Due to the live nature of Tonight, we apologise for the lack of captions for some items. Why Christchurch's tallest building was a dangerous risk long before earthquakes devastated the city. See the perilous search for survivors, as Italy's cruise ship disaster takes a disturbing new turn. And got enough cash to buy the Queen a new boat? How you may be forking out for a Diamond Jubilee gift. It's one of the most enduring images of central Christchurch's earthquake destruction, the leaning and broken Hotel Grand Chancellor. Now the commission of inquiry into the quakes has heard how it was at risk before the quakes because of a planning decision. Tom McRae is covering the hearings. The ground movement was so intense, it threw the entire 26-storey hotel off-centre by nearly a metre. Windows blew out, walls crumpled and floors slumped. One expert says a late design change back in the 1980s weakened one wall, and that's why the hotel suffered so much damage. A critical vulnerability in this wall. It was too slender. It didn't have adequate ductility. The design change was required to keep this right-of-way, which meant a large part of the building above had to be supported by the failed wall. Inside the foyer, it's easy to see the pressure it put on the rest of the building. The load spread to the columns beside it. Those columns got crunched. Several stairwells also collapsed, destroying the myth that they're a safe place in an earthquake. You can never guarantee that a stairwell will be a safe place. This is what the building looks like now. Demolition of the hotel began in November. It's a very difficult job. This is our most complex building. Right from day one, we acknowledged this was going to be our biggest challenge. Before work could begin, though, the foundations had to be shored up. These were viewed with great alarm, and were the source of the suggestions the building could topple over. The hearing continues tomorrow, where the Christchurch City Council will explain why it wanted the design of the hotel changed to keep the right of way clear. Tom McRae, ONE News. Meanwhile in the Garden City's suburbs, there's a glimmer of hope for some quake-hit homeowners. Thousands of residents in either orange or white zones are still waiting for a decision on the fate of their land. Now, as Alison Pugh reports, some owners in the orange zones may be told in just a few weeks. Paul Larkins' property in Southshore's been zoned orange since February. He might be able to rebuild one day, or he might not. We've still got portaloos out there. We've still got chemical toilets in the house. It's just really frustrating. And as the months tick by, the uncertainty continues. There's nothing we can do. We're just left stuck. A feeling that's shared by many. 3000 properties remain in limbo. 2100 still in the white zone are on the Port Hills, and another 900 orange-zoned sections are spread around the city. Property owners on the Port Hills, and those still here on the southern end of Southshore are still awaiting their CERA zoning decision, and that won't come until engineers can fully assess the damage to this land. Labour leader David Shearer, out in the eastern suburbs today, says decisions must be prioritised. We could certainly try harder to give these people some certainty. Having no news is pretty difficult to cope with. ONE News asked the Earthquake Recovery Minister when more decisions might be made. I would hope that we'll have some announcements by the end of February, but I wouldn't put a time on getting all of the announcements done. For residents like Marion and Pete Neal, the process ` and the portaloos ` are taking a toll. The convenience is an inconvenience. After building and living here for more than 40 years, they want answers for the future. I don't want any delays, you know. I don't want to have to keep moving and moving and moving. For Marion Neal, those answers can't come soon enough. The final five victims of the carterton balloon crash have been formally identified. They are Howard Cox (71) and his wife, Diana (63), Desmond Dean (70) and his wife, Ann (65), as well as Denise Dellabarca (58). The balloon crash 10 days ago claimed the lives of all 11 people on board. Coroner Peter Ryan today commended the work of the disaster victim identification team. Hopes are rapidly fading of finding more survivors in the wreck of a cruise ship off Italy's coast. The search for 29 missing people went through the night. This video just in to us shows a rescue team blowing a hole in the top of the ship's bow to get better access. Six bodies have been recovered so far. The rescue mission is dangerous. Rough seas shifted the Costa Concordia earlier, forcing the operation to be suspended for a few hours. And there are fears of an environmental disaster if the ship breaks up and spills its fuel. The ABC's Philip Williams has the latest. With time running out, rescue crews continued their search for survivors and the grim recovery operation. Even sniffer dogs are being used. These are the first pictures taken from inside the vessel ` everything upturned; gaping holes where just a few days ago, 4000 passengers and crew were beginning their cruise. It's unreal to see personal stuff, like a wallet, like, maybe some