Checkpoint for Thursday 18 February 2010

5:07 PM.The Government is to beef up the policing of financial markets in a bid to restore investor confidence badly shaken by finance company collapses. Audio

5:12 PM.The Finance Minister has signalled a possible drop in the top tax rate to 33-percent, in a speech he's delivered in Auckland. Audio

5:16 PM.The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the Liberty Templeman murder trial. Audio

5:20 PM.The Green MP Sue Kedgley has accused the Government of starving Radio New Zealand of money in an attempt to threaten its viability. Audio

5:24 PM.News from the business sector including a market report. Audio

5:26 PM.A West Coast mayor says the region has been badly let down by the Government's plans to restructure the timber industry. Audio

5:31 PM.An update from the RNZ sports team. Audio

5:35 PM.The chief executive of the centre where a school group lost their lives in a canyoning flash flood has apologised to their families and taken full responsibility for the tragedy. Audio

5:39 PM.The underfire company is now considering recalling the world's number one selling vehicle, the Corolla, pending an investigation by US safety officials into complaints about its power steering system.

5:43 PM.The continued gender pay gap and unequal representation of men and women in top jobs had the Greens seeing red today. Audio

5:46 PM.The Dalai Lama has arrived in the US capital ahead of a scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama. Audio

5:48 PM.News from the Waatea team. Audio

5:51 PM.Wellington city councillors have decided to ask the public whether they want a 24-hour city-wide public liquor ban. Audio

5:54 PM.A controversial public design competition's been launched to find a logo for the new Auckland super city - despite criticism that there are more important things to be dealt with. Audio

5:57 PM.KiwiRail is considering whether to compensate commuters in the Capital left fuming by a recent string of network failures. Audio

6:08 PM.The Government is to beef up the way financial markets are policed in a bid to restore investor confidence badly shaken by finance company collapses. Audio

6:11 PM.The outspoken Whanganui Mayor, Michael Laws, says the Whanganui District Health Board and neighbouring MidCentral DHB intend to merge, and it's all about cutting costs. Audio

6:15 PM.The Irish government is the latest to come out and say its passports used by those alleged to be involved in killing a Hamas official in Dubai, were stolen. Audio

6:19 PM.The Otago University Students' Association is attempting to ban the broadcast of any unsavory behaviour at next week's Orientation events - such as excessive drinking, vomiting, fighting, and abusive… Read more Audio

6:22 PM.News from the business sector. Audio

6:25 PM.Eight of the 10 Americans accused of kidnapping children in Haiti after January's quake have been released from custody. Audio

6:34 PM.An update from the RNZ sports team. Audio

6:37 PM.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it has no plans to change its travel advice to tourists going to Bangkok in the coming weeks. Audio

6:42 PM.Archbishop Desmond Tutu and four Kalahari Bushmen have had their genetic codes, or genomes, mapped. Audio

6:45 PM.An Argentinian minister has told Britain to be on its guard, in a growing dispute over British plans to drill for oil off the Falkland Islands. Audio

6:47 PM.News from the Waatea team. Audio

6:50 PM.The opposition in Australia are demanding the suspension of an entire scheme to improve home insulation. Audio

6:54 PM.The visit of a top US official to the Syrian capital, Damascus, is being seen as a sign of warming diplomatic relations. Audio

6:57 PM.Children in the German capital, Berlin, will now be allowed to be noisy. Audio

6:59 PM.Human rights groups in Romania have called on the Foreign Minister to resign, for appearing to suggest that Roma or Gypsies were more likely to commit criminal acts than other people. Audio