Author: Press Room

A person has died, and five others have been injured following a crash in south Taranaki amid traffic chaos for motorists returning home after the holidays.Emergency services were alerted to the two-vehicle crash on State Highway 3 in Mokoia around 5.15pm.One person was killed in the crash, while five others were injured – two seriously and three moderately. Diversions are in place at Gladstone Rd in Hāwera and Whakamara Rd just south of Mokoia.Motorists are advised to avoid the area and expect delays.The road remains closed while the serious crash unit conduct a scene examination.Traffic chaosTraffic on Auckland’s motorway (file…

“Good progress” is being made as the response to discovering a single Oriental fruit fly in Auckland’s Papatoetoe ramps up, Biosecurity New Zealand said in a statement this afternoon.Restrictions were implemented on Friday after the male fly was discovered in a surveillance trap in a suburban backyard.Biosecurity NZ commissioner Mike Inglis said the team had continued to ramp up response efforts to ensure no other fruit flies around.These included an extra 105 traps within 1500m of the discovery, stepped-up checks, the delivery of special bins of fruit and vegetable waste disposal and the establishment of a mobile lab to examine…

A flurry of snowfall on the Desert Rd in the middle of summer has shocked one motorist and been labelled as “unusual” by MetService.Footage provided to 1News shows snow falling on State Highway 1 at around 10am this morning.”It’s summer, and it’s snowing,” said Sam Allen, who filmed the video.”This is the most ridiculous thing. It’s just crazy.”MetService meteorologist Alwyn Bakker said the temperature dropped in the area “reasonably suddenly” at around 10am.”We’ve had a couple of patches that have been seen, so it does look like there has been a bit of flurry.”Bakker said snowfall at this time of…

Nurses have been reluctant to test for Covid-19 and take time off work, due to fears of running out of sick leave, amid the latest influx of cases in early to mid-December, an Auckland nurse says.The Covid-19 leave support scheme, which helped employers pay employees who had to self-isolate due to the virus, ended in August 2023.Communications sighted by RNZ indicated that at least one of the health districts in Auckland provided a Covid-19 paid special leave for staff after the scheme ended, however, that special coverage ended about six months ago.Nurse Liandra Conradie said there was an influx of…

Strong winds and large swells in the Cook Strait have caused further disruption to ferry services, with cancellations through to Monday.Bluebridge cancelled five sailings on Saturday while the Interislander cancelled two Aratere crossings due to the inclement weather.This continued into Sunday as the Interislander cancelled two Aratere crossings at 4pm to Picton and 8.50pm to Wellington.Three sailings by Bluebridge were also cancelled, including the 1.30pm to Picton and both the 7.45am and 7.15pm to Wellington.Disruptions are expected tomorrow morning as well, with the Aratere’s 6.15am service to Picton and 11am service to Wellington cancelled, while Bluebridge cancelled a 2am sailing…

Four people have been injured, including two police officers, after a driver believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel crashed into a stationary patrol car near Whangārei last night.Northland district commander superintendent Matt Srhoj said police were attending a single-vehicle collision on State Highway 14 near the intersection with Kokopu Block Rd at around 8.40pm.”While at the scene, a second vehicle has veered across the road and collided with the front of one of the patrol vehicles.”The driver of the first vehicle was being spoken to by a police officer in that patrol vehicle, with both receiving minor injuries…

An investigation has been launched in Wainuiomata near Wellington after a house was shot at in the early hours of this morning.Police were called to a property on Grovedale Sq at 6.30am after reports of shots being fired toward a house from a car.Nobody was injured in the incident, a spokesperson said.”The car believed to have been used by the offender/s was found abandoned nearby a short time after the incident.”Inquiries are under way to identify and locate the offender/s.”

One person has died, and another was taken to hospital with serious injuries following a crash in southern Auckland overnight.Emergency services were called to the intersection of Walters Road and Blackbridge Road about 8:50pm after reports that a car had hit a bank.”One of the occupants sadly could not be revived by first responders and died at the scene, while the other was transported to hospital in a serious condition,” police said.The serious crash unit attended the scene, and the circumstances of what happened are under investigation.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Elon Musk’s personal attacks as unimportant but expressed concern over Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s far-right AfD. ADVERTISEMENTGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’s staying “cool” about Elon Musk’s critical personal comments. Still, he worries that the US billionaire is trying to get involved in a general election by endorsing the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.Scholz reacted after Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, called the chancellor a “fool” after his coalition government collapsed in November. He later backed the AfD in an opinion piece he wrote for a major German newspaper.Scholz, head of…

Provisional figures show a significant reduction in the number of drownings last year.Water Safety New Zealand said there were 71 preventable drownings, down from 90 the year before and well below the 10-year average of 83.It said last year’s total was the lowest since 2018 and the third lowest in nearly two decades.The holiday period just ended saw three drownings, down from an average of 10.Chief executive Daniel Gerrard said focusing on water survival skills for young people seems to be paying off.”It’s been over a decade now that there’s been a focus on basic aquatic skills, that ability to…