Israel Adesanya insists retirement is not close, despite his latest defeat.Photosport
Kiwi mixed martial arts star Israel Adesanya has suffered a fourth straight UFC defeat, raising further questions over when he’ll call time on his decorated career.
The 36-year-old was beaten by rising American middleweight Joe Pyfer in the headline fight in Seattle, the referee stopping the contest in the second round, as Adesanya copped a barrage of blows.
The Auckland City Kick Boxing great looked in vintage touch early in the fight, landing crisp combinations, sharp leg kicks and taking down his opponent effectively.
The game plan went awry in the second round and he had no answer once he was dragged to the mat, where Pyfer locked in a body triangle, before pouring on the punches, giving referee Herb Dean no choice but to end the fight.
Former two-time world champion Adesanya hasn’t won in the UFC since April 2023, losing to Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis and, most recently, Nassourdine Imavov in February last year.
He is likely to fall from his current ranking of fourth in the division, but gave no suggestion he would hang up the gloves.
“You keep going again and again and again and again,” he told the ringside announcer. “I’m not leaving, you’ll never stop me.
“I might get beat, but I’ll always remain undefeated.”
Adesanya’s MMA record is now 24-6, including 13-6 in the UFC, while Pyfer, 29, improves to 16-3 and 7-1.
Kiwi Navajo Stirling achieved his fourth UFC victory.www.photosport.nz
New Caledonia’s domestic airline Air Calédonie filed for bankruptcy on Friday, following almost a month of blockades by customers in the French Pacific territory’s outer islands.
The protest movement had been initiated by groups of angry outer islands customers who intended to oppose the company’s decision to move Air Calédonie’s operations from the Nouméa Magenta airport to New Caledonia’s international La Tontouta base, more than 50 km away from Nouméa city.
The smaller airport of Magenta, until now dedicated to domestic traffic, is located closer to Nouméa.
The beginning of the protest movement, which effectively grounded all Air Calédonie aircraft, dates back to 2 March 2026.
The protesters are gathered under the name of “collective of users” and, on each participating island, are headed by local chiefs who are invoking custom rights.
In terms of law and order, and in defence of the principle of freedom of movement and “territorial continuity”, on the part of French State representatives, there have been no attempts to disrupt the movement by force.
But negotiations have been taking place with leaders in order to find a concerted way out of the blockades.
Economic stakeholders have also alerted authorities of the negative repercussions of the inter-island crisis, especially on tourism and hospitality-related businesses.
On some islands, views expressed range from an outright rejection of any aircraft landing, while others would accept the landing of aircraft from other airlines, but not from Air Calédonie.
Outer islands airports blockaded Following weeks of blockade that have caused heavy losses for the company — dubbed “AirCal” — its board of directors, at a meeting on Friday in the capital Nouméa, decided to file for bankruptcy.
It said the current situation was no longer sustainable.
The blockade affected all of AirCal’s outer islands destinations, including the Loyalty Islands (Maré, Lifou, Ouvéa and Tiga) and the Isle of Pines (south of the main island of Grande Terre).
One of the options, if approved by a court, could allow a resumption of operations, if the process is deemed sustainable.
The company said under the proposed process, all debts would be frozen and provided it was allowed to resume inter-island flights, Air Calédonie could continue operating.
But if the plan is not approved by the judges, this could also mean an order for the company to go into receivership.
AirCal said the situation currently affected “almost 200 families”.
Vanuatu connection Air Calédonie, in its embryonic form, started operations in the mid-1950s.
It currently operates a fleet of four turbo-prop ATR-72 aircraft.
Due to previous hardships faced recently (including the covid crisis, which also badly affected inter-islands operations), Air Calédonie had also entered into agreements with Air Vanuatu in October 2025 to lease one of its aircraft for the neighbouring archipelago’s domestic airlinks, including to and from the capital Port Vila and Vanuatu’s other main islands of Espiritu Santo (North) and Tanna (South).
In September 2024, a Nouméa-Port Vila bi-weekly link was also established under a codeshare agreement between Air Calédonie and Air Calédonie international aboard an ATR-72 aircraft.
At the time, the agreement was perceived as one step towards a possible merger of the two entities’ domestic and international operations, in a bid to save costs in the face of recent crises.
The recent crisis situation was also compounded by the riots that broke out in New Caledonia — mainly in the capital Nouméa and its surrounding area — in May 2024.
The unrest caused about 14 dead and material damage of over 2 billion euros (about NZ$ 4 billion) due to arson and looting.
But it also affected the capacity to operate domestic and international flights out of the airports of Nouméa La Tontouta and New Caledonia’s outer islands.
The plan to relocate Air Cal’s operations from Magenta to La Tontouta had been mooted by previous governments of New Caledonia, on the basis that if the move was not effected, then the company would not survive.
‘It looks as if someone wants the death of AirCal — Alcide Ponga Commenting on the blockade, New Caledonia local government President Alcide Ponga was blunt. He told local media earlier this week: “It looks as if someone wants the death of AirCal.”
However, one of the blockaded small airports, on the Isle of Pines (South of Nouméa), announced earlier this week its intention to re-allow traffic, on the condition that Air Calédonie lands again at the small and nearby airport of Nouméa-Magenta and not at the main La Tontouta base.
The main shareholders of Air Calédonie are the government of New Caledonia and its three provinces (North, South and the Loyalty Islands group).
During heated debates on Thursday at New Caledonia’s Congress, politicians and board members from across the political chessboard called on the company to re-engage in negotiations to attempt an agreement to re-open all of the blockaded outer islands airfields and thus bring in fresh cash.
Another cash-generating option also envisaged by the company would be to persuade the board and stakeholders to set aside a financial package so that the company can go on operating.
Earlier this month, Air Calédonie was forced to put half of its staff into temporary unemployment mode, because the company’s financial situation (a cash flow estimated at only 3 million euros) did not allow any salary payment beyond April 2026.
Air Calédonie said it remained “mobilised to save a vital company for New Caledonia and design a viable recovery plan”.
A similar plan was already implemented in 2024 in the wake of the post-riots crisis.
A first humanitarian special flight took place on 21 March 2026 to transport about 50 patients between Ouvéa island and the capital Nouméa. Image: New Caledonia govt
Humanitarian special flights for patients In recent days, New Caledonia’s government introduced the notion of humanitarian “sanitary corridors” in the form of special flights to transport selected patients in dire need of care to and from the outer islands and the capital Nouméa, at an estimated cost of some 13,500 euros (about NZ$27,000) per trip.
In the Loyalty Islands, several tourism and hospitality facilities have also suffered the brunt of the disruption of inter-island traffic.
Some of those have already been forced to either close down or enter into receivership.
No maritime alternative The situation is further compounded by serious technical problems faced by the alternative means of inter-island transport — the ferry Betico has also been unable to operate, on a regular basis, over the past few months.
The ship is currently undergoing repairs to one of its engines and it announced tentative resumption of operations next week on April 3, the operating company said.
Until then, all trips to and from Nouméa have been cancelled.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A French senator walked into the Luxembourg Palace, opened his mouth, and basically set the whole room on fire. Politely. In a suit.
Claude Malhuret didn’t yell nor wave his arms. He just listed things… calmly, methodically, like a doctor reading a very long and very depressing diagnosis.
And by the time he was done, the entire Trump administration had been reduced to a punchline that wasn’t even trying to be funny.
He started with an apology. Why? Because a year ago, he said, he had compared Trump’s presidency to Nero’s Court. He was wrong.
“It’s the miracle court,” he corrected himself on Friday.
And then he started naming names.
A former heroin addict running the Ministry of Health. A climate skeptic in charge of the economy. A TV host with a drinking problem commanding the armed forces. A lobbyist who used to work for Qatar now sitting as Attorney General. A woman who openly admires Putin in charge of national intelligence.
‘Clown in a palace’ Malhuret quoted a Turkish proverb for the occasion… “When a clown settles in a palace, he does not become king — it is the palace that becomes a circus.”
Nobody needed to ask who or what he meant. They just smiled.
And you know what? He wasn’t even being cruel. He was just being truthful and very accurate. Which, somehow, made it worse.
Then came the part that made people’s jaws drop a little.
Every time the Epstein files resurface, he said, bombs go off somewhere in the world. A new military strike. A fresh crisis.
Convenient timing. Every single time.
Malhuret didn’t call it a conspiracy. He just pointed at the pattern and let everyone draw their own conclusions.
Gulf investments The US$400 million Boeing jet from Qatar got a mention. The Gulf investments. The stock market moves that only a small circle of insiders seemed to profit from.
Any one of these, Malhuret said, would have triggered impeachment proceedings in France.
“But we are not here,” he added. “We are in MAGA’s America.”
Here’s what makes this 5 minute speech different from the usual political noise. Malhuret didn’t just wave his hands and say “America bad.” He went person by person, scandal by scandal, conflict by conflict — and built a picture so complete that by the end of it, you couldn’t really argue with any individual piece without defending the whole rotten structure.
It’s the kind of speech American senators could give. If they wanted to. If they weren’t so busy trying not to offend anyone.
The world is watching. While Americans debate whether the speech was fair or too harsh or whatever, the rest of the planet has already formed its opinion.
One man. One very powerful seat. And a world that keeps catching fire while everyone argues about the Epstein files — which, funny enough, never quite get released fully, do they?
“Trump, the Mar-a-Lago golfer, is the only bull in the world who walks around with his own china shop. When a clown takes over the Palace, he doesn’t become King. It’s the Palace that becomes a circus”
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 29, 2026.
Jonathan Cook: Does the tail wag the dog? How both sides are missing the bigger picture ANALYSIS: By Jonathan CookThe joint US-Israeli war on Iran has thrust back into the spotlight a divisive debate about whether the dog wags the tail, or the tail wags the dog. Who is in charge of this war: Israel or the United States? One side believes Israel lured Trump into a trap from which he
Cuban envoy makes strong plea for his country defying US blockade Asia Pacific Report Cuba’s Ambassador to New Zealand, Luis Morejón Rodríguez, last night made a passionate plea for his country’s sovereignty in defiance of the illegal US-led fuel blockade of the Caribbean nation. Speaking at a packed Auckland Trades Hall, he warned that the three-month oil blockade and energy blackouts threatened the country’s public health
The annual Whangamatā Beach Hop attracted tens of thousands to the seaside town.RNZ/Yiting Lin
Police say they arrested considerably more people at Whangamatā’s Beach Hop car event than in recent years.
Tens of thousands of people flocked to the event at the seaside town on the Coromandel Penninsula, but police were kept busy with anti-social behaviour as evening fell.
“This is an enjoyable event, which is so important for the local economy, and it was run really well with participants and attendees having a great time, and mostly behaving themselves,” Eastern Waikato area commander Inspector Mike Henwood said.
“Unfortunately, some of the people attracted to the event caused some issues for police later in the night.”
