Checkpoint

A new study shows the number of children being admitted to hospital with serious skin infections has almost doubled since 1990. The Otago University researchers say the infections are very distressing… Read more Audio

Peoples' increasing desperation is being blamed for a surge in gambling machine takings this year, particularly in Christchurch. Those in the quake-hit city fed six hundred thousand dollars more into… Read more Audio

An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

Consumers can expect fewer rip-offs and clearer deals when they want a loan but have to bypass the big banks. Audio

Contact Energy is hoping to raise $350 million to generate more power. Audio

Former ACT Party leader Richard Prebble says Don Brash always behaved like a ACT MP. Audio

It was labelled a brazen coup and a hostile takeover, but Don Brash has succeeded in taking the ACT leadership off Rodney Hide. Mr Hide has resigned as party leader, saying the former National Party… Read more Audio

Young New Zealanders are more relaxed, confident and optimistic about the future than their overseas counterparts according to a survey carried out in 20 countries. Audio

Economists say the Reserve Bank is underestimating future inflation and may end up having to raise interest rates earlier and by more than it is expecting. Audio

News from the Waatea team. Audio

Environmentalists are angry at a plan by a salmon farming company to get approval to expand its Marlborough Sounds business from the Environmental Protection Authority, instead of the local council. Audio

Act has only made it in to the last two Parliaments because Rodney Hide won the central Auckland seat of Epsom - the last time with nearly triple the votes of the second place-getter. But Dr Brash… Read more Audio