Author: Press Room

The Otago Daily Times has won four awards at the Voyager Media Awards, including metropolitan newspaper of the year. The ODT also won best editorial campaign or project, illustrations editor Stephen Jaquiery won best photography – news and Matthew Littlewood was named local journalist of the year at the awards ceremony in Auckland last night. Editor Paul McIntyre said he was “immensely proud” of the results and that it was testament to the exceptional work from the newsroom over the past year. “Above all, I’m immensely proud. You can’t win these awards without the hard work from our team of dedicated journalists across the…

A kitten has been rescued from a car engine bay by a police officer who temporarily tucked it in his lunchbox.A woman driving home from shopping at Sylvia Park mall in Auckland heard concerning noises coming from her car engine. After entering the motorway, she heard “meows” coming from her car bonnet, said Auckland motorways manager, senior sergeant Scott Cunningham. “She pulled in behind a Motorway Patrol car and explained to the officer what was happening,” said Cunningham. “On closer inspection, a kitten was found tucked under the bonnet.”For safekeeping, the officer placed the stowaway kitten into his lunch box.…

Dramatic video shows the moment a car drove through a roller door garage into a Nelson business overnight. Footage captured from external cameras at Nelson Alarms Security Systems on Parkers Rd in Tāhunanui showed the vehicle failing to stop at an intersection and driving straight through the roller door. Inside, cameras capture the driver attempting to reverse out of the building a few times, surrounded by debris from the crash. Nelson Alarms managing director Adrian Laing told 1News he was alerted to “a lot of activations” happening on the alarm monitoring system, including the fire alarm going off, shortly before…

The government’s recent reforms of pay equity legislation have certainly stirred up a hornets’ nest. It has defended the rushing through of these reforms to provide legal certainty on claims involving women’s pay. However, opponents have claimed it is to achieve crucial savings as Budget day looms. David Seymour claims that Brooke van Velden has “saved the Budget” for the government. Ms Van Velden’s Cabinet paper claims settlements under the current regime were costing the government $1.55 billion a year. The changes will discontinue 33 pay equity claims involving hundreds of thousands of workers. So, let us have a look…

Three people have died in separate crashes in the North Island yesterday and this morning. A person died following a crash between a vehicle and a dirt bike in Auckland’s Takanini shortly after 8.30pm yesterday. Emergency services were called to the scene on Mill Rd, where the person was pronounced deceased at the scene.The serious crash unit attended and inquiries to determine the circumstances of the crash were ongoing.Police appeal after crash near PahiatuaAnother incident yesterday occurred on State Highway 2 near Pahiatua, east of Palmerston North, where one person died after a flatbed truck and a car collided.Emergency services…

Start counting the various groups and organisations Madison Duffy is involved in and you quickly start to run out of fingers. But there is a common thread; Ms Duffy (23), who is completing a bachelor of entrepreneurship at the University of Otago, is passionate about entrepreneurship, and that flows through to all her extra-curricular activities. She has recently been appointed operations assistant for the Global Entrepreneurship Network (NZ), the national affiliate of the Global Entrepreneurship Network which operates programmes in 200 countries. The organisation is aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business. The…

A deputy principal from Onslow College in Wellington is on leave, while the police have confirmed they have received a complaint about a school staff member and are making inquiries.The school told parents it was “undertaking a process” concerning Connor Baird, one of five deputy principals at the college, who was currently on leave.The note to parents, sent on Wednesday morning and signed off by the principal and two board chairs, addressed a recent media query about “rumours circulating in our community relating to Deputy Principal Mr Baird, who is currently on leave”.”Onslow College is undertaking a process that ensures…

ADVERTISEMENTThe first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 ended after less than two hours on Friday. No agreement was reached concerning a full 30-day ceasefire and Moscow reportedly demanded Kyiv withdraw from four regions it invaded. Ukrainian media reported these four regions were Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – none of which Russia fully controls According to both delegations, the two sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each – the largest such swap since the war began. Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said both sides have agreed “in principle” to meet again. Chief…

The return of Hillside Workshops is a statement of the government’s “belief in the city of Dunedin”, deputy prime minister Winston Peters says. The refurbished South Dunedin railway workshops, which were first constructed in the 1870s, were officially reopened yesterday. KiwiRail had closed the facility more than a decade ago. Mr Peters told media yesterday the reopening of the workshops was a “tremendous day” for Dunedin, the city’s workforce and the South Island. “What you’re seeing here will be here for the next 50 years. “It’s very wise expenditure and it’s a statement about our belief in the South Island,…

A man was arrested in Auckland this morning as part of an FBI investigation into a group alleged to have scammed several victims out of NZ$450 million in cryptocurrency. It was alleged cryptocurrency had been fraudulently obtained by manipulating seven victims between March and August 2024. The proceeds were then laundered through multiple cryptocurrency platforms. The offenders allegedly spent millions of dollars on exotic cars, hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury handbags, watches and clothing, nightclub services, private security guards and rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami.”Over the past three days, search warrants have been executed…