Author: Press Room

A boy racer charged over his involvement in what’s been called the “Levin invasion” has come forward and apologised.The street racer said he had written apology letters to people disrupted by the event and was selling the now impounded car he used to do a burnout.Police said a crowd of about 1000 gathered at the event last Friday.Four bystanders aged between 16 and 20 were hit by vehicles. One woman had both her legs run over.Fireworks and vehicles were used against officers trying to break up the gathering.Several of their cars had tyres slashed and police had to use sponge…

A warning has been issued after an orange powder being sold as heroin was instead found to be a nitazene – a highly potent synthetic opioid.The discovery was made after a sample of the substance was sent to a New Zealand Drug Foundation checking clinic in Auckland, High Alert said. The powder was possibly in circulation nationwide.”Further analysis of the sample conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) confirmed the presence of a nitazene,” High Alert said, “but, at this stage, the specific substance remains unknown. No heroin was detected.”The powder did not react to nitazene test…

Published on 07/06/2025 – 7:00 GMT+2In the hot seatADVERTISEMENTThis week we are joined by Mika Aaltola, a Finnish MEP representing the centre-right European People’s Party, Dorota Bawolek, a seasoned EU correspondent for Polish broadcaster TVP and Ian Lesser, Vice President of the German Marshall Fund, the transatlantic think tank.EU-US trade tensionsUS President Donald Trump’s renewed trade offensive has left Brussels rather stressed with sweeping tariffs hitting European steel, aluminium, and car exports — and threats of more to come. European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is trying to defuse the crisis, warning that retaliatory EU measures could kick in as early…

The odds of winning the Lotto are infamously low, but can you increase your chances of winning the $15 million up for grabs in tonight’s draw by picking your numbers or by tracking down a winning store? Playing Powerball, you have a one in 38.3 million chance of winning. Your chances of a Strike win are higher at one in 2.2 million, and better still for Bullseye, which is one in 1 million. According to Lotto, a typical week in 2025 had 39% of Lotto players select their numbers, as opposed to 61% who chose a random Lotto family ‘dip’.…

The mayor of Christchurch says a government knock-back on its three-year battle to create a custom carve-out of national housing intensification rules feels like a “kick in the guts”, but others are welcoming the certainty of the move.On Friday, Minister for Resource Management Act Reform Chris Bishop issued a final decision on 17 of 20 recommendations the city council had referred after rejecting recommendations from an independent panel on the council’s plan to shape a bespoke Christchurch response to national housing density policy).Minister Bishop rejected the bulk of the council’s proposals.In 2021, the then-government released its National Policy Statement on…

An Australian warship visiting Wellington accidentally caused internet and radio outages across parts of New Zealand earlier this week. The incident occurred when HMAS Canberra, one of Australia’s largest warships, sailed along the country’s coast Wednesday morning, en route to Wellington to visit the city. According to 9News, telecommunication companies had reported interruptions as early as 2am. An Australian Defence Force spokesperson told the Australian outlet that crew aboard the ship became aware the vessel’s navigation radar was interfering with Wi-Fi in Taranaki and Marlborough. “On becoming aware, HMAS Canberra changed frequencies, rectifying the interference. There are no ongoing disruptions.”Services…

A passenger on a plane struck by lightning on Friday evening has described hearing an almighty bang, and says it was a terrifying experience.Air New Zealand said NZ625 from Auckland to Queenstown was turned back for engineering checks as a precaution after lightning hit the plane shortly after departure.A woman on board, who did not want to be named, told RNZ the flight got off to a rough start.”It was actually one of the bumpiest departures I’ve had, and then there was a loud bang, very loud,” she said.”Everyone just went quite quiet, well there was a lot of ……

Temperatures dropped below zero in some parts of the South Island overnight, as a polar blast brought frigid temperatures and snow. The South Island continued to brace for a surge of winter weather, with several warnings for snowfall on roads and coastal swells in place. Heavy road snowfall warnings are issued for Desert Road (SH1), Lewis Pass (SH7), Arthur’s Pass (SH73), Porters Pass (SH73), and the Dunedin to Waitati Highway (SH1). According to RNZ, MetService said 15-25 centimetres of snow could accumulate above 500 metres elevation, meaning potential travel disruptions and possible damage to trees and powerlines. Authorities are urged…

Each year, around 35,000 New Zealanders are affected by a concussion or traumatic brain injury. But ACC only receives claims for around 22,000, which means a large number of people aren’t being checked. Watch the full story on TVNZ+While sport is a factor, the majority of concussions are actually due to falls and other everyday activities. Last week, a teenager died in Palmerston North after he received a head injury playing a tackle game with friends. That game’s been linked to a new high impact collision sport trending on social media called run it or run it straight which has…

It’s that time of year when a tax refund notice can arrive in your inbox and feel like free money, a few hundred dollars hitting your bank account from out of nowhere. But it’s really just IRD making sure you paid just the right amount of tax.Overpaying or underpaying income tax is quite common, largely because it’s hard to predict exactly how much someone will earn over the course of a year.Most workers in New Zealand pay taxes via the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) model. This means tax is deducted from your pay before it enters your bank account.Right now, Inland Revenue…