Checkpoint

With energy security and power bills front of mind for voters in the lead up to the election, Contact Energy has kicked off what will be a keenly watched reporting season. The first figure out is a net profit of $423 million, up 28 percent from $331 million the year earlier. However, 90 percent of customers received a price increase in the last 12 months. Contact Chief Executive Mike Fuge spoke to...

A union for St John ambulance workers says the record numbers of calls to the service in the last week is making an already stressful job harder. St John activated its major incident response over the weekend after receiving more than 2500 calls on Saturday, the most it has ever received in a single day. In the last week the ambulance service had just over 16,000 calls, breaking the record set jus...

Ohakune will be without tap water until Tuesday night, after council this afternoon confirmed the outage affecting the central North Island town would last longer than hoped. It was expected the supply would resume on Monday evening, but a fix has proven more complicated than expected. This means eateries and schools will spend another day with their doors closed. Field Correspondent Jimmy Ellingh...

In an announcement without warning, Labour's leader Chris Hipkins has finally ruled out working with New Zealand First in any government he leads. Deputy political editor Craig McCulloch spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

The Black Ferns are getting ready for a packed end-of-year Test calendar. Coach Whitney Hansen named a 31-strong squad today. Sports reporter Bridget Tunnicliffe spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

Priortising family has led one mum-of-three to a life on the power tools, rather than in the hospital ward. Nearly six years ago Amanda Fitzgerald was juggling shifts as an oncology nurse at Starship Hospital in Auckland. But when her father died, the family moved to Reporoa to support her Mum on the family farm. To make a living Amanda started her own all female lawn mowing business, SheMows. Ama...

Middle East correspondent Madeline Croad spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about several sticking points between the US and Iran slowing progress towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz. An agreement between Oman and Iran - which would establish how the crucial shipping lane would be controlled - is reportedly in its "final stages".

Children as young as seven are among the record number of callers to Youthline. The mental health service says the reason for the calls has also become more serious and more complex. Over the last six months, Youthline has connected an average of four young people every day with emergency services because they were at immediate risk of harm. A few years ago that figure was closer to one a week. Ch...

Dunedin students on free power deals are causing overloading - leaving them cold and in the dark - and costing the lines company several hundred dollars to fix. Aurora Energy says this winter, its crews have attended more than 25 outages in Dunedin's student area. It's warning free power periods offered by retailers are causing high demand and electricity networks are not built to manage the extre...

Checkpoint producer Johnny Sutherland speaks to Melissa Chan-Green about the 52nd annual Dog Derby at Coronet Peak.

Europe correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about the governing body for European football still threatening to boycott Fifa, despite it walking back plans to commercialise the World Cup.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

A blockbuster night of boxing awaits Aotearoa this weekend. Auckland will play host to a stellar lineup of bouts tomorrow night, with David 'The Nice Guy' Nyika headlining in a world title eliminator. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Melissa Chan-Green. 

Building little love nests for inanga or whitebait, that's what one DOC ranger and his team spent this year's spawning season doing. Their fibrous coconut mattresses proved a romantic hit with the threatened species.. who can be a bit fussy when it comes to reproductive habitats. In the Hawkes Bay their usual habitat was washed out in some places by Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. So the DOC team got t...

A wildlife hospital has set up an off-site triage centre to assess wild birds for signs of the deadly H5 flu. There have been no new cases in the three weeks since the second case of the flu was confirmed in a New Zealand bird. So, the hospital, as well as New Zealand's poultry industry, are playing a waiting game while they ponder its next moves. Jimmy Ellingham reports.

After the Prime Minister has spent the week combatting record unemployment figures and navigating an apology to the business community - it is Labour leader Chris Hipkins who ends it defending his parties position in the polls. Political Editor Jo Moir spoke to Melissa Chan-Green with an analysis of the latest poll numbers. 

El Nino and it's spiky temperatures, annoying wind and drier than normal conditions is going to dominate our summer, but won't mean consistently hot temperatures. Those who will bear the brunt of the temperamental season are those in water-reliant sectors. Ministry for Primary Industries National Response Manager Andrew Curtis spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

Sunday marks the deadline for District councils to submit their proposals to amalgamate with at least one other nearby authority. Council's across the country have been meeting to finalise their proposals or face the process being dictated to them by central government. Bill Hickman has more.

The Black Sticks women have been missing from hockey's big events for the last four years - but this month they're back. The men's and women's World Cups are being run co-currently in Europe, starting in a couple of weeks time. For the New Zealand teams their journey to the global tournament looks different to their opposition. Sports reporter Felicity Reid spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

A retirement village custom built just for you and your friends is surely not possible, or is it? Three friends from Hamilton have decided to do just that. They all needed to downsize but didn't love the idea of traditional retirement living, so combined two houses into one. The house is designed to they can be near each other and still have their own spacer. Sue O'Brien is one of the trio living...

Middle East correspondent Madeline Croad spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about attacks between government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, with dozens reportedly killed. Meanwhile, there are various discussions around deals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Pacific foreign leaders have failed to agree on a joint statement about the nuclear-capable missile China fired into the region's waters last month. Winston Peters has been pushing his counterparts to take a stand during today's Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers meeting in Fiji. Political reporter Lauren Crimp was in Suva and has more.

The Advertising Standards Authority has investigated a complaint about the font size and layout of mandatory information on a billboard for weight loss injection Wegovy. The authority found it was "not sufficiently accessible enough to be read and understood by consumers. New Zealand the US are the only developed countries that allow drug companies to advertise direct to consumers. Associate profe...

Australia correspondent Nick Grimm spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about a horrific medical mishap which led to doctors removing part of a woman's genitals by mistake in an operation gone wrong.

News from the business sector, including a market report.