Author: Press Room

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including police hit by cover-up scandal, congestion charges coming, and why science says working out in the morning sucks. The Police Minister says leadership failings reflect unfairly on the wider police force. Congestion charges are coming, but lots of details are still unclear. Roadside drug testing begins next month. England have made seven changes to the squad to face the All Blacks. Science has a reason why you might hate working out in the morning.

The European Commission unveiled its new Democracy Shield on Wednesday, a roadmap to better protect democracies and electoral processes from foreign interference and information manipulation — including those originating within the bloc itself. At the heart of this strategy lies Russia and its “state or non-state proxies”, which for over a decade have conducted online destabilisation campaigns across the EU. These efforts have been amplified by the rapid development of new technologies that make false information more convincing and its dissemination more viral. Recent elections demonstrated how damaging online campaigns can be to democratic processes. Last December in Romania, presidential…

She once had a dream of being on the stage. And, in a way, Mary-Anne Kirkness achieved that when she received the Provident Insurance leadership award at the recent Financial Services Federation Awards. Humbling and exciting was how MTF Finance’s head of customer solutions described receiving the award and she was proud to represent Dunedin on the national stage in Auckland. MTF was represented by three finalists; the Solutions team for Team Spirit, Debbie Duncan for Workplace Champion and Ms Kirkness. She was quick to stress the award was not just for her, but also belonged to those that she…

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…