Author: Press Room

Kiwis across the country will be keeping an eye on their Lotto numbers tonight with a whopping $45 million up for grabs.The powerball jackpot rolled over to $45 million on Saturday night – the biggest jackpot since an Auckland family won $44.67 million last year. Tonight’s draw comes almost five years after Lotto’s largest must-win draw in 2020, where the jackpot hit $50 million. Two winning tickets split that prize, each taking home $25.1 million. “High jackpots are exciting, and we know New Zealanders all around the country will be dreaming about what they would do if they won $45…

The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police over how they handled accusations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. It also commended the work of several police staff who stood up. RNZ’s National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood reveals the identity of the staff who spoke up.Standing at the podium inside the Beehive’s theaterette after acknowledging there had “interference at the highest levels of police” in relation to a woman’s accusations of sexual assault by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers acknowledged a group of police officers who…

The location of a second Costco store in the Auckland region has been revealed. Property developer Kiwi Property said today it had agreed to sell a 6.4-hectare plot of land to the US-based mega store chain at its new development in Drury, south of Auckland.No opening date was announced. “We are very excited to be entering into this agreement with Kiwi Property in a location as great as Drury,” Chris Tingman, Costco country manager, said. “Whilst still subject to planning and corporate approvals, our aim is to introduce our unique high-quality, low-cost merchandise to Drury, serving our significant membership base…

Officers are continuing their hunt for the suspect in what is believed to be a gang-related shooting in Christchurch on Monday evening. A woman was found critically injured with a single gunshot wound at a property on Shortland Street in Wainoni at around 8.45 pm. Today, police said the woman was in a stable condition in hospital. Police said initial inquiries suggested the incident was “gang-related”. “Police would like to reassure the community this is believed to be an isolated incident with no increased risk to the public,” Detective Senior Sergeant Jo Carolan said today. Police were “following strong lines…

MetService says a period of heavy downpours with the potential for thunderstorms is set to sweep across the North Island from this afternoon into tomorrow. The forecaster said a low and associated fronts would move southwards across the North Island today, tonight, and during Thursday morning, bringing rain and gales to many areas.An orange heavy rain warning was issued for Bay of Plenty, and Gisborne/Tairawhiti north of Tokomaru Bay from 4pm today, while a strong rain watch was issued for Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island and Coromandel Peninsula. Watch Metservice’s full breakdown of the wild weather on TVNZ+MetService said there…

Embers from an overnight fire that wasn’t properly extinguished caused significant damage to a popular Auckland bush track, forcing its closure.Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) were called to a vegetation fire at Fairy Falls Track in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park on November 2.Firefighters hiked 25 minutes into the track to reach the blaze, which scorched an area about 150 by 75 metres — larger than a football field or three Olympic-sized swimming pools laid end to end.FENZ said the damage was significant.Auckland Council has yet to confirm the cause of damages from the fire.The bridge that crossed the…

Lower interest rates may be saving first-home buyers more than $480 a month, and helping more people into the property market.Cotality and Westpac have released their latest First-Home Buyer Report, which shows first-time buyers accounted for 27.7% of property purchases nationwide in the September quarter.That is a record, up from a previous high of 26.9% in December.In the wider Wellington region, they were responsible for 36% of property purchases in the first nine months of the year. Rotorua was another area where they were strong, at 32%.The data shows they are buying houses with smaller deposits. Westpac said the average…

Analysis – Once a liberal darling and champion of progressive policing, former police commissioner Andrew Coster has gone to ground, his reputation and legacy in tatters.Coster is on leave from his role as chief executive of the government’s Social Investment Agency after a damning Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report identified “serious misconduct” among the upper echelons of police.An employment process is now underway with the Public Service Commission.Speaking at Parliament on Tuesday evening, Attorney General Judith Collins said the IPCA report identified a massive failure of leadership: “If this was me being named in this report, I would be…

A third person has been charged with the murder of 29-year-old Tristan Oakes, who was shot in his Te Puke home last month. Oakes died in hospital after being admitted with a gunshot wound on the morning of Saturday, October 25. A few days later, two men, aged 39 and 40, were arrested and charged with murder. Today, Detective Senior Sergeant Natalie Flowerdew-Brown said police had arrested a 24-year-old Te Puke man, who was also charged with murder. It brought the total number of people charged with murder in the case to three. Flowerdew-Brown said three other Te Puke men,…

Shortly after 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani won the election to become mayor of New York City, various far-left-wing parties in Europe celebrated his victory as a blueprint for what could be possible for their agendas in Europe. “Whether New York or Berlin: We all want affordable rents and a good life for our families and friends,” Germany’s The Left party wrote in a post on X. In France, the leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, Manon Aubrey, declared Mamdani’s victory as “a lesson for the left everywhere: it is not by watering down economic liberalism that we win, but by…