The cool south-westerly flow over us gradually faded away today. It still managed to flick a few showers over some eastern areas and the far north. Great day on the southern ski fields, although it was minus-9 degree start at Mt Hutt. Make the most of any fine weather this weekend. The rainclouds are gathering in the Tasman. 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 Wendy Petrie. Tonight ` he didn't do it. An impassioned plea from Ewen Macdonald's lawyer as he rubbishes Crown evidence accusing his client of killing Scott Guy. At risk of falling rocks, but homeowners vow to stay put as their houses are zoned to be condemned. The horrific aftermath after a car loaded with booze crashes, killing three people. And safe at home with dad ` a father's relief after a thief takes his car on a high-speed chase with his two children in the back. Kia ora. Good evening. The murder trial that's gripped many across the country is another step closer to a conclusion. The judge is due to sum up on Monday after Ewen Macdonald's lawyer today made an impassioned plea for his client to be acquitted. Macdonald's accused of killing his brother-in-law Scott Guy, but his legal team says the evidence simply doesn't fit. Simon Bradwell is covering the trial. The Crown says Ewen Macdonald corrected the man who found Scott Guy's body, saying his brother-in-law had been shot instead of having his throat cut. The defence says that is ridiculous. If you're the blimmin' killer, if you're the person that has shot Scott Guy, then why, why in the realms of Christendom would you be correcting people? Allegations Ewen Macdonald resented Scott Guy were also rubbished. The evidence is, that on the 7th of July 2010, the night before Mr Guy was savagely and coldly murdered in his driveway, that Ewen and Scott had never been getting on better. Based on evidence both of them had enjoyed a trip to Invercargill shortly before his death. Also dismissed was the Crown's allegation that bootprints at the scene were left by a pair of Ewen Macdonald's Proline dive boots. The defence says it can't be proven the boots were Prolines, and if they were, they were too big to be Mr Macdonald's. We win both ways, frankly. In his police interview, Ewen Macdonald lied about not committing the arson, vandalism and graffiti at properties on the Guy farm. But the defence argues Bryan Guy, a fair and honest man, also misled police about locking away the farm shotgun, when in fact it was only hidden. It demonstrates, doesn't it, that innocent people can lie to police. The defence has always said someone else killed Scott Guy. Today using another man as an example of how innocent events could appear sinister. When you take your man and you put him in that dock, things can be made to seem to fit. But the defence says not one skerrick of evidence fits the Crown claim that Ewen Macdonald was the killer. And if it doesn't fit, members of the jury, you know the rest. The judge is scheduled to sum up on Monday ` the last act before the jury retires. Simon Bradwell, ONE News. Dozens of homeowners face eviction as a result of the long-awaited rezoning of properties in Christchurch's Port Hills. Reports show their houses remain at high risk of landslip and rock fall. The final major zoning announcement today is good news for just over 1100 property owners who have gone from white to green zone, meaning their homes are safe to live in. However, 285 are now zoned red and will have to be abandoned. That leaves 166 still in the white zone, needing further assessment. For more details, Lorelei Mason joins us now live from Balmoral Hill. IF YOU LOOK AT THIS HOUSE BEHIND ME, IT'LL COME AS NO SURPRISE WHAT'S LEFT OF IT IS DUE FOR DEMOLITION. IT'S IN THE RED ZONE AND IS VERY CLOSE TO A CLIFF. IT'S ONE OF 285 PROPERTIES ZONED RED TODAY ` NEWS OF WHICH HAS PLEASED SOME, BUT LEFT OTHERS FEELING GUTTED. IT'S VERY MUCH A CASE OF WINNERS, LOSERS AND DOZENS MORE WHO, AFTER NEARLY 500 DAYS, STILL FACE THE AGONY OF HAVING NO CLEAR ANSWERS AT ALL. For the past year Ralph Bungard has defied a council-issued eviction notice and remained in his Avoca Valley home. It's still white-zoned and red-stickerd, which we have been now for 490-odd days. He now faces a fresh eviction demand after a CERA geotech report says the risk of rocks falling on him from the hillside above remains and is endangering his life. The council hopes he and 113 others will now cooperate and move out. We're guided by law, and those situations could end up in court. Now, we don't want to go there. We hope ultimately we can avoid that. Enforcement gives us no joy. But Ralph says he's not moving. When it comes down to it, we're doing the life-risk analysis, and we do it every day, so we're happy where we are. CERA geotechnical engineers say the risk of what they term 'rock roll' from landslips or unstable boulders ` many the size of washing machines ` is just too great. One in 10,000 is a risk level for life threat that is used extensively. 