Thirty were arrested for fighting in a public place and disorderly behaviour, and about 40 liquor ban infringement notices were issued.
“While the amount of people blatantly ignoring the longstanding liquor ban in the area is similar to recent years, the number of arrests is considerably higher,” Henwood said.
“It is extremely disappointing that the behaviour of some people required us to make arrests, issue tickets and deal with drink drivers. However, it was anticipated, which is why there was an increased police presence carrying out foot patrols and checkpoints in the area.
“We encourage those attending these types of events to have fun, but in a safe and lawful manner,”
More than 3000 drivers were breath-tested in the area during the weekend, with 11 exceeding breath alcohol limits.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Epidemiologist Dr Michael Baker says increased rates of influenza virus can increase the amount of heart attacks because it can inflame and injure the heart muscle directly.CHRISTOPH BURGSTEDT/SCIENCE PHOT
The annual flu vaccine – which becomes available this coming week in NZ – can reduce risk of heart attacks, an epidemiologist says.
Epidemiologist Dr Michael Baker told Sunday Morning the influenza vaccine didn’t just reduce the risk and severity of the flu, it also reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes by about a third for those infected.
He said increased rates of influenza can increase the amount of heart attacks because it can inflame and injure the heart muscle directly.
“The illness itself… puts stress on the organs as well and also makes the blood more prone to clotting.”
Baker said the vaccine can be as effective as heart attack medication for those infected by influenza.
He also said there were some vaccines – which are not funded – that were better suited for older people.
Epidemiologist Dr Michael Baker.Luke Pilkinton-Ching
“These waves are getting smaller, that’s the good news, but it is still causing what looks like two waves a year. It’s not seasonal at all – it can come in summer or winter – and has a mix of sub types and sub variants.”
Long Covid was also still a worry and could effect all age groups, Baker said.
“Quality of life is reduced, and while there is often some improvement overtime, many of these people in fact will have a severe long-term disability.
“And also like influenza, post-Covid infection, you are also at higher risk of having heart attacks and strokes for example,” he said.
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State Highway 25 from Coromandel Town to East Kuaotunu is now open with speed restrictions.
Wentworth Valley Road is also open but only to four wheel drive vehicles, because a ford is still flowing.
Crews are out again today, clearing slips and managing traffic.
Weather hit regions including parts of Northland, were cleared on Saturday when MetService lifted all warning as regions looked to recover from the weather events.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Morrie Chandler at the 55th Halberg Awards in 2018.David Rowland / Photosport
Long-serving motorsport administrator Morrie Chandler has died aged 85.
A former president of Motorsport New Zealand for more than 20 years, Chandler held a range of national and international posts, including a stint as vice president of the world governing body F-I-A.
Chandler was a driving force behind World Rally Championship rounds being staged in New Zealand and he also successfully lobbied for the establishment of an Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, which has been staged since 1988.
He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Halberg awards in 2018.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Navajo Stirling of the light heavyweight division.www.photosport.nz
New Zealand mixed martial artist Navajo Stirling has made it four wins from four in the UFC with victory over a Brazilian light-heavyweight opponent in Seattle.
Stirling beat Bruno Lopes by technical knockout in the second round to extend his unbeaten record as a professional to nine wins.
It was the first time the 28-year-old has stopped a fight early in the UFC, with his first three wins coming by decision.
Stirling landed a key blow with his right hand and, while Lopes fought on, he was on constant defence as the Kiwi pushed for victory.
Stirling was one of the two fighters from Auckland’s City Kick Boxing gym in action on Sunday.
The other is former middleweight world champion Israel Adesanya, who was to fight American Joe Pyfer.
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New Zealand is currently at phase one and the government has said for now there is sufficient supply and no need for stockpiling.Nick Monro
Regulatory feedback is being called for as the government looks to tackle global fuel uncertainty.
The government laid out its response plan to the rising fuel costs triggered by the conflict in the Middle East following the US-Israel attacks on Iran one month ago.
The National Fuel Plan mimics the Covid response in that it has four phases, each outlining measures that would be taken if the situation gets progressively worse.
New Zealand is currently at phase one and the government has said for now there is sufficient supply and no need for stockpiling.
The Ministry for Regulation is now urging businesses, fuel users, freight operators, and the wider public to report any barriers that could stand in the way of the government’s response.
The ministry’s main job is to ensure quality across regulatory systems and encouraging productivity.
Regulation Minister David Seymour said the ministry was interested in hearing from businesses on the front line including fuel companies, freight operators, contractors, primary producers and retailers.
“We can’t control what happens in the Middle East. We can control how we get fuel flowing through New Zealand pumps. If red tape is getting in the way of that goal, we want to hear it.”
Regulation Minister David SeymourRNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Seymour said the government was trying to avoid a “repeat of the Covid-19 lockdowns”.
“We don’t want to miss something which could lead to negative effects down the line.
“That’s why we want to hear from people affected by edicts from Wellington; what regulatory barriers do you see getting in the way of fuel supply?”
Examples of submissions that could be made included barriers affecting fuel transport, storage, distribution, local delivery, freight movements, business operations, or the ability of firms to adapt quickly to changing supply conditions.
“In a disruption every unnecessary delay matters. If there are regulations that make it harder to import, store, distribute, or use fuel efficiently, they need to be identified now. Not when the pressure is at its peak,” Seymour said.
The price of 91 and diesel fuel in most parts of the country was well past $3 per litre with some stations running dry especially on discount days.
Motor Trade Association spokesperson Simon Bradwell recently said there were concerns over the increasing possibility of people driving off without paying for fuel.
He said businesses were doing what they can to keep prices down as it was also in their best interest.
The government also announced earlier this week almost 150,000 families with children will receive an extra $50 a week to help with the rising cost of fuel.
Callum McCowatt’s Danish Superliga side are struggling and he’s happy for the reprieve of national team duty.Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
The All Whites have more players than ever chasing their dreams overseas and, for some, the national team can be a solace when club football is a struggle.
The countdown to the Football World Cup is on and the final squad for New Zealand’s third appearance at the tournament will be named in May.
For years, nearly 60 players have been on coach Darren Bazeley’s radar.
These players are spread around the world at different stages of their professional careers and with varying experience with the All Whites.
Not everyone will make the World Cup and Bazeley will have to make some tough decisions.
Getting a call-up to the national team – as 23 players were for the Fifa series this week – means different things to different players and RNZ has heard from some who have been in Auckland for the two games against Finland and Chile that Bazeley’s faith in them when times are tough has been invaluable.
Ben Old playing for the All Whites against Australia in 2025, when he was on the outer with his club side.Joshua Devenie/Photosport
Ben Old has been on a “rollercoaster” since making the move from Wellington Phoenix to AS Saint-Etienne in France just over 18 months ago.
“I went from Ligue 1, one of the top five leagues in the world, playing to having an injury to being relegated to not playing in Ligue 2.
“Last season, that was the first relegation I experienced, but just the excessive amount of losses that we had, it just consumes you. It’s a really horrible feeling just losing and it just really affects your confidence.
“We’ve got the best players, biggest crowd, best team, but we weren’t performing.”
In the latter half of last year, when Old was out of favour at Saint-Etienne and getting less than 15 minutes a game for his club team, Bazeley was still prepared to get him on the field for the All Whites.
“It was a really tough period for me towards the back end of last season, because I wasn’t playing. I was expected to go on loan.
“It’s just hard in general being over in Europe, but not playing was really tough mentally, so to be able to be involved in the three [international] windows of that period was just a nice escape for me.
“For them to be able to have confidence in me, to be able to play me and be able to have good performances there as well, I felt helped me tackle on and helped me be prepared for when I was able to take my chance further on to start this year.”
Now Old, who made a positional switch from midfield to left-back at club level, which co-incided with more game time, is “thriving” and Saint-Etienne are on the cusp of promotion.
“I’ve got the full Europe experience, but it’s taught me so much and I feel like I’m in a great club with a great project.”
Old has been around the All Whites since 2022 and will hope that he is still in Bazeley’s plans for June.
“I’ve spoken to players like Kosta Barbarouses, Chris Wood that have been here for a long time and they said that this is the most competitive it’s ever been.
“I think that brings out the best in players to perform, but it also means that you have to be playing at your best to perform and I think that’s just a sign of a really great team that you’ve got so much depth in your team to be able to perform, which at a World Cup is essential.”
Eli Just has been with the All Whites since 2019.Joshua Devenie
Motherwell midfielder Eli Just has been in Scotland for eight months and is enjoying his football now more than he has for years.
Just has scored goals regularly this season, as Motherwell challenge the Scottish Premiership’s bigger clubs, but the 25-year-old, who has been with the national team since 2019, has previously had times while playing in Europe that he wondered where his next goal was coming from.
“I definitely look back at some stages in my career where I think I was playing well, but maybe not scoring, and in football, especially as an attacking player, you need to score goals.
“I’ve been really working on it and enjoying the result of that hard work this season.”
Just feels like he is now in the right place at the right time of his career.
“I’ve been lucky to be involved quite often for the national team. There have definitely been some periods in my career where I’ve not been doing so well at club and then I come into national team, and kind of recharge and get a lot of energy, positivity from the boys.
“I think maybe the difference this year has been that now I can come in, and I’ve kind of got that confidence and that positivity that I can help the group.
“The best part, I think, about the squad is that we’re all so close. We’ve been playing together for a long time.
“The playing style hasn’t changed so much, so you know what is going to be required of you when you come.”
Callum McCowatt, left, playing for club side Silkeborg IF.ERNST VAN NORDE
Midfielder Callum McCowatt last played in a winning club side last October. Since then, his Danish Superliga side Silkeborg IF has failed get to win in nine matches.
McCowatt has played significant minutes in most of the games and proved that a strong showing in a run of losing results can get the attention of the national team coach.
“Personally, it’s going quite OK in terms of my numbers and stats, but for the club, it’s a little bit down at the moment.
“We’re under the relegation zone line, so it can be difficult at times. Of course, it’s not done yet, so we can still work our way out of it.”
When things are not going well for a club team, the pressure can pile on to the players.
“It’s difficult, if I have to be honest. Day to day, you have to find a new way to bring your energy up, because winning brings a lot of energy and a lot of good feeling to your body.
“When this doesn’t happen, you have to find different ways and different motivations, so it’s been a learning process. At the end of it, I’ll probably have grown as a person.”
McCowatt wants to bring some of his individual form at club level to the All Whites.
Callum McCowatt playing for the All Whites.Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
“I think that a lot of footballers worldwide struggle to take that consistency from club into country, because of the lack of games and the feeling where you kind of feel on a roll.
“When you’re in a club environment every day for, I’ve been there two-and-a-half years, nearly three years, then you become comfortable in a way where it’s your home.
“When you play for the All Whites, you play two games every couple months, five times a year, so that’s 10 games a year outside of World Cup year, it’s kind of hard to find the consistency.
