Checkpoint for Monday 1 December 2025

5:45 PM.United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about Chancellor Rachel Reeves rejecting claims that she lied about the UK's finances ahead of the budget announcement, as well as a… Read more Audio

5:37 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Audio

5:32 PM.After nearly 20 years at the top, Football Fern Annalie Longo is hanging up her boots after tomorrow's game against Australia. Longo made her senior debut as a 15-year-old and has played more than 140… Read more Audio

5:25 PM.A spate of youth crime in Christchurch has police urging parents to get in touch if their child is missing in action, so they can avoid becoming a statistic. It peaked in May with 162 young offenders… Read more Audio

5:18 PM.Councils are once again being told to start living within their means and focus on the basics, with the government releasing details of its long-awaited rates cap. Instead of a fixed cap, the… Read more Audio

5:08 PM.IKEA New Zealand's CEO says there will be no chaos as the Swedish retailer opens its first 34,000 square metre store in Auckland this week. In 2024 the Ikea was operating in 60 markets, with annual… Read more Audio

4:55 PM.It's only the first day of summer - but already a code brown is casting an unwanted shadow over Auckland's beaches. Sewage overflows from the weekend's thunderstorms have impacted water quality at… Read more Audio

4:49 PM.A Christchurch school says it has been provided with what it believes are contaminated school lunches in a significant health and safety breach. In a social media post Haeata Community Campus said it… Read more Audio

4:45 PM.Young people are living on the streets and sleeping in cars, and an Auckland support service says it's getting worse. Kick Back has put out its first State of the Street report and says it's an SOS to… Read more Audio

4:37 PM.New Zealand's first ever IKEA is set to open in Auckland's Mount Wellington this week, with 15 to 20 thousand people expected to roll through the doors. Staff say the stores are packed with 7,500… Read more Audio

4:31 PM.Rugby's ongoing drama with a breakaway competition took another twist over the weekend. R360 had been touted as a 'major disrupter', promising huge salaries and a new franchise-model playing around… Read more Audio

4:26 PM.A Northland leader is calling for the popular Kai Iwi lakes to be closed to boaties in the lead up to Christmas because of the threat of a highly invasive pest. The freshwater gold clam, which can… Read more Audio

4:17 PM.Middle East correspondent Jacob Brown spoke to Lisa Owen about Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu asking for a presidential pardon in the numerous corruption cases against him, as well as… Read more Audio

4:06 PM.Has flexible or remote work made work more fun and has the freedom made us happier? The nine to five has changed a lot of recent years; covid forced some business to adapt with working from a home a… Read more Audio