Author: Press Room

Defence Minister Judith Collins has announced a dormant Air Force squadron from WWII will become the Defence Force’s first dedicated space unit. Collins announced that No. 62 Squadron — which supported allied efforts in the war through radar technology before disbanding in October of 1944 — would have a new mission: Space domain awareness. “The squadron’s initial focus will be on monitoring, analysing, and understanding space activity to safeguard national and international interests,” Collins said. She said global developments had highlighted the need for “resilient, advanced defence capabilities”. “This move is part of the work the New Zealand Defence Force…

Chinese officials have asked that a Filipino documentary be removed from future screenings at the New Zealand Doc Edge Festival, saying doing so would be in the interest of Chinese-New Zealand relations. The documentary, Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea, had its world premiere on June 30 at The Capitol Cinema in Auckland — after being withdrawn from screenings in its home country. The film was scheduled to premiere at the Puregold CinePalo Film Festival in Manila was pulled from the line-up days before it aired over what the film creators described as “external factors” earlier this year.…

An Auckland kitchen appliance supplier is at the centre of a dispute with at least eight customers who are demanding payments to be returned after failing to receive the goods they ordered.The customers claimed Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd owed amounts ranging from around $10,000 to $60,000, totalling more than $270,000.A spokesperson for the supplier said it was “seeking legal advice”.Several customers said they had filed a complaint against Yuzhen Technology and Furniture Ltd, previously known as Stone Appliance Ltd, with the Disputes Tribunal.At least one customer had filed a complaint with police.Property developer Tim Cai claimed Stone Appliance Ltd…

A software glitch at Central Hawke’s Bay District council sent one person’s rates bill to up to 1000 ratepayers.The council’s chief executive, Doug Tate, said they were made aware of an issue with the rating system this morning.“When our rate notices were sent out, one person’s information from 2024 was sent out to multiple people,” Tate said.“We’re working to establish the fault. At this point, we understand it to be under 1000 people.“I’d urge anyone who received it to protect the person’s privacy, please delete the email.“We take these matters, including protecting people’s privacy, really seriously. I will be working…

A teenage dog owner is “blown away” after her 8-year-old pooch was miraculously saved from a drainpipe.Shiva spent 24 hours stuck in the pipe, which was full of water following the severe flooding that had hit Nelson.Sixteen-year-old Chloe Seller was at her dad’s work in Brightwater playing catch with her dog on Monday, when the tennis ball rolled into a drain.Seller told RNZ’s Checkpoint that Shiva went diving in after it and in a split second, things turned bad.”I screamed out saying ‘she’s got stuck in the drain!'”My dad’s co-worker… ran down there and I followed with her and was…

The Ministry of Youth Development has acknowledged the way it communicated with Youth MPs about changes to their speeches could have been clearer.Youth MPs representing coalition parties’ MPs have also pushed back on the accusations of censorship from their peers.About half of the young people invited to learn how Parliament works by emulating the job of MPs were asked to remove parts of their speeches mentioning government policies, including pay equity and the Treaty Principles Bill.Some decried this as “censorship”.In a statement, Ministry of Youth Development general manager John Robertson said it was long-standing practice to review Youth MPs’ general…

Property values in New Zealand have increased by 0.2% in June, according to Cotality NZ’s hedonic Value Index – despite low interest rates expecting to boost sales.The average property price is now $815,389, according to the index. This has reversed two minor falls of 0.1% in April and May.Since the January 2022 peak, property values remain down 16.1%. However, Cotality said they have managed to “edge up” by a total of 1.1% since September last year, and by 0.6% in 2025 so far.”Values around the main centres were either flat in June or up slightly,” according to the report. In…

Bluebridge’s new Cook Strait ferry will be arriving in Wellington today.In a post on its Facebook page, Bluebridge said the Livia was scheduled to sail into the capital about 8am.After completing a full dry dock in Denmark the ship had departed Europe and made its way through the Panama Canal and on to New Zealand.The company announced in March it was buying the vessel to replace the Strait Feronia, which first launched in 1997.At the time, StraitNZ chief executive Shane McMahon said the company was familiar with the vessel type and knew it was well suited to work on Cook…

With the Official Cash Rate (OCR) steadily coming down over the last 12 months, interest rates paid by borrowers have also fallen – giving much relief to homeowners with loans across the country.Currently, interest rates are at 6.92% on average for floating rates, 5.64% for one-year fixed, and 5.63% for two-year fixed.That’s with the OCR currently sitting at 3.25% and set to have its fourth review of the year next week. But is it set to drop again? And if so, would interest rates continue to fall over the next few months?The outlook isn’t necessarily positive for homeowners, with Infometrics…

Golfing sisters Nikau and Arahina Black are set to take on the world after qualifying for the US Kids Golf World Championships. Hailing from small town Ruatoki, Bay of Plenty, the junior golfers have risen to top of their age group in New Zealand to qualify for the event. “Ko aku moemoeā kia tae rā anō ahau ki ngā taumata teitei ōrite ki a Lydia Ko (My dream is to reach the same level of playing as Lydia Ko),” said 8-year-old Nikau.Younger sister Arahina, aged 7, is just as ambitious for the Pinehurst event: “Ka tiki ahau he hole-in-one i…