Author: Press Room

A 25-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with assaulting an eight-year-old boy in Whakatāne who has since died. Police were called to Whakatāne Hospital at 5.30pm yesterday and have begun a homicide investigation. The woman appeared in Whakatāne District Court this morning and was due to reappear next Wednesday.”Police are not ruling out laying charges against other people in relation to this matter,” police said in a statement. “A scene examination will be conducted today at an address in Te Teko.”Anyone with information that could help police enquiries was asked to contact 105. Information could also be provided anonymously…

Opposition protesters in Georgia’s breakaway province of Abkhazia have refused to leave key government buildings unless the regional president resigns. ADVERTISEMENTAbkhazian President Aslan Bzhania announced on Saturday that he would step down and hold early elections if demonstrators vacated the region’s parliament building. But crowds that gathered in the Abkhazian capital, Sukhumi, rejected the deal and opposition leaders said they would only accept Bzhania’s unconditional resignation.“None of us have come here for the sake of seats (in parliament),” former Abkhazian Prime Minister Valery Bganba told the crowd in a video livestreamed on social media. “We came here to save our…

“Gobsmacked” café staff in Wairarapa arrived at the near demolished eatery this morning after a front-end loader destroyed the front of the building while trying to rob an ATM machine. CCTV footage obtained by 1News shows the heavy machinery crashing into an ATM at the front of the Martinborough eatery.Police said it was called at 11.40pm to a burglary of a commercial premises on Kitchener St. “A digger was used to gain entry to the premises. Inquiries to locate the offender and determine the circumstances of the incident are ongoing.”The Martinborough café sustained massive damage from the failed raid. (Source:…

An Auckland auction house expects five rare huia feathers to fetch a good price when they go under the hammer on Sunday.Interest in the extinct native bird’s feathers has soared since May, when a single feather _ valued at between $1000-$2000 — sold at Webb’s for a world record-breaking $46,521, making the feather the most expensive in the world.The Guardian dubbed the feather “more expensive than gold”.Since then, the price of huia feathers had taken flight, Webb’s head of decorative arts Leah Morris said.”It’s definitely increased. You would see them sell for around the $2000 mark prior to the May…

Emergency services are searching for a man who fell into the Manawatū River and “failed to resurface” while walking his dog this afternoon.The man got into trouble in the water near Ahimate Reserve in Palmerston North and police were called at around 1.30pm, a spokesperson said.”When he failed to reappear, his walking companion alerted emergency services.”A search began immediately, involving police search and rescue staff, a water rescue boat, kayaks, drones, a helicopter and other volunteers.”Sadly, at this stage, the man has not been located,” police said.”Searching will continue this evening until dark.”St John said it responded with one ambulance,…

Police are looking to take enforcement action after protesters on foot entered Auckland’s motorway network today without notice.The protest involved Brian Tamaki’s “Make New Zealand Great Again” highway convoy, which is against flying flags other than New Zealand’s. It travelled up the motorway to Auckland Domain and at one stage blocked State Highway 1’s northbound lanes near Bombay.Others joined them by exiting vehicles, Acting Assistant Commissioner Naila Hassan said.”Police acknowledge the right to protest, however will take action when that activity becomes unlawful, impinges on others’ freedom of movement, causes significant disruption and places others at risk.”Hassan said police were…

One person has been seriously injured following a “serious” two-vehicle crash that earlier caused southbound lane closures on State Highway 2 near Wellington.Police were called to the scene between Petone and Ngauranga at around 4.20pm.Wellington Free Ambulance said one person was in a serious condition and two were in a moderate condition.”Four patients were treated on scene and didn’t require transport for further treatment,” a spokesperson said.

A teenager who survived domestic violence is running 137km to help other victims.Rhys Blissett and some of his friends left Rolleston on the outskirts of Christchurch for Ashburton on Saturday morning and will run back on Sunday.The run, each way, is expected to take more than 10 hours to complete. Initially, the group had planned to run 126km but changed the route so they could hit a distance of more than 130km.The 17-year-old wants to raise money for Women’s Refuge and shine more light on abuse to inspire change, as his own family had received support from the organisation for…

A group of doctors and midwives say New Zealand’s premature birth rates remain too high and have announced guidelines after the World Health Organisation called for urgent improvements to prevent pre-term births last year.Health data shows each year more than 4000 babies are born before the 37-week mark — around 8% of births. Socio-economic deprivation, midwife shortages and a lack of funding contribute to these rates.Maternal and perinatal health researcher Katie Groom said the number of pre-term births in New Zealand has not changed for the last 20 years.”For me personally, it feels really frustrating not to see change.”Having the…

A lucky Lotto player from Waikato has won $1 million with First Division tonight.The winning numbers were: 28, 12, 05, 39, 03, 19, bonus ball 07 and Powerball 07.The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto.Lotto NZ said Powerball was not struck this evening and has rolled over to Wednesday’s draw, where the jackpot will be $6 million.Strike Four also rolled over tonight and will be $500,000 on Wednesday night.