Checkpoint for Friday 7 August 2020

6:27 PM.Cancer survivor and World Cup winner - the curtain will fall on Aaron Cruden's time in New Zealand rugby this weekend.

The former All Black ran out for his 100th and last game for the Chiefs last… Read more Audio

6:23 PM.Pole vaulter Eliza McCartney has gone high-tech in an effort to keep persistent injuries at bay and enable her to get to next year's Olympics.

McCartney has been troubled with an achilles issue for a… Read more Audio

6:20 PM.Three of the country's youngest politicians believe they're making a real impact in their communities.

It's been almost a year since the three were elected in local body elections, and it hasn't… Read more Audio

6:16 PM.Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa descendants are overjoyed they can do up their wharenui - while also attracting their rangatahi back to their marae - with over $1.5 million from the Provincial Growth Fund.

6:15 PM.Work has started on a new railway line after a decades-long wait to free up one of Auckland's busiest choke points.

The government-funded programme was announced today. Building a third line between… Read more Audio

6:08 PM.Restaurants and bars around the country are scrambling for staff and say they can't fill even senior positions, with closed borders keeping both workers and clients away.

But the Restaurant… Read more Video, Audio

5:50 PM.The Taranaki Medical Officer of Health says New Zealand finds itself "in the eye of a Covid-19 storm" and more testing is required to discover if there has been undetected transmission in the… Read more Audio

5:48 PM.The 2750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which caused the fatal explosion first arrived on leaky Russian-registered cargo ship in Lebanon in September 2013. Read more Video, Audio

5:46 PM.To Beirut now where Lebanese authorities have arrested 16 people, including the Port manager, as the investigation into Tuesday's fatal explosion which displaced a quarter of a million people… Read more Video, Audio

5:41 PM.Oranga Tamariki's bosses have fronted up to the Waitangi Tribunal today to explain why Māori fare so badly in the state care system.

The tribunal's urgent inquiry is underway in Wellington. It comes… Read more Audio

5:36 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Audio

5:28 PM.A woman has been sentenced to 11 and a half months home detention for the manslaughter of her partner.

A high court judge ruled the years of domestic violence Karen Anne Ruddelle faced, and her… Read more Audio

5:24 PM.Nearly 10,000 New Zealanders have had to live in motels over the past three months, with the public housing waitlist up 50 percent on the same time last year.

Latest figures through to the end of… Read more Audio

5:18 PM.Nearly 14,000 more people have taken up the wage subsidy last week and more than 466,000 jobs are still being supported by the government's scheme.

The scheme will come to an end in just under a… Read more Video, Audio

5:08 PM.Workers on the front line of New Zealand's border at airports, isolation and quarantine facilities should get unlimited sick leave to help keep Covid-19 out of the community, Professor Shaun Hendy… Read more Video, Audio