Checkpoint for Wednesday 18 February 2026

5:40 PM.United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about British Police assessing private jet travel information to and from a London airport over links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey… Read more Audio

5:32 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Audio

5:27 PM.The drive by shooting which hospitalised a former New Zealand rugby league star may have been retaliation as part of a reported gang war. Matt Utai was shot multiple times outside his home in Western… Read more Audio

5:21 PM.There could soon be a ban on amateur climbers attempting to scale Mount Everest in a bid to ease congestion and discourage extreme selfie hunters with little or no experience taking on the challenge… Read more Audio

5:08 PM.A Kaihu local says complaints have previously been made about the same dogs that killed a woman yesterday. 62-year-old Mihiata Te Rore was visiting a person she knew at a property in the small… Read more Audio

4:49 PM.The Health Minister won't say if the government has met its promise to blood cancer patients in New Zealand - that is that they have not been forgotten. Pharmac has proposed to fund two new… Read more Audio

4:37 PM.A massive clean-up is underway on Canterbury's Banks Peninsula, which remains in a state of emergency after a wild storm. The main highway from Christchurch to Akaroa has reopened, but people are… Read more Audio

4:30 PM.More changes have been seen at the top levels of Netball New Zealand after a disastrous 2025. Its Chair and three Board Members have made the decision to step down. Sports reporter Bridget Tunnicliffe… Read more Audio

4:25 PM.A company has been fined $60,000 after it repeatedly sold electronics, including Bluetooth speakers and a tablet to an elderly woman even though they knew she was suffering from dementia and could not… Read more Audio

4:15 PM.America's correspondent Adam Hancock spoke to Lisa Owen about Peru's eighth leader in almost a decade being ousted, as well as an ongoing fuel crisis in Cuba which has caused trouble for waste… Read more Audio

4:06 PM.There are calls for a crackdown on alcohol advertising that can be seen by children and young people, including a black out zone around schools, kura and playgrounds. A group of Waikato University… Read more Audio