“I’m trying to navigate that as good as I can, because I really want to perform for the All Whites.”
All Whites midfielder Ryan Thomas, centre, in action for PEC Zwolle against Feyenoord in the Dutch Eredivise competition, 25 April, 2025.AFP
PEC Zwolle midfielder Ryan Thomas was recalled to the All Whites squad last September, nearly six years after his last appearance.
Injury and being on the outer at club level meant that Thomas thought his international playing days were over, but Bazeley had different ideas.
“It’s nice to obviously have the confidence from Darren. I spoke with him a lot over the last three years and, obviously, it was a lot more other conversations than what we wanted.
“I talked with him a lot about how it was going and what he thought was the plan for me going forward, and it was always the plan, if I was fit enough, to bring me straight back in.
“I’m just really happy to be able to have the opportunity to play again for the national team and, when you get to play on the bigger stage with a bunch of your good friends to play for your country, it’s something you can’t really take for granted and I’m just making sure that I’m enjoying every moment.”
Tim Payne, right, is back with the All Whites during a tough season for the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League.Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Closer to home, defender Tim Payne’s A-League club Wellington Phoenix has had a dramatic change of coach and a period of sitting near the bottom of the table.
Payne missed most of the first half of the season with a broken collarbone that needed surgery and, earlier this month, he missed a couple of games with a hamstring injury – including coach Giancarlo Italiano’s last game and Chris Greenacre’s first in charge.
After an “interesting” seventh season with the Phoenix, Payne came into All Whites camp for the Fifa series off back-to-back wins in the A-League.
It was the first time the Phoenix had achieved two wins in a row in the 2025/26 season.
“I think there’s always room to make an impression,” Payne said of the final international window at home before the World Cup squad was announced.
“Everyone’s playing week in, week out at their respective clubs, so if someone’s performing at a very high standard, there’s no reason why they can’t be involved come June.”
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A young person seriously injured after violence broke out at a party remains in hospital after surgery, and police say the incident was isolated, but neighbours say it’s an ongoing issue that needs to be tackled.
A vehicle drove towards partygoers, injuring two people, and two others were injured during wider disorder. Some reported that partygoers were attacked with machetes.
Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Darvill said some what unfolded at the party was unacceptable: “I want to reassure people that we are working as hard as we can to get to the bottom of what happened.
Broken glass is on the corner of Springleigh Ave and Jerram Street.RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
“This behaviour won’t be tolerated in our community, and investigators are working diligently to identify those responsible and hold them to account for their actions.”
Police understood there was frustration and concern surrounding the incident, among the community, but the incident appeared to be isolated, Darvill said.
However neighbours said problems with out of control parties in the small street were ongoing.
Short term stay house creating problems, neighbour says
Neighbours have told RNZ the house the party was held at on Friday is listed on short-stay accommodation platforms, but said previous efforts to highlight ongoing disruptions connected with parties at the property – and another next door – had been unsuccessful.
Rosemarie PowellRNZ /Jessica Hopkins
Phyllis Street resident Rosemarie Powell said locals had raised the problems with local MPs and other authorities, and asked for measures making landlords more accountable, but nothing had changed.
“Our emergency services having to clean up these problems – you know, young people getting really hurt – these are all the symptoms of something that’s much broader that needs to be dealt with, and I think that’s landlord accountability for short-term rental,” Powell said.
“It is cheap and easy for teenagers to book this property for one night to have a house party that, as demonstrated last night and many times before, can get quickly out of hand.
“Neither the landlord nor the people booking the house have connections with the neighbourhood and community, there is no oversight or accountability if there is underaged drinking or drugs being consumed.
“No one has to face their neighbours on the street the next day, and noone cares about the many small children who live on the street. Not to mention the very real and demonstrable risk the young people are exposed to who attend these gatherings.”
Broken glass is on the corner of Springleigh Ave and Jerram Street.RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
The ongoing situation was frustrating, she said: “It does create a real lack of security in the short run.”
And in a city where there was a housing shortage it chafed doubly so: “In the long run it’s also just a waste of a home that could be housing a family.”
Powell said she understood the landlord was a foreign businessman who owned a number of properties across the city.
“These properties are essentially land banking, and are not in any way supporting local housing and accommodation needs. Some families have lived in these homes from time to time, but the long-term rent is too expensive for them. We have great local schools, sports teams etc. Close to supermarkets, public transport.
“These houses could provide a home for a family who would benefit from and contribute to the neighbourhood. Instead they are used to land bank, and as a venue for completely unaccountable parties that turn violent.”
Lack of regulation and enforcement for properties available for short-term rental was the underlying problem, she said.
“It is not acceptable that landlords can get away with accepting short-term bookings without any background reference, or proof of age for example, and oversight and responsibility for what happens on their property.”
Anna McKessarRNZ / Jessica Hopkins
Another neighbour, Anna McKessar, earlier told RNZ incidents that spilled out of earlier parties at the properties had “turned into this massive thing”, and included damage to cars and fences in the street.
“It’s pretty upsetting for neighbours, and the person that owns those properties has never shown up, never apologised, and shown no remorse,” McKessar said.
Powell hoped the latest incident would spark broader investigation and discussions on the issue, “so that we can help to hold landlords and the wider system accountable to help reduce harm in the future.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Darvill said police want to hear from anyone with footage from the event, or who had not yet spoken with police.
Information can be provided by calling police on 105 or visiting their Update Report page online at 105.police.govt.nz and quoting file number 260328/8294, while information could also be reported anonymously, through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or on their website.
Health NZ said there was the potential for identity overlay.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
A patient advocate is warning that the consequences of people receiving incorrect medical treatment due to mistaken identity can be catastrophic.
Health New Zealand has acknowledged people may have received incorrect medical treatment due to two people being mistakenly linked to one active National Health Index Number.
An NHI number is an alphanumeric identifier assigned to people who use health and disability services.
Health New Zealand told RNZ that although NHI numbers were unique, there was the potential for identity overlay, where two people were mistakenly linked to one active number.
”This can occur where two people’s personal information is nearly identical, and the health provider selects the wrong person. These cases are identified and corrected quickly by Health NZ’s NHI Data Quality team through daily reporting on potential duplicates and overlays,” it said.
”Health NZ acknowledges it is possible that people have received incorrect treatment when a health provider has selected the wrong person.
“However, Health NZ does not hold any centralised information on such cases, and any information, if it exists, would be held only in individual clinical records at district or provider level.”
Patient Voice Aotearoa chairperson Malcolm Mulholland said that’s not good enough.
”It’s not good and it’s something that shouldn’t be happening and Health New Zealand should be able to articulate the size of the problem.”
“The mere fact that they are unable to do so indicates to me that there are some problems and, without having them resolved, the consequences can be quite dire for patients,” he said.
“One of my areas of concern would be around medication. So a lot of certain medications are listed to be given to a patient and the medication is given to the wrong patient due to this problem. That to me would be ringing alarm bells and could lead to some catastrophic health outcomes.”
Health New Zealand was approached for additional comment.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
A driver has died in a crash at the Beachlands Speedway racetrack in Dunedin.RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
A driver has died in a two-vehicle crash at the Beachlands Speedway racetrack in Dunedin.
Police were called to the scene in Waldronville at 7:10pm on Saturday night.
General Manager of Speedway New Zealand Zoe Irons told the New Zealand Herald a Speedway driver had died on the track.
“At this time, our thoughts are with the family affected and everyone within our speedway community,” Irons said, according to the Herald.
A Serious Crash Unit have conducted a scene examination and WorkSafe will be advised.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or have footage are being asked to contact police.
A car crashed over the four metre-high safety fence into the spectator area at Beachlands Speedway during a streetstock race on Friday 5 April, 2024.Supplied/ Mikaela Cruden
In 2024, a car flew over a safety fence in a streetstocks race at Beachlands Speedway.
A video posted to Facebook showed a streetstock turning a corner before suddenly hitting another car and launching over the fences around the track, flipping just metres from the crowd.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
It’s the first of two spacecraft of a satellite navigation demonstration mission in low Earth orbit.RNZ/ Nate McKinnon
Rocket Lab has successfully carried out its first dedicated launch on behalf of the European Space Agency.
The New Zealand-US space company’s 85th launch was carried out from its rocket pad in Hawke’s Bay on Saturday night.
It’s the first of two spacecraft of a satellite navigation demonstration mission in low Earth orbit.
An eventual new array of satellites some 500 kilometres above the earth will test next-generation technologies for uses like autonomous vehicles, maritime navigation, wireless networks, emergency services, and critical infrastructure projects.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Ford has written to owners of Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue.STR
An owner of a Ford hybrid vehicle that has had a problem identified with its battery says it could not have happened at a worse time.
Ford said it had written to the owners of some Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue that could create a fire hazard, if they were fully charged.
“A manufacturing defect in one or more of the vehicle’s high voltage battery cells may cause the cell to develop an internal short circuit. Ford globally has had no incidents reported and the batteries we’ve checked, again globally, less than one percent have shown it to even be a potential issue.
“In NZ, we’ve had no known incidents and no batteries have yet been found to have the issue in question.
“However, as an added safety precaution, Ford has asked customers to limit the charging to 80 percent and drive in auto EV mode only. This is not a ‘stop drive’ issue.
“Ford is investigating a permanent solution and will be in contact again with customers asap.”
Brian Holmes said it was very inconvenient to be told his vehicle could “burst into flames”, when he wanted to rely on the battery more than ever.
He told Ford that, given the fuel crisis and the increasing uncertainty of the future price of petrol, the need to avoid using the full value of the plug-in hybrid could not have come at a worse time.
He had asked for compensation, but was told that a decision had not yet been made about whether that was possible.
“They don’t have a technical fix and have stonewalled my enquiry about compensation.”
Earlier, Westpac New Zealand managing director of institutional and business banking Reuben Tucker told RNZ demand for electric vehicles through the bank’s greater choices home loan top up and other loans for electric vehicles had soared.
“In the last two weeks, the number of applications for EVs through these products has roughly doubled,” he said.
“Hey, man. Jean-Michel Jarre in the New Zealand bush – what do you reckon?” read an out-of-the-blue 2am text Sam Scott received from filmmaker Taika Waititi.
A few months later, the Wellington musician and composer learnt about Hunt For the Wilderpeople, and he and Moniker collaborators Lukasz Buda and Conrad Wedde began working on its soundtrack.
But several months after the trio had scored the whole movie in “a very Jean-Michel Jarre way”, they were told a new direction had been decided on, and they had three weeks to present a new soundtrack from scratch.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The joint US-Israeli war on Iran has thrust back into the spotlight a divisive debate about whether the dog wags the tail, or the tail wags the dog.
Who is in charge of this war: Israel or the United States?
One side believes Israel lured Trump into a trap from which he cannot extricate himself. The tail is wagging the dog.
