Checkpoint

United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about the Prime Minister's chief of staff quitting over Peter Madelson's appointment, as well as Nigeria's President preparing for the country's first state visit to the UK in almost four decades.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

A senior navy officer is facing a Court Martial over their alleged behaviour during a 2023 operation in Fiji, where they are accused of encouraging a junior officer to kiss them. The hearing is sitting at the Devonport Navy Base in Auckland. The senior officer has pleaded not guilty for doing an act likely to prejudice service discipline. Reporter Lucy Xia was at the hearing and spoke to Lisa Owen.

The Olympics have come to a devastating end for one of snow sports greatest. Downhill skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a brutal crash and a fractured leg in Cortina, dashing her dream of a second Olympic gold. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

A Taupo school will be closed again tomorrow after a block of classrooms went up in smoke in an alleged arson. The blaze broke out at Taupo-nui-a Tia College on Sunday afternoon, closing surrounding roads for several hours. Two young people have been charged over the fire and are due to appear in Taupo Youth Court this week. Taupo-nui-a Tia College principal, Ben Claxton spoke to Lisa Owen.

The terrorist who murdered 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques has made his first public remarks since the attack, claiming any remorse was irrationality caused by his prison conditions. Australian Brenton Tarrant is serving a life sentence without parole for the massacres at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in March 2019. The 35-year-old is seeking to vacate his guilty pleas at the Court of Appeal. Reporter Timothy Brown was in court and spoke to Lisa Owen.

The government is pushing ahead with imported natural gas as the solution to huge power price spikes in winter. But the completion date seems to have been pushed out, and consumers may well be pinged for the costs. Political reporter Russell Palmer spoke to Lisa Owen.

All eyes are on the government's response to the Moa Point sewage plant meltdown. Wellington Water's chief executive is warning the public the capital's south coast could be off limits for months. Meanwhile the city's mayor wants a ministerial inquiry. Crews have spent the weekend trying to clean up the wastewater plant and get to the damage after it was shut after being flooded by raw sewage. In the meantime, millions of litres of untreated sewage have been spilling out into the Cook Strait since early Wednesday. Nick James reports.

A significant jump in the recreational use of nitrous oxide, or nangs, has Hawkes Bay officials worried, with claims big cannisters of the gas are being marketed directly to children. Nitrous oxide is a colourless gas, known as laughing gas, which is used as a painkiller in medical and dental procedures, and is also used in catering to make whipped cream. If inhaled recreationally nangs can have dangerous long-term side effects like nerve damage in the brain and spinal cord. In recent weeks, dozens of the discarded cannisters have started turning up. Stewart Whyte of Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga called a crisis meeting and spoke to Lisa Owen.

A District Court Judge has faced a Judicial Conduct Panel for the first time today, after being accused of disrupting a New Zealand First function at Auckland's exclusive Northern Club. Judge Ema Aitken is before a panel in Auckland, over claims she called party leader Winston Peters a liar, during an event in 2024. Special Counsel today presented the allegations to a panel made up of a former Governor-General, a retired Court of Appeal Judge, and a sitting Court of Appeal Judge. Finn Blackwell was there.