Checkpoint for Monday 3 May 2021

5:07 PM.New Zealand finally has a start date for the long-awaited Cook Islands bubble - May 17 - but conditions apply.

Both the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Cook Islands counterpart Mark Brown… Read more Video, Audio

5:15 PM.There's been a blunt exchange between New Zealand and China today, with each country positioning itself for increasing diplomatic disagreements.

A major China Business Summit was held today… Read more Audio

5:21 PM.The government's being criticised for spending $5.5 million on IT changes so it can charge people who would otherwise be homeless for their motel stays.

In October the Ministry for Social Development… Read more Audio

5:27 PM.The High Commission in India has revealed "several" of its local staff have been infected with Covid-19.

After making a plea on Twitter for oxygen, the High Commission then apologised to the Indian… Read more Audio

5:31 PM.A New Zealand citizen who has recently returned from India has recounted the massive cost and stress of getting home.

Pushpindar Singh left New Zealand for India on March 29 to be with his dying… Read more Audio

5:37 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6251993156001 Video, Audio

5:42 PM.The Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft is warning Pharmac not to play one group of children with a life threatening illness off against another.

His comments come after RNZ revealed that… Read more Audio

5:46 PM."If I had the opportunity to do that again, I'd be pleased to accept." The Chief Human Rights Commissioner has stood by his decision to meet with a Waikato chapter of the Mongrel Mob, despite heavy… Read more Video, Audio

5:53 PM.The recycling report card for more than 650 Christchurch households could be classed as 'absolute rubbish'.

In the last nine months the council has been forced to confiscate 664 yellow recycle bins… Read more Video, Audio

6:08 PM.The government has asked the Productivity Commission to dig deeper into what immigration policy settings would best help New Zealand's economic growth.

That includes looking at the effect immigration… Read more Video, Audio

6:16 PM.Antivaxxers are being warned not to sabotage the hard work of westies as Auckland's latest mass vaccination clinic opens.

Te Whānau o Waipareira is running the new clinic, in Henderson, for the… Read more Audio