The other believes that the US, as the world’s sole military super-power, is the one that writes the geo-strategic script. If Israel acts, it is only because it serves Washington’s interests as well. The dog is wagging the tail.
Certainly, the idea that the tail, the client state of Israel, could be wagging the dog, the military juggernaut that is the US, seems, at best, counter-intuitive.
But then again, there is plenty of evidence that suggests advocates for the tail wagging the dog scenario may have a case.
They can point to the fact that Trump launched this war of choice on Iran despite winning the presidency on an “America First” platform in which he promised: “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.”
Rushed into war His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, openly stated that the administration was rushed into war, finding itself apparently unable to restrain Israel from attacking Iran.
Joe Kent, Trump’s top counter-terrorism official, noted in his resignation letter that the administration “started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby”.
Addressing the Israeli Parliament last October, Trump appeared to confess to being under the thumb of the Israel lobby. As he praised himself for moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the illegally occupied city of Jerusalem, he repeatedly pointed to his most influential donor, the Israeli-American billionaire Miriam Adelson, before observing: “I actually asked her once, I said, ‘So, Miriam, I know you love Israel. What do you love more, the United States or Israel?’ She refused to answer. That means, that might mean, Israel, I must say.”
A video from 2001 shows Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel’s Prime Minister, caught secretly on camera, telling a group of settlers: “I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in the way.”
Former US president Barack Obama, who ran up against Netanyahu repeatedly as Obama tried and failed to limit the expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements, thought the same.
In his 2020 autobiography, he wrote that the Israel lobby insisted that “there should be ‘no daylight’ between the US and Israeli governments, even when Israel took actions that were contrary to US policy.”
Any politician who disobeyed “risked being tagged as ‘anti-Israel’ (and possibly anti-Semitic) and confronted with a well-funded opponent in the next election”.
Obscuring the relationship But any rigid, binary way of framing the relationship between the US and Israel obscures more than it illuminates.
I addressed this issue in my 2008 book on Israeli foreign policy, titled Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iran, Iraq and the Plan to Remake the Middle East. My conclusion then, as now, was that the relationship between Washington and Tel Aviv was better understood in different terms: as the dog and the tail wagging each other.
What does that mean?
Israel is Washington’s most favoured client state. It must, therefore, operate within the “security” parameters for the Middle East laid down by the US.
In fact, part of Israel’s job — the reason it is such an important client state — is because it has, until now, been able to enforce those parameters on others in the region.
But the story is more complicated than that.
At the same time, Israel seeks to maximise its ability to influence those parameters in its own interests, chiefly by shaping military, political and cultural discourse in the United States, through the many levers available to it.
Mobilised by Zionist lobbies Zionist lobbies, both Jewish and Christian, mobilise large numbers of ordinary people to support whatever Israel claims to be in both its and US interests.
Mega-donors like Adelson use their wealth to cajole and intimidate US politicians.
Think-tanks with murky funding write legislation on Israel’s behalf that US politicians wave through.
Legal organisations, again with opaque funding, weaponise the law to silence and bankrupt.
And media owners, all too often in Israel’s camp, mould the public mood to stigmatise as “antisemitism” anything that opposes Israeli excesses.
This makes for a very messy arrangement.
The trouble with the idea that the US simply dictates to Israel — rather than that the two are constantly bargaining over what constitutes their shared interests — becomes apparent the moment we consider the two-and-a-half-year genocide in Gaza.
Desire to ‘disappear’ Palestinians Israel has long had a fervent desire to disappear the Palestinians, whether through ethnic cleansing or genocide.
It wants the whole of historic Palestine, and the Palestinians are an obstacle to the realisation of that goal. Should the opportunity arise, Israel is also keen to secure a Greater Israel that requires grabbing and annexing substantial territory from neighbours, particularly Lebanon and Syria — as it is doing again right now.
After the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel seized on the chance to renew in earnest the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians it began in 1948, at the state’s founding.
It carpet-bombed Gaza, creating a “humanitarian crisis”, to force Egypt to open the floodgates into Sinai, where it hoped to drive the enclave’s population. Cairo refused.
As a result, Israel tried to increase the pressure by slaughtering and starving the people of Gaza. In legal terms, that constituted genocide.
But the idea that the US was deeply invested in Israel carrying out a genocide in Gaza, or directed that genocide, or had any particular interest in the genocide taking place, is hard to sustain.
Washington — first under Biden, then under Trump — gave Israel cover to carry out the mass slaughter of the Palestinian population, and armed and financed the genocide. But that is very different from it having a geostrategic interest in the mass slaughter.
Indifferent to Palestinians’ fate Rather, the US is and always has been largely indifferent as to the fate of the Palestinians, so long as they are contained. They can be locked up permanently in occupation prisons.
Or ethnically cleansed to Sinai and Jordan. Or given a pretend statelet under a compliant dictator like Mahmoud Abbas. Or exterminated.
The US will bankroll whichever option Israel believes best serves its interests — so long as that “solution” can be sold by pro-Israel lobbies to western publics as a legitimate “response” to Palestinian “terrorism”.
What Israel could get away with changed on 7 October 2023. The US was prepared to approve Israel shifting from a policy of intermittently “mowing the lawn” in Gaza — short wrecking sprees — to the incremental levelling of the whole of Gaza.
In other words, Israel worked all its levers to persuade Washington that it was the right time for it to get away with genocide. It sold to the US the plan that Gaza could now be destroyed.
To present that as Washington’s plan is simply perverse. It was decisively Israel’s plan.
That doesn’t diminish in any way US responsibility for the genocide. It is fully complicit. It paid for the genocide. It armed the genocide. It must own it too.
Similar Iran war analysis A similar analysis can be applied to the Iran war.
The US and Israel share the same larger policy towards Iran: they want it contained, weak, unable to exert influence. But they do so for slightly different reasons.
Israel demands to be regional hegemon in the Middle East, an invaluable client state with privileged access to Washington policymakers. Its supremacy and impunity, therefore, depend on Iran — its only plausible rival in the region — being as weak as possible and incapable of forging effective alliances with armed resistance groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Equally, Washington wants Israel unthreatened, leaving its ally free to project US imperial power into the Middle East.
But it has a more complex set of interests to consider. It needs to ensure that the Arab monarchies remain compliant, and it does so by both wielding a stick — threatening to unleash the attack dog of Israel on them should they disobey — and proffering a carrot — promising to shield them under its security umbrella against Iran so long as they stay loyal.
The ultimate goal is to guarantee unchallenged US control over the flow of oil and thereby the global economy.
In other words, the US has to weigh far more interests in how it deals with Iran than Israel does.
Effects on the global economy Unlike Israel, Washington has to consider the effects of an attack on Iran on the global economy, to assess any impact on the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and protect against rival powers like China and Russia exploiting strategic missteps.
For those reasons, Washington has traditionally preferred maintaining a degree of stability in the region. Instability is very bad for business, as is being demonstrated only too clearly right now.
Israel, by contrast, regards its struggle against Iran in existential terms. Many in the Israeli cabinet view it as a religious war. They are not interested in simply containing Iran – a decades-old policy they believe has failed. They want Iran and its allies on their knees, or at least in so much chaos that they cannot pose any kind of challenge to Israeli regional hegemony.
That point was highlighted by Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s former national security adviser, this week in an interview with Jon Stewart. He cited recent comments to him by Israel’s former military intelligence lead on Iran, Danny Cintrinowicz, that Netanyahu’s aim is to “just break Iran, cause chaos”.
Why? “Because,” says Sullivan, “as far as they’re concerned, a broken Iran is less of a threat to Israel.”
In other words, Israel wants to engineer instability in Iran, which is sure to spread instability across the region.
Those two agendas, as should be clear by now, are not easily compatible. Which is why Netanyahu has spent decades working every lever at his disposal in Washington to create an appetite for war.
Had war been self-evidently in US interests, his efforts would have been superfluous.
Israel deployed its lobbies Instead, Israel has had to deploy its lobbies, marshal its donors and recruit sympathetic columnists to slowly shift the public mood to the point where a war was conceivable rather than patently dangerous.
And most importantly of all, Israel nurtured an intimate, ideological alliance with the neocons — hawkish, zealously pro-Israel US officials — who long ago gained a foothold in the inner sanctums of Washington.
Each recent administration has been a cat-fight over whether the neocons or more “moderate” voices would win out. Under George W Bush, the neocons dominated, leading to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Israel’s short war on Lebanon in 2006, and a failed plan to expand the war to Syria and then Iran.
Under Obama, the neocons were forced to take more of a back seat, which is why his administration was able to sign a nuclear deal with Iran that held until Trump ripped it up in 2018, during his first term as president. Biden, as with so much else, dithered.
In Trump’s second term, the neocons seem to be firmly back in charge, again weaving their mischief. The result — an illegal war on Iran — is likely to be a strategic catastrophe for the US, and a potential, if short-lived, victory for Israel.
So isn’t this the same as saying the tail wags the dog?
Sole repositories of power No, not least because that assumes the visible realm of US politics — the President, the Congress, the two main political parties — are the sole repositories of power in the system.
Even in this visible sphere, support for Israel has dramatically waned since the Gaza genocide. As the illegal war on Iran grows ever more costly, both in treasure and lives, support for Israel among US voters is going to fall off a cliff.
Israel is for the first time a deeply partisan issue, dividing Democrats and Republicans, as well as a generational divide between the young and old. It is even splitting the MAGA base Trump depends on.
Americans’ sympathies in the Middle East crisis. Source: Gallup World Affairs surveys
This political polarisation will continue to get much worse, ultimately freeing braver figures in US politics to start speaking out in franker terms about Israel’s nefarious role.
But power in the US isn’t just wielded at the formal, visible level. There is a permanent bureaucracy, with an institutional memory, that operates out of sight. We have gained brief glimpses of its covert operations from the work of Wikileaks, Julian Assange’s publishing platform for whistleblowers, and from Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed illegal mass surveillance by the US state of its own citizens.
Both suffered serious consequences for their efforts to bring a little transparency to a profoundly corrupt system of secret power. Assange was locked away in a London high-security prison for many years as the US sought to extradite him on trumped-up “espionage” charges, while Snowden was forced into exile in Russia to evade arrest and long-term incarceration.
That bureaucracy — sometimes referred to as the Deep State, or the military-industrial complex — doesn’t play or fight fair. It doesn’t need to. It operates in the shadows.
Curtailing Israel’s influence Were it to so choose, it could undermine the Israel lobby, and thereby curtail Israel’s influence over the visible realm of US politics.
It could effectively do to the leaders of the lobby — AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Zionist Organisation of America, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, Christians United for Israel, and others — what it did to Assange and Snowden.
It could, for example, influence public discourse to begin questioning whether these groups are really serving US interests or acting as foreign agents. That would, in turn, free up space for the media and legislators to call for tighter restrictions on these groups’ activities, requiring them to register as such.
