Checkpoint FOR THURSDAY 23 SEPT 2010
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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New Zealand's Olympic Committee has today delayed the arrival of athletes in Delhi, and there's still no final decision on whether they'll compete at all in the Commonwealth Games. The first teams were due to arrive on Saturday but that's been postponed after continuing problems with hygiene, as well as fears about security. New Zealand officials have spent the past 24 hours inspecting facilities at the athletes village. The growing list of problems includes, filthy living conditions, fears of dengue fever, a broken ceiling at the weightlifting venue and a collapsed footbridge. But India's External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna, says he is not embarrassed by the wave of criticisims about his country's readiness to hold the games. TP Although not all these Delhi locals agree that the Games should go ahead. TP Well the women's hockey team along with the badminton squad and the lawn bowlers were supposed to arrive at the weekend, but they're now won't move into the village until Wednesday. Here's the women's hockey coach Mark Hager. TP New Zealand's chef de mission Dave Currie was unavailable to talk to Checkpoint but he's holding a press conference shortly and we'll bring you the latest information.
The former ACT MP David Garrett has officially resigned from Parliament. He quit the party last week after revelations he'd committted identity fraud became public, and now he'll leave Parliament altogether. Our parliamentary chief reporter, Jane Patterson, joins us now. Q&A
Record dairy exports have led to the second-highest ever payout from Fonterra - warming news for dairy farmers dealing with bitterly cold spring storms. Fonterra today announced a payout of six-dollars seventy for each kilogram of milksolids over the past season, up from 5-dollars-21 last year. Craig Ashworth reports. PKG
The spring storm that has hammered the lower South Island has been officially declared an adverse weather event - meaning government assistance will be provided. Since Saturday, Southland and parts of Otago have been hit by snow, rain and sub-zero wind conditions. And the Met Service is warning of more snow about the hills tomorrow. Federated Farmers says it's Southland's worst storm in a generation and about 800 farms have been hit. Thousands of newborn lambs and pregnant ewes have died. Sheep farmer Dave Clarke says some are having a hard time coping. TP
The Agriculture Minister, David Carter, has spent the day out on the road, visiting farmers - and this afternoon declared a level two weather event. PRE REC
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Patrick O'Meara
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Construction teams are working to fix earthquake damaged stopbanks in the Waimakariri and Kaiapoi rivers near Christchurch. About 25-percent of the length of the stopbanks have been damaged and engineers are counting on good weather until they complete the most urgent repairs. Matthew Peddie went to see the damage. PKG
The Australian government is being warned that its system of detaining asylum seekers who arrive by boat is in 'chaos.' Earlier this week, a man from Fiji died in a suspected suicide in detention at Sydney. Nine people, thought to be from China, are continuing their protest on the roof at Villawood Detention Centre. The ABC's Linda Mottram has more: PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The latest Gross Domestic Product figures show the economy is continuing to be sluggish. GDP is the broadest measure of the health of the economy and shows growth of just zero point two percent in the three months till June, compared to zero point 5 percent growth in the March quarter. Drought, a lacklustre services sector, a drop in manufacturing, and flat household spending have all contributed to the dent in growth. The numbers have many economists predicting the Reserve Bank will leave the OCR unchanged at 3 per cent until next year at the earliest. NZIER senior economist Shamubeel Eacub joins us now. LIVER
Electoral officials in Afghanistan say almost 4-thousand reports of vote rigging have been lodged from last Saturday's parliamentary poll. Opposition activists are warning that failure to deal with the widespread fraud could erode trust in democracy. The consequences of the election and its success or failure will certainly be borne by younger Afghans, many of them too young to vote this time around. Sally Sara has been finding out more in the capital, Kabul: PKG
The Privacy Commissioner has approved changes made to the Search and Surveillance Bill. There's been criticism the new legislation goes too far by extending the powers held by government agencies, including the police. In April, hundreds of people in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch marched against the legislation. Parts of the Bill have been rewritten since then, and the Justice and Electoral select committee is now hearing submissions on those changes. Here's our political reporter Clare Pasley. PKG
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17.45 TRAILS
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WAATEA
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In an unusual move, the Director of Public Health is a candidate for his local district health board. Dr Mark Jacobs is one of 21 candidates standing for election to Wellington's debt-plagued Capital and Coast DHB. He's declined interviews, but answered questions from our Health Correspondent, Karen Brown, who joins me now. Q&A
Scores of people are still attempting to rescue stranded whales in Northland. 24 of them are in a good condition after surviving beaching at Spirits Bay, and the logistical effort of refloating them is underway. The Department of Conservation's Sioux Sue Campbell joins us now with the latest. LIVER
Scientists in Switzerland and Germany have demonstrated a highly refined X-ray technique that can be used in research into medical conditions such as osteoporosis.
The X-rays are able to distinguish tiny variations in materials by harnessing powerful light sources and complex computer programmes. Neil Bowdler has been reading the findings in the journal, Nature: PKG
A quarter of the world's resources of oil and gas are believed to lie beneath the Arctic Ocean -- and an international summit in Moscow is discussing who has the right to drill, and where. Among the participating countries is Canada - which wants to control potentially valuable shipping routes across the polar region. The BBC's correspondent, Rajesh Mirchandani, has been travelling through Arctic Canada, and sent this report: PKG