's not worth the risk to others after hearing that any oxygen entering this mine again would almost certainly mean another explosion. I don't want the mines rescue going in and risking their lives. I don't want any other one` anyone else to die to save Kane and the other 28 men in the mine. The news is still sinking in here on the streets of Greymouth as locals digest their evening paper headline ` 'Pike hope dashed ` bodies recovery put at zero per cent'. Those families have been to hell and back, but now they realise they have to come to terms with this. The Pike River mine is now seen by some of the families as a burial site, which should be held sacred. We know all the men are together and are looking after each other. 29 men ` sons, brothers and fathers. The men will always be there in our hearts and in our kids. Men who went to work one morning 18 months ago ` never to return. Lisa, what has Solid Energy had to say about the meeting? SOLID ENERGY, WHICH IS IN THE PROCESS OF BUYING THE MINES ASSETS, TOLD US IT WAS A GOOD, CONSTRUCTIVE MEETING ` PART OF THEIR ONGOING DISCUSSIONS WITH THE PIKE RIVER FAMILIES. THEY WERE PLEASED TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THEIR TECHNICAL PEOPLE TO TALK TO THE FAMILIES DIRECTLY ABOUT HOW THEY CAME TO THEIR VIEW ON THE DANGERS SURROUNDING RE-ENTRY TO THE MINE Thanks, Lisa Davies in Greymouth. And you can hear more from family spokesman Bernie Monk who's live on Close Up right after the news hour at 7. Embattled Labour MP Shane Jones will be investigated for granting citizenship to a Chinese businessman against official advice. The Labour MP was stood down from the front bench last week. Political reporter Jessica Mutch is following developments and joins us now live. LATE THIS AFTERNOON, THE AUDITOR GENERAL LAUNCHED A HIGH POWERED INQUIRY. SHANE JONES WAS ASSOCIATE IMMIGRATION MINISTER IN 2008. HE GRANTED CITIZENSHIP TO A CHINESE MILLION, HE SAYS, FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS, DESPITE ADVICE FROM INTERNAL AFFAIRS TELLING HIM NOT TO. THE AUDITOR GENERAL WILL LOOK AT WHY SHANE JONES GRANTED CITIZENSHIP THEY WILL ALSO BE LOOKING AT THE POLICIES AND PROCESSES AROUND THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS. NOW THIS INVESTIGATION COULD TAKE SEVERAL MONTHS. Jessica, has there been any response from Shane Jones? SHANE JONES ISN'T RETURNING OUR CALLS TONIGHT. HIS LEADER, DAVID SHEARER, WHO ASKED FOR THE INVESTIGATION, IS WELCOMING THE MOVE. Thanks, Jessica Mutch, live from parliament. Five people have been arrested in connection with the shopping mall fire in Qatar which killed 19 people, including 2-year-old Kiwi triplets. Many NZ expats joined about 1500 people in the capital, Doha, for an emotional service to remember the victims. Europe correspondent Garth Bray was there and joins us now live. AFTER 9 IN THE MORNING HERE PARENTS HERE HAVE HAD SLEEPLESS NIGHT WHEN A KIWI SUFFERS A LOSS, THE WHOLE COMMUNITY COMES TO SUPPORT THEM WOMAN SOBS WHISPERS: I'm so sorry. In a green field at the edge of the desert, the tears flowed today. A small choir of NZers was in full voice. WOMAN SINGS IN MAORI MEN CHANT HAKA Try and stay strong. And try and just carry on, because that's what your children would've wanted you to do. Their tears said so much, but Jane and Martin Weekes also released a brief statement. Others are giving vent to frustration. All the expats here pretty much realise how bad building practices and safety codes are here. Many would come to this park in happier times. Now they're clearly glad just to be able to hold their children close and mourn with the bereaved. We've come to support whanau from NZ but also for those from Spain, from the other countries ` South Africa, Morocco, from Palestine. We also bring our condolences over to those families. Many would have used the creche inside this smoking shell where less-paid migrants have been toiling to clear away the mess. And those who rushed to the rescue are trying to work out what went wrong in a modern building where fire-suppression measures that so tragically failed. The flames are out here, but the smell of smoke lingers and so too the question about what took 19 lives so unexpectedly. The government here has promised to get to the bottom of things and to do so within a week. (SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE) INTERPRETER: In Qatar we're not used to these sort of atrocities. We've come today to be with our family. Their starting to bury their dead in Doha. This is 15-month-old South African Omar Imran. I will miss you. I will miss you. They've also buried the bodies of two firemen they're calling martyrs here for braving the choking death trap in which so many died. WOMEN CHANT IN MAORI Garth, what can you tell us about those people arrested over the fire? A FEW PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DETAINED THE OWNER OF THE MALL THE WOMAN WHO OWNED THE CRECHE THAT BURNED TO THE GROUND INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE THE GOVERNMENT WANT IT TO LOOK THAT THEY ARE TAKING IT SERIOUSLY A SPEEDY INVESTIGATION THE