clothes, messing around. It's not so common. It seems like a movie. Just how dangerous an operation this is was underscored when seas became choppy and the boat began to move, forcing rescue crews off. There's more amazing footage of improvised means of survival. Coastguard infra-red video shows people on the side of the ship waving desperately for help. A group organised a human chain, helping each other slide down to the bottom of the ship to safety at the waiting rescue boats. PA: The situation is under control. But who's responsible for the disaster? The company has no doubts it was the captain's fault, they say, inexplicably diverting from the pre-programmed route, far too close to the island. Now there are fears of an environmental disaster, with thousands of tons of oil threatening to spill into pristine Mediterranean waters. For rescued passengers arriving home, sheer relief, safe with loved ones. But with many more still unaccounted for, the nightmare for their friends and relatives continues. Marine experts have shown how the Costa Concordia significantly deviated from its normal course. The BBC'S Richard Westcott looks at how the tragedy unfolded. This image shows the area the ship was travelling. A respected industry newspaper says this was the route taken on her previous voyage, when she safely navigated the island. Compare that to Friday. Clearly, it's much closer to the reef. Now the company that owns the ship admits it's not the first time its sailed close to the island. Costa confirmed today it was allowed to navigate a similar route last summer to celebrate a festival. The company now claims he was trying to repeat that manoeuvre on Friday, but without permission. So, what do we know about events that evening? At 9.30pm, passengers describe a loud bang as the ship hits the rock, leaving a huge gash down the side of the hull. 15 minutes later, the ship starts listing and starts to take on water. The captain then heads back to shallow water. Just after 10 o'clock, passengers are making for the lifeboats, as the order is given to abandon ship. It ends up aground and on its side. Cruise ship design has changed considerably since the Titanic, 100 years ago. Modern boats are twice the size and sit much higher out of the water. Some question whether the new designs are as stable. With any ship that's had some damage to it, if the hull's big enough, no matter how good the water-tight segmentation inside is, the ship will still sink ` she'll take on water throughout the whole length. The international maritime organisation which regulates ship safety around the world now says it will consider tightening the rules in the light of this accident. Helicopters have been used to remove bags of debris from the wrecked Rena off Motiti Island. Preparations are also being made to heli-lift bags of milk powder from some of the remaining containers on the Rena. Large sea swells and dangerous shards of torn steel continue to hamper divers' efforts to assess the wreck off Tauranga's coast. Sonar equipment has identified 27 possible containers on the seabed near the Rena, with 19 still to be removed from the coastline. A group of prison inmates on a rehabilitation scheme in Hawke's Bay has been caught plundering shellfish from a marine reserve. The six inmates and two staff were caught out by the Department of Conservation in the Te Angiangi marine reserve. The staff were from a company called Choices, which runs the rehabilitation programme on behalf of Corrections. They, I guess, took the right turn that they thought was the turn they were instructed to take and ended up in a place that they still thought was the right place, but obviously wasn't. Anyone caught fishing in marine reserves faces a fine of up to $10,000 or three months in prison. Conservation and corrections officials will meet tomorrow to decide what action they'll take. Since the forced closure of Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens last year, the fate of 36 big cats has been in the balance. Now on the eve of an urgent court hearing, there's new hope the animals can be saved. Ruth Wynn-Williams has more. It was meant to be a sanctuary for some of the world's most endangered animals. Now those behind failed Zion Wildlife Gardens say they're fighting a legal battle to keep these big cats alive. Nearly six months after the well-known park was placed in liquidation, the receiver has lodged a court application to get the animals out. The document seeks to have the cats gone by the 3rd of February. If not, the receiver wants to able to put all 36 down. The only people that should have a right to care for animals are those that have an attachment and who are licensed by the government to do that. They are in my care and control. I am the authorized operator. