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 TUESDAY 16 SEPT 2014
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Opposition parties are demanding John Key tells the public just what he knows about an NSA linked spy programme in New Zealand. But the Prime Minister says he can't talk about the programme which the NSA analyst turned whistleblower Edward Snowden claims is harvesting electronic data. And John Key continues to maintain there is no mass surveillance. Benedict Collins reports. PKG
b/a Checkpoint has been seeking answers today from John Key to a series of questions about mass surveillance, after he revealed the GCSB built a test probe, and that it may have been tested, but the Government dumped it before any metadata was gathered. We want to know if a probe of any sort at any time was attached to any communications cable by the GCSB. And whether a test of the probe meant it was attached and if so what data it collected and what happened to that data. Was it attached covertly, since Southern Cross Cable Network says nothing has been attached to its transpacific cable? Where is the probe hardware now and has any consideration been given to using it in future? We want to know from Mr Key if the current spying laws make broad cyber protection legal, and if the law allows for covert surveillance on the Southern Cross cable. And finally, with reference to an NSA document which emerged last month, showing an NSA engineer was in New Zealand in February 2013 for technical discussions about setting up a Special Source Operations site of the kind that taps fibre-optic cables, the question is what connection that has to this week's revelations about mass surveillance. Mr Key is refusing to answer these questions. His office says : 'The Prime Minister has discussed this issue at length in his media stand-ups both today and over recent days. We have no further comments to add."
John Key has challenged Edward Snowden to come up with evidence of the GCSB carrying out mass surveillance on New Zealanders. He says it doesn't happen and neither Mr Snowden nor Glenn Greenwald have shown that it does. Mr Key won't discuss the Xkeyscore programme, a search engine which Mr Snowden says he used when he was an NSA analyst to call up data on people in any of the countries belonging to the Five Eyes spy ring. Jesselyn Radack, (Raydak), is one of Mr Snowden's lawyers. She says the evidence is clear. i/v
The National Party is being sued by Eminem's music publishers. CUT Ever since its first broadcast, National's rowing-themed video has drawn comparisons to Eminem's award-winning rap anthem, Lose Yourself. CUT Today, the Detroit-based publishers, Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated, lodged proceedings in the High Court in Wellington, seeking damages for copyright infringement. Our political reporter, Craig McCulloch - an Eminem enthusiast - has been covering the story. i/v
The United States Central Command has carried out air strikes on positions held by Islamic State militants outside the Iraqi capital Baghdad. American planes are also reported to have destroyed half a dozen vehicles near Sinjar in northern Iraq. The attacks come after a meeting in Paris where foreign ministers from thirty countries pledged further support for Iraq in the fight against I.S. Later tonight the American Congress will begin debating legislation to give their President, Barack Obama, approval for arming and training rebels who oppose Islamic State. Here's the ABC's Michael Vincent in Washington : PKG
A leading medical specialist is confident a vaccine for rheumatic fever will be ready to test on patients within three years. New Zealand and Australian researchers have announced today they're joining forces to develop the world's first rheumatic fever vaccine. It can't come too soon, with latest findings showing rheumatic fever rates continuing to climb. Our Health Correspondent, Karen Brown, reports. PKG
Up to 500 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East are feared dead after their boat sank off the Mediterranean island of Malta. The International Organisation for Migration says it's believed the boat was deliberately rammed by people traffickers. The ABC's Lindy Kerrin reports : PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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17.35 MARKET UPDATE
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A woman caught stealing cash from her work decided setting a man on fire was her only way out. The body of 77-year-old Peter Dixon was found inside his Manurewa home as it burned in February 2012. Today Justice Ellis permanently suppressed the woman's name after hearing evidence from a mental health professional that the woman has attempted suicide twice and suffers from post traumatic stress dissorder. The Crown had asked for a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 19 years for the murder described by prosecutor Warren Cathcart as callous and calculated. At the High Court in Auckland today, Justice Ellis reduced the woman's sentence, taking into account her early guilty plea and mental health problems. But when it came time for the final sentence, the woman put her hands over her face and wept uncontrollably. Our reporter Edward Gay has been in court . i/v
The Australian soldiers being sent in to oppose Islamic State extremists are likely to end up in gun battles. The first of the 600 troops, special forces advisers and Australian aircraft are in the Middle East already, and more will be sent over the next few days. The US meanwhile has carried out its first airstrikes to support Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State, under the strategy outlined by President Obama last week. The executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings says Tony Abbot has it's not made it clear yet, exactly what Canberra's troops will do. i/v
In a landmark case in Belgium, a man serving a life sentence for rape and murder is to be allowed to have doctors end his life. It comes after a long court battle between the prisoner, who's been campaigning for the right to die for several years, and the Belgian justice system. Grainne GRON-yuh Harrington has more on this story : PKG
Immigration officials are investigating two New Zealand companies suspended in the Philippines over claims of workers being ripped off. The complaints are against Christchurch-based Business Immigration and the Auckland construction company Valiant Homes, while another firm, this one in the Philippines, is also being looked into. Our reporter Jemma Brackebush is covering the story - i/v
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The Te Atiawa iwi's been discussing what to do with its 87 million dollar Treaty settlement at a two-day conference in New Plymouth.
Although the Taranaki iwi won't get the settlement money for a couple of years, it's held its first investment conference.
From Te Manu Korihi news, here's our Taranaki reporter, Robin Martin.
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Fiji's Police Commissioner is taking the country's history of coups into account in planning security for tomorrow's vote. Nearly 600 thousand people are registered to take part in the poll, which will be the first for more than eight years. Commissioner Ben Groenewald (pronounced ..Grew-in-vald) has already said he won't hesitate to call in the military if law and order breaks down. CUT Our reporter Philippa Tolley is in Suva. i/v
Scientists in the United States have found techniques used by energy companies to extract gas from the ground, are to blame for a dramatic rise in the number of earthquakes. Experts from the US Geological Survey point to 16 earthquakes in two seismically quiet areas in Colorado and New Mexico since the companies had begun pumping large amounts of waste water into underground wells. The epicentre of all the earthquakes had been close to the wastewater injection wells. Bill Barnhart is a USGS geophysicist in Colorado - he's one of the researchers . i/v
President Obama will announce plans later to send three thousand American troops to Liberia to help in the fight to contain the Ebola virus, as the UN considers what to do next . The BBC's Alpha Patel reports PKG
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Presenter: Mary Wilson, Jim Mora
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Jo Leavesley, Mei Yeoh, Sharon Brettkelly