WOMAN IS SAD Thanks, ONE News correspondent Garth Bray in Qatar. Canterbury police are fending off claims they should've done more to stop convicted criminal Jason Frandi before he murdered a Czech backpacker. It's now believed Frandi may have sexually assaulted Dasha Pitlyckova (31) before killing her in remote bushland west of Waimate. Max Bania reports. This is a town struggling to come to terms with news it had a murderer in its midst. When we first came here, if all the locals were naughty, they'd get frogmarched down to the police station. They got to wash the police cars. So that's the sort of environment we had. You've got people, I guess, in every community that can be like this, and so we're all vulnerable. Questions are being asked about whether police could've prevented Dasha Pitlyckova's death if they'd acted on claims a fortnight ago that her killer Jason Frandi had molested a child. < Would it not have been prudent to act immediately? Well, they have acted immediately. < But two weeks ago when the allegations were first made. Uh, no, what happens in these cases, when the initial complaint gets made, you've still got to gather the evidence. Today we were allowed into the area where the bodies were discovered. Police confirming a murder weapon was found at the scene. Uh, Dasha has, uh, suffered quite a severe wound to her neck area, and there is some suggestion of, um, uh, some form sexual assault. Miss Pitlyckova's family are said to be distraught and have requested privacy. However, police have told us that her sister is in the country and is helping them with their inquiries. Those she worked with say they're still reeling. She had this lovely smile and just a nice, bubbly personality. But, yeah, absolutely shocking, um, to think that, uh, you know, a young life has been cut so short and so... in such a brutal and sick way. Frandi's victim never made a distress call. Police are still piecing together when and where she met her killer. Max Bania, ONE News. One of the American students injured in a car crash which killed three of her friends has woken from a coma and spoken her first words since the accident 18 days ago. 21-year-old Meg Theriault is in a stable condition at Waikato Hospital and talked with a nurse, asking for her mum before going back to sleep. Four others were also injured when the van they were travelling in rolled near Turangi. ONE News has discovered that the group of Tauranga schoolgirls who got lost in the bush had no adult supervision during their trek. The 11 and 12-year-olds went missing during an exercise at a school camp in the Kaimai Ranges, sparking a major search and rescue operation. Donna-Marie Lever's been in the area to find out what went wrong. Relieved parents clutched their girls after rescuers returned them safely. But we've now learnt they were all alone. Last night the school's principal told me teachers and parents were with them. Today we asked him again. There's no way I wanted to mislead you. There were four adults with the group. This group then diverted off, and distracted, and walked off. There were no adults with the 10 children who went missing. < How did four adults lose 10 children? Well, that's what we are going to look at with our protocols this afternoon. And parents want answers too. It would be good to know how four adults could get 10 children lost and go off the beaten track and just to ensure it doesn't happen again. Oh, of course it's natural for every parent to be concerned. 50 children returned to camp this morning. The school says how they are supervised is now under review. We're told this is where the girls entered the bush on what should have been just a five-minute walk to study some trees. But they had no adults with them. They were not supervised at the time, and they continued to walk deeper and deeper into the ranges until they were lost. The three teachers and a parent waiting for them raised the alarm when they failed to come back. CHOPPER BLADE WHIRRS Two helicopters, police, ambulance and 30 others in search and rescue teams scoured the muddy tracks. We didn't know which way they'd gone when they got to the end of the track. They could have gone left or right. They choose to go left and came down one of the tracks that the other team were going up. It was a critical find for rescue teams. Temperatures dropped to zero overnight, and many predict the outcome would have been grim if the girls had to spend the night in the bush. Donna-Marie Lever, ONE News. Schools around the country will be disrupted next month as the teachers' union takes action against funding cuts. The meetings will discuss ways to fight government moves to shed staff. The education minister apologised today for the confusion surrounding the budget policy as she fronted up to school principals. The pride of Greenmeadows Intermediate lit up the first day of the National Intermediate Principals Conference. APPLAUSE And the work of one of Greenmeadows' brightest and best Year Eight's was proudly presented to the Education Minister. APPLAUSE But hang on a minute. Aren't art