Author: Press Room

Christchurch photographer Tom Rae has spoken of the “very difficult” set of conditions that needed to come together to help capture a picture of rare red sprites in the sky above the South Island. Rae, along with two other international photographers, set out to shoot the Milky Way over the Ōmārama Clay cliffs in McKenzie International Dark Sky reserve on October 11 when they snapped the crimson flashes. Red sprites — also known as red lightning — are large, brief flashes of red light that occur in the upper atmosphere, 50-90km above strong thunderstorms. Rae told Breakfast they were “one…

Warning: This story discusses suicide and mental health, and may upset some readers.A teenager’s suicide has highlighted the dangers of children being exposed to pornography and sexualised online interactions, a coroner has found.The 16-year-old Marlborough girl took her own life after suffering long-term trauma from early exposure to pornography, online grooming by older men and exploitative sexual contact.The teenager, whose identity is suppressed, died in 2023 after being hospitalised due to her mental health earlier that year.At the age of nine or 10 she had accessed pornography online by accident, and had later done so again due to a compulsive…

Police officers throughout the country were involved in falsifying alcohol breath tests.RNZ earlier revealed about 120 staff were under investigation after 30,000 alcohol breath tests were “falsely or erroneously recorded”.The falsified results were only discovered after police built a new algorithm to analyse the data, as the devices themselves could not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate tests.On Monday, a police spokesperson confirmed to RNZ that the falsified tests occurred throughout the country.Asked what explanation had been given for why staff falsified the tests, the spokesperson said police “far exceeded” the national target of 3.3 million tests included in the Road…

Teachers unions have slammed the Government’s move to shrink the Teaching Council, replace the majority of its members with ministerial appointees, and remove its role in teacher training as a “blatant power grab”.Education Minister Erica Stanford announced on Monday the Government was taking action to “lift the quality of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and restore trust and confidence in the governance of the education workforce”.All professional standard-setting functions for teaching education would be moved from the council to the Ministry of Education, and the Government would urgently “reconstitute” the council, reversing the current model of seven elected members and six…

A vegetation fire that destroyed three structures in Canterbury has been contained after a response from a dozen crews and a helicopter.Thirteen firetrucks and one helicopter were called to Darfield, west of Christchurch, after the fire started at around 10am. Crews work to fire the fire in Darfield. (Source: 1News)The Darfield Volunteer Fire Brigade said it responded to a large fire near Old West Coast Road. Other crews from Darfield South, Kirwee, Sheffield, Colgate, Dunsandel and Rolleston were also called to the scene.A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said three structures had been lost to the fire. Crews work…

One of Auckland’s popular walking tracks has suffered significant damage from a fire on Sunday, which has forced its closure — just over a year after it re-opened to the public.Fire and Emergency New Zealand were called to a vegetation fire at Fairy Falls Track in the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park about 8am on Sunday.The fire, which firefighters had to walk 25 minutes into the track to put out, was about 150m by 75m big — larger than a soccer field, or three Olympic-sized swimming pools laid end-to-end.FENZ said the damage was significant.Auckland Council western principal ranger Dave Markham said…

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi says he supports “all the sentiments” laid out by John Tamihere after the party president called for two of his MPs to throw in the towel. Crisis and infighting within the party deepened yesterday after Tamihere publicly fired back at his rebel MPs, Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi.Speaking ahead of a planned meeting with iwi chairs to address the party’s internal crisis, Waititi defended Tamihere and rejected calls for the party president’s resignation, saying allegations of toxicity, bullying and dictatorship within TPM lacked evidence.John Tamihere says MPs Takuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi should be…

Illicit vape pods containing an anaesthetic drug have been linked to a growing number of acute drug harm cases nationwide, prompting a warning from drug watchdog High Alert.Etomidate, a fast-acting sedative used in medical procedures, has been detected in vape products sold under names like space oil, k-pods, space vapes, or eto. The substance was first identified by drug checking services in January and has since been seized at the border by New Zealand Customs, with increasing numbers turning up at clinics nationwide.”These increased detections indicate the potential for a rapid spread of this substance,” High Alert said in a…

Veteran broadcaster Simon Dallow has addressed viewers following the announcement of his departure from 1News at Six, describing his 20-year run on the country’s most-watched news bulletin as “an absolute privilege”.The news of Dallow’s exit was confirmed by TVNZ earlier on Monday, but he addressed it directly on-air that evening.”I hate talking about myself,” he said, “but after 20 years on TVNZ’s flagship programme, it’s been an absolute privilege to represent my colleagues and bring you the news over those years. I’m now looking forward to whatever the future holds.”TVNZ confirmed that weekend presenter Melissa Stokes will take over the…

Auckland Council will meet in December to decide whether to go ahead with a proposed six-month trial for fortnightly kerbside rubbish collections.Parts of Te Atatu Peninsula, Panmure/Tāmaki, and Clendon Park/Weymouth could be affected if the vote passes, and the trial should begin in February next year.The trial aims to assess a wider rollout of reduced rubbish collection, which could see it switch from weekly to fortnightly.About 10,000 households could be involved in the trial, and would receive a temporary rates reduction to reflect the change in service.Council’s general manager of waste solutions Justine Haves said no date has been set…