166 properties remain in this white limbo zone. They'll have to wait until August or late October for answers, with the prospect many will ultimately turn red anyway. We're not trying to prolong your pain or the agony. We just want to make sure that you do get a fair go. As if on cue, Mother Nature reminded those gathered at today's press conference just why concern remains. On the first of July, 2011, when we were doing those early flat-land type announcements... Um... A small quake serving as a reminder that the land underneath this city remains unstable. The Port Hills was the city's last remaining major land-zoning announcement. Many here have waited nearly 500 days for news. For most it was more clear-cut. Around 1100 are now green. They can now begin discussions with private insurers and the EQC and move on at last. But nearly 300 more, like these cliff-top homes, have turned red. Their land is considered too perilous to rebuild on. They'll now come under the government's red-zone settlement umbrella. If they all choose the Crown settlement for their house and land, the bill is expected to top $200m. Lorelei, is there any chance the rocks causing this on-going concern for homeowners can be removed or secured? BLASTING WORK HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THE PORT HILLS TO BREAK UP ROCKS FOR A YEAR NOW. TODAY ROGER SUTTON TOLD THE MEDIA THAT WHILE THIS HAS WORKED TO SOME EXTEND, OFTEN CREATED MORE PROBLEMS AND MORE ROCK FALLS, LOOSENING PREVIOUSLY SOLID ROCKS UNDERNEATH. FENCING THEM OFF IS NO QUICK FIX. SOME OF THEM ARE TOO LARGE ` 10 TONS, AND IF THEY BREAK FREE AND COME CRASHING DOWN, THEY CAN REACH SPEEDS OF 90 KPH. Thanks, Lorelei Mason in Christchurch. While the frustrations continue for some, many other homeowners finally got some certainty today. Mike Thorpe's been talking to affected residents. Gary Rochford has argued for almost 500 days that his house is safe to live in. Today the authorities agreed. Yeah, cooler heads have prevailed. Yeah, our life is filled with a certain amount of risk. We have a house behind us, so, yeah, never felt threatened. I will probably ceremoniously burn it. The Avoca Valley resident has stood alongside his neighbours as they fought to keep their homes, and with many still in the dark, he's prepared to do it again. If there were further action planned, I would be right there with the rest of them, absolutely, because it's about our community. Often the winners and losers are separated only by the road between them. To illustrate the complexity of these land zonings, this side of the street is zoned red. The houses will be demolished and never rebuilt. Yet the opposite side is zoned green. They're staying put. But for a handful of residents in this quiet cul-de-sac, the answers aren't so definite. They won't learn their fate until October. There's no problem here. We were hoping to go green. Once again, it's a waiting game, and we're sick of waiting. Clearly we have had a landslip further along the lane, but that was due to the snow, not to the earthquake, so, yeah, we just haven't been seen. The number of white zone houses is decreasing, but the frustration of those left living in them certainly isn't. Mike Thorpe, ONE News. Police say three young men killed in a car crash were travelling in an old car packed with alcohol. The only survivor is in Waikato Hospital with critical injuries after the vehicle left the road at high speed. It smashed into a tree on Gordonton Rd, just north of Hamilton, at 5 o'clock this morning. Ruth Wynn-Williams has been at the scene. The impact of a journey fuelled by alcohol that ended at speed. It's another case, I think, of rural Waikato roads claiming another three lives at this point in time, possibly four. The car they were travelling in was crushed in less than a second. So quick, it didn't even wake the neighbours. We didn't hear it. The police indicated the initial impact we wouldn't have heard, it wouldn't have woken us, and there was no other noise after it. The young driver, believed to be in his teens or early 20s, and two of his friends were killed on impact. Another passenger was rushed here to Waikato Hospital with critical injuries. It just lucky there was another motorist that came across it. At 5am Gordonton Rd was quiet, but conditions were wet. It was dark when the boys were travelling through here. Their car left the road at high speed and was stopped by this tree. You can only imagine how massive the impact must have been. There's glass shattered for metres, and you can smell petrol and alcohol on the ground. One of the major concerns, of course, is the amount of alcohol found in the vehicle and the smell of alcohol within the vehicle. It's not known whether the driver himself had been drinking. It's understood the boys were travelling to Auckland. Police say a deadly mixture of speed, tiredness and