Checkpoint

After nearly 20 years at the top, Football Fern Annalie Longo is hanging up her boots after tomorrow's game against Australia. Longo made her senior debut as a 15-year-old and has played more than 140 times for the Football Ferns including at five World Cups and four Olympic Games. The timing of the midfielder's decision to retire was part of New Zealand Football's planning towards the 2027 Football World Cup. Sports reporter Felicity Reid spoke to Lisa Owen.

A spate of youth crime in Christchurch has police urging parents to get in touch if their child is missing in action, so they can avoid becoming a statistic. It peaked in May with 162 young offenders dealt with in just one month in the city. It's remained high since, with police dealing with about a hundred youth offenders a month. Canterbury Police District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill spoke to Lisa Owen.

Councils are once again being told to start living within their means and focus on the basics, with the government releasing details of its long-awaited rates cap. Instead of a fixed cap, the government has opted to go with a target band between two and four percent, to be enforced by a regulator. Councils can appeal to go higher, but the government's already warning that would only be for the most exceptional of circumstances. Political reporter Giles Dexter spoke to Lisa Owen.

IKEA New Zealand's CEO says there will be no chaos as the Swedish retailer opens its first 34,000 square metre store in Auckland this week. In 2024 the Ikea was operating in 60 markets, with annual sales of about $90 billion; raising questions about the impact of the mega retailer will have on smaller buinesses and communities. Already traffic agencies are warning Auckland drivers to expect long waits. Mirja Viinanen, IKEA's Australia & NZ CEO spoke to Lisa Owen.

It's only the first day of summer - but already a code brown is casting an unwanted shadow over Auckland's beaches. Sewage overflows from the weekend's thunderstorms have impacted water quality at beaches across the central city, with swimmers being warned to stay out of the Waitemata or risk a nasty bug. As climate change intensifies and our water infrastructure ages, one ecologist reckons it is only going to get worse. Felix Walton has more.

A Christchurch school says it has been provided with what it believes are contaminated school lunches in a significant health and safety breach. In a social media post Haeata Community Campus said it had recalled all lunches, but some had already been eaten by students. It also asked parents to watch for symptoms of food poisoning. Principal Peggy Burrows spoke to Lisa Owen.

Young people are living on the streets and sleeping in cars, and an Auckland support service says it's getting worse. Kick Back has put out its first State of the Street report and says it's an SOS to the government and the community. Kim Baker Wilson reports.

New Zealand's first ever IKEA is set to open in Auckland's Mount Wellington this week, with 15 to 20 thousand people expected to roll through the doors. Staff say the stores are packed with 7,500 products and there's traffic management to help with the busy crowds. But traffic agencies have warned Aucklanders to expect long delays, and the presence of the store has raised questions about the impacts on smaller nearby businesses. Reporter Bella Craig managed to get a sneak peek.

Rugby's ongoing drama with a breakaway competition took another twist over the weekend. R360 had been touted as a 'major disrupter', promising huge salaries and a new franchise-model playing around the world. But details have been scarce on exactly how it would work and when it would even start. Sports reporter Jamie Wall spoke to Lisa Owen.

A Northland leader is calling for the popular Kai Iwi lakes to be closed to boaties in the lead up to Christmas because of the threat of a highly invasive pest. The freshwater gold clam, which can clog water ways and compete with native species for food, was found in the Waikato river two years ago. But earlier this month the clams were discovered in New Plymouth's Rotomanu Lake  - the first time they've been confirmed outside of the Waikato River. Ric Parore who is from Te Kuihi and Te Roroa is calling for the lake to be closed to boats and spoke to Lisa Owen.