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry continues to oversee the operation of the park, and this afternoon, PricewaterhouseCooper, the receiver who controls Zion, released this statement. The receiver told ONE News that sale includes the cats. PricewaterhouseCooper is refusing to make comment on who has made the offer of purchase. It's a confusing development. The court application itself states there's been no expression of interest from anyone with the ability to keep the animals. Patricia Busch says the future of Zion's 36 cats is not up to the receiver. They shouldn't be doing anything with the cats at all until the court has been able to look at the whole issue. The application seeking to give the receiver control over the animals will be heard in court tomorrow. Ruth Wynn-Williams, ONE News. Organisers have announced this Friday's Big Day Out music festival in Auckland will be the last held in NZ. The official Big Day Out Twitter account made the announcement earlier today. It's believed this year's poor ticket sales are behind the decision. The Big Day Out came to Auckland for the first time in 1994. The festival will continue to be held in Australia's main centres. Just ahead ` growing evidence that children are being routinely targeted during a violent crackdown in Syria. And the queen may be getting a new Britannia, but guess who's going to help her pay for it. 1 2012's shaping to be a tough year for many of us, according to the NZ Institution of Economic Research. It's predicting a slowing economy, fewer jobs and smaller pay packets ` unless you live in Canterbury. Arrun Soma explains. For many, the new year means money is on their mind. Every year we start off wanting to get some more money behind us. I've got some good resolutions to spend, and I've also got some good resolutions to save. Pay back some of my overdrafts. But those resolutions could be hard to achieve. The fact that the economy is slowing and we've got a global economy that's looking quite scary, it means that we will have a challenging year in 2012. In the NZIER's most recent survey, nationwide, businesses reported a drop-off in work at the end of last year, and economic forecasters say that's set to continue. We'll continue to have concerns around job security, concerns around how much we're gonna earn over the next 12 months. But parts of Canterbury are bucking the trend. Jobs in construction are booming as the region quite literally rebuilds itself from the ground up. Recruitment website seek.co.nz says the number of new jobs it's advertising for Canterbury is up more than 50%, most of those trade and construction related. What we're seeing in the data is that the general outlook is positive, so things got so bad that it can only get better. But on the flipside, job losses in other sectors since the quakes runs into the thousands, and the figures don't take those into account. I know of other friends of mine teaching who've had to lose their jobs due to less roll numbers, especially in the east side of Christchurch. And so there's a lot of uncertainty there for everyone, actually. The NZIER says that overall the biggest financial risk for NZ this year is the European economy meltdown and how the markets play out over there. Arrun Soma, ONE News. A rebel force in Syria is claiming a stronghold in the town of Zabadani on the Syria-Lebanon border. These are some of the first images of the Free Syria Army, which says it's fighting to stop a brutal crackdown on dissent. Syria's rebel forces have carried out a wave of assaults on government units recently. It's raising fears that mainly peaceful protests are being eclipsed by an insurgency, which could tip Syria into civil war. Activists say more than 400 children have been killed since Syria's popular uprising started last March. The BBC's Fergal Keane went to Jordan and Lebanon to meet some who've escaped the bloodshed and the parents of one who didn't. They've been fleeing here for many months, bringing allegations of crimes against humanity. The borderlands of Lebanon are a refuge for brutalised children. In a hospital, balloons to cheer a boy who's lost his leg. We can't identify this 8-year-old, for fear of reprisals against his family. His father told me a tank shell was fired at their home. (SPEAKS ARABIC) The family was trapped for 15 days, he said, unable to get to hospital until they made the dangerous journey to Lebanon. Across the border the Syrian government blames armed rebels for attacking civilians. It denies targeting children, and says Syria is the victim of a foreign plot. In every war, children become casualties, for often caught in the crossfire of adult conflict. But what's happening in Syria is something very different. From the evidence gathered by human rights organisations and from the testimony of people we've spoken with over the past month, it's clear children are being deliberately targeted. It's happening in the regime's prisons, where the UN reports systematic abuse of children's rights. In all of this, it's impossible to verify every allegation, but here in Jordan, we heard compelling testimony of such abuse. MELANCHOLY ARABIC MUSIC Seen here a week before his detention, Tamer al-Shari (15) was arrested at a demonstration near the town of Dara'a last April. He promised his mother he wouldn't go. We've spoken with another prisoner who saw Tamer being beaten. (SPEAKS ARABIC) TRANSLATOR: 'Men from my village knocked on my door and said, "There's a child's body at the hospital." 'They said, "Come and see, and you may recognise it." 