Author: Press Room

With three more young New Zealanders adding to the meningitis death toll in the past five weeks, the Meningitis Foundation is sounding alarm bells once again.They want free vaccinations for our most vulnerable, all adolescents and young adults, regardless of whether they are in close living situations.Todd Hodder’s son Dion died from meningitis at just 16 years old. He’d had a cold before going to camp, but when asked if he wanted to see a doctor, he declined, saying it was just a virus.Todd Hodder’s son Dion died from meningitis at just 16 years old. (Source: 1News)Tragically, the next time…

Trevor Maxwell will become New Zealand’s outright longest-serving councillor after a pre-election plea for “one more term” became reality for the man known affectionately as “Uncle Trevor”.Progress results in Rotorua’s local elections have Maxwell retaining his seat on the Māori ward, which will also stay, something that delighted the former deputy mayor.Maxwell has been an elected councillor for 48 years, putting him level with Doug Truman, who served on Grey District Council from 1968 to 2016, for the national record.But his re-election, once confirmed, will take him to 51 years and an outright lead.Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting outside his…

More retirees could be out on the street unless there’s urgent Government intervention, according to the Retirement Commissioner.Jane Wrightson is backing a petition organised by the Christchurch Methodist Mission that is calling for action to address the housing crisis facing older people.”There’s some levers Government can pull. One is getting a long-term housing plan that doesn’t get tipped out every time there’s a new government,” Wrightson said.The Housing and Urban Development Ministry estimated that more than 5000 people are currently living on the street, in a garage or a vehicle, with a quarter aged over 65.Research shows that by 2048,…

Oscar winning actor Diane Keaton, who died at 79, was known for her performances and style that helped shaped some of the most indelible films of all time, including The Godfather, Annie Hall, Father of the Bride and Something’s Gotta Give.She was beloved by fans and fellow actors, many of whom paid tribute Saturday after news of Keaton’s death broke. They included co-stars such as Bette Midler, Mandy Moore and Steve Martin, who shared an excerpt of an interview with Keaton and Martin Short that he said “sums up our delightful relationship with Diane”. Here is a roundup of some…

New Zealanders have had their say in the 2025 local elections, with results beginning to paint a picture of how voters want their communities led for the next three years.Voting to fill more than 1500 positions on 78 city, district, and regional councils across New Zealand closed at midday on Saturday, with results based on progress counts being released throughout the afternoon. Final results for closer races would be confirmed next week.Local Government NZ said more than 1 million votes had been counted in this year’s local elections, representing a voter turnout of 31.61%.More than half of the councils voting…

Hundreds of thousands of New Zealand computers could become more vulnerable to cyberattacks next week as Microsoft ends free support for Windows 10, a consumer advocate has warned.From October 14, the tech giant will stop providing security updates and technical support for Windows 10 – ten years after its release. Consumer NZ estimates 30% of New Zealand computers still run the operating system, meaning a significant number of users could be more exposed to malware and hacking attempts.Microsoft has urged consumers to upgrade to Windows 11, but many older PCs don’t meet the strict hardware requirements to run the new…

Wayne Brown will continue as Auckland’s mayor, with progress results showing a substantial election victory.With about 80-90% of Auckland’s votes counted by the afternoon of election day, Brown was about 90,000 votes ahead of Kerrin Leoni, who had received just over 56,000 votes.The mayor spoke to media at Karanga Plaza Harbour Pool, which he calls ‘Brownie’s Pool’, shortly after results were published on Saturday afternoon.Glad to be done campaigning, he was ready for his victory lap.”It’s been like being in the dentist’s chair for six weeks,” Brown said. “I didn’t enjoy it, I don’t enjoy campaigning.”Brown earlier confirmed this would…

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger is grateful to be re-elected for a second term and wants to keep the city’s momentum going.Progress results on Saturday show Mauger has won the mayoralty with 54,644 votes, a majority of almost 20,000.His nearest rival, third-term councillor Sara Templeton, received 34,726 votes.As progress results stand, Mauger will be joined at the council table by two new councillors and 14 returning councillors.Mauger was celebrating the result on Saturday.Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger wants to keep up a focus on reducing the city’s debt. Photo: RNZ/ Anna Sargant (Source: rnz.co.nz)”I was always pretty confident that I’d get there,…

Andrew Little has convincingly won his bid to be the mayor of Wellington, saying he is excited and “somewhat daunted” by the role.In April, the former Labour Party leader and senior cabinet minister announced he would run for Wellington’s top job.Not long after, Tory Whanau announced she would not seek re-election for the role and would instead look to be the next Wellington Māori ward councillor.Based on current results, she has lost that race to Labour candidate Matthew Reweti.Andrew Little has won Wellington’s top job. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone (Source: rnz.co.nz)With 85% of the vote in, Little…

Australian airline passengers are on high alert after hackers leaked the personal information of up to 5.7 million Qantas customers. Qantas confirmed today it was among several global companies that had data released by cyber criminals. “With the help of specialist cyber security experts, we are investigating what data was part of the release,” a company spokesperson said. The data was stolen in a cyber attack in early July this year from Qantas’ third-party platform provider Salesforce. Records were stolen by Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters from 39 major companies, including Qantas, Disney, Toyota and FedEx. The group was holding customers’ data…