and kapa haka some of the specialty subjects that may be forced to shed teachers? We're going to have to make a decision about which specialist groups will be able to be kept. The minister agrees it's a tough call for schools and today said sorry for initial confusion over exactly what funding cuts will mean for intermediates. I'm very sorry that parents and schools have had this level of anxiety. But the principals aren't buying it despite the minister's now promising no school will lose more than two staff in the next three years. We just don't know what to do. They're just not listening. We're still left with some very difficult decisions to make more of the same. More of the same and still very disappointed with her attitude. It all made for a tense mood at the national conference, but the Government's holding its line. Yes, they are tough choices. They are tough choices at government level, and they are tough choices at school levels. Right now, though, no one can tell this shy young artist what the cutbacks might mean to her future dream. To be an architect designing buildings. The minister doubts art extension classes will be a casualty. I would be very surprised if a school decided to do that. But there are no guarantees and real concern that the cost of a performance like this may be just too great for some schools in the not-too-distant future. Nicole Bremner, ONE News. The coroner has found drugs and alcohol contributed to the suicide of an Auckland teenager on the night of his school ball last year. David Gaynor (17) was asked to leave the King's College ball, and a short time later, he was dead. Ruth Wynn-Williams with more on the coroner's findings. David Gaynor died after falling from an Auckland motorway bridge ` a death the coroner says was deliberate after the 17-year-old drank alcohol and took drugs on the night of his high school ball. It's that cocktail that can result in some really bad decisions. Toxicology reports show the Year 13 student had consumed more than four times the legal alcohol limit and taken the Class C party drug 4-MEC. He told his friends he'd taken Ecstasy. People are buying what they think is Ecstasy, but often, it's a new substance. There are now, the world, over a lot of these new chemicals that are making their way into pills being sold on the street. Forensic testing also showed the teenager may have used cannabis that night. The report by chief coroner Neil MacLean, says its likely the boy's intoxication and fear of punishment led to a depression that resulted in his death and that the school is not to blame. We've had to look critically at our processes, but as you've indicated, we think they've stood up to their fairly robust searching. The coroner has deliberately decided to make his findings in this report public. He says it's important that people have a full understanding of the circumstances so that others may avoid a similar tragedy. It's hoped releasing this report will go some way towards that. Ruth Wynn-Williams, ONE News. Still to come on ONE News ` a deadly virus spread by a fruit bat. The search for survivors as a second big tremor causes widespread destruction in northern Italy. The violence in Syria reaches a tipping point, raising fresh questions about military intervention. And conservation or be dammed? Are we doing enough to protect our wild rivers? Then their daughter was having underage sex, and CYF said it was OK. At 7, Close Up exposes some shocking limits to parental control. A fresh outbreak of the potentially deadly Hendra virus has infected four people and killed two horses in North Queensland. Two properties 830km apart have been quarantined as bio-security experts examine infected owners and vets. No, we've never had that before, and we don't know whether that's a coincidence or an indication of days to come. Small fruit bats spread the virus, which has killed four people and more than 70 horses in Australia since it was first discovered in 1994. Rescuers in Northern Italy are still searching for survivors trapped in the rubble after the second strong earthquake in nine days. At least 16 people died when the magnitude 5.8 earthquake flattened homes and buildings near Bologna. Thousands have been left homeless. The BBC's Luisa Baldini reports. Oh dio! TENTS CLANG, PEOPLE SHOUT This is the moment the earthquake, prompting panic among survivors made homeless by the last quake. Collapsed buildings further disintegrated in a series of aftershocks. 'We went in a panic to the square. There were bits of rubble falling. 