alcohol are the likely cause. The last alcohol-related fatal crash we had in the Waikato was on the 8th of December last year, so effectively we've gone seven months without an alcohol-related fatality, so it's very frustrating for us. Picking up the pieces of a road trip gone terribly wrong. Ruth Wynn-Williams, ONE News. An Auckland banker's been found guilty of injuring another motorist during a road rage attack. Analyst Guy Hallwright had denied deliberately driving into Song Jin Kim on Mt Eden Rd two years ago. Mr Kim needed surgery on his legs after the incident. Auckland police are still looking for the driver of a stolen vehicle who somehow walked away from this devastating smash. It appears the car was travelling at high speed when it wrapped around a traffic light in Mt Wellington. Police say the driver was probably the only one in the car. But it's believed another car thief who led police on a dangerous high-speed chase didn't realise he had two young children in the back. Police say the boys are lucky to be alive after the car crashed on a Dunedin motorway. Their father told ONE News today about his relief at getting his children back safe and well. Max Bania reports. Ben Bryant appreciates fatherhood all the more on days like this. < Was there a time there you were worried you might not get them back? Yeah, pretty much that was what was running through my head the whole time. Last night the 22-year-old had been celebrating the birth of his third child when he and a friend went inside this South Dunedin service station. And, yeah, I got the drink out of the fridge and realised he'd come in as well. Asked him what he was doing. He was supposed to be watching the kids. And looked out the window to see, yeah, my car driving off. What are you thinking? Just thinking the worst mainly, yep. The thief fleeing with Ben's two boys, aged three years and eighteen months, still inside. What did you say to him? I said, 'Piss off.' The drama started here at Hillside Rd. The car then made its way south. From there it was taken on a 10km ride down the southern motorway. Witnesses say it reached speeds of 150km/h before crashing on a hill near Mosgiel. As far as I'm concerned, those seat belts or safety restraints have saved those children's lives. We're looking at a high-speed crash; black ice on the road; driver was very much intoxicated. A 25-year-old local man appeared here at the district court this afternoon charged with excess breath alcohol. Further charges are likely. Police say he was so drunk he didn't realise there were children in the back of the car. Ben Bryant has learned a valuable lesson ` never take your eye off your kids. Max Bania, ONE News. Police in Vanuatu have arrested a local man in relation to the death of NZer Hanz Christian outside a bar in the capital, Port Vila. It's understood Mr Christian stepped in to stop a fight when he was assaulted. He later died in hospital. NZ's first female Pacific Islands judge is calling on her community to wake up to high rates of suicide and criminal behaviour among their young people. In a ONE News exclusive, new research for the first time explains how violent young offenders with a Pacific Island background differ from Maori and European. This from Kim Vinnell. Granted rare access to the Manukau Youth Court. It is a remand under '238 (1)d'... It's clear Judge Ida Malosi has her work cut out. On any given day there would be a disproportionate number of Pacific Island youth appearing and on violent charges. What she's seeing at the coalface has been backed up by new research into Pacific Island violent youth offenders. They will not offend within their family, but they will quite easily offend against somebody else outside of their family. The common excuse will be, 'Well, that wasn't my sister or that wasn't my mother.' Psychologist Julia Iaone's three-year study followed 600 Maori, European and Pacific Island violent youth offenders. It shows first-time Pacific Island youth offenders will commit the more violent crimes and usually at around age 17, putting them on the cusp of Youth Court jurisdiction. They will miss out on the youth offending and the rehabilitation programmes that are available. The research showed a strong connection between exposure to family violence and the likelihood young people will become offenders themselves, possibly ending up at a youth court like this. Over 50% of all youth violent offenders involved in the study had been exposed to family violence at some point. Pacific community leaders agree prevention is key. There's unemployment. There's a lot of pressures Pacific Island. They're larger families. This is just symptoms of what is happening overall. Giving them the opportunity to be reminded or perhaps learn for the first time what it is to be Samoan, what it is to be Tongan, and if you truly understand those things, then the rest of life makes sense. A cultural approach to youth