Checkpoint for Wednesday 30 September 2009

6:56 PM.This weeks meeting between Iran's leaders and United Nations Security Council members will be the 1st since the US President Barack Obama took office. Audio

6:54 PM.The increasing bloodshed in Afghanistan has been the focus of talks at the White House between President Barack Obama and the head of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Audio

6:52 PM.Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged his governing Labour party not to give up despite trailing badly in opinion polls. Audio

6:49 PM.News from the Waatea team. Audio

6:41 PM.Revelations in Australia that a company executive who helps run a shipping container operation at one of the country's biggest ports is one of several figures who authorities have connected to… Read more Audio

6:37 PM.Soldiers are continuing to terrorise civilians in the capital of Guinea after massacring more than 150 opposition protesters earlier this week. Audio

6:34 PM.A powerful typhoon has killed at least 31 people and forced 170,000 to flee their homes in central Vietnam. Audio

6:31 PM.An update from the RNZ sports team. Audio

6:27 PM.Rescuers in the Philippines are still recovering bodies from floodwaters as funerals begin for nearly 250 people known to have been killed by Typhoon Ketsana Audio

6:26 PM.David Reid brings an update on the second confusing warning. Audio

6:20 PM.A Northland seismologist says the information put out by authorities about today's tsunami was confusing and potentially dangerous. Audio

6:17 PM.News from the business sector. Audio

6:14 PM.The New Zealand Defence Force already has an aircraft on its way to assist Samoa with a sea-search for survivors. Audio

6:09 PM.The biggest waves to hit our shores were 75 centimetres high - in the Chatham Islands. Audio

6:07 PM.Officials in Samoa say the death toll from this morning's earthquake and tsunami is expected to rise to as high as one hundred. Audio

5:56 PM.Telecommunications industry groups say plans to install a second trans-Tasman fibre-optic cable will benefit businesses and home internet users in New Zealand. Audio

5:52 PM.More than 230 entries in a competition to design the $100,000,000 redevelopment of Auckland's Queens Wharf have been whittled down to five. Audio

5:48 PM.The government is putting parenting classes at the centre of a new action plan to tackle what schools say is the growing problem of violent and disruptive students Audio

5:47 PM.A man known as one of the World's most audacious conmen has been captured in Vermont in the United States. Audio

5:46 PM.News from the Waatea team. Audio

5:44 PM.A 45 year old truck driver has been found guilty of careless driving causing the death of a high ranking police officer who was cycling home from work. Audio

5:37 PM.The magnitude 8.0 quake which shook Samoa this morning triggered a tsunami warning for New Zealand with waves of up to a metre predicted. Audio

5:33 PM.An update from the RNZ sports team. Audio

5:28 PM.The Agriculture Minister, David Carter, has ordered urgent inspections of all dairy farms owned by the controversial Crafar family. Audio

5:26 PM.News from the business sector including a market report. Audio

5:24 PM.Tipi Autagavaia is our correspondent in Samoa - he joins us now. Audio

5:20 PM.Filomena Nelson is the spokesperson for the disaster mangement office in Samoa. Audio

5:16 PM.In American Samoa at least 22 people are dead and an unknown number are still missing. Audio

5:12 PM.The Acting Prime Minister Bill English says there is a reliable but still unconfirmed report of one New Zealander dead in Samoa. Audio

5:08 PM.Sati Young is a Red Cross worker in the worst hit area of Samoa in a village near the tourist area Lalomanu. Audio