'We came out alive and then our first thought was to run to the school.' Rescue workers converged on warehouses and factories where several people died, trying to find more victims. ALL SPEAK ITALIAN At one point, they think the search dog has found something. Several towns near Bologna bore the brunt of this latest quake, but it was felt as far away as Milan, Venice and Pisa. 14,000 people have had to abandon their homes, leaving some places deserted. In one town, the elderly were evacuated from their nursing home and taken to a local park. This is one of the most productive areas of Italy, both industrially and agriculturally. The government's pledged to do all it can to bring life back to normal as soon as possible. The quake was the most deadly to strike Italy since 2009, when a tremor partially destroyed the city of L'aquila, killing around 300 people. Western nations have reacted to the weekend's civilian massacre in Syria with sweeping diplomatic expulsions. Australia's decision to expel a Syrian diplomat who's also accredited here is being backed by our government. And the killing of more than 100 people in the town of Houla has re-ignited debate over possible United Nations-led military intervention. The BBC's James Robbins reports. GUNFIRE Allahu Akbar! Syrian shelling of heavily populated areas of Houla was only part of the slaughter of civilians which has caused such outrage. The UN now says most victims, including many children, were murdered inside their homes. Many governments hold President Assad and his militias responsible. The UN special envoy, Kofi Annan, has been urging Syria's President Assad to stop the killing and implement his peace plan. But President Assad denied having anything to do with the deaths, even having heavy weapons in the area. We are at the tipping point. The Syrian people do not want a future, their future, to be one of bloodshed and division. Yet the killings continue. Syria's top diplomat and two others here at their embassy in London have been given seven days to leave Britain. It's part of concerted worldwide expulsions from many capitals designed to send a strong signal to President Assad that he must now finally get behind Kofi Annan's peace plan. The trouble is neither the Syrian opposition nor the Assad regime seem willing to talk. Some argue international military intervention will eventually become inevitable, but it carries big risks. Syria has plentiful and sophisticated Russian-made air defences. Unlike Libya, the opposition in Syria is deeply divided, not rallying around a clear leadership. And many governments, including the Americans, lack the political will or public support for another war. So the massacre at Houla may not mark a turning point. Syria's regime has so far calculated that its survival depends on overwhelming force, not on dialogue. The United States government says military intervention in Syria would cause greater chaos, while Russia is expected to veto any UN resolution on military action. Mitt Romney has gained the magic number he needs to become the Republican Party's candidate to challenge Barack Obama for the White House. Romney clinched the nomination with a resounding victory in the Texas primary. He's the first Mormon to achieve selection. He'll be formally nominated at the Republican convention in August. Current polling suggests a tight race for the presidency in November. Prince William has described his sadness that his mother was not able to meet his wife or be at the royal wedding. The Prince rarely speaks about Princess Diana, but revealed his feelings about her absence during an interview ahead of this weekend's diamond jubilee celebrations. I was sort of mentally prepared, so I didn't want any wobbling lips with everything going on. It's the one time since she's died that I thought to myself, 'It would be fantastic if she was here,' and just how sad, really, for her, more than anything, not being able to see it. I'm just very sad that she's never going to get the chance to see Kate. Prince Harry has also given an interview where he's said he's only appreciated the work of his grandmother the Queen, in the last few years. Now we take a look at the day's weather, and another fine day for most? Hi. Good for the North and upper South, but a front's pushing up into Canterbury with a cold surge. It was Christchurch's turn today as the Dreamliner jetted in to strut its stuff, For weather, see tvnz.co.nz Back after sport with a few showers over the beaches and a pinch of frost. Still to come on ONE News ` fears for a new kiwifruit variety that was supposed to save the industry from the PSA disaster. And a damning indictment on protection for our wild rivers. DAUGHTER HAVING UNDERAGE SEX COUNSELLOR SAID IT WAS OKAY DIFFICULT SITUATION HOW MUCH CONTROL DO YOU HAVE OVER YOUR KIDS? VERY LITTLE A week ago, we asked these mothers to try the new BabyLove, and this is what they had to say. Impressed. We had no changes, and you had a very good sleep. And she was dry all night. She was fantastic. BabyLove's new DriWave layer absorbs liquid instantly time and time again, for a dry night and a dry morning. I've had great results, so I'm changing. I've had great results, so I'm changing. (LAUGHS) For drier nights, new BabyLove. 