offenders it's hoped education and justice officials will take note of. Kim Vinnell, ONE News. Just ahead on ONE News ` the raids on Kim Dotcom's mansion ` why they could now be costly for the government. Obama isn't playing populist politics. The health move that could lose him the presidency. And the Queen marks yet another milestone. Why this one means so much to our war veterans. Then at 7, they're calling it revolutionary, but could the zero-energy house really make your power bills a thing of the past? A former dog breeder and his wife found guilty of abusing 250 pets have been fined a total of $25,000, the maximum penalty allowed under the law. David Neil Balfour and Daryl Kirsty Balfour have also been been served notices of suspension from the NZ Kennel Club. Daniel Faitaua was at the sentencing in Palmerston North. Fined $12,500 each for animal cruelty, David Neil Balfour and Daryl Kirsty Reid Balfour were sentenced on animal welfare charges. This was serious offending which had serious impact on your animals. The husband and wife have spent most of the past six years in and out of court fighting the charges. But in December last year they were convicted on two representative charges of failing to ensure the health and the behavioural needs of almost 250 cats and dogs and guilty of ill-treating cats. They were found not guilty on another charge of ill-treating the dogs. You had far too many animals, and insufficient resource in every sense. It's a case that dates back to 2005 when the Balfours' animal-breeding business, a former Woodville piggery, was raided by the SPCA, the largest operation ever conducted by the organisation. David Balfour was a former dog show judge for the NZ Kennel club. The president of the NZ Kennel Club wouldn't appear on camera, but told me he was disappointed with the Balfours' conviction. He went on to says the NZ Kennel Club has served a 10-year suspension notice on David Balfour. The couple will be allowed to retain four animals subject to regular inspection, but no more for 20 years. I would've liked to see the fines doubled, I think. $25,000 split between them was inadequate. The Balfours are not ruling out an appeal. That's something I should tell the court first rather than the media. The couple have been ordered to pay the fines to the SPCA. Lawyers for Kim Dotcom aren't ruling out seeking compensation from our government after what they call a botch-up by police. The raid on the internet millionaire's mansion north of Auckland has been found to be illegal. Charlotte Whale has more. The search of Kim Dotcom's property could end up costing taxpayers dearly. Because of the significant amount of evidence that has therefore been seized out of this search warrant, it is most likely that some significant damages could be on the table. In January police swooped on Dotcom's Coatesville mansion, confiscating hard-drive data and other personal items ` all authorised by what a high court judge has now ruled was an invalid search warrant. Legal experts say it's another example of the mishandling of such cases by police. The most important example one could think of was the Urewera trials and the fact that the evidence was not admissible before the court because of the way it was obtained. Dotcom looked happy last night after getting the news, and his lawyers aren't ruling seeking compensation, calling the blunder's an embarrassment to NZ police. It looks like there was too much deference paid to the USA. It looks like there was not enough independent scrutiny. The warrant was prepared with help from the Crown Law Office. Both the Crown and police were in court when the application was made, meaning both are accountable, but neither would comment today, saying the matter is still before the courts. Dotcom faces a number of internet piracy charges. His lawyers want them thrown out and are confident he'll now avoid extradition to the US. For now, legal teams from both sides are preparing for the next hearing on Wednesday. Charlotte Whale, ONE News. Barack Obama's rival for the American presidency is already cashing in on what's been dubbed 'Obamacare'. More than $2m in donations poured into Mitt Romney's campaign within hours of the landmark health laws being upheld by the Supreme Court. Our US correspondent Jack Tame has more. They've waited two years for a final decision, but after surviving divisive political squabbling and a lawsuit from 26 states, the defining legislation of Barack Obama's first presidential term was upheld. It should be pretty clear by now that I didn't do this because it was good politics. I did it because I believed it was good for the country. It'll certainly be good for the 30 million Americans who couldn't previously afford health insurance. I just think it's a great thing. Everybody needs health care at one point in their life. From a tax perspective, it's going to affect us all the way up the food chain. No matter their age, income or pre-existing health conditions, from 2014 every American will be guaranteed coverage in a country that spends more on health care than any other nation on earth. As it stands, a simple check-up with your GP costs on average more than NZ$110. Still, better that than hospital. The average visit here costs $19,000. All up, health care spending makes up nearly 20% of America's entire economic activity. The law only survived on a technicality. The chief justice actually ruled the government can't force people to buy something. However, he said it can tax people if they don't. