Checkpoint for Wednesday 15 April 2020

5:07 PM.The most senior politicians and public servants are taking a pay cut in solidarity with New Zealanders facing hardship under the strain of Covid-19.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the 20… Read more Audio

5:17 PM.Huge waves have been hitting Wellington's south coast on Wednesday forcing people to leave their homes and injuring one person who got dragged out to sea.

A big southerly swell sent waves about six… Read more Video, Audio

5:19 PM.US President Donald Trump has announced the United States will halt funding to the World Health Organisation for three months pending a review of the organisation after blaming it for mismanaging and… Read more Audio

5:21 PM.Former New Zealand Prime Minister and UN Development Programme Administrator Helen Clark says US President Donald Trump's decision to pull funding from the World Health Organisation is "foolish".

… Read more Video, Audio

5:39 PM.About 800,000 children went back to school, though none of them left their homes.

Because of the lockdown, teaching is being done over the internet or down the phone.

RNZ education correspondent… Read more Audio

5:42 PM.Since the beginning of the lockdown the number of real jobs being posted online has dropped by over 70 percent according to one online job search site.

The government announced that unemployment… Read more Audio

5:46 PM.Māori leaders are worried their people will suffer higher rates of unemployment after the level four lockdown lifts.

Māori unemployment is currently 8.4 percent - double that of the national average… Read more Audio

5:49 PM.Tenants struggling to pay the rent as the lockdown drags on say calls for landlords to show compassion are going unanswered.

A pause on mortgage payments has not trickled down to rental deferrals for… Read more Audio

5:53 PM.Sixty New Zealanders who have been stranded in Peru and other parts of South America are back on home soil.

The government-assisted charter flight touched down in Auckland early this morning -… Read more Audio

6:06 PM.New Zealanders like a fair deal, so it is not surprising that the government's Price Watch inbox now has thousands of complaints.

Price Watch was set up as a repository for consumer concerns over… Read more Video, Audio

6:11 PM.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, government ministers and about 30 public service chief executives are taking a 20 percent pay cut over the next six months - but it does not go far enough for Act leader… Read more Video, Audio

6:17 PM.As Donald Trump faces criticism for his administration's own handling and downplaying the Covid-19 pandemic, the US President has turned the tables on the World Health Organisation, freezing their… Read more Video, Audio

6:24 PM.A Christchurch couple says their insurer totally botched the repairs of their quake-damaged house - and now will not pay for it.

Their lawyer said all householders should be worried this same thing… Read more Audio