Checkpoint for Tuesday 31 August 2010

5:00 PM.Taxpayers spend more than one-and-a-half-billion dollars to bail out South Canterbury Finance investors. Families appeal to radiographers to call off strike and an historic Auckland Hotel is on the… Read more Audio

5:07 PM.Taxpayers have written out a cheque for more than one-and-a-half-billion dollars, after South Canterbury Finance was this morning placed into recievership. Audio

5:13 PM.The Chief Executive of South Canterbury Finance, says today's news is good for the investors who have about two billion dollars tied up in the company. Audio

5:18 PM.The Hubbards themselves were at home in Timaru today. Reporter Monique Devereux spoke to Margaret Hubbard. Audio

5:20 PM.News from the business sector including a market report. Audio

5:23 PM.The father of a seventeen-month old girl who's had her surgery cancelled at Auckland City Hospital is appealing to striking radiographers to call off their industrial action. Audio

5:28 PM.Engineers have begun the painstakingly slow process of shifting a historic hotel in central Auckland. Audio

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

5:37 PM.The Prime Minister says South Canterbury Finance would have collapsed two years ago if the retail deposit guarantee scheme had not been put in place. Audio

5:40 PM.The police in Hamilton have broken up a school-boy burglary ring that involved children as young as 11. Audio

5:46 PM.The election lead in Australia continues to see-saw with Labor currently having a slight edge over the Coalition. Audio

5:52 PM.News from the Waatea team. Audio

5:55 PM.The Government is to step in to finish work on the long-delayed project to upgrade the Airforce's aging fleet of Hercules aircraft. Audio

5:58 PM.It's the first day of Spring tomorrow and according to climate scientists at NIWA, it's going to be a good one. Audio

6:07 PM.Taxpayers have written out a cheque for more than one-and-a-half-billion dollars, to bail out South Canterbury Finance investors after company was placed in receivership. Audio

6:13 PM.Whanganui's district council has seized back the city's port to end a festering legal battle and take control of harbour land. Audio

6:19 PM.A lawyer for Victoria University has today defended the way it handled plagiarism accusations against a student in its design school. Audio

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

6:26 PM.The government is shutting a South Auckland school for troubled children, which has failed to shake off four years of serious governance and staffing problems. Audio

6:33 PM.An update from the RNZ sports team. Audio

6:37 PM.A group of teenagers is spearheading a drive to better protect themsleves and their friends in the age of Facebook. Audio

6:40 PM.Investigators trying to track down a greenstone club stolen from a Taranaki pa, say whoever took it can return it no questions asked. Audio

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

6:53 PM.New Zealand's first tertiary high school opened this year. Audio