Checkpoint

Middle East correspondent Jacob Brown talks to Lisa Owen about the reaction in Israel to the fatal terror attack on the Jewish community at Bondi Beach.

NZ Post chief operating officer Brendon Main talks to Lisa Owen about the 10 million parcels being delivered in the two weeks leading up to Christmas Eve.

United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about NATO's Chief issuing a stark warning for the west, as well as outrage over how much it is going to cost to support England at the World Cup.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

A late kiwi sporting legend has had his burial site repeatedly desecrated. The graves of Bruce McLaren and his wife, Patricia were vandalised in Glen Eden yesterday, just three months after they were first targeted. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

Three companies have been fined a total of $345,000 for their part in a landslip that swamped a Queenstown cemetery and forced dozens of nearby residents to evacuate their homes during the region's wettest day in decades. Skyline Enterprises, which owns the gondola, along with contractors Naylor Love Central Otago and Wilsons Contractors, were charged with breaching the Resource Management Act by Queenstown-Lakes District Council. Reporter Adam Burns was at the sentencing and spoke to Lisa Owen.

The disgraced former leader of Gloriavale is appealing his imprisonment for abusing girls and young women at the community. 85-year-old Howard Temple was this afternoon jailed for more than two years for sexually assaulting six girls and young women at the West Coast Christian community over 20 years up to 2022. However, his lawyer Michael Vesty has confirmed Temple is appealing his sentence and Temple has been granted bail while awaiting the appeal. Timothy Brown reports.

Parents caught up in the play sand asbestos contamination scare are increasingly frustrated with retailer Kmart refusing to cover their testing and clean up costs. Several of the coloured play sands have been voluntarily recalled after some of them tested positive for asbestos. Some parents have paid for the play sand to be tested and results have come back positive. But Kmart is refusing to reimburse for the costs of that and any clean up. Lecturer in Law at Auckland University of Technology, Christopher Whitehead spoke to Lisa Owen.

Excitement is bubbling ahead of the New Zealand premiere of the Avatar franchise's third film this weekend. Avatar: Fire and Ash screens at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington tomorrow night, with stars at a red carpet event predicted to draw thousands. Mary Argue has more.

There is a renewed call for universal free cervical cancer screening in a bid to eradicate the disease. The State of Cancer report released yesterday shows Aotearoa has not meet its cervical screening target. Currently the cervical cancer screening programme, including self testing for the HPV is not free for everyone. The National Centre For Women's Health Research says that needs to change if we are to eliminate the disease. Centre Founder Professor Bev Lawton spoke to Lisa Owen.