The permanent bureaucracy is doubtless capable of doing much darker, underhand things too.
The fact that it hasn’t chosen to do any of this yet suggests Israel’s goals are not seen so far to be significantly in conflict with US goals.
But that could be about to change. In fact, the current, all-too-public debates about Israel driving the US into a war against Iran — an idea already seeping into popular consciousness — may be the first salvoes in the battle to come.
If the war on Iran turns out to be a catastrophic misstep, as it gives every appearance of being, there will be a price to pay — and leading US politicians are likely to scramble to shift the blame on to Israel. It may be that they are already getting in their excuses.
The all-too-visible freedom Israel has enjoyed in Washington to buy, bully and silence could soon become a central liability. It will not be hard to argue that a system so clearly open to manipulation that the US could be bounced into a self-sabotaging war needs to be remade, to prevent any repeat of such a disaster.
This may be the biggest lesson Washington learns from the war on Iran. That it is time to stop the tail wagging so vigorously.
Jonathan Cook is a writer, journalist and self-appointed media critic and author of many books about Palestine. Winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. This article was first published on the author’s Substack and reepublished with permission.
“On my first day as a refugee lawyer – in three different jobs – they thought I was the refugee, not the lawyer’, Perera says in a clip of her stand-up posted to social media that many Australians related to.
“The best thing about comedy is saying something very personal, but having it resonate around a room, around the country. That’s what makes it really, really beautiful.
“I keep looking over my shoulder like, is this allowed for an adult to be having quite this much fun?” she tells RNZ’s Saturday Morning.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Ford has written to owners of Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue.STR
An owner of a Ford hybrid vehicle that has had a problem identified with its battery says it could not have happened at a worse time.
Ford said it had written to the owners of some Escape PHEVs regarding a battery issue that could create a fire hazard, if they were fully charged.
“A manufacturing defect in one or more of the vehicle’s high voltage battery cells may cause the cell to develop an internal short circuit. Ford globally has had no incidents reported and the batteries we’ve checked, again globally, less than one percent have shown it to even be a potential issue.
“In NZ, we’ve had no known incidents and no batteries have yet been found to have the issue in question.
“However, as an added safety precaution, Ford has asked customers to limit the charging to 80 percent and drive in auto EV mode only. This is not a ‘stop drive’ issue.
“Ford is investigating a permanent solution and will be in contact again with customers asap.”
Brian Holmes said it was very inconvenient to be told his vehicle could “burst into flames”, when he wanted to rely on the battery more than ever.
He told Ford that, given the fuel crisis and the increasing uncertainty of the future price of petrol, the need to avoid using the full value of the plug-in hybrid could not have come at a worse time.
He had asked for compensation, but was told that a decision had not yet been made about whether that was possible.
“They don’t have a technical fix and have stonewalled my enquiry about compensation.”
Earlier, Westpac New Zealand managing director of institutional and business banking Reuben Tucker told RNZ demand for electric vehicles through the bank’s greater choices home loan top up and other loans for electric vehicles had soared.
“In the last two weeks, the number of applications for EVs through these products has roughly doubled,” he said.
“We don’t take the Force lightly, especially on their home patch and after the loss to the Brumbies last week it’s important we get the little things right on Saturday,” – Chiefs coach Jonno Gibbs.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Liam Lawson experienced a frustrating day in Japanese GP qualifying.AFP
Kiwi driver Liam Lawson will provisionally start 14th on the grid for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, after a frustrating day at the Suzuka Circuit.
Lawson got through the first qualifying session comfortably, finishing with the 11th-fastest lap, with the top 16 progressing.
With six more dropping out after the second session, Lawson needed a good time in his Racing Bulls car, but fell short.
Team-mate Arvid Lindblad made it through, with the 10th-fastest lap, 1.541 seconds behind top qualifier Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli will start from pole position, his second pole in a row, after the Chinese Grand Prix, which he won convincingly.
The 19-year-old Italian was fastest in the third qualifying session, with Mercedes teammate George Russell alongside on the front row. Oscar Piastri, who missed out on the first two F1 races of the season, will start from three, alongside Charles Leclerc, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton next. Lindblad will start from 10th.
In the earlier final practice session, Lawson had finished with the 12th fastest lap, showing anger, after claiming he was blocked by one of the Haas cars.
“What the f***, man, oh my God,” Lawson said on his Racing Bulls team radio. “He just literally parked it on the apex the whole way through.”
Lawson earned his first points of the season at the Chinese Grand Prix, with top-10 finishes in both the sprint and the grand prix.
He sits on eight points, in ninth place, with Russell leading the standings on 51 points, four points ahead of Antonelli.
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Cure Kids chief executive Frances Soutter.RNZ / Pretoria Gordon
Cure Kids warns 60,000 children in New Zealand each year are admitted to hospital with a preventable disease.
It is calling for the government to take action, following the release of the fifth State of Child Health report on Friday.
The report found the hospitalisation rate for children with respiratory conditions had increased by 60 percent since 2000.
“These are not rare or unavoidable illnesses,” Cure Kids chief executive Frances Soutter said. “They are, in many cases, preventable and our youngest children are carrying the greatest burden.”
Soutter said those under the age of one accounted for half the children in hospital for a respiratory condition.
The report called for a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus or RSV to be funded.
Auckland University professor of paediatrics and emergency medicine Stuart Dalziel said RSV was the leading cause of bronchiolitis, which hospitalised one in 12 children per year.
Nirsevimab would prevent that, Dalziel said.
Auckland University professor of paediatrics and emergency medicine Stuart Dalziel.RNZ / Pretoria Gordon
The report also called for the influenza vaccine to be funded for children under five.
“We know that young children have the highest hospitalisation rates for flu and it plays a major role in spreading it within communities,” Soutter said. “This is a really practical, really cost-effective step that would protect our children and those around them.”
While the hospitalisation rate for those with rheumatic fever or heart disease had returned to the same level as before the pandemic, Pacific children were 43 times more likely to be admitted to hospital with the disease than other children.
University of Auckland researcher, associate professor Anneka Anderson.RNZ / Pretoria Gordon
University of Auckland researcher and associate professor Anneka Anderson said that rate could be reduced by more than 85 percent, if the inequities were eliminated.
“Rheumatic fever is one of our country’s most glaring health inequities, and the extreme disparities we see in hospitalisation rates for our tamariki Māori and Pacific children, compared to non-Māori, non-Pacific children, are unacceptable in a country with the resources Aotearoa has,” she said.
“With co-ordinated prevention strategies and sustained investment in research, this disease is entirely preventable.”
Health Minister Simeon Brown told RNZ that the government was focused on prevention, as well as improving the health of children and young people.
“Making sure children can access timely, quality healthcare close to home is a fundamental part of that.
“That is why we are so focused on ensuring families can see a doctor when they need to, including through free GP appointments for children aged 13 and under.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Cuba’s Ambassador to New Zealand, Luis Morejón Rodríguez, last night made a passionate plea for his country’s sovereignty in defiance of the illegal US-led fuel blockade of the Caribbean nation.
Speaking at a packed Auckland Trades Hall, he warned that the three-month oil blockade and energy blackouts threatened the country’s public health system with dire consequences for many patients.
“In Cuba today, approximately 16,000 patients undergoing radiotherapy and more than 2800 patients receiving hemodialysis depend every day on a stable electricity supply in hospitals across the country,” he said.
“These are life-sustaining treatments that cannot simply be postponed without risk.”
He said Cuba would continue to oppose Washington’s escalating military threats and economic pressure on his country.
New Zealand supporters of Cuba at last night’s solidarity public meeting in Auckland with Cuban Ambassador Luis Morejón Rodríguez. Image: Asia Pacific Report
Speaking alongside Ambassador Rodríguez was Dr Josephine Varghese, a Canterbury University lecturer who shared an eyewitness account of her recent trip to Havana.
She praised Cuba and “our collective fight against the global imperialism system”.
Military assault openly discussed A military assault on Cuba has been openly discussed by US President Donald Trump and other White House officials since the illegal January 2 strike against Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and also during the current war on Iran.
The Nuestra America Convoy humanitarian aid arrives in Havana this week. Image: Asia Pacific Report
However, two Mexican sailboats on the Nuestra America Convoy that has just arrived in Cuba this week were reportedly missing at sea and coast guard authorities from Cuba and Mexico are looking for them.
Ambassador Rodríguez said solidarity aid flotillas were really important for Cubans as they demonstrated global support.
During his speech last night, Ambassador Rodríguez said that when energy availability became uncertain, hospitals needed to prioritise essential services, and non-urgent procedures often needed to be delayed, preserving electricity and fuel resources.
“In other words, restrictions on fuel do not only affect economic indicators. They directly affect operating rooms, diagnostic equipment, medical treatments, and ultimately the health and well-being of patients,” he said.
University lecturer Dr Josephine Varghese talks about her recent Cuban solidarity experience on a visit to Havana. Image: Asia Pacific Report
‘Coercion and collective punishment’ “That is why Cuba has described these measures as economic coercion and collective punishment.”
Ambassador Rodríguez said the world was living in a moment when the international system was being tested.
“Increasingly, we see the logic of power challenging the logic of law.
“For countries like Cuba — small countries — international law is not an abstract concept. It is our main protection.”
He criticised President Trump’s claim in January that Cuba represented an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security.
“Let us pause for a moment and reflect on that statement. Cuba is a Caribbean island of 10 million people,” he said.
‘We do not project power’ “We do not possess nuclear weapons. We do not have military bases abroad. We do not project military power internationally.
“And yet we are described as an extraordinary threat.
“But this declaration is not merely rhetorical. It has very concrete consequences.”
With Cubans continuing to live under prolonged blackouts and the government preparing for military confrontation, the audience last night celebrated Cuba’s courageous resistance, saying it was an inspiration to the world.
The fuel blockade, enforced by the US naval armada in the Caribbean, piles pressure on top of Washington’s economic embargo that has been in place since the early 1960s.
Discussing the impact of the blockade on Cubans that she witnessed on her travel to Cuba in January, Dr Varghese said the unjust US measures “denied working people access to the most basic necessities, from medicines to electricity and transportation”.
She linked the Cuban crisis to the Palestinian, Iranian and Venezuelan struggles for peace and justice.
The Cuba Friendship Society, which sponsoring last night’s meeting chaired by retired trade unionist Robert Reid, noted that the only crime of Cuba and its people was that of overthrowing a US-backed dictator in 1959, and then defending their sovereignty and other conquests of their revolution in the six decades since.
The ambassador is also due to speak at public meetings in Christchurch and Wellington.
The Cuban flag and an iconic image of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentine Marxist revolutionary and guerrilla leader who played a key role in the Cuban Revolution at a solidarity meeting in Auckland last night. Image: Asia Pacific Report
Police chose Habitat For Humanity as a suitable charity.NZ Police
A local charity will benefit from stolen property, after a North Canterbury burglar was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court last week.
