Checkpoint for Thursday 12 December 2019

5:09 PM.After days of planning and risk assessment, police say they will return to Whakaari White Island on Friday morning to bring back the bodies of those still there.

Eight people remain on the island -… Read more Video, Audio

5:13 PM.Incredible new footage has emerged showing seemingly idyllic conditions as sightseers wandered around the White Island volcano before Monday's fatal eruption.

The video taken buy one of the tourists… Read more Video, Audio

5:22 PM.Precious donations of skin arrived on Thursday from the United States ready for use in pain staking labour intensive life-saving operations.

Twenty-one people remain in hospital after suffering… Read more Video, Audio

5:27 PM.The government has moved one step closer towards the Northport proposal, but with a strong message it will work much more closely with key partners like the port owners and operators.

Cabinet… Read more Audio

5:35 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Video, Audio

5:39 PM.Auckland commuters will be able to catch the bus again on Friday - with drivers back behind the wheel after taking strike action.

More than 50 bus routes operated by NZ Bus were cancelled this week… Read more Audio

5:42 PM.The government has announced the pilot alcohol and drug treatment courts in Auckland and Waitakere will be made permanent, and a third will open next year in Waikato.

The announcement comes on the… Read more Audio

5:50 PM.Hawke's Bay's leaders say a new social housing package will help to reach their goal of ending homelessness within five years.

Housing Ministers Megan Woods and Nanaia Mahuta were in the region on… Read more Audio

5:54 PM.The media's least likely ally - Winston Peters - has put a stake in the ground on the future of public broadcasting and NZME's proposal to buy its news rival, Stuff.

In a speech at Parliament on… Read more Video, Audio

6:08 PM.Whakatāne Hospital staff say nothing could prepare them for the number of patients or the severity of the injuries they received on Monday.

Health Minister David Clark visited the hospital's… Read more Video, Audio

6:13 PM.RNZ reporter Ben Strang is in Whakatane. He joins Lisa Owen with the latest details as media await a press conference from police to reveal their plan for the recovery of bodies from Whakaari White… Read more Video, Audio

6:17 PM.Several iwi around the Eastern Bay of Plenty have placed rāhui over their coastlines to show their respect for the victims of the Whakaari eruption.

A rāhui is bestowed on an area where people have… Read more Audio

6:22 PM.Men and women injured by surgical mesh implants - but denied ACC cover - are to have their cases reviewed in a major back down.

It's one of several recommendations in a report that heard from… Read more Audio

6:49 PM.RNZ reporter Ben Strang is in Whakatāne with the latest details and analysis on the response to the Whakaari White Island eruption. Read more Video, Audio

7:06 PM.Retired search and rescue pilot John Funnell gave aerial assistance to the helicopter pilots who were recovering the injured from the Whakaari White Island volcanic eruption on Friday. He talks to… Read more Audio

7:15 PM.Police say the plan to recover the bodies from Whakaari / White Island on Friday morning will take several hours, and still carries a lot of risk. Read more Video, Audio