RNZ: Checkpoint

Australia correspondent Nick Grimm spoke to Lisa Owen about work continuing to determine whether the discovery of two seabirds infected with the deadly H5 strain of bird flu, foreshadows a major outbreak of the disease that could have serious consequences for the country's native animals and its poultry industry.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

It was a record breaking day at the Football World Cup as the one of the game's greats broke the all-time scoring record. Argentina's Lionel Messi scored two goals against Austria to take his tally to 18 goals. Sports reporter Felicity Reid spoke to Lisa Owen.

A 70-year-old Chinese woman, who came to New Zealand to follow the religious instructions of a self-proclaimed sect leader, was leader found dead, wrapped in rubbish bags, in Auckland's Gulf Harbour. The Crown says Shulai Wang was at the bottom of the hierarchy in a strictly controlled house in Orewa, where it's alleged she was starved, stuffed in a suitcase, and likely suffocated. Four people are on trial, accused of Ms Wang's manslaughter. Lucy Xia reports.

DOC is on the hunt to take a DNA sample from a dolphin spotted cruising in Northland waters, in order to determine whether it is a Hector's or Maui dolphin. Either would be special, but a Hector's has only been spotted in Northland three times in the past 100 years. University of Auckland Associate professor in biological and marine sciences, Dr Rochelle Constantine spoke to Lisa Owen.

Schools and alternative education experts agree thousands of the most vulnerable - and sometimes most difficult - students need a lot more support than they are getting. A new Education Review Office report says most teens enrolled in various forms of alternative education leave without any qualifications and too many go on to benefits or crime. Education correspondent John Gerritsen reports.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has met with some Pike River families, who fear workplaces are about to get more dangerous. The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill would exempt businesses with fewer than 20 workers from legally having to manage non-critical safety risk. The families are asking NZ First to withdraw it's support for the bill. Winston Peters spoke to Lisa Owen.

In the small Central Otago town of Ophir, the country's oldest continually operating post office is thriving in new hands. When the community's long-standing postmistress retired, it left a unique vacancy in the town of about 70 people. But a bit over six months ago Harriet Cameron seized the Ophir-tunity and took on the job. Tess Brunton reports.

Parliament is holding an urgent debate on the failure of an IT project officials are accused of misleading ministers over. The biometrics project was scrapped last year, having cost more than $30 million over about seven years, and the public service commission has ordered an investigation which was launched today. Political reporter Russell Palmer spoke to Lisa Owen.

Some survivors of abuse in care say there are still fighting for geniune recognition of what happened to them, two years on from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care. They say meaningful redress and recognition for what they suffered is still lacking. Timothy Brown reports.

Yesterday Dave Rennie revealed the first squad he has tasked with bringing the All Blacks back to the top of world rugby. But what about those who missed the cut? Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.  

People pilfering crucial bits of rail infrastructure are causing major headaches for KiwiRail with disruptions to Wellington freight and commuter services. Signals, cables and overhead lines have all been stolen. During April, services on the Hutt Valley line had to be cancelled several times and dozens of services delays because of stolen equipment. KiwiRail Chief Metros Officer David Gordon spoke to Lisa Owen.

US correspondence Todd Zwillich spoke to Lisa Owen about the latest on the fragile discussions happening in regards to the US-Iran peace deal.

An Education Review Office Report into Te Kura has found the correspondence school is failing thousands of at risk kids who are kicked out for drop out of mainstream school. Chief executive of Te Kura, Te Rina Leonard spoke to Lisa Owen.

United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about reports suggesting Prime Minister Keir Starmer is considering his future in office as pressure on him to step down continues to grow.

A disputed kiss led to a late-night confrontation after a cocktail party at Waiouru Military Camp, where a solider is accused of headbutting and threatening to kill someone of senior rank. The solider is facing a court martial over the fracas in December 2024. The hearing began at Linton Military Camp near Palmerston North today, reporter Jimmy Ellingham was there and spoke to Lisa Owen.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The All Whites have ended their unbeaten streak at the Football World Cup with a loss to Egypt. After 45 minutes, All Whites' supporters were daring to believe the team's first World Cup win was coming. But when the final whistle blew the All Whites were on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline. Sports reporter Felicity Reid spoke to Lisa Owen.

Business leaders say workers could end up wearing the coast of National's planned KiwiSaver changes. If it's returned to power, the party would make the savings scheme compulsory, automatically enrol babies, pay a contribution to people on parental leave, and extend employer contributions to include workers over 65 years old. Political reporter Lauren Crimp has more. 

An online abuse expert says it is like a whack a mole trying to take down tools for making deepfake nudes and porn. It also says a draft law to make sexually explicit deep fakes an offence doesn't go far enough. It comes as multiple teachers are the victims of deep fake pornographic images allegedly produced by students. Canterbury University senior law lecturer and online abuse expert Dr Cassandra Mudgway spoke to Lisa Owen.

 A resident in the steeply walled valley street of Wellington's Holloway Road says they can only escape the noise of Wellington Water's ongoing night-time works by wearing earmuffs over their headphones as they watch TV. Some locals are furious about the month's of work going ahead to refresh the nearly 100 year old wastewater pipes in the area. Meanwhile, another resident says the water supplier has agreed to put him up elsewhere, after a rough first night when the project began. Bill Hickman has more.        