Last year, police identified a pattern of late-night burglaries at residential construction sites in Rangiora and Rolleston between March and April, where ovens, cooktops, lighting and other new fixtures were being stolen.
Area prevention manager Senior Sergeant Rachel Walker said the offending caused considerable stress, delays, and financial loss for homeowners and builders across the region.
The 42-year-old man was sentenced to nine months and 14 days’ home detention, Walker said.
“Amongst the sentencing conditions, the judge ordered that all recovered property that had no known owner was to be donated to charity,” she added.
The stolen goods donated to Habitat for Humanity New Zealand.NZ Police
“This is a great outcome and ensures that the community benefits from the recovery of stolen property.”
Police chose Habitat For Humanity as a suitable charity.
The charity focuses on providing and improving housing lower-income families through initiatives like rent-to-buy programmes and community rentals, allocating warm, dry and safe housing based on need.
“The remaining 52 appliances and fittings that were recovered by police may now provide direct benefit to community groups and families who need them,” Walker said.
“This was a great piece of investigative work from the team and even better that this goes towards helping people in our communities.”
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Follow all the Super Rugby Pacific action, as the Blues take on the Fijian Drua at Eden Park.
“The Drua are a dangerous side when you give them space. They play with a lot of flair and confidence, so for us it’s about being accurate, controlling the tempo and making good decisions under pressure,” – Blues coach Vern Cotter.
Dual British or Irish New Zealanders have no exemption to the new UK border rule.RNZ /Gill Bonnett
The Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill has been debated in Parliament for the first time. The government bill, which would amend the Immigration Act, is being shepherded by National MP and Minister of Immigration, Erica Stanford.
The bill describes itself as aimed at better meeting the Immigration Act’s purpose of balancing “the national interest… and the rights of individuals”.
Amendments proposed in the bill would touch on both sides of that equation, with new tools to both deport immigrants and to protect them.
The bill’s main provisions are outlined below, followed by political responses.
The bill: Deportations
The deportation aspect of the bill strengthens the “deportation liability settings” for immigrants on resident visas. It also makes “deportation liability a more likely outcome for lower-level criminal offending”. (All quotes in this section are from the bill’s own Explanatory Note.)
After being granted a resident visa, a migrant remains liable to be deported for subsequent criminal offending. The period of continuing liability varies depending on the severity of the offence. Those liability periods (since receiving a visa) are lengthening.
For offences subject to imprisonment of at least three months, the period of liability lengthens from two to five years. For offences punishable by two-plus years imprisonment, the liability period changes from five years to 10. For offences culpable for five-plus years, the liability period changes from 10years to 15; and for offending punishable by at least 10 years’ prison, it changes from 10 years to 20.
The liability period resets if a migrant with a resident visa is absent from New Zealand for five years.
Criminal conviction outside New Zealand prior to a visa being granted always makes a visa-holder liable for deportation.
Other deportation liability changes aim to fill gaps in current legislation. The bill would clarify “the range of false and misleading submissions that can make a person liable for deportation; and that historic crimes that were committed outside New Zealand can give rise to deportation liability; and how administrative errors can give rise to deportation liability.”
Misleading and false information will also include omission of information that was potentially prejudicial.
More data sharing between government agencies would be allowed, to check things such as applicant’s claims, identity and character; or to check eligibility for funded services or benefits.
Anybody committing a criminal act while in New Zealand on a visitor or temporary visa, as well as those illegally in the country, would be unable to appeal a deportation order on humanitarian grounds.
Victims of serious offenders who are undergoing deportation proceedings would have “the right to be heard during their offender’s deportation proceedings, whether or not the offence against them is the basis of the offender’s liability for deportation.”
The bill: Migrant exploitation offences
The bill also includes changes to offences and penalties related to migrant exploitation. There are three particular changes.
The bill “extends the maximum prison sentence for migrant exploitation offending from seven to ten years”. (All quotes in this section are from the bill’s own Explanatory Note.)
It creates new offences relating to providing “incorrect or incomplete information to the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE)”, and also for failing to provide wage and time records when requested.
It would also extend MBIE’s timeframe for issuing infringement notices for some offences. Migrant exploitation offences have not always been readily or easily reported by victims, which has allowed some offenders to escape justice by dint of the time limits for proceedings allowed for by the Summary Proceedings Act 1957.
The bill will also seek to prevent the use of temporary asylum visas as a stalling tactic in order to apply for a different kind of visa. An asylum claimant who withdraws that claim would be ineligible for other visas.
Chris Penk.RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
Political agreement
The three governing parties are in favour, unsurprisingly. Chris Penk spoke for National, on behalf of the Immigration Minister Erica Stanford.
“This bill provides practical, targeted improvements so that our immigration system can detect, deter, and respond to risk in a firm but fair way, welcoming those who contribute while being clear eyed about misuse and criminal behaviour.”
ACT’s Parmjeet Parmar noted that while ACT supports the bill, they want to further extend deportation liability for residence class visa holders. The current 10-year liability is being extended to 20 years for serious crimes. Parmar wants more.
“Why should consequences expire after 10 years or 20 years if somebody is on a residence class visa? I am proposing an amendment that it should be an unlimited period – the extension of deportation liability should be for an unlimited period – and I’m talking about serious criminal offending.”
New Zealand First offered no amendments. Casey Costello argued the bill fits with the view of American conservative political philosopher Russell Kirk that “every right is married to a duty; every freedom owes a corresponding responsibility”.
Political opposition
Labour’s Phil Twyford (a former associate minister of immigration), strongly opposed the bill.
“This bill is a pretty naked exercise in election-year politicking at the expense of migrants and refugees. The minister of immigration wants to look tough.”
Speaking from his experience as a minister and electorate MP he spoke about humanitarian cases that sometimes involved disabled children.
“I can tell the House that there’s no shortage of cases where Immigration New Zealand has made a sequence of poor decisions, where the interests of the children have not been given the weight required under our international treaty obligations. Justice is, in a significant number of cases, only finally delivered through an appeal to the tribunal on exceptional humanitarian circumstances.”
Ricardo Menendez March.VNP / Phil Smith
Green MP Ricardo Menendez March was no less incensed, though his focus was on undocumented migrants.
“This is a Trump administration-inspired, MAGA-loving piece of legislation that deserves to be put in the bin. If you heard the minister’s contribution, you would think that this is a completely different bill from the one I have in front of me.
“In the bill itself, it’s quite clear: this is a bill that seeks to demonise and target undocumented migrants by giving more powers to our immigration officials to target them if they suspect that they may be in breach of their visa conditions.”
Duncan Webb raised an issue with the proposed changes to rules about cancelling an asylum claim. He pointed out that if an asylum seeker fell in love with a New Zealand citizen while awaiting a decision on their claim, they would no longer be able to cancel their claim (in order to obtain a partnership visa) because doing so would make them ineligible for any visa.
Te Pāti Māori did not speak in the first reading debate.
The Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Billis here.
The Regulatory Impact Statement for the billis here.
The Departmental Disclosure Statement for the billis here.
The Hansard report of the first reading debate ishere.
The Education & Workforce Committee page – for information on submissions etc ishere.
RNZ’s The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament’s Office of the Clerk. Enjoy ourarticlesorpodcastat RNZ.
The study was still in its early stages, but its aim was to deliver a wide range of protection against the flu, Covid and other diseases.123rf.com
A single vaccine to protect against several diseases would be convenient and according to one study it may also be possible.
Stanford University School of Medicine professor Dr Bali Pulendran is a senior author on the American experiment looking at a vaccine that could protect against the flu, Covid and other diseases.
He told Saturday Morning that the study was still in its early stages, but its aim was to deliver a wide range of protection.
“What the experiments show is that if you deliver this vaccine intranasally, it can induce immunity that seems to be remarkably broad in conferring protection against many different strains of viruses, different strains of bacteria, but also allergens.”
So far, the vaccine was being administered through the nose on mice.
“It’s administered through a pipette into the nostrils of mice and ultimately, we think that as we move forward into translation, that this could be a nasal spray that’s administered to humans.”
Pulendran added it was important that the vaccine be administered nasally.
“Because we were trying to protect against respiratory infections. And if you wish to evoke the kind of immune response in a tissue, in a local site, I think the best mode of delivery is through a route that’s proximal to that site.”
He said if successful, this would be helpful should we encounter another pandemic in the future that is more dangerous than Covid-19.
“So that’s where I think this kind of universal vaccine that could be administered broadly to the population at the very earliest signs of the pandemic could be useful as a sort of a stopgap measure in imprinting immunity on a population-wide level for some period of time.”
He said it could also be useful during non-pandemic times such as the flu season where it can be distributed as a nasal spray.
Historically the way vaccines worked was by teaching the immune system to respond to a bit of a pathogen.
Pulendran said for this immunisation the idea was to “integrate” the innate and adaptive immune system to launch a response that was “broad” and “pathogen agnostic”.
The adaptive immune system was made of antibodies and T-cells. The innate immune system was something Pulendran referred to as evolutionarily “ancient” and was “broader” in its ability to protect against infections.
“Unlike the adaptive immune system, the innate immune system is not very specific. It’s really quite broad.”
“Regardless of the pathogen, whether it’s a microbe or a virus or a fungi, the innate immune system can launch this incredibly broad response.”
Although broad the innate immune system was not very “long lived”, lasting only a few minutes or days, potentially weeks.
“The strategy that we came up with was to leverage the incredible breadth of the innate immune system, but the longevity of the adaptive immune system.”
“So, we could allow the adaptive immune cells in the lungs to teach the innate immune system to keep going for far longer than just a few days or a few weeks and in this case, in mice, up to about six months or so.”
He said mice that had been given the intranasal vaccine and later infected with bacteria, allergens and viruses such as SARS and some coronaviruses were protected for three or up to six months.
“What’s happening now is that we are planning a study in humans where we could test this concept to see if this vaccine is safe and efficacious.”
“If that proves to be successful, I think this would represent a remarkable departure from how we view vaccines.”
Following the testing on mice the next step is a toxicology study on rabbits.
If the toxicology study produces positive results, Pulendran said they would look to do a “dose escalation study” in humans, a process they were fundraising for.
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Kiwis icon Kieran Foran has been named coach of NRL team the Manly Sea Eagles.Photosport
Famed Kiwis playmaker Kieran Foran has been named interim coach of the Manly Sea Eagles for the rest of the season, after the NRL club sacked Anthony Seibold on Friday.
Foran, 35, retired from top flight play at the end of last season. He chalked up 318 NRL appearances over 17 seasons, including 17 matches for the New Zealand Warriors in 2017.
He played 34 tests for the Kiwis between 2009 and 2025.