1 Safe Air Limited, an Air NZ subsidiary, has been fined $56,000 for an horrific accident which saw one of its employees sucked into a plane engine. Miles Hunter, an experienced engineer, was killed when he was servicing a Hercules engine at Woodbourne Airfield. The Blenheim District Court heard the 51-year-old wasn't holding on to the handrail and was therefore pulled into the engine. Safe Air Limited has also been ordered to pay reparations of $22,000 following the accident in August. There are concerns tonight that a new kiwifruit variety considered a solution to the PSA disaster is succumbing to the bacteria. And this has made it a tough choice for growers who had until an hour ago to buy this season's growing rights to the variety. Heather du Plessis-Allan explains. These dead leaves are signs of PSA in a new variety of kiwifruit it was hoped would help save the industry. This one's gonna live. It's green, and that one's not. It's brown. The variety is called G3. Te Puke grower Graham Foote says 10% of his crop is dying. They reckon I wasn't the worst. There's a lot worse orchards out there. So that means that this could get a lot worse. Zespri's released G3 to replace the weaker original gold kiwifruit devastated by the vine-killing bacteria PSA. The industry's desperate for a solution, but signs of young crops dying off have growers nervous about buying licences to grow it. Zespri's dropped the price of the G3 licence from as high as $25,000 per hectare last year to just $8000. Of that, growers only pay a portion up front and then the rest if the vines survive. You can see the PSA infection in this vine over here. The cane has shrivelled up, and the leaves have died. But this infection's only reached down to about here, so there's still hope that the vine may survive. But then again, it could get worse. But Zespri says the G3 gets stronger as it gets older. We're not saying that there's no risk here. It's gonna take both those genetics of G3 and management techniques to get us through this. What I wanna hear as a grower is immunity. And unless that word's used, this tolerance and resistance doesn't mean a damn thing. As for Graham Foote, he says he's just bought another 5ha of G3. He says it's worth the risk, even if this gold variety turns out to be no silver bullet. Heather du Plessis-Allan, ONE News. An independent environmental watchdog says we're failing to protect our rivers and our international reputation is at stake. It's estimated as many as 65 hydro-schemes are likely to proceed over the next 20 years. And the parliamentary commissioner is concerned about the impact on our wild and scenic rivers. Renee Graham has more. It's feared wild and scenic rivers like the Mokihinui near Westport could be damaged beyond repair if we don't take immediate action to protect them. While Meridian Energy's abandoned its application to dam this river, plans for other waterways are still in the pipeline. My report found that our wild and scenic rivers are not protected well enough. The parliamentary commissioner says the clean energy from hydropower is a good way to combat climate change, but only if plants are built on rivers already developed or with little environmental value. After comparing hydro-energy with wild rivers, she concludes, The policy has been to favour renewable energy like hydroelectricity over non-renewable, which is fine. It's just that some forms of renewable energy are more damaging than others and in particular, hydroelectric dams. Dr Jan Wright says it can take more than 10 years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to obtain a water conservation order to protect them. She wants all rivers needing protection to be identified and listed, and she wants a permanent tribunal created to quickly hear applications for water conservation orders. We're getting to the stage now where most of our wild rivers have been considered for power. We need to think about what we want to use those wild rivers for. But there's concern the push to preserve rivers could go too far. We don't want to be in a situation in three or four years time saying, 'I wish we'd built some generation back then.' Let's get on with it now. Let's make electricity affordable for everybody. The commissioner says it's a juggling act and one environmental gain could come at the expense of another. Renee Graham, ONE News. Legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has received America's highest civilian honour ` the Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama paid tribute to Dylan, saying he was a really big fan. By the time he was 23, Bob's voice, with its weight, its unique gravelly power was redefining not just what music sounded like, but the message it carried and how it made people feel. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. Also honoured was the first American to orbit the earth, astronaut John Glenn. Looking at our top stories tonight ` the families of the 29 men killed at the Pike River mine have given up their quest for the bodies of the men to be retrieved. The decision follows a meeting with Australian experts who said there is very little chance of safely getting the bodies out. Martin and Jane Weekes, the parents of the NZ triplets who perished in a shopping mall fire in Doha have joined a vigil for those who lost their lives. 