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney promises the first thing he'd do with a win in November would be to repeal the bill. 'Obamacare' was bad law yesterday. It's bad law today. So although the president will chalk up today's decision as a victory, there's no point in winning a legal battle if it leads to defeat in November's war. Jack Tame, ONE News, New York. The president now plans to visit another battleground that's forced 35,000 people from their homes. Hundreds of houses have now been destroyed by wild fires raging on the edge of Colorado Springs, Firefighters say lighter winds and cooler temperatures are helping, but they fear lightning storms could trigger new blazes. Weather time now. It was a lovely day to hit the southern ski slopes, Karen? It certainly was. Stunning, beautiful skies, with a dying south-westerly. Here's how it was looking this morning over the Southern Alps. This photo was taken by Eagle Air first officer Tim Hawkes. For weather, see onenews.co.nz I'll have your weekend forecast for you after sport. An emotional moment for NZ war veterans is just ahead on ONE News. Plus ` the battle scars are obvious. Now there's renewed hope for a flood-ravaged tourist destination. And what it'll cost you to take a ride on this during the Olympics. Tonight on Close Up ` is it possible to eliminate power bills forever? These two think so. It's about having a better life, a more comfortable home. How realistic is the zero-energy house? It is achievable. Plus ` the talent team to find our new superstars. Are they up to the task? Close Up at 7, TV ONE. 1 Analysts say a split-up of Rupert Murdoch's media empire could save it from being dragged down by the decline of its newspaper business. Mr Murdoch's $75 billion Newscorp business is being divided into an entertainment company, including the 20th Century Fox movie studio and Fox TV channels, and a publishing venture. We think that the separation was partly motivated by that very question, which is to isolate the` what some people have called the Bad News Corp. Mr Murdoch insists the move isn't in response to the phone-hacking scandal in Britain that led to the demise of News Of The World. There's been an emotional trip to London for NZ war veterans, as they watched the Queen unveil a memorial to their efforts in the Bomber Command squad. It's taken years to build, partly because of fears it'd be seen as celebrating a campaign that killed hundreds of thousands of German civilians. This from Europe correspondent Garth Bray. Their faces are lined. Their war has been over for 67 years. But as the Queen pulled the cord, this was the moment the men of Bomber Command won their battle for official recognition. To see everybody ` all the Royal family go past, and so on ` and then all the others sitting amongst the veterans who have been through so much, was just absolutely awesome. Means a lot to all of us. Something, you know, people can say, 'Well, I was part of that.' Their raids over Germany from 1942 to 1945 were the original 'shock and awe' campaign. Military historians now debate whether they hurried the German surrender at all. It is thought they killed perhaps 600,000 people. An inscription on the monument acknowledges those deaths, but that terrible toll meant at the time, the airmen were given scant recognition, and some are only just getting over that. We feel it was a slap in the face for, you know, Bomber Command. Because that's, I think, where political correctness first started. Was the fact that, 'Well, we've got to give reconciliation with our enemies.' The 31 veterans of Bomber Command flew here with NZ government assistance, but the British government hasn't paid a penny towards this memorial. In fact, it was the veterans themselves who had to put their hands into their own pockets to see it built. These guys are in their late 80s and 90s. It's been one hell of a fight. They've been helped by multi-million dollar donations from several wealthy men. One is the same Conservative peer who posted the reward for the medals stolen from our National Army Museum. (PLAYS 'LAST POST') As the core of the British Royal family paid their respects, Britain's last airworthy Lancaster bomber ` the fear of the Ruhr ` sowed the sky with poppy petals, while a more lasting tribute looked on below. Garth Bray, ONE