Author: Press Room

An Air New Zealand flight has been diverted to Wellington after a mid-air incident involving a “disruptive passenger”.Flight NZ679 from Auckland to Dunedin was diverted to the capital this morning, said Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer Captain David Morgan, who said there was an incident involving a passenger.”Incidents like this are distressing for our customers and people, and we have zero tolerance for any disruptive behaviour onboard our aircraft.”The aircraft was met by police in Wellington and is continuing on to Dunedin.”Police said they were notified of a disruptive passenger on a flight landing at Wellington…

A motorcyclist has died in a serious crash that closed a section of Auckland’s Southern Motorway near Greenlane this morning.Police said the two-vehicle crash occurred on southbound lanes near the Greenlane on-ramp at around 8am.”An investigation will commence in due course.”Southbound lanes were closed for much for the morning but have now reopened. Traffic had been diverted off that part of the motorway via the interchange. “Police acknowledge the public’s understanding with the closures, as it has been a challenging scene for emergency responders to work through.”Police said they would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the crash, including…

Guidelines have been set for how Bay of Plenty Regional Council will sell some of its Port of Tauranga shares.Last year the council agreed to a managed sell-down of its 54.14% shareholding in the port to a minimum of 28% through its long-term plan process.At a Thursday meeting, councillors set parameters for how its commercial arm, Quayside Holdings, could sell the shares.Council chairman Doug Leeder said the sell-down was a “substantive matter” for the council and community.The council had its shareholding since 1989 and the issue of managing financial risk by selling shares had been raised before but councils of…

Whanganui District Council will establish a $30,000 citizens’ assembly of 40 randomly selected volunteers.The assembly – the council’s first – will be tasked with making a recommendations to the council on the district’s outdoor swimming facilities and the future of Whanganui East Pool.Citizens’ assemblies originated in ancient Greece and are commonly used in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia to help navigate tricky and divisive topics.Forty randomly selected residents representative of Whanganui district’s demographics will meet for up to five three-hour sessions facilitated by an independent expert.To ensure anyone can participate, assembly members will be paid $500 each for…

The remains of the fire-razed Roxburgh Entertainment Centre will be demolished, the Central Otago District Council has announced.The centre — home to New Zealand’s oldest cinema — was gutted in a fire last week, leaving little more than the façade of the building standing.The front of the Roxburgh Entertainment Centre after fire gutted the rest of the building (Source: Central Otago District Council)At the time, a hotel and another nearby building were evacuated as smoke billowed from the building on February 6.The cinema opened on December 11 in 1897 and could seat 258 persons.Today, Central Otago District Council said an…

An army sergeant has been kicked out of the military for assaulting a junior soldier in a drunken melee at the end of an international operation in Hawaii, while his fellow attacker loses rank.They were part of a drinking culture under examination at a Court Martial hearing at Linton Military Camp, near Palmerston North this week.A military panel of senior officers on Friday found Sergeant Leaongo Tanginoa, 35, guilty of strangling and striking Gunner Nikau Minhinnick Gill.The prosecution said Tanginoa overreacted to a drunk and insubordinate Gill abusing him about perceived grievances, dishing out “barrack room justice”.Tanginoa had already pleaded…

With electricity set to play an ever more central role in Europe’s energy system, the trade association Eurelectric has called on Brussels to urgently update a security of supply strategy that dates back to 2014. ADVERTISEMENTSoaring costs linked to rocketing gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, more recently, suspected sabotage of undersea power lines have underlined the need for the EU to overhaul its decade-old European Energy Security Strategy, electricity companies have warned.“With the threats faced by our sector, security of supply is becoming an urgent priority that policymakers and regulators must acknowledge,” president of the trade association…

It is somewhat ironic that a young Michelle Findlater did not want to go to university. Next year, Ms Findlater, who is dealer principal at Southern Automobiles in Invercargill, will travel to Boston to study at Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. She is this year’s recipient of the Janet Lane MNZM Scholarship, awarded by the Motor Industry Training Organisation (MITO) and the Inspiring Futures Foundation in their annual scholarship awards. She will complete the Harvard Division of Continuing Education’s certificate of leadership excellence in strategy and innovation, doing three of the required courses online and…

Police had to deploy road spikes five times to finally end a 75km-long fleeing driver incident in Waikato today.At about 11am, police received reports of a Subaru vehicle driving “dangerously”, and overtaking vehicles through road works in Te Kuiti.Police said the vehicle was located and officers signalled for it to stop, but the vehicle fled and was not pursued.”It continued to drive in a dangerous manner on State Highway 3 towards Hamilton, where more members of the public called to report its erratic driving,” police said. “These updates of the vehicle’s location greatly assisted the police response, by allowing resources…

Shareholders of long-standing Dunedin oat miller Harraway & Sons are preparing to vote on investing millions of dollars to increase capacity in the business. Speaking at an oat industry field day near Gore this week, chief executive Henry Hawkins said shareholders would vote at the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday on whether to contribute $3 million of the $10m required “to do a pile of capital expenditure and refurbishment projects”. The investment project would include buying new milling gear to increase capacity and installing a new grain intake facility to improve the process of delivering oats to its Green Island…