Foran has been an assistant coach to Seibold this season. The axe came quickly for Seibold, with three losses in their first three games – all at home – enough for them to sack him.
He had been head coach since late 2022.
“I love this club and I want to do everything in my power to continue the success we have had over many decades,” Foran said in a Manly statement after his appointment was announced today.
“The Sea Eagles have given me so many opportunities over the years and I want to continue to help wherever I can.
“We have a tremendous group of players and coaching staff, and I have every confidence that we can achieve a lot together this season.
“All focus now is preparing as best we can for our next game against the Dolphins next Thursday.”
Foran won a premiership with Manly in 2011. He played 196 games for the club in two stints.
Sea Eagles chairman Scott Penn said Foran was “Manly through and through” and would pour all his energy into the new role.
“Kieran has given so much to this club over many years and the fact he has only recently finished his playing career is an advantage, he understands the current pace of the game and what we need to do to compete,” Penn said.
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ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 28, 2026.
Why is the West dancing to Israel’s tune? What’s leading us to disaster DOCUMENTARY: Double Down News The Middle East is in flames. Britain is being dragged into an illegal war, the aims of which are entirely unclear, reports Richard Sanders of Double Down News. “It’s a war of choice, and the man who chose it is Benjamin Netanyahu. Why, yet again, is the West dancing to Israel’s
Cameras have quietly appeared in thousands of US cities – now, their integration with AI is sounding alarms Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jess Reia, Assistant Professor of Data Science, University of Virginia For decades, cars dictated urban planning in the United States. Few could have predicted that they would one day also double as nodes for surveillance. In thousands of towns and cities across the U.S., automatic license plate
‘Torture and genocide’ – UN expert Francesca Albanese denounces Israeli abuse of Palestinians Democracy Now! AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. NERMEEN SHAIKH: An Israeli court has closed an investigation into the death of Walid Ahmad, a 17-year-old from the occupied West Bank who died in an Israeli jail six months after he was arrested, held without charges and accused of throwing
Ancient bones show dogs have been woven into human life for nearly 16,000 years Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Fairbairn, Professor of Archaeology, The University of Queensland Odin was a kelpie. Attentive and protective, with a happy smile and an endless hope for food, he succumbed to a terminal disease late last year. At his death, a deep sense of grief ripped through the household
The TGA wants to overhaul sunscreen labels. Will scrapping SPFs work? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Associate Professor in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Queensland On Thursday, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) released a raft of proposed changes to improve how sunscreens are tested and sold, including simplifying sun protection factor (SPF) labelling. In its statement, the TGA highlighted
Why hasn’t the US military used force to secure the Strait of Hormuz? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Bergman, International Affairs Editor, The Conversation Since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in late February, Iran has retaliated by targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting down the narrow channel of water. It’s caused a global fuel crisis,
Albanese gives tit-for-tat response to Trump’s criticism of Australia over Iran war Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese has pushed back at Donald Trump’s crack at Australia for not providing the United States with as much backing over the Iran war as the president believed it should. Trump, who made his comment about Australia when asked
The Olympics’ transgender athlete ban is a legal and moral minefield Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Nichol, Lecturer in Law, CQUniversity Australia The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed it is introducing a controversial new policy that will ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s events. The IOC stated eligibility for women’s events will be determined by a “once-in-a-lifetime” sex test, which
Keith Rankin Analysis – The Enigma of the Iranian President Analysis by Keith Rankin. One puzzling feature of the present Israel-Iran war is the almost complete absence of reference – in the western media at least – to the Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian. The American president claimed that Israel had killed the Iranian President, but he was referring to the Supreme Leader. Killing Ali Khamenei,
Keith Rankin Analysis – USS Tripoli: What’s in a Name? Analysis by Keith Rankin – This analysis was first published on 26 March 2026. One of the United States’ navy ships heading towards the Persian Gulf is the USS Tripoli. (USS = United States Ship.) How the heck did it get that name? (Will the next two United States’ naval ships be called the USS
Keith Rankin Analysis – Has New Zealand just signed up for World War Three? Analysis by Keith Rankin – this analysis was first published on 24 March 2026. A minute after my radio-alarm went off this morning, I was ‘privileged’ to hear this deeply scary interview with the Deputy Prime Minister: Deputy PM Seymour on NZ, Iran and fuel relief, RNZ 24 March 2026. For most of the interview
Rift widens within French Polynesia’s ruling party following municipal election losses By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A rift within French Polynesia’s ruling Tavini Huiraatira party has widened this week, pitting the leadership “old guard” against a younger generation embodied by the territory’s President, Moetai Brotherson. The main reason for the rift is the outcome of the recent French municipal elections, especially in
Local Anna McKessar was putting her children to bed just before 10pm when a group of screaming teens came running towards her home.RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
Local residents had been growing frustrated by several out-of-control parties at two Mt Albert properties, before a violent incident last night left multiple people injured.
Police were called to Phyllis Street in the Auckland suburb shortly before 10pm after a fight broke out, and four people were taken to hospital.
St John said one person was in a serious condition, while three others were in a moderate condition.
Senior Sergeant John Nicol said police were still working to investigate and establish what occurred.
“Early information suggests that a vehicle was driven toward a group of partygoers, injuring two people – one with moderate injuries and one with minor injuries,” he said.
At least two other people were also moderately injured during the “wider disorder”.
Local Anna McKessar was putting her children to bed just before 10pm when a group of screaming teens came running towards her home.
“I was really worried about the young people that I could see and whether they were trying to get away, and whether they were safe.
Broken glass is on the corner of Springleigh Ave and Jerram Street.RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
“But I didn’t want to go out and put myself in danger or put my kids in danger. Once I heard the police arriving, I felt a little bit more comfortable that the young people who were out there were okay.”
Neighbours on the street are also reporting that partygoers were attacked with machetes.
The party was held at a property which has been listed on several short-stay accommodation platforms, McKessar said.
She said a few hundred people were gathered there before violence spilt out onto the road.
“They shouldn’t have been having this ruckus party.
“But I’m sure most of the kids that were there were just not thinking about the consequences, turning up to a party, just being classic teens. They didn’t come thinking all this would happen.
“They were all pretty freaked out, and I just feel really sad for them that that was what it turned into.
“You can have a big group of people, and only two or three need to come with ill intent to affect hundreds of lives.”
Anna McKessar said the party was held at a property which has been listed on several short-stay accommodation platforms.RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
She said locals had been growing frustrated after several parties at the property and a property next door, which were owned by the same landlord.
“We had a spate of parties a couple of years ago where we had real problems. The house was rented for a night or two to some teenagers, and it had just turned into this massive thing. They trashed cars on the street, and neighbours’ fences, and it was terrible. It happened at least twice.
“It’s pretty upsetting for neighbours, and the person that owns those properties has never shown up, never apologised, and shown no remorse.”
Another Phyllis Street resident, who did not want to be named, said she was woken by the sounds of the “violent” altercation.
“There was so many people out there screaming and shouting at each other and they were kicking the gates and fences of random houses down Phyllis Street. It sounded like people were getting really hurt.”
The broken glass is on the corner of Springleigh Ave and Jerram Street.RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
Residents of a nearby property Michael and Susan Wells said they had also seen the gathering and heard the screams.
The number of partygoers swelled, when news of the fight spread, Michael Wells said.
“We noticed more cars piling in, the traffic was quite busy, busier than usual.”
Residents of a nearby property Michael and Susan Wells said they had also seen the gathering and heard the screams.RNZ /Jessica Hopkins
Vehicles appeared to come from around the area, Susan Wells said.
“More cars coming down and doing burnouts at about 10, so people were still arriving at that point to try to check out what was happening and it looked like they wanted to join in”.
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State Highway 10 leading to the Far North had been flooded on March 26.RNZ
Kaikohe has avoided a water crisis, as residents and businesses quickly reduced their usage.
The Northland town was warned on Friday night that it could run out of water if residents didn’t start conserving it.
Civil Defence said reservoir levels have now risen to 64 percent, easing some of the immediate pressure on the supply.
Teams are working to restore the water treatment plant after problems from Thursday’s storm.
The Far North District Council had made a social media post on Friday warning residents that “taps could run dry” unless residents reduced their water use.
“The council is asking all Kaikohe households and businesses to reduce consumption immediately or risk the town’s supply reservoirs running out of treated water tonight.”
Kaikohe residents are being asked to continue conserving water.
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Around a third of Gisborne vape stores subject to compliance checks last year were found to have broken the rules.
Of the 18 stores subject to controlled purchase operations (CPO), four failed for selling to minors and three failed for other reasons, including the sale of disposable vapes.
The results, from 1 February, 2025, to 28 February, 2026, were revealed in a Health New Zealand Official Information Act response to Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) questions.
According to the OIA, all 18 controlled purchase operations took place in June last year.
The data did not specify what each store failed for, and some retailers failed more than once.
Retailers told LDR they had since made changes to meet compliance, with one store saying they no longer sold vapes.
Which stores failed?
Gisborne retailers that failed a vape-related CPO in June 2025:
Friends Indian Takeaway & Dairy (61 Gladstone Rd)
Elgin Vape Shop (signposted as Elgin Dairy, 683 Childers Rd)
Grocery Hutt (384 Palmerston Rd)
Roebuck Road Superette and Takeaways (141A Roebuck Rd)
Bridge Store (19 Roebuck Rd)
De Lautour Road Superette (92a De Lautour Rd)
Of the stores that gave comments to LDR, Pushwinder Kaur of Friends Indian Takeaways and Dairy said failing compliance was a one-off. It had not happened in the 16-17 years they had operated the store.
They had paid their fine and now checked every ID for those who looked like they could be under the age range of 18-25.
Owner of Roebuck Rd Superette and Takeaways, Simranjid Singh, also owned De Lautour Rd Superette. Singh said both of his stores failed because of a lack of staff training and awareness of the rule changes for the sales of disposable vapes.
Singh and Kaur both said they did not sell the fruity flavoured vape products.
Manager of Grocery Hutt, Sidharth Chawla, said they no longer sold vapes but were looking at applying for a licence in the future.
Owner of the Elgin Vape shop, Shao-Qing Li, said, through an interpreter, she believed there was a mistake in the CPO results but had paid the fines.
Six Gisborne vape stores failed vape-related Control Purchase Operations in June 2025.Gisborne Herald
Vape sales compliance education ‘far more active’ – medical officer of health
Douglas Lush, a medical officer of health in the region, said vapes could be bought at 84 places (not only dedicated vape stores) within Gisborne city.
Lush said a store could be targeted for a CPO if there were any concerns from the public or a reason for suspicion.
Tai Rāwhiti now has a permanent compliance officer, who visits suppliers, educates them on the legislation and ensures they adhere to the rules.
“We’ve been far more active with vape sales than we have been in the past.”
On 17 June last year, intending to discourage youth from vaping, the government banned disposable vapes, which were cheap and had adverse environmental impacts, Lush said.