News, London. Another sight's now dominating the London skyline, and it's bound to be an attraction at next month's Olympics. It's cable cars straddling the Thames River, which'll connect people with games venues on either side. The views from the five-minute ride include the Olympic Park and the historic time-keeping site of Greenwich. A trip will cost you about $8.50. The gateway to an idyllic part of the South Island's reopened, and people hope business will now pick up as a result. Flooding in December cut off Totaranui Rd, one of the main routes into Abel Tasman National Park. Arrun Soma went back for a visit. Slips still scar the majestic hills surrounding Golden Bay. But a major road's finally been cleared and today is back open for the first time in more than half a year. It's certainly knocked us, knocked everyone in the bay, as you're aware, big time. This is the same road last December when a one in 500-year storm washed it out. It cut off a main access route to the world famous Abel Tasman National Park and a popular campsite at Totaranui. The storm hit the tourist towns during summer, keeping holidaymakers away. Most tourism businesses in town and the supermarket and every aspect of it have been losing about 25-30% throughout the summer. These kayak operators are now working other jobs to get by. It dawned that, hey, things are gonna be a bit dire here, and we're in a bit of trouble for the season, and pretty much too late to react at that stage. But things are looking up now. Contractors, councillors and the community gathered today for the road's opening. The route cost $700,000 to fix, well below the $15m originally predicted. Some of the banks are still at risk of slipping, so every time there's a decent rainfall, an engineer will come through this road to check it out. Tourist operators will be checking their bank accounts, hoping this summer doesn't bring another severe storm and the road remains open for business. Arrun Soma, ONE News. Updating tonight's leading stories ` the judge is set to sum up on Monday in the Scott Guy murder trial. In closing arguments, the lawyer for the accused, Ewen Macdonald, made an impassioned plea for aquittal. Greg King says it simply doesn't fit that Macdonald killed his brother-in-law. Nearly 200 property owners in Christchurch's Port Hills will have to wait a few more months before finding out if their homes are in the red zone. But there's certainty for another 285, who have to get out after learning their houses remain at high risk of landslips and rock falls. And police say three young men killed in a car crash were travelling in an old vehicle packed with alcohol. The only survivor's in Waikato Hospital with critical injuries after the high-speed smash at Gordonton. Jenny-May's here now with sport, and a big name crashes out of Wimbledon? YES, NADAL'S BEEN KNOCKED OUT So with the Spaniard gone, does this make it easier for British hope Andy Murray? Also on the way ` speaking of gone. Thanks for helping us secure the Olympics, Becks, but we don't need you any more. Super Mario sends Italy into the Euro 2012 football finals. And the NBA's future star ` find out why this kid (19) loves his 'unibrow'. Kia ora. Welcome back. Day four of Wimbledon, for the most part, went as predicted. Yes, Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray might've dropped a set each, but they still won, along with all the other stars. All except one ` one of the biggest. And no one saw this coming, as Glen Larmer reports. This is what it feels like when a rank outsider upsets one of the world's best. No one gave the 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol a shot against Rafael Nadal. Somehow the Czech (26), with just one tour win on grass behind him, does the unthinkable. Where is this match in my career, you know ` that was the question? Ahh, it's the highest. Rosol's one of the ultimate career journeymen. Six months ago, for example, he was in Auckland, exiting the Heineken Open in the second round, And, yes, that is a Maori-inspired tattoo on his calf. But sometimes players discover new things about themselves in the most unexpected of situations. And so it was today with Rosol. Everyone expected his game to collapse after dropping a tight first set in a tiebreak 11-9. But the reverse happened. He won the 2nd and 3rd sets. Nadal by now was rattled. The multi-grand-slam champ, though, barged his way back into it, dominating the fourth to set up a decider. And when the decision was made to finish the match today. Ladies and gentlemen, due to the fading light, the roof will be closed to finish the match. CHEERING ...once again everyone thought that the 30-minute break to acclimatise the stadium would work in Nadal's favour. But no. From there, Rosol held his nerve and his serve for the rest of the match. He finished it emphatically ` three aces in the final game. My feeling is what you are watching. (LAUGHS) I'm