19 died in the blaze, and authorities investigating the fire have arrested five people . Labour MP Shane Jones is to be investigated over a decision to grant citizenship to a Chinese millionaire. The Auditor General will probe why the former associate immigration minister granted citizenship even though a government department advised him not to. Andrew's here with sport, and rugby's North-South game isn't taking off. More on the future of this match, next. Also tonight ` look who's back together in Crusaders land, as we get set for a massive southern derby. Plus, Serena's gone from the arena. What on earth went wrong? And it must be games time. Usain charms Europe ahead of the London Olympics. The fund raising North-South rugby match in Dunedin has come in for some stinging criticism. Ticket sales for the match next week have been slow, and there's confusion over who'll play for which island. But is the match sowing the seed for something much bigger? One of the key instigators of the new north-south game is adamant, 'Give it a chance.' Look at it glass half-empty or glass half-full. You know, it's a game where the guys are going for a couple of days and playing something a bit different. However, the match Sunday week has so far sold 2000 tickets. There needs to be at least triple that figure to make a profit. Any surplus goes to the Dunedin City Council for helping to bail out the broke Otago Union. Players in the game are turning out for free. The issues with Otago were a rugby problem, and we felt that rugby needed to step up and come up with a rugby solution. But, in a bit of a head-scratcher, non-All Blacks will be picked to represent their super-franchises, not from where they're originally from. I would have presumed it would have been where you were brought up. I think it would, uh, add a bit of spice and flavour to the match-up. The guys mentally are, sort of, set with the Highlanders and Crusaders, for example, and to bring those two groups together for a meaningful game, uh, is easier than suddenly having players crossing borders all over the show. That could happen in the future. It's understood players want a true island-of-origin match in an all-star weekend, like American sports. Certainly, the concepts of all-stars, uh, qualification through first 15 or provincial rugby, um, are all things that if the game went beyond this one-off initiative, um, would all come on to the table. Like league in the '90s, players are keen for a weekend of skill competitions - like a 100m dash ` and then a true north-south match, with proceeds to charity. I guess if everyone has a good time and enjoys, uh, this one that's coming up, then there's no reason why you can't look at it. The shadow north-south game next weekend might not have grabbed a lot of attention yet, but rugby minds are at work. In the heart of the south they're looking forward to welcoming back a northerner who's made Canterbury his home. All Black star Kieran Read has recovered from this pelvic injury and will play in the southern derby against the Highlanders on Friday night. Here's Blair Norton. There's no question Kieran Read's been the Crusaders' best player this season. He's just been immense. He's been huge. You know, it's easy to look good when you're going forward. But, you know, When you're going a little bit backwards or a little bit sideways, you know, cometh the man. Kieran Read certainly did that. The Red and Blacks will be looking for him to deliver once again in this weekend's southern derby against the Highlanders. Surprisingly, Reid can hardly remember the horrifying fall two and a half weeks ago against the Rebels, which resulted in his pelvic injury. I've obviously seen it. It's just one of those things, eh? Pretty nasty fall. Just literally just felt the ground, and it was about it. You know, in a bit of pain, so, um, didn't really think too much. It was just, yeah, pretty painful. The All Blacks number eight doesn't take kindly to sitting in the stands, but admits last week's bye came at the right time for him, if not the team. He only started running again at the end of last week. It was kind of awkward position, really, like right on the bone at the back of the hip, so it made it a bit uncomfortable. So I'll still probably pad it up and hope to not get too many shots, but we'll wait and see on Friday. Read's pelvis is set to get a robust test against a physical Highlanders side who's round two win still doesn't sit easily in Christchurch. They played pretty well that night and, yeah, they're a pretty combative team, and they'll attack the, uh, contact areas and stuff, and we've got to make sure we match that. Well, I think it's just your mindset. You know, you've just got to make smart decisions and really make sure you meet fire with fire. So far this season, Read's ticked all of those boxes. Blair Norton, ONE News. Former Warriors coach Ivan Cleary might be wishing he never left the stability of Mt Smart for the big money at Penrith. The club already has salary cap issues. Now he's had showdown talks with Panthers captain Luke Lewis, who's decided he doesn't want to be captain anymore. And that's what we were talking about this morning ` communication on both