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 FRIDAY 13 DECEMBER 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The mayor of Auckland Len Brown says he won't be resigning for failing to declare he was given free hotel rooms and upgrades worth 39 thousand dollars. This breaches the council's code of conduct for elected members, but no penalty applies. Mr Brown says the ommission was partly due to the workload during his first term in office. The findings have come in a review by auditors Ernst and Young, commissioned by the council's chief executive, after Mr Brown admitted a two-year affair with a former member of an advisory panel, Bevan Chuang. Mr Brown says while some people will call for his resignation, he thinks most Aucklanders are behind him.
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Len Brown has previously said he had not been given free rooms - today he accepts he should have declared the gifts .
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Len Brown has not responded to Checkpoint's request for an interview . When asked by our Auckland correspondent Todd Niall whether as a politician it was clear he shouldn't be accepting free rooms and upgrades - he had this to say.
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Our Auckland correspondent Todd Niall joins us now
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The oil spill response plan of deep sea driller Anadarko has been released and shows Greenpeace's modelling, which the oil industry labelled as science fiction, is in some ways conservative. Anadarko is engaged in drilling exploratory wells in 1800 metres of water off Raglan. The spill plan submitted to Maritime New Zealand, and released today by that agency under the Official Information Act, shows Anadarko's worst case scenario off Raglan is for a well blowout spilling 12 thousand barrels of oil a day. Greenpeace's controversial model, which the Prime Minister dismissed as scaremongering in October, assumed only 10 thousand barrels a day. An Anadarko spokesperson Alan Seay joins us now.
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The man responsible for getting the ACT party leader John Banks to trial is now planning a private prosecution for manslaughter against former Pike River boss Peter Whitall. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment yesterday announced it's not proceeding with health and safety charges laid against Mr Whittall as it's unlikely to get a conviction. Part of the reason for not going ahead is the offer from Mr Whittall and the other Pike River directors to pay 3. 4 million dollars to the families of the 29 men killed in the mine explosion. It's the same amount a judge ordered the company in July to pay in reperations. That month the police said there was insufficient evidence to lay manslaughter charges but Graham McCready is having none of it.
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In North Korea, the uncle of the leader Kim Jong-un has been executed after being found guilty of treason. Earlier this week Chang Song-Thaek (PRO: TAC) was dramatically removed from a Communist Party meeting and rushed through a military trial - where it's reported he admitted trying to over-throw the state. The BBC's Lucy Williamson is in Seoul:
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS with Amy Williams
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The Black Caps have broken their ten match winless streak, beating the West Indies by an innings and 73 runs inside three days of the second Test at the Basin Reserve. The tourists were forced to follow on today after collapsing in their first innings for 193 runs, but were dismissed again half way through the day's final session for just 175. Our reporter Stephen Hewson is at the Basin Reserve.
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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An SAS soldier has been found guilty of stealing from the Defence Force but has avoided detention or dismissal from the military. A court martial convicted the 30-year-old soldier today of stealing three weapons accessories, and also found him guilty of unlawfully possessing explosives that simulate battle sounds. He was found not guilty on several other charges, including unlawfully possessing a block of the plastic explosive Semtex, which was found in his garage. Our defence reporter Kate Newton was at Papakura Military Camp:
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The police have busted what they claim is a Nigerian led methampehtamine ring, based in Auckland and Woodville. They've arrested 10 people, including five Nigerian expats, one of whom was living in Woodville. Detective Senior Sergeant Llyod Schimd says a 68 year old Auckland man flew to Papua New Guinea last month believing he was going to receive a large amount of cash, and left five days later with 1-and-a-half kilograms of meth hidden in two bags he'd been given. He was arrested at Auckland Airport.
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United Nations inspectors have found further indications of chemical weapons being used in the Syrian conflict. Interim findings in September found the nerve agent Sarin was used in an August attack, but today's report documents the probable use of chemical weapons in four other regions. The ABC's Rachel Brown reports :
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI with Eru Rerekura
Kia ora mai good evening,
The Maori Language Commission says a Judge's decision to stop a lawyer from speaking te reo Maori in the Waitangi Tribunal belittles the language's status.
The commission was a party to a judicial review of the Tribunal's decision in the High Court in Wellington yesterday.
Leigh McLachlan was there.
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The Associate Dean of Maori in Health Sciences at Otago University, Jo Baxter, hopes a surge in enrolments by tangata whenua will make a dent in poor Maori health statistics in the future.
She says the number of Maori, who have gained entry into the School of Medicine has more than doubled in recent years to about 45 students.
Ms Baxter says the increase, which has also been noted in dentistry and other health professions, is due to Maori bridging and support programmes - introduced after 2010.
She's hoping the rise will impact poor Maori health statistics.
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Jo Baxter says Auckland University is also working hard to increase the Maori health workforce.
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Ngai Tahu says a memoradum of understanding between the iwi and Otago University has resulted in major progress for Maori students in diverse feilds including medicine.
The agreement was re-signed this week.
The first iwi-university understanding was signed more than ten years ago, with the relationship designed to foster Maori academic achievement.
Ngai Tahu's Kaiwhakahaere, Sir Mark Solomon, says the agreement is paying dividends for Maori.
He says there's over two hundred Maori in the medical fraternity - with 50 members of Ngai Tahu becoming doctors.
The Director of Maori Development, Tuari Potiki, says the relationship also means the university is contributing to Maori well-being, not just academically but also socially and environmentally.
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The Hawke's Bay Regional Council says it is proud to be partnering with local iwi to form a legislated environment committee.
The Ngati Pahauwera iwi initiated the creation of the management body, which will include Maori claimants and regional councillors.
The committee will soon be introduced as a Bill in Parliament to give it legal standing.
The chairman of the Regional Council, Fenton Wilson, says it is a new and exciting concept in New Zealand, where both groups sit at the same decision-making table.
He says he is proud to have Ngati Pahauwera leader, Toro Waaka, as co-chair, and they are making good progress.
Mr Fenton says the region will go a long way once people have the same thoughts about a better place.
And that's Te Manu Korihi news, I'll have a final bulletin in an hour.
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Tens of thousands of motorists in Wellington have had their personal details accidentally leaked to a member of the public. The city council has admitted its parking contractor, the Australian based Tenix Solutions released the information to a man who made an official information request to it about parking tickets. Cushla Norman reports:
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A former FBI agent who went missing while on a private business trip in Iran seven years ago was actually working for the CIA on a rogue mission. The news agency, the Associated Press also says the CIA paid off Robert Levinson's family in order to avoid a public lawsuit. Our reporter in Washington is Simon Marks.
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The United Nations children's agency UNICEF has found that nearly 230 million children under the age of five don't officially exist. That's because they've never been registered with civil authorities, and without proper documentation, UNICEF says children can easily be trafficked. Dianne Penn reports :
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Presenter: Mary Wilson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Meg Fowler, Mei Yeoh