MBIE has raised the alarm with councils and called for urgent action about some imported aluminium windows and doors that may not be fit for purpose. It said their test reports may be incomplete, missing key information and lab credentials. Window and Glass Association CEO Brett Francis spoke to Lisa Owen.

A Christchurch cancer survivor who won a privacy case is furious that a company director has told her that two of his companies can't pay tribunal-ordered damages. The Human Rights Review Tribunal found Richard Brady's companies breached Cheryl Horrell's privacy, and ordered them to pay her more than $10,000. Mr Brady says the companies are broke, although another of his businesses has received more than $11 million in taxpayer funding. Keiller MacDuff reports.

New All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has named his first All Blacks squad and the team has a new captain and four potential debutants, though lots of familiar faces remain.

The trade in collectable cards is gathering momentum in New Zealand, with a card market held in Dunedin at the weekend. For many its a hobby, but earlier this year a Pokemon collectable card sold for more than $16 million USD on the international market. Balclutha dad, Justin Knight and his two sons were at the card market, and he spoke to Lisa Owen.

Middle East correspondent Lou Browne spoke to Lisa Owen about the first round of talks that are underway in Switzerland after the US and Iran signed an agreement to end the war.

The Salvation army is criticising National's plans for compulsory KiwiSaver, saying "if people are struggling today to meet the basics, we can't expect them to save for tomorrow. National wants to make KiwiSaver compulsary with workers paying six percent of their income into the scheme and employers matching it by April 2032.

The family of an autistic 11-year-old girl misidentified as an adult mental health patient wants an apology from the Prime Minister and greater accountability from the state. Major failures by hospital staff and police resulted in the girl being handcuffed, admitted to a Waikato Hospital ward, restrained, and twice injected with anti-psychotic medications. The girl's family say they can't understand how she was mistaken for a 20-year-old woman. Samantha Gee reports.

The final result of the Makerfield by-election has been declared and there's a new MP. And US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ramped up pressure on NATO allies to spend more on defence.UK correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen.

It's been revealed the mass resignation of a board governing mental health professionals, followed a serious please explain letter from the Minister. All six members of the Psycho-therapists Board resigned last month without a public explanation. Now RNZ has seen a letter from the associate health minister Matt Doocey, to the board in the days before their resignations. The Minister said he'd been made aware of "credible" concerns raised by a whistleblower, and was considering removing them on grounds of neglect of duty. Health correspondent Kate Green spoke to Lisa Owen.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

Kenzi Jordon's already got NCEA level 3 and University Entrance. She has mainly been taught at home after finding school boring. Now, she's hoping to be accepted to the University of Waikato to study mechatronics. Kenzi spoke to Lisa Owen.

One of the two rugby franchises will hold the Super Rugby Pacific title for the first time in a decade after tomorrow's final in Wellington. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

There were plenty of memories, hugs, performances and a lot of laughter as thousands gathered in Auckland to celebrate the life of Dame Jools Topp. Reporter Jessica Hopkins was there and spoke to Lisa Owen.

Health New Zealand faces a $190 million bill to process holiday pay owed to tens of thousands of current and former workers. Collectively, $1.8 billion is budgeted to repay those affected by the miscalculations. Unions are scathing of the cost of meeting the repayments, and of the process itself, which has been plagued by delays. But Health NZ said the work is complex and time-consuming and requires to comb through years of records on the different payroll systems inherited from district health boards. Jimmy Ellingham reports.

Love is in the air, in the Capital at least. Saturday is opening day for a bookstore focused on selling romance novels. The owner of XO Book Co in Willis Street says she wants to change people's ideas about the genre. Reporter Anya Fielding has a sneak preview and finds there's much more than Mills and Boon on the shelves.

It's do or die for the White Ferns in their T20 World Cup defence in the UK. New Zealand meet Ireland early tomorrow morning in Southampton, where a loss would all but end their title hope. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

An amateur sleuth working to identify hundreds of unmarked Otago graves is welcoming funding to properly recognise "pauper plots". Dunedin Council's announced it's getting almost $200,000 from the government to investigate unmarked graves of people who died in institutional care. There were several so-called lunatic asylums, church and welfare institutions in the region. Laura Furness spoke to Lisa Owen.

Middle East correspondent Lou Browne spoke to Lisa Owen about how the war on Iran has tested the relationship between the US and Israel particularly President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Brewers Association says tax on alcohol just keeps being cranked up without justification and needs to be reviewed. Alcohol excise is tagged to inflation and automatically goes up annually. The Brewers Association says since 2020 tax on beer has gone up more than 26 percent. It also points to dropping consumption and hospitality liquidiations as reasons for a revamp. Brewers Association executive director Dylan Firth spoke to Lisa Owen.

Australia correspondent Nick Grimm spoke to Lisa Owen about a nationally-televised speech by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson that is dividing Australians - with some cheering on the right-wing party leader - while others warn her policy ideas will harm those struggling with cost-of-living pressures. 

An environment group says the government must urgently fix a proposed law allowing the sell off of conservation land. Forest and Bird says a bill going through parliament could allow land in Coromandel to lose protections against mining, something it thinks the government could be sneaking through by stealth. Jessica Hopkins reports.