Checkpoint for Thursday 6 August 2015

6:55 PM.The Taranaki town of Opunake is starting to clean up after incessant overnight rain left some thirty houses flooded, with at least three people having to be evacuated. Audio

6:51 PM.The founder of a group for queer Māori, or takatāpui, says the community is still running into discrimination two years on from marriage equality; Ngāti Kahungunu says the Government is selling its… Read more Audio

6:38 PM.West African crime syndicates are duping dozens of vulnerable Australians to courier drugs through countries that have the death penalty for trafficking. Audio

6:36 PM.The Prime Minister says the forthcoming closure of the last of New Zealand's large-scale coal-fired power stations is unsurprising in light of Government policy on climate change. Audio

6:26 PM.A woman who was born with cyctic fibrosis has started breathing on her own for the first time since receiving a double-lung transplant last Wednesday. Audio

6:15 PM.Gotingco family friend Alan Wharerau read a victim impact statement on behalf of Blessie Gotingco's husband. Audio

6:12 PM.The police have admitted it took them hours and several visits to a child rapist's home to find he had removed his GPS bracelet and fled. Audio

6:08 PM.An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

5:58 PM.The partner of a gang members' son has described the blood gushing from his head as she sat with him, screaming, in his final moments. Audio

5:55 PM.Hunters are up in arms about sudden changes to the country's main gun safety programme. Audio

5:53 PM.The overall health of the Maori language is about to be put under the microscope. The Māori Language Commission has contracted the New Zealand Council for Educational Research to carry out a major… Read more Audio

5:50 PM.The Education Review Office says only half of early childhood education centres are doing a good job with children under the age of three. Audio

5:46 PM.A young woman whose parents and brother died in a house fire in Waimate yesterday says she woke to a noise like a strong wind banging at the bedroom door, but it was her home overtaken by flames. Audio

5:41 PM.Tony Robertson is beginning an indefinite life sentence tonight, but will consider appealing against his conviction and sentence. Audio

5:35 PM.News from the business sector including a market report. Audio

5:35 PM.The Kohanga Reo Trust board will be governed by just six trustees for a while longer. This week the board announced a new member to replace the ousted Toni Waho but at the eleventh hour the new… Read more Audio

5:25 PM.The police say one of the first things Auckland teenager LA Tukerangi did after being found was make an emotional phone call to her family. Audio

5:21 PM.The family of a worker who was crushed to death at Lyttelton Port says the punishment handed out to his employer for not keeping him safe is not enough. Audio

5:18 PM.The family of a worker who was crushed to death at Lyttelton Port says the punishment handed out is not enough. Audio

5:16 PM.Tony Douglas Robertson bowed his head below the dock as a High Court judge described his rape and murder of Blessie Gotingco as bestial. Audio

5:08 PM.In breaking news tonight, police are hunting for a convicted child rapist who has removed his GPS bracelet. Daniel Livingstone abducted and raped a 10 year old girl in 2006 and this morning police… Read more Audio

5:00 PM.Police hunt an escaped child rapist, Robertson jailed indefinitely, Gotingco family 'in darkness', Worksafe says lesson to be learnt from port death, Family not happy with Port fine, Auckland teenager… Read more Audio