Author: Press Room

There are concerns police have misused a new gang patch ban law after a 12-year-old boy was questioned on Christmas Day for wearing a boxing gym t-shirt, featuring elements of the Black Power logo. The boy was walking to a friend’s house on Wednesday when officers, earlier responding to a medical event across the road, approached him. They told the 12-year-old they were allowed to confiscate his t-shirt, which displayed the logo of his boxing gym. A boy holds a shirt from the Kia Kaha Boxing Club in Mt Wellington. (Source: 1News)The gym, Kia Kaha Boxing Club, is associated with…

More people than ever before were called to the ballot boxes in 2024, as democracies worldwide raised their guard against information manipulation. ADVERTISEMENTAn estimated 3.7 billion people in more than 70 countries across the world were eligible to vote in 2024 according to the UN, in what has been described as a landmark ‘super year’ of elections.High-stakes votes took place in populous nations such as the US, India and Indonesia, and authoritarian and autocratic states including Belarus, Iran and Russia. The European election in June saw some 182 million people cast their ballots across 27 countries in one of the…

Summer activities are in hyper-drive as many New Zealanders enjoy the holiday break.Joining the fun is a new adventure park at the bottom of the South Island which is all part of a wider plan to lure tourists south.Bluff Hill has been transformed into a 26-trail experience called Motupōhue Adventure Park.Southland Mountain Bike Club has been behind the upgrades in recent years.Club president Marcus Roy told 1News, “we’re really excited. It’s been an amazing journey to get to this point.”The long and scenic hill slope is full of twists and turns with roughly 26km of trails all up.”Currently Bluff is,…

Three men arrested on Auckland’s North Shore yesterday are facing shoplifting charges after police allege $2700 worth of merchandise was allegedly stolen. In a statement, police said officers were called to a store on Greville Rd, Albany after two people took several items without paying shortly before 2pm yesterday. “The pair left the area in a vehicle driven by a third person heading northbound towards East Coast Rd,” they said. A short time later the vehicle was seen by police parked on Greville Rd, police said. “As police took the three men into custody, an officer sighted what was believed…

Vehicles have been damaged and a person injured during rough weather during an Interislander sailing today. Footage from the sailing sent to 1News showed the Kaitaki rocking from side to side as waves battered the windows. Staff could be heard telling passengers to remain seated.Images from the deck showed a number of queued vehicles pushed askew, with workers in orange high-vis apparently conducting assessments.In a statement, a KiwiRail spokesperson told 1News the 8.45am Kaitaki sailing out of Wellington experienced a “significant roll while transiting abeam Karori light area” at approximately 10.30am. “Some passenger cars/vehicles shifted as result of the rolling…

A homicide investigation has been launched in Ngāruawāhia, 20km north-west of Hamilton, after a disorder incident resulted in a woman’s death this afternoon.Earlier, a police spokesperson said officers were alerted to several people fighting on Waipa Esplanade, near the intersection with Newton St about 1.30pm.”Several minutes later, a critically injured person was taken to an ambulance station on Jordan St,” they said.Detective Senior Sergeant Nigel Keall said, despite the best efforts of first responders, the 42-year-old woman “died before she could be airlifted to hospital”.”Scene examinations are in progress on Waipa Esplanade, where the woman may have been injured, and…

Two motorists were lucky to walk away after a dramatic crash when their car careened off the road and down a bank in Canterbury yesterday afternoon.The Boxing Day crash, on State Highway 73 near Porters Pass at 12.50pm, was captured on video by a following driver.The clip showed the silver vehicle travelling along the road between two other vehicles before swerving left, suddenly right into the oncoming lane, and then left again, careening off the road and down a bank.Matthew Kelly, who caught the crash on his dash camera while travelling with his family, told 1News that the vehicle appeared…

Those comments come after Azerbaijani government sources exclusively confirmed to Euronews that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the aircraft to crash in Aktau. ADVERTISEMENTA Russian military expert has said it appears that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan was brought down by “something very similar to an anti-aircraft missile.”Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8432 took off from the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Wednesday morning bound for Grozny in Chechnya.”The plane was damaged by something very similar to an anti-aircraft missile. And it is really very, very difficult to assume anything else without some serious evidence,” said military expert, Yan Matveyev.”But…

Police are seeking to locate a man after a woman was dragged 10 metres in a mall car park while trying to get her handbag back.In a statement, a police spokesperson said the woman went after the man who took her handbag at Glenfield Mall, on Auckland’s North Shore about 5pm on December 1.After getting the bag, police said the thief ran to a white Toyota Mark-X and started to drive “dragging the victim approximately 10 metres as she tried to retrieve the bag from the vehicle”.Police would like to hear from anyone who can assist them with identifying this…

Boxing Day has raked in far bigger numbers for retailers this year with shoppers spending $67.7 million – up 13 percent on last year, according to payments company Worldline. The spending figures – which exclude hospitality, food and alcohol – showed Boxing Day sales proved popular, said Worldline chief sales officer Bruce Proffit. “In 2023, we noted that Boxing Day spending fell below the levels seen in 2022 – not surprising following what had been a particularly difficult year, with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather events that created a long stretch of lower spending at retailers nationwide.…