Checkpoint

The NRL's newest club, the Papua New Guinea Chiefs, have secured one of the biggest names in the game, while the Warriors are fending off rumours one of their stars is set to leave. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

A rural support network is bracing for what may be on the horizon for isolated commuties that rely on fuel as the conflict in the Middle East drags on. The US president has told his officials to prepare for a prolonged blockade of Iranian ports, spiking oil prices. Rural Women New Zealand chief executive Sandra Kirby said its members feel like there's a long winter ahead. She spoke to Lisa Owen.

"Armed to the teeth." That's how Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of trying to assassinate the US President, was described in court. Prosecutors shared a photo of the 31-year-old equipped with a knife and ammunition, which they say he took in a hotel room before heading to the White House correspondents' dinner. Meanwhile, questions remain over who fired the shot that struck a Secret Service agent when the suspect rushed the lobby of the event. Washington DC correspondent Todd Zwillich spoke to Lisa Owen.

Supermarkets and cities are facing a problem with borrowed and abandoned shopping trolleys. A New World in Auckland's Point Chevalier has posted on social media that it's gutted at the sheer number of trollies that are AWOL just eight months after it opened. It effectively had an amnesty on Thursday, park it on the foot path and it was cruising the streets to collect them. Reporter Bella Craig went to talk to locals about trolley-gate. Meanwhile, hundreds of trolleys are being dumped around Hamilton. Vanessa Williams, General Manager of Love the Centre, the Hamilton Central Business Association spoke to Lisa Owen.

United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about how Prime Minister Keir Starmer has avoided a parliamentary inquiry into Peter Mandelson's appointment as US ambassador and how King Charles has made an address to Congress during his state visit to the United States. She also spoke about how a brand new sports stadium has been unveiled for England.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The White Ferns' T20 Cricket World Cup title defence in June will be a farewell for a trio of long-standing players and a new challenge for a duo who have been making a name for themselves at the domestic level.

40 South Auckland factory workers are in limbo with the mattress company they work for in voluntary administration. Australian mattress makers, A-H Beard have been in business for 126 years. Workers at the Wiri factory were told to take their belongings and leave yesterday. E Tu representative Mat Danaher spoke to Lisa Owen.

Fair Food recycles 15,000 tonnes of food that doesn't sell in supermarkets each week, donating it to charities who then deliver to whanau in need. But with the sky-rocketing cost of using diesel-run trucks and no promises whether they'll get government funding in the next budget, their future remains uncertain. Bella Craig reports.

A rule for the rich and a different rule for everyone else. Green MP Ricardo Menedez March is calling out what he sees as a double standard around strict english tests for immigrant bus drivers, but zero language requirements for people on the so called Golden Visa. Green MP Ricardo Menedez March spoke to Lisa Owen.