Checkpoint

Judges will be given all the family violence history of defendants under a new pilot programme that aims to keep victims safer. The pilot begins next week in Porirua and Christchurch after two judges… Read more Audio

The headmaster of Auckland Grammar School has rubbished suggestions state schools should not be offering foreign qualifications like the Cambridge exams. Audio

A group of Christchurch homeowners are taking a government-owned insurer to court claiming it underpaid them by millions of dollars. Audio

A child sex abuse taskforce in Australia is looking at chemically castrating paedophiles against their will. At the moment it can only happen if offenders choose it. But courts could make it… Read more Audio

Nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants have won a 2% pay rise. But District Health Boards say some of them will struggle to pay it. Audio

The Green Party is accusing the Government and Act Party of breaking their word on the Rugby World Cup Bill, which is expected to pass into law tonight. Audio

An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

In Australia experts are about to grapple with the vexed question of whether parents conceiving through in-vitro fertilisation should be allow to choose the child's sex. Already couples have been… Read more Audio

The Horowhenua District Council will continue with plans to pump wastewater into land near a local marae, despite iwi opposition; The former Minister of Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples was awarded a… Read more Audio

The Attorney-General has accused the Law Society of inaccuracy and a lack of rigour over its claims about law changes risking the right to a fair trial. Chris Finlayson says the society's got it all… Read more Audio

The ructions on Wall Street where the stock market took its steepest one day fall in four years, has America finally waking up to the global perils of China's slowing economy. Audio

Police have searched a central Auckland church metres from their own headquarters during a street drugs bust. Eight men and eight women were arrested as officers searched ten addresses including St… Read more Audio