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Checkpoint is a drive-time news and current affairs programme on Radio New Zealand National. It broadcasts nationwide every weekday evening for two hours and covers the day’s major national and international stories, as well as business, sport and Māori news. This recording covers the first hour. The following rundown is supplied from the broadcaster’s news system:
Checkpoint FOR MONDAY 15 SEPT 2014
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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John Key is denying claims he pulled strings for Hollywood to get Kim Dotcom into New Zealand so it would be easier for the US to extradite him on copyright piracy charges. This comes five days out from the election and on top of controversy today about whether the Government's communications spy agency has been targetting New Zealanders for mass surveillance, something the National Party leader has repeatedly denied. He did so again today - however, within the last hour the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has posted an article online saying the Prime Minister's denial is false. Earlier this afternoon, an email was published, purported to be from the head of Warner Brothers Kevin Tsujihara, in which he cites a conversation with Mr Key and being told the Government would grant Mr Dotcom residency despite concern from officials about his past convictions. Kim Dotcom who has been campaigning for his Internet Party, is holding a meeting later tonight at which he said he would drop a political bombshell. Warner Brothers denies that Kevin Tsujihara wrote or sent the email, and says he never had any such conversation with Mr Key. John Key made similar denials to reporters this afternoon. CUT Neither Mr Key nor Warner Brothers would come on Checkpoint. The Motion Picture Association of America which is meant to have received the email says that never happened. The Internet Party has so far not provided the email to Radio New Zealand. Immigration New Zealand has previously said there was unequivocally no political pressure over Mr Dotcom's residency application. Our political editor Brent Edwards is with us now. i/v
As you heard there, the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says John Key's denial of mass surveillance is false, adding that if you live in New Zealand 'you are being watched'. He gives details in a short article on the Intercept website tonight of the NSA spy system X-Keyscore to back his claims. Intercept is run by the American journalist Glenn Greenwald who is a guest speaker at Kim Dotcom's political meeting tonight. Mr Greenwald has been promising to release information today showing New Zealanders have been the target of mass surveillance by the GCSB and international spy agencies. The forensic IT investigator Daniel Ayers AIRS is at the Auckland Town Hall where the Dotcom meeting is being held later. i/v
A catholic priest in Blenheim has been removed from his post after being charged with indecent assault. The Church has released a statement saying the priest, who has worked at St Mary's Catholic Parish since late last year, has been stood down while police imvestigate a complaint. The news was announced to a shocked congregation during mass yesterday morning. Our reporter Alison Hossain visited the church this afternoon and spoke with the archbishop's representative who is handling the case, Archdiocese vicar-general Monsignor Gerry Burns i/v
The US Secretary of State John Kerry says almost forty countries have now pledged to fight Islamic State including partners from the Arab world. After touring the Middle East, he is now in Paris, where foreign diplomats will meet later today to decide how best to stop the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The BBC's Tom Esslemont reports PKG
A beauty therapist who burned a customer so badly she now has permanent scars on her face has been ordered to apologise and retrain. The public health watchdog says it was also unacceptable for the therapist to refuse to see the woman after the botched treatment. The name of the therapist, who wasn't a member of a registered beauty therapists' association, has been withheld. But our Health Correspondent, Karen Brown, has other details about the case . i/v
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17.30 HEADLINES
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17.35 MARKET UPDATE
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The authorities in Fiji are firmly enforcing a ban on any political reporting, comment and advertising in the run up to the elections on Wednesday. It will be the first time the people of Fiji have been able to vote in more than 8 years and the elections are being run according to a decree issued earlier this year. The Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem set out the possible penalties if the media report any political coverage or if someone in Fiji uses social media to make a political point during the 48 hour blackout. CUT Our reporter, Philippa Tolley is in Suva i/v
A high court jury has heard the highly charged testimony of the wife of a man accused of trying to kill a police officer in a violent attack. Walter Taua/tevalu, a 36/37 year old youth worker and father, is on trial for the attempted murder of police officer Sergeant Simon Tate, who was attacked while alone on patrol in Otara last September. Sergeant Tate almost died in the attack, and his own mother could barely recognise him. The specialist surgeon who treated him, Dr Bren Dorman, says the force of the attack crushed Sergeant Tate's neck CUT Our reporter Murielle Baker's been at the High Court trial. i/v
A fire investigator is warning over-crowded houses in Christchurch are more at risk of fire. A 16 year old boy was killed trying to save his pregnant friend from a burning house in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was one of eight people staying in the state house at the time. Nicola Grigg reports. PKG
Australia's Prime Minister is refusing to put a time limit on his country's commitment to wiping out Islamic State extremists amidst warnings the deployment will stretch the Australian military. Australian fighter jets and about 600 military personnel, including special forces soldiers, will be deployed to the Middle East later this week. The country's Green Party leader Christine Milne has criticised the deployment, saying there is no end date or any limit on the number of personnel who could be involved. Tony Abbott WAS ACROSS MEDIA today explaining the government's position, stressing no decision has been made to commit to actual combat operations in Iraq. The ABC's Greg Jennett joins us now from Canberra i/v
Returning to the claims that mass surveillance of New Zealanders by the Government's communications spy agency is taking place. And Southern Cross undersea cables is rejecting the claim as total nonsense. The claims are from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the American journalist Glenn Greenwald, who on the Intercept website tonight says a project called Speargun involved the covert installation of "cable access" equipment, which appears to refer to surveillance of the country's main undersea cable link, the Southern Cross cable. The chief executive of Southern Cross cables Anthony Briscoe is with us now. i/v
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The first hui for the Authority, overseeing Auckland's volcanic cones, is being described as a historic day, which has resulted in 13 tribes pulling together to guard the future of their ancestral maunga.
The Maunga Authority comprises of 12 members, six mana whenua or local tribal representatives, and six members from the Auckland Council and a non-voting member from the Crown.
Te Manu Korihi reporter, Mani Dunlop, was at today's hui.
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Presenter: Mary Wilson, Jim Mora
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Jo Leavesley, Mei Yeoh, Sharon Brettkelly