Author: Press Room

Police have launched a homicide investigation after the death of a man in central Ōpōtiki overnight.Detective senior sergeant Mike Varnam said emergency services were notified of a fight involving six people on Church Street at about 12.20am.One of those had “received an injury to the chest consistent with a stab wound,” he said.”Despite medical attention, the man died at the scene.”Police said no arrests have been made, however they are following lines of inquiry to identify and locate those involved.”It is believed gang members were involved.”Police urged those who have information on what happened to get in touch by phoning…

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics next week, she has announced.In June 2024, Davidson announced she had breast cancer, and would undergo a partial mastectomy and take leave from Parliament.In September, she gave an update on her treatment, and said “we’re in the thick of it”. She also expressed her appreciation to those who supported her and her whānau at the time.Today, Davidson said she would make her return to politics on February 3 at Waitangi, where she will speak with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick.“I am alive, I am well and I am back,” she said. “I’m…

A body which washed up on Auckland’s Bethells Beach is likely that of a man missing at Piha Beach, police say.Police were notified of the body at about 8.10pm last night.On Tuesday, a helicopter search was underway for a man who went missing while swimming in a group of six at Piha Beach.Lifeguards said the group were “swept out to sea” after being caught in a rip.Police said at the time they were aware of five people who were rescued shortly after, but the sixth was not located.Formal identification is ongoing. However, police said it is “likely the body of…

South Islanders saw a fireball break through the atmosphere near Wanaka overnight with a loud sonic boom.The meteoroid became a fireball and raced above Queenstown around 11pm, before burning out over Southland.Fireballs Aotearoa, a group interested in meteorites, said a sonic boom was widely reported as the object came in overhead.Although most of its mass burned up in the fireball stage, it was believed a small meteorite may have landed in a remote portion of the Eyre Mountains in northern Southland.Fireballs Aotearoa are on the hunt for it.Spokesperson Steve Wyn-Harris said there was too much cloud cover to get specifics…

Police have confirmed the victim in the Otaika homicide in Northland was shot and are appealing for any footage of the incident. The man was discovered in a creek after 5am on January 29, adjacent to Otaika Valley Road on State Highway 15. Detective senior sergeant Shane Pilmer said a postmortem examination of the victim has been completed. “I can confirm that the victim was shot. “At this point in the enquiry, we believe the victim has been shot in that layby late on 28 January, between 7pm and 11pm.”After polices initial appeal for information Pilmer said, “we know now…

Trump has said repeatedly he wouldn’t have allowed the conflict to start if he had been in office, even though he was president as fighting grew in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv’s forces and separatists backed by Moscow. ADVERTISEMENTUS President Donald Trump has said his administration has had “very serious” discussions with Russia about the war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take “significant” action toward ending the almost three-year conflict.”We will be speaking and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.”We want to end that war.…

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will give viewers an “authentic look” at herself in her new Netflix show, according to pal Abigail Spencer.The 43-year-old royal stars in lifestyle series With Love, Meghan with a number of celebrity friends including her former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, who said she feels “grateful” to have been given the opportunity to share the screen with the duchess again because she “learned a lot”.Spencer told People Magazine: “What I’m so excited about is that people will really get an authentic look at the woman that I love and know.”Also, you’re gonna learn a lot. I learned…

Despite this week’s DeepSeek shakeup, commentators are picking a generally positive year for sharemarkets, albeit with some challenges close to home.Jeremy Sullivan, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Green, said the revelation that Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek had developed its AI app at a fraction of the cost of US models, could end up being a positive for the sector, if it produced competition.”There’s potential for the large players to learn from competition and potentially align their more powerful CPUs in a similar fashion and create exponential growth in the development of AI computing.”Nvidia has seen its share price slump…

So far, 22 people have died with the Health Minister Alexandru Rafila saying none of the fatalities had had the flu vaccine. ADVERTISEMENTHealth authorities in Romania have issued an alert after cases of respiratory infections rose for three consecutive weeks.In one week alone from 20-26 January, the National Institute for Public Health (INSP) reported 133,600 cases of respiratory infection linked to flu, up more than 6% compared to the previous week.So far, 22 people have died, including a three-year-old child. Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said all of the fatalities were people who had not had the flu vaccine.Rafila also said…

The Department of Conservation (DOC) says the Whangamarino Wetlands in Waikato have proven to be more resilient than expected, after a large fire in October last year.The fire burned through about 1000 hectares of peatland in one of the few remaining raised peatlands in the Southern Hemisphere.DOC ranger Lizzie Sharp said the damage could have been much worse, were it not for the healthy state of the peatland – which had relatively high water levels when the fire broke out.”The hydrology of that central bog was wet and intact and healthy, and that meant that there was a higher water…