Due to the live nature of Tonight, we apologise for the lack of captions for some items. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face sex offence allegations after losing an appeal in the uk. Families of the Pike River miners give up a long-fought battle to retrieve their loved ones' bodies. Kiwis band together on the other side of the world after the Qatar mall fire tragedy. Kia ora. Good evening. In the last couple of hours the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has lost his latest appeal against extradition from the UK to Sweden to face sex charges. But in a dramatic twist, his legal team's asked Britain's supreme court for two weeks in which to examine the evidence and possibly re-open the case. If the court doesn't allow that, Assange's only other option would be the European Court of Human Rights. Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two female former WikiLeaks volunteers two years ago. And in another high-profile case that's been resolved in the last hour, Liberia's ex-president, Charles Taylor, has been sentenced to 50 years in jail by a United Nations backed war crimes court in the Netherlands. Taylor was found guilty of aiding rebels in the Sierra Leone civil war from 1991 to 2002; his crimes relating to atrocities including rape and murder. During sentencing the judge said the crimes were the most heinous in human history. 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's very little chance of getting the bodies out. Lisa Davies reports. 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 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 ` 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 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. Five people have been arrested after the shopping mall fire in Qatar which killed 19 people, including 2-year-old Kiwi triplets. Many NZ ex-pats have banded together and joined about 1500 people in the capital, Doha, for an emotional service to remember the victims. Europe correspondent Garth Bray was there. (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. (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-well-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 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 ARABIC) INTERPRETER: In Qatar we're not used to these sort of atrocities. We've come today to be with the 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. (CHANTS IN MAORI) Back here, Labour MP Shane Jones is to be investigated Back here, 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 Bill Liu citizenship even though a government department advised him not to. Labour leader David Shearer called for the inquiry amid allegations made about the former immigration minister in court and in the media. Mr Jones has denied doing anything wrong. Canterbury police reject claims they should've done more to stop convicted criminal Jason Frandi before he murdered a Czech backpacker. It's 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, is 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. Dasha has suffered quite a severe wound to her neck area, and there is some suggestion of 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 to think that, 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. There are questions this evening as to how a group of Tauranga schoolgirls got separated from their adult supervisors during a bush exercise. The 11- and 12-year-olds were on a school camp when they went missing in the Kaimai Ranges, sparking a major search and rescue operation last night. Donna-Marie Lever reports. 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 that 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. 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. One of three 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 almost a fortnight ago. Meg Theriault (21) is in a stable condition at Waikato Hospital. She asked a nurse for her mother before going back to sleep. Four others were also injured when the van they were travelling in rolled near Turangi. Drugs and alcohol contributed to the suicide of an Auckland teenager on the night of his school ball last year, according to a coronor's findings. 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. The general manager of Safe Air Ltd says she's confident new safety measures have been put in place following a $56,000 fine for an horrific death of an employee last August. The company is a subsidiary of Air NZ based in Blenheim and specialises in aviation maintenance and repair. Miles Hunter, an experienced engineer, was killed when he was servicing a Hercules engine at Woodbourne Airfield. The Blenheim District Court heard he wasn't holding on to the handrail and was therefore sucked into the engine. In a statement, Safe Air Ltd's general manager, Heather Deacon, says the company's systems, practices and procedures have improved to ensure such a tragedy won't happen again. Safe Air Ltd's also been ordered to pay reparations of $22,000. Just ahead on Tonight ` Running for their lives ` a second fatal earthquake in Italy within weeks. And a plea from the United Nations as a famine grips West Africa; a humanitarian crisis looms. 1 Staff from Australia's largest news media group are currently in industrial meetings after an announcement their jobs will be outsourced to NZ. Fairfax Media says editorial roles from a number of regional papers will be taken over by Fairfax editorial services in NZ. The company says it's looking to cut costs while still maintaining a focus on readership numbers and producing quality content. 