'When we received his body, it was totally disfigured.' The X-rays show the effect of brutal treatment ` the boy's teeth blasted out, bullet holes in his thighs, a broken arm and leg, his jawbone crushed. (SPEAKS ARABIC) TRANSLATOR:'It is impossible that there are such heartless people 'who can actually do this to their fellow men. Even animals cannot do this to human beings.' With their country spiralling deeper into violence, there is, for the child victims, no way home and no chance of justice. Before it was decommissioned, the royal yacht Britannia embodied a golden era for the British royal family. Now there are calls to give the Queen a new ship as a Diamond Jubilee present, and you could be helping to pay for it. Channel Nine's Peter Harvey has more. BRITANNIA RULE This Britannia cetainly ruled the waves. It's got a lot of sentimental value for the British, but it's a very famous ship worldwide. For almost half a century, the Queen's own private yacht was the ultimate symbol of royal prestige, very familiar here for the 1970 royal tour. A favourite with Princess Diana and her two young sons. And the Queen was visibly moved when the Britannia was decommissioned 15 years ago. Now to mark her Diamond Jubilee, there's a plan for a newer and bigger royal yacht. This debate is going to turn into a debate about the have and the have-yachts. A cash-strapped British government says it won't use public money, but the Queen herself has set up a special fund to celebrate her 60 years on the throne, and Commonwealth countries have been invited to contribute. Whatever happens, Britannia, the museum, will continue to draw huge crowds to Edinborough to see the Queen's own state rooms, the on-bard garage complete with Rolls-Royce ` a life on the ocean wave fit for royalty. Just ahead ` a hometown favourite crashes out of the Australian Open. Plus, all the latest from the action in Melbourne. And find out who's pushing for sheep shearing to be an Olympic sport. At ANZ, we're opening up our network, opening connections throughout the region, opening insights into new business, opening possibilities in emerging markets. We're openly developing support teams and local specialists in more cities than ever before. We're open in 28 countries across Asia-Pacific. That's why we support the Australian Open - Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific. There wasn't much to cheer about for Aussies at the Australian Tennis Open today. Grand Slam winner and hometown favourite Sam Stosur crashing out in the first round. Better times for Spaniards though ` David Ferrer storming into the second round still fresh from victory in the Auckland Open. Here's Brooke Dobson with a round up of today's action. With heat sweltering above 30 degrees Celsius, the sun caused a few early problems for top seed Novak Djokovic. But he recovered quickly, winning 17 straight games over Italian Paulo Lorenzi in an hour and a half, closing out the match 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. (LAUGHS) What a way to finish. Britain's Andy Murray had to work a little harder, getting a first-set wake-up call from American Ryan Harrison (19). It took three hours and 12 minutes for the world number four to defeat Harrison comfortably. So, Murray gets the job done! US Open Women's champion Sam Stosur has become a first-round casualty in Melbourne. One of Australia's great hopes bowed out 7-6, 6-3 to Romanian Sorana Cirstea today, continuing her miserable record at her home grand slam. I'm very close to crying and having a really awful night. It's hard to supress those emotions when it means so much to you. Russian Maria Sharapova breezed into the second round with a ruthless 6-0, 6-1 victory over Argentina's Gisela Dulko. And women's world number two Petra Kvitova was in a similar mood, beating Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-0 to advance. The number two seed is through! Brooke Dobson, ONE News. And Serena Williams kicks off her quest for a sixth Australian Open tonight. Sporting a sprained left ankle, the 13-time grand slam champion takes on Austria's Tamira Paszek. NZ number one Marina Erakovic is through to the second round after beating Frenchwoman Arena Pavlovic. Erakovic will take on American Christina McHale (19) tomorrow. Now to the weather. And the summer's just about hanging in there. The high pressure holds firm tomorrow, but a trough moves over Northland tonight and then ligners off Taranaki tomorrow before fading away in the afternoon. A low off the Queensland Coast drifts further southwards into the Tasman Sea, but posess no real threat. For weather, see tvnz.co.NZ Finally tonight ` a story that's had a lot of our international colleagues calling our newsroom here. Federated Farmers is calling for sheep shearing to become an Olympic demonstration sport. With the world shearing championships here in March, the group says it's time for wider international recognition. The best shearers can clip about 700 sheep over an eight-hour period, a feat that's been compared to running two back-to-back marathons. Australia has previously pressed for it to be included in the Commonwealth Games. Olympic officials, though, have yet to comment. That's it from us here on Tonight. You can stay up to date by logging on to our website at tvnz.co.nz Thanks for watching. Goodnight. Captions by Toni Tippett and Kelsey Taylor. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012