Checkpoint for Thursday 11 March 2021

5:10 PM.Auckland's hospitality industry is on tenterhooks on Thursday, on the eve of three big days of America's Cup racing, and frustration is building. Read more Video, Audio

5:15 PM.A new law preventing people with overdue MIQ bills leaving the country could be on the cards, as ministers consider ways to get more people paying up.

Only about a third of people invoiced so far… Read more Audio

5:17 PM.Australia has added insult to injury - with a senior government minister describing New Zealanders being deported here as "trash".

Australian television network 9 News was given extraordinary access… Read more Audio

5:23 PM.Aucklanders appear to be giving public transport a wide berth, as the hangover from four Covid-19 lockdowns continues to linger.

Numbers show Aucklanders are not jumping on the bus, train or ferry to… Read more Audio

5:27 PM.About a third of businesses in Queenstown's CBD expect to go down the gurgler before winter is out.

A new survey by the town's chamber of commerce paints a grim picture of business confidence in the… Read more Video, Audio

5:35 PM.Event organisers, pubs, clubs and restaurants are in limbo waiting for a downward alert level shift in Auckland from Covid-19 alert level 2 to 1.

Cabinet is made the crucial decision but is not… Read more Video, Audio

5:42 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6238756715001 Video, Audio

5:50 PM.It's another disappointing day for many first home buyers as the real estate industry reaches fresh highs.

But it's not just those struggling to buy that are feeling glum - with the flow on effects… Read more Video, Audio

5:55 PM.The head of Auckland's $4.4 billion City Rail Link says he is unable to give a firm finish date for the project, due to the uncertainty created by Covid-19.

Dr Sean Sweeney says delays getting… Read more Video, Audio

6:10 PM.The Police Commissioner has addressed concerns over facial recognition technology being used on photographs of innocent young people.

Andrew Coster is adamant photographs are only used for facial… Read more Audio

6:15 PM.Agriculturalists are demanding assurances from the government that the chronic labour shortage they're facing never happens again.

Covid-19 has left them without thousands of workers and with no… Read more Audio

6:17 PM.A prominent businessman accused of indecently assaulting three men has taken the stand in his own defence.

The businessman, who has name suppression, denies grabbing the genitals of the complainants.

6:20 PM.Two years on from the mosque attacks, a copy of the video showing the atrocities is still freely available online.

It's raising questions about efforts to stop its spread, such as the Christchurch… Read more Audio

6:27 PM.The small Pacific nation of Tuvalu is planning to go from having no online banking and only one ATM, to using Bitcoin.

Tuvalu's government aims to become the world's first paperless society, using… Read more Audio