sorry to Rafa, but today I was somewhere else, and I'm really happy for this, you know. This was without question one of the biggest upsets in recent grand slam history. The challenge now ` can he do it again in the third round against crafty German Phillip Kohlschreiber? Glen Larmer, ONE News. No such drama surrounding Marina Erakovic on the back courts today as she made a meek exit. The NZ number one had fancied her chances in the second-round singles match against the Italian Roberta Vinci. But the 21st seed's backhand slice and aggression simply proved too much. The veteran Vinci won 6-4 6-3. At this level you've got to bring out some very good tennis, and unfortunately I just wasn't able to today. But, you know, I'll learn from it. Erakovic then raced to Court 19 for her opening doubles match, teaming with regular partner, Thailand's Tammy Tanasugarn. Last year's Wimbledon doubles semi-finalists had no trouble dispatching the Chinese pair, Peng Shuai and Zheng Jie 6-2 6-2. Three titles and six finals. Germany is the most successful country in European Football Championship history. But for all their success, there's one thing they can't do. Here's Craig Stanaway. The only team with a perfect record at Euro 2012, a super team of supermen, but Superman doesn't like kryptonite, and Germany doesn't like playing men in blue. Balotelli! The man playing Lex Luthor ` Super Mario. Mario Balotelli has put Italy in front. Germany went into this morning's semi-final having racked up a record 15 successive victories. They hadn't beaten the Azzurri, though, in 17 years. Balotelli is onside. It's Mario Ballotelli... It's an emphatic finish! German newspaper had perhaps been premature before the game, boldly declaring, 'No one can stop us now.' A sensational goal from Mario Ballotelli. If the Germans were to beat Italy the first time in a major tournament, they needed a goal. It came too late, in the 92nd minute. Two and a half minutes of stoppage time remain. There wasn't time for another. 2-1 Italy. They meet Spain in Monday's final. Balotelli went to his mother, Silvia, who adopted him as a 2-year-old. 'These goals are for you,' he said. 'I wanted to make her happy.' There's 81 million others unhappy tonight. Craig Stanaway, ONE News. Football icon David Beckham has been rewarded for helping secure the London Olympics by being left out of Great Britain's under-23 team for the Games. The 37-year-old was expected to be one of the three senior players named in the squad, but was snubbed, denying him an international send-off. And that won't help shift more than a million football tickets still unsold for London. The BBC's James Pearce reports. Only 29 days to go now, but David Beckham's been an integral part of London 2012 from the start: City of London. Wild cheering a key member of the bid team which won in Singapore; on display on the 2012 bus at the Beijing closing ceremony; and just last month he carried the flame when it arrived in Cornwall. Being involved in the Olympic Games would be huge. Obviously being part of the team, being part of the GB team that goes into this competition would be... it would be massive. That's Beckham! Oh, it's in! But there'll be no 'Beckham special' free kicks at London 2012. He was told last night by the coach Stuart Pearce he was to be left out of the squad. I think he deserves more respect than that. He's been a fantastic ambassador for British football, um, and puts the name of Great Britain across the world, so I think it's quite appalling, really. # What have you done today... # One of the faces of the Games in 2012 promotional films, Beckham will still be involved in the Olympics, but as an ambassador. Better news for our top women footballers, with the 18-strong Football Ferns squad confirmed for the Olympics. It's a vastly experienced outfit, as 10 players have 50 or more caps, while teenage striker Rosie White has made the cut after fighting her way back from a stress fracture. Um, I think we've put in a lot of hard work in the last year, and I think now it's just a lot of just small tweaking. The squad has two warm-up matches in Switzerland before the Olympics. The new national training centre for the country's top athletes has been officially opened on Auckland's North Shore. The $29m upgrade has helped our Olympians preparing for London, including decathlete Brent Newdick. But as Toni Street explains, he still has a nervous flight ahead of him. It was light duties only for Brent Newdick today. That's because tomorrow he leaves for London. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to the Olympics. Hopping on a plane tomorrow, so I'm gonna sleep through most of that flight, and that'll get me through the weekend. He expects it to be a nervous flight. When he touches down, he could know his Olympic fate. Despite meeting the qualifying standard already, Newdick can't be named until his rival Scott McLaren has had a chance to qualify this weekend. Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it a little bit, you know. Realistically, I think I should be fine. I've done everything I can do. I qualified a year and a half ago, then I requalified again this year. He's been doing his final preparations at the new AUT Millennium campus. The last couple of months everyone's been doing their build-up, so I've had the Breakers come in for the basketball, then you turn left and you've got hockey, men's and women's Blacksticks teams, the rowers. Every sport you can pretty much name is down there. Today it was the Olympic swimmers. This allows all the disciplines that make up an athlete's success to be housed in one place and to cooperate and coordinate and to invent new ways of doing things, better ways of doing things, so it becomes a real hothouse of innovation and improvement. Brent Newdick is now hoping he'll be given confirmation to put his improvements into practice in London. Toni Street, ONE News. An embarrassing capsize looks set to cost Team NZ the chance to win the America's Cup World Series. Injury had forced two crew members to be replaced for the last round at Newport, Rhode Island, and after struggling in the fleet race, the AC45 catamaran capsized while leading Luna Rossa Piranha in their quarter-final. Disastrous moment for them. And we were watching here as we watched the crew clinging on. It took them forever to get it righted. They were unable to take part in the second race against Luna Rossa Piranha. They were out of this match-racing championship here in Newport with that capsize. Skipper Dean Barker has confirmed the wing sail was damaged and they may need to borrow parts to continue in the four-day regatta. It hasn't exactly been plain sailing for the Crusaders either ahead of the Super 15 rugby resumption against the Hurricanes tomorrow. With injuries removing three All Black gamebreakers, there's plenty of pressure on Tom Taylor, who's been given another chance to run the show in Dan Carter's absence. It hasn't really disrupted us at all. We've been preparing for this. It's just like another game, and the guys have just slotted in, so, yeah, we'll all really looking forward to it, and I certainly am looking forward towards getting back out there and starting again. If the Crusaders can repeat their ninth-round thumping of the Hurricanes, it will lift them to second place overall on the table. The NBA finals have just finished, with superstar LeBron James enjoying his breakthrough championship, but today was all about the new breed. The first pick of the 2012 NBA draft went to the New Orleans Hornets ` 6'10" forward Anthony Davis, aka Unibrow. No, I'm not taking the mickey. This 19-year-old kid from Kentucky refuses to shave his brow because he's copyrighted phrases such as 'fear the brow' and 'raise the brow'. I think he's got the hands of a guard. He catches absolutely everything. You throw something to him, he grabs it. You see he caught that with one hand alone. After today's first pick, we can now call him High Brow. this is a quote - don't grow a unibrow because of me and then make money out of it. Next on ONE News ` Karen says make the most of a fine start to the school holidays, because trouble's brewing. Next ` they're calling it revolutionary, but could the zero-energy house really make your power bills a thing of the past? It is achievable, and it's achievable now. We were hooked on her music, but she was hooked on something else. We talk to Amy Winehouse's father. And judging the judges. Do they have what it takes to tell us who's got talent? Close Up's here next, TV ONE. The cool south-wester faded out on us today, but there could still be a few snow flurries on higher areas overnight. The Desert Rd is the road to watch tonight. Up to 4cm could settle on higher parts of the road and then clear early tomorrow morning. The view from Saturday ` nice slot of clear skies over the country today, but lots of cloud all around us. River of spotty shower clouds to the east of us just catching Banks Peninsula, southern Wairarapa and the Mahia Peninsula. We've got a deepening low up here near the Queensland coast and frontal cloud moving past Tasmania. A slender ridge of high pressure moves over us tomorrow. It'll be short-lived, as this low to the north moves closer, as does this one over Tasmania. These two systems will join forces and begin to close in on us on Sunday. Mostly fine over the South Island after a frosty start in sheltered places. Just a few scraps of coastal cloud and some showers catching the north-eastern corner. North-easterly winds develop. In the North Island, cloudy areas in the south and east with a few showers. A few early showers for Wanganui. Fine everywhere else, with some pockets of frost. South to south-east winds. For weather, see onenews.co.nz That's all from me. Have a good evening. And that's ONE News for Friday. Have a great weekend.