66 positions are to be affected, but not in reporting or photography. Hosting last year's Rugby World Cup has cost taxpayers dearly, but officials are still pleased. Rugby NZ has announced a loss of just over $31m. But that's $8m lower than they'd expected. The NZRU says having to move games from Christchurch because of the earthquake was a factor. It was a disappointment for the people of Canterbury more than anything else. You know, we had to refund $26m worth of tickets, and that was a worry at the time, but certainly the rest of NZ picked that up. Rugby NZ paid $10m towards the loss. Taxpayers are covering the rest. As we go to air, rescuers in northern Italy are combing through rubble, looking for survivors, HAVE FOUND BODY OF LAST PERSON MISSING after an earthquake killed at least 16 people and left thousands homeless. The magnitude 5.8 quake hit the Emilia-Romagna region ` the second deadly tremor in just over a week. The ABC's Jeffrey Kofman is there. As the ground shook, the buildings tumbled. It hit during this morning's newscast, sending the newsreader fleeing from the studio. But for people here, it's as if the quakes don't stop. A staggering 800 aftershocks since the first big quake hit this region on May 20th, killing seven. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) 'We thought the worst was over,' she says, 'yet three big quakes struck today.' Thousands still living in tents after that first quake shaken again today now joined by a new wave of homeless and at least 16 more dead. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) The mayor of hard-hit Mirandola says we have to start not from zero, but from below zero. Seismologists tell us when they see this many earthquakes happening with this kind of frequency, it's a sobering sign that the seismic terror here isn't likely to end any time soon. HEAD OF UN OBSERVERS IN SYRIA HAS SAID 13 BODIES BEEN FOUND WITH HANDS TIED AND SHOT IN HEAD Russia says it won't allow the United Nation's Security Council to authorise military intervention in Syria following the killing of more than 100 people in the town of Houla. Russia believes it would be premature for the council to consider new measures to the crisis. The UN Special Envoy Koffi Annan's in Damascus trying to urge Syria's President Assad to stop the killing and implement a peace plan. The United States government says military intervention in Syria would cause greater chaos. The United Nations is pleading for global action after revealing a new humanitarian crisis is taking hold in West Africa. Over 18 million people, including three million children, face starvation. Drought is stretching across eight nations, including Niger, which is where the ABC's Bazi Kanani travelled to a remote village and sent this report. When we arrived at a village called Goudebay, this is what greeted us ` deathly silence. Men, women and children so hungry that they are listless, losing a battle. Mothers such as Mariama can no longer feed her three children. Today they ate leaves. Is this all you have cooked for your family today? Mariama is now eating so little that her body can't produce enough breast milk to feed her 6-month-old baby. All she can do is place traditional charms around Kader's neck, hoping that good luck will ward off illness. Families here depend on farming, but this drought has taken everything from them. It ruined last year's crop. If there's no rain in the next four months, another harvest will be lost. Just making it through today is harrowing enough. CHILD WAILS They hand over their children and watch as they are weighed in buckets. They're measured. Their fate ` a colour wrapped around tiny arms. Green is best ` their body holding on. But you hardly see any green. Yellow is worrying ` too thin. Red means severe malnutrition. This child is a year old. Really? This girl (1) is red. She weighs just 8 pounds ` what many American babies weigh at birth. Today she is lucky. She'll get a meal ` a nutritional supplement made up of peanuts and vitamins. A meal from the aid groups here who are sounding the alarm now, before this turns into an all-out disaster. I don't think any of us can accept that this mother has to go and pick wild food for her children to eat. And if she doesn't do it every day, then they don't have anything to eat. Mitt Romney's finally 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 and will be formally nominated at the Republican convention in August. Current polling suggests a tight race for the presidency in November. Over a thousand Burmese migrant workers in Bangkok have given democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi an emotional welcome during her first international trip in 24 years. The Myanmar politician offered encouragement to the 2.5 million impoverished Burmese living in Thailand. She's attending the world economic forum on East Asia before travelling to Europe in June. Don't go too far. Just ahead on Tonight, we'll bring you up to date with the latest weather forecast. Ooh! Extra Active with dual crystal strips helps give you a clean, fresh and healthy mouth. Now available in new berry flavour and watermelon flavour. Thanks, Miri. Hi, everyone. A cold front continues northwards tonight and off the country tomorrow night, but weakens in the west before fading away altogether. A second cold front follows in its wake. It should lie somewhere off Cook Strait around tea time tomorrow. At the same time, a bubble of high pressure spreads over Southern NZ, causing the flow to turn westerly again over the far south. For weather, see tvnz.co.nz And that's your weather. I'll see you tomorrow. 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 Desney Thorogood and Hugo Snell. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air.