“Vaping has a small and declining role in helping long-term smokers kick smoking, but has no benefits for rangitahi who become rapidly addicted to the nicotine that is contained in the vapes.”
The National Public Health Service would continue to “investigate, educate and then prosecute retailers who do not adhere to the law”, he said.
The infringement fine is $2000 for each offence, and retailers can be fined for multiple offences.
Infringements ‘very concerning’ – mayor
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said it was “very concerning” to see retailers failing to meet compliance checks.
“Particularly where young people may have been able to access vaping products.”
As a response to an increase in young people taking up vaping, the council’s smoke-free and vape-free policy was updated last July to include vaping and the city centre.
According to the council report, results from a 2024 survey undertaken by the Action for Smokefree 2025 revealed that 21.9 percent of Year 10 students in Tai Rāwhiti vaped daily – 63 percent of these Māori.
Stoltz said the policy was “focused on promoting healthy public spaces and taking steps to ensure harmful habits are less visible and less normalised, especially for rangatahi”.
“Compliance and enforcement at the point of sale are matters for health agencies, but as a community we should all expect better when it comes to protecting young people.”
What do schools say?
LDR approached some schools near stores that failed the CPO.
Ilminster Intermediate is near De Lautour Road Superette, which failed. Principal Jonathan Poole said it was concerning that children were able to get hold of vapes with “ease” and how the various flavours available appealed to young people.
“It’s the accessibility that our kids have to these things… they’re either buying them, they’re getting other people to buy them, or they’re just bringing them from home.”
He believed other principals were experiencing the same issues.
Poole said he had seen an increase in vaping last year, but the school seemed to be “on top of it” this year. It was not just at intermediate and high-school level.
“Kids are vaping at a very young age.”
Poole was concerned kids were addicted to their vapes, which is why they were bringing them into school.
“It’s because it’s become a long-term habit already.”
When asking some children last year why they vaped, they responded with: “Oh, we just like the taste.”
“It’s the flavour, it’s like a lolly,” Poole said.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Though the worst is likely over, MetService is currently forecasting rain and strong winds for Northland throughout Sunday.
Mita Harris leads the Kerikeri Cadet Unit, and with his military-grade Unimog, can access flooded properties that others cannot. A former reservist himself, he has owned the vehicle for around a decade, and has been able to help evacuate households and lift supplies.
RNZ/Tim Collins
He says this week saw the worst floods in the Far North so far this year.
“It was fast, it wasn’t slow, thank goodness for that,” Harris said. “If an event kept going like this for three or four days, we’d be in serious trouble.”
He said he had spent the week preparing the vehicle, following forecasts and keeping in close contact with low-lying areas where he had seen extreme flooding in the past. By the evening they were in the thick of it.
Northland flooding near Kerikeri – 27 March 2026RNZ/Tim Collins
On a crumbled gravel road in a paddock in Waihou Valley, with flattened shrubbery and scattered debris everywhere, Harris said the high tide coupled with intense levels of rainwater had rendered the whole area submerged.
The area began to flood at around lunchtime on Thursday, rising with the tide at around 4pm until 10pm, he said.
“It just looked like a rippling moving desert, it’s ripped up the tarseal and just carried stuff off, it’s a huge volume that came in with a high tide as well which pushed everything out.”
Farming households in the area who depend on those roads were effectively stranded, though Harris was occasionally able to access them on the Unimog. One farming family had been completely cut off after part of their road collapsed into a stream underneath.
“On the Unimog, those levels were up to the bonnet, which is six foot two (1.88m).”
Northland flooding near Kerikeri – 27 March 2026RNZ/Tim Collins
Northland Regional Council said 410 cubic metres of floodwaters were flowing down the Awanui River every second, a record.
In a statement, Regional Councillor Joe Carr credited the upgrade Awanui flood scheme from stopping communities like Kaitaia from an outcome comparable to the infamous 1958 floods, which recorded nearly half as much floodwater.
“This was an extraordinary event with very intense hourly rainfall which tested the scheme to its limits,” he said.
“There was some costly flooding and associated evacuations as stopbanks did overtop both upstream and downstream of State Highway 1 Bridge Waikuruki and in the lower Whangatane Spillway, all of which are works in progress, but overall the $15 million-plus, multi-year scheme upgrade performed very well.”
Northland flooding near Kerikeri – 27 March 2026RNZ/Tim Collins
Harris felt as though there was very little that could be done to future-proof the communities in the actual floodplains.
“The infrastructure has been like this for a long time since they started putting roads in off the state highway in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.
“Technology’s giving us some early warnings about when these events are coming, so when to prepare… so families will do that, but the infrastructure, it is what it is.”
Northland flooding near Kerikeri – 27 March 2026RNZ/Tim Collins
Scanabull is a new mobile phone app to estimate the weight of cattle from four and a half metres away.supplied
Waikato can lay claim to the development of the electric fence in the 1930s, thanks to inventor and farmer Bill Gallagher.
Now another another start-up from the same region is hoping to take the danger out of weighing cattle.
Scanabull co-founder Dan Bull grew up on a sheep and beef farm near Te Akau northwest of Hamilton.
After spending four years managing stock, he’s working full-time for his company, which has just raised $1.1 million to commercialise its WeighApp.
“Some animals are really easy to weigh, those really passive friendly lifestyle cows,” Bull said.
“When you get a big Friesian bull from 600 to 700 kilos – you can not weigh that if it doesn’t want to be weighed.
“They’re huge, they break posts, they break people, they do all sorts of random stuff, they fight each other.
“If you get in the way of that you’re in trouble, there’s a layer of danger there.”
Traditionally farmers use a bull pen or weigh crates, or experienced operators use their eyes to estimate the weight of cattle.supplied
Bull concedes farmers are used to handling unruly stock, but the new app should make life easier by measuring in a flash.
He said a cell phone can now be used to weigh cattle in the yards, from a range of about 4.5m away.
The technology uses a iPhone’s LiDAR sensor to scan the animal in 3D, sending out pulses and measuring how long they take to bounce back form different points.
Trials are underway with Silver Fern Farms, and the new technology was the talk of a recent Angus breeders tour when farmers visited a range of studs in Northland.
Bull said another handy tool in the pipeline can weigh stock out in the paddock.
“When they go for a drink at the trough, it can take an image of them, reports back and the farmer can see that on his or her computer at night.”
He said access to more accurate data across the supply chain will be an advantage.
From left: Scanabull founders Paul Sealock (founding engineer), Dan Bull (chief executive), Daniel Stuart-Jones (chief technology officer), and Ursula Haywood, (chief commercial officer).supplied
“Many animals are bought and sold based on visual estimates rather than objective measurements.
“And processors often have very little reliable data about animals before they arrive at the plant.”
The company’s raise was led by Sprout Agritech, with support from Enterprise Angels and Callaghan Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator programme.
It’s hoping to get the new app to the market by the middle of the year following trials.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Ngarimu scholarship board member and past winner Dr Kahurangi Waititi (left), 2026 scholarship recipient Uenuku Jefferies (center) and Māpuna host Julian Wilcox (left).RNZ/Pokere Paewai
The Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships continue to uphold the values of the Battalion even after the death of its last surviving member, Sir Robert “Bom” Gillies.
The recipients of the Scholarships were announced on Thursday in Parliament.
The scholarships were established in 1945 to assist Māori achievers to succeed in education and to contribute as leaders in New Zealand and overseas. Over 300 of them have been awarded.
Past winners include Willie Apiata VC, Professor Whatarangi Winiata, Hekia Parata, Dr Patu Hohepa and Dr Monty Soutar.
Ngarimu scholarship board member and past winner Dr Kahurangi Waititi told Māpuna the scholarships are about honouring the legacy of the 28th Māori Battalion and Te Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu VC.
“Now that we have lost our last mōrehu (survivor) they actually become really important. They’ve always been really important and it was beautiful in the time where the soldiers and the widows were on this board selecting.
“I was selected for one of my scholarships in that time. And so I think with them all gone now, it becomes really important that we remember what their key and core values were. But more so, how do we carry those values forward in the application of these scholarships? How do we remember? And what’s it going to look like in 50 years when there’s that degree of separation from our soldiers?”
Waititi’s father Major John Waititi, also known as “John the Major,” was the last surviving commanding officer of the Battalion and a former scholarship board member, he died in 2012.
“He absolutely loved this board, which is why I said yes when I was asked to come on. I know this was a heart kaupapa for him, and I could do nothing else but say yes to it when I was asked,” she said.
Waititi described her father as a “weaver of people” and there was some pressure stepping into a role with the board.
When she first applied for the scholarship there were still veterans and widows of veterans on the panel that she had to present to.
“They will ask the questions, they will interrogate you if possible. Yes, it was such a scary, scary situation for me. But I think my whole premise there was that at the time we were making stories, short stories about my father through video and through film. And so I actually had a really good visual presentation to give them and by the end they had tears,” she said.
This years applicants are really pushing the envelope and establish stories for their own time, she said.
There are scholarships available for Doctoral, Masters, Undergraduate and Vocational training, as well as the Ngarimu Video and Waiata competitions which Waititi said gives people different methods to express the stories of the 28th Battalion.
“There’s something about [Battalion soldiers] wanting a better future and them wanting their people to thrive. And I think that’s a key tenant within these scholarships as well. And so, yeah, in terms of the legacy, I think I’m actually excited to see where it goes in the future in terms of how we express and how we retell these stories.
“As scary as it is to have them all gone now, I think we’re in control of, you know, not over-romanticising, understanding the whakapapa of the trauma that came into our communities because it had nowhere else to be processed,” she said.
Doctoral scholarship recipient Uenuku Jefferies credits his koro as the reason he is receiving the scholarship and the reason he speaks te reo Māori every day.
His rangahau, or research, is centred around tikanga, especially around pre-colonial ceremonies and traditions and weaving that with his work as a filmmaker.
“So the main pātai is how might a Māori approach documenting pohoro or tāmoko alongside the reclamation of pre-colonial ceremonies and traditions.”
In May 2022 Jefferies said he was fortunate enough to reclaim his puhoro, tattoos on his legs, thighs and back.
“Just like my practice as a filmmaker, decolonising narratives is a big thing. But not only just narratives, but also our beliefs.”
As part of his PhD, he will create four short documentaries.
“There are so many aspects in a documentary that create beauty. And that may be that that footage, or the kōrero that is captured is actually given back to the haukāinga. It may be that my whānau took place within the production, or the economic value of the project went back to the people and so that’s how we measure success… we can’t just think inside the box and I know that the 28th Māori Battalion did that.”
The 2026 Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship recipients:
Doctoral:
Uenukuterangihoka Tairua Jefferies (Te Whakatōhea, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau a Apanui, Ngāti Maniapoto)
Arna Whaanga (Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa)