parts. Um, you know, himself and myself. Getting together a lot more, talking and making sure that we can get the team on the same page and working together as a team and not against each other. This isn't Cleary's only headache. Origin star Michael Jennings wants out of the club, even though the Panthers want him to stay. NZ tennis number one Marina Erakovic is out of the French Open, losing in the first round in straight sets. The defeat puts the squeeze on her Olympic Games nomination, which hasn't been cleared as yet. Rather more of a surprise was the early exit of former champ Serena Williams, losing in the first round of a major for the first time. Martin Tasker with the action. After being two points from victory nine times in the second set, Serena Williams suddenly found herself battling to stay in the match in the third against Virginie Razzano from France. No way. Falling backwards, off balance, finds an incredible angle. The body language of dad Richard Williams and mum were very easy to read as the world number 111 made it 5-0 emphatically. Close the game out with an ace. Williams then found traces of her real form. Williams ace! Here's the former champion trying to protect a record 46 first-round victories in grand slams and winning three games in a row before Razzano (29) was able to reach her first match point. The tension in the game of her life was really telling. Oh. Oh. Oh. A bizarre finale unfolds as the match points come and go. On the other side of the net, Williams also can't convert her five break points, and even Razzano's eighth and final match point needed a personal visit from the umpire to decide it. This is a massive call. The underdog has her day. I'm speechless. That is incredible. Williams was down and out. The understandably partisan French crowd rising. I've a sneaking feeling that's Mum. The final game of a three-hour match was 23 minutes long. Martin Tasker, ONE News. In NBA basketball, the Oklahoma City Thunder have resorted to underhand tactics in game two of the Western Conference finals. Trailing by 20 points, the Thunder started intentionally fouling the Spurs' weakest free-throw shooter, Tiago Splitter. It was an attempt to slow the Spurs' third-quarter run. I still say he really needs to be changed. You know, it's so bad for the rhythm, for the flow, for the fans. Nobody wants to see this. Splitter making both free throws only twice. The Thunder closed to within six points, but with Tony Parker shooting a game-high 34 points, the Spurs were too strong, winning 120 to 111. San Antonio leads the series 2-0. After tangling with a turtle earlier in the week, Team NZ's just avoided walloping a whale on leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race to Portugal. Playing high-speed catch-up in the Atlantic, Camper had been charging to stay in touch with the fleet when disaster loomed. TRANSLATOR: I was trimming, and I saw a big whale off the bow. We change course one side, and the animal takes the other and really really good luck. It's a big animal. A collision with him doesn't bear thinking about. With 600 miles to go, Camper's slipped to fifth, struggling on its most vulnerable point of sail. Hopes pinned on the fleet parking up tonight in a big windless hole off Portugal. The Black Sticks women have got off to a great start in their three-match series against China with a 2-1 victory in Beijing. The Chinese opened the scoring in the 10th minute from a penalty corner. The Black Sticks equalised a minute later through a superb solo effort from Anita Punt. Katie Glynn deflected the winning goal three minutes from time. The teams play again tomorrow night. The world's fastest man has been impressing fans in Rome ahead of his Diamond League 100m race tomorrow night at the same stadium where Sir Peter Snell and Sir Murray Halberg won gold for NZ more than 50 years ago. He failed to break 10 seconds last week in the Czech Republic, but is predicting a fast time in the eternal city. I'm not worried at any point in time, no matter how fast or slow or better. So I'm always focused and ready. He's in the rhythm to run fast. The fastest time at Rome's Olympic Stadium is 9.7. Thanks, Andrew. After the break, showers in the forecast for those facing south-west. Weather's next. Your 14-year-old daughter is having sex with a 20-year-old, but her counsellor tells you you're in the wrong. We were desperate. Tonight we expose the shocking limits to parental control. We live an immoral Alice in Wonderland in this country. And the Pike River families have been in an 18-month-long battle for recovery of their loved ones. So what's changed their minds? Close Up's here next, TV ONE. Hi, everyone. Now the sun's gone down, temperatures are tumbling. Thames bottoms out with zero. Here's last evening's sunset from Tonga. For weather, see tvnz.co.nz While you're checking tomorrow's high, a quick heads up on winter. NIWA's calling a fairly neutral season. Just a little less rain than usual in the east of the south is and west of the north. And that's ONE News for Wednesday. And that's ONE News for Wednesday.