Checkpoint

With speculation over his leadership swirling, National's Christopher Luxon is calling all National MPs to the capital for an urgent in-person caucus meeting tomorrow. He's just come off a fortnight defending his comments to Rotorua small businesses, his Foreign Minister telling a Chinese-born MP to go back where he came from, and announcing on live radio he wants a referendum on MMP - without hav...

A New Zealand study has found a link between vaping during pregnancy and sudden infant deaths - also known as SUDI. On average one New Zealand baby dies from SUDI each week - and Maori and Pacific babies are at a much higher risk. The study of 101 deaths between 2022 and 2023 found that over half of the mothers were vaping while pregnant, in the cases involving bedsharing. Researchers say while th...

After three days, Ohakune residents have been told their water will be gradually restored but it's not yet confirmed safe to drink. The Ruapehu District Council has put out an update that said a boil water notice remains in place. Residents are also being asked to conserve water as the reservoir recharges. It had fallen to 12 percent on Saturday. Remi Butler, manager of The Peaks Motor Inn spoke t...

The All Blacks are set for their second outing in South Africa. Dave Rennie's men will meet the Sharks in Durban on Wednesday in the second of four franchise matches in the republic. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

Finishing school is not a concept you hear so much about these days and if you did, you wouldn't associate them with the skills being taught at one in the South. Changing a tyre, cracking a stock whip and shooting a gun are among the subjects at the Southern Girl Finishing School. It's being run by Laura Koot on a farm in Kingston, about 45 minutes from Queenstown. Koot spoke to Melissa Chan-Green...

United States correspondent Todd Zwillich spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about how Donald Trump has just signed an executive order around childhood vaccinations and how details have emerged of an elaborate misdirection operation to reportedly protect the president on a recent trip to Turkey.

Christopher Luxon has called for an 'urgent in-person meeting' on Wednesday at 9:30am. Any of his MPs who aren't in Wellington will need to travel back given it's a recess week at parliament. Citing media reports and conversations about increased speculation about his leadership, Luxon called it an 'unfair distraction'. Former National Party MP Maurice Williamson spoke to Melissa Chan-Green

United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about Prime Minister Andy Burnham who is set to announce he's going on tour this week, as well as Banksy's artwork proving costly for British taxpayers.

Clarification: The Free House was incorrectly called a former Anglican church in this audio. It is a former Reformed Church. A popular Nelson pub in a 100-year-old church could face closure under one of the city council's options for a new library, community hub and civic centre. The Free House has become a regular meeting place for many groups including knitters, singers, domino players and mount...

News from the business sector, including a market report.

Could former All Black coach Scott Robertson be in for a shock code switch? Robertson has been offered a four year deal to become the inaugural coach of the yet to be confirmed 20th NRL team - The Orcas. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

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...