PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIENA Middlemarch family had to flee their home in the dead of night after flames ripped through their home this morning. In the latest incident, a Middlemarch family had to evacuate their home after a fire broke out at 1am today. The spokesman said six crews went to the scene, two from Middlemarch, two from Mosgiel and one from Naseby. Shortly before 4pm yesterday, three crews from the Browns, Winton and Hedgehope stations attended a barn fire in Browns, Southland. Firefighters managed to fully extinguish the blaze in one hour, and crews left the scene not too long after that.

The latest game created by Dunedin game studio Runaway Play overtook global giants such as Fortnite, Candy Crush and Among Us on just the first day of its launch. Preparing to celebrate with dragon-themed cupcakes yesterday morning while watching the statistics continue to rise , chief executive Zoe Hobson said the response to Hatch Dragons had been huge. Runaway Play chief executive Zoe Hobson (centre) celebrates the successful launch of Hatch Dragons with her team in Dunedin. Set in a mystical forest, Hatch Dragons was a collection-focused dragon game, which replaced battle and combat with nurturing and care, she said. Rather than immediately moving on to the next project, the plan was to look at what else could be added to Hatch Dragons.

PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSONMembers of the New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation, along with supporters, wear purple in solidarity and stand beside Dunedin Hospital yesterday to mark International Women’s Day tomorrow and support those fighting for pay equity in New Zealand. In May last year, the government cancelled all active pay equity claims and changed the law, making follow-up claims more difficult.

PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSONSt Kilda Beach was heaving yesterday as crowds swarmed to take a dip and escape the sweltering heat. A MetService meteorologist said Otago was the hottest region in the country, with different centres, including Dunedin and Alexandra, vying for the top spot. Temperatures reached 29°C, but nowhere in New Zealand managed to break into the thirties. ‘‘Luckily for Dunedin the weekend will cool down a little bit, with a high of 22°C for Saturday and reaching a maximum of 20°C for Sunday.’’The meteorologist said people should ‘‘enjoy the hot weather while you can’’ because come Monday, the high would be a cool 14°C.

My concern is about the consequence of this particular mine, specifically the tailings facility that will remain long after the mining stops. At current levels it would take well over a century of gold royalties to equal the cost of that single public project. One tailings facility. The proposed Bendigo tailings facility sits at the headwaters of a river system that flows through farms, vineyards and communities across Central Otago. My question to the minister would have been simple: why remove the one mechanism that helped communities scrutinise projects of this scale?

Human remains were found off SH3 between Te Awamutu and Ōtorohanga in the Waikato. Photo: Google MapsAn Ōtorohanga farmer was shocked when her and a group of weed controllers stumbled across a human skeleton in an area of privet bush near State Highway 3 this morning. Police are investigating the remains in an area around SH3 between Ōtorohanga and Te Awamutu. She said the trees are now about 30 metres tall, and that prompted her to start doing some weed control in the area. Police said they are in the very early stages of the investigation, and are unable to share any further information.

Cleave HayThe board of Queenstown-Lakes’ oldest school, Glenorchy School, has called in a limited statutory manager (LSM). Education consultant Cleave Hay, of Dunedin, was subsequently appointed. In a newsletter to parents last month, Mr Hay said he had been assigned all functions, powers and duties of the board as an employer, to establish policies and procedures and to manage communication. As to how serious the situation was at Glenorchy School, Mr Hay said ‘‘I wouldn’t deem it high-risk’’. Glenorchy School, which dates back to 1911, is the only school at the head of the lake.

US authorities have released new details of a sexual assault allegation against Donald Trump in the middle of their war on Iran. The trio of interviews were previously flagged as missing from the Epstein files and were released on Thursday night after pressure on the White House. The documents mark the most explosive allegations to be published as part of the Epstein files to date. Her central allegation is that Mr Trump hit her after she bit his penis when he attempted to force her to perform oral sex on him, according to FBI summaries of her interviews with investigators. The woman’s allegations have not been verified and the FBI never brought charges related to her claims, some details of which appear outlandish.

The Royal NZ Navy's new ship, Aotearoa, was brought into service in 2020. But over time that led to degraded knowledge and patchy understanding among personnel of the ship’s fuel systems, the report said. It led to water getting into the Aotearoa’s cargo fuel, leading to contamination and then biological growth inside the tanks. It was while en route to Singapore, when cleaning its cargo fuel tanks ahead of docking, that the Navy effectively scuppered its own ship. The inquiry report later described the crew’s understanding as “deficient”.

“New Zealand water polo in general is a f***ing joke,” she once wrote on Instagram. Matters came to a head when four younger players were called to a meeting with four senior players. Senior players would allegedly move away from dining tables if the younger players tried to sit with them. We each have a passion for water polo, and it has been a significant part of our lives for years. “Upon arriving in NZ, Angie secured a role in sports management at Diocesan, where she led the school’s water polo.

Photo: RNZSenior government minister Louise Upston was duped by Gloriavale leaders on a visit to the West Coast Christian community and should resign, a leavers' lawyer says. Lawyer Dennis Gates, who has previously represented Gloriavale leavers, said Upston had been misled. "Minister Upston is completely naive about what's happening or is very poorly serviced by her department to the point I think she should resign," he said. "You've got one minister saying they're safe and another ministry saying they're not," he said. Government agencies were at Gloriavale working with the community on a regular basis, Upston said.

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Earlier this week, I moderated a session on “The US political landscape in the build-up to the midterms”. Historically, the party in the White House almost always loses seats in the midterms as campaign promises meet governing realities. The Supreme Court’s decision striking down the President’s preferred tariff mechanism has not, in practice, ended the tariff story. The political incentive is to keep tariffs as a flexible, populist tool, not to tie a president’s hands. Frankly, whether Christopher Luxon misspoke or not over Iran, and the latest abysmal poll results, hardly matters.

Photo: RNZ / Marika KhabaziBy Jo Moir of RNZPressure is mounting on the Prime Minister with a poll result putting National in the 20s. A new Taxpayers' Union Curia poll has National on 28.4 - down nearly 3 points from its poll last month. Luxon trips up on IranThe poll comes at the end of a week where Christopher Luxon struggled to communicate clearly on the Iran conflict. But those of us who are not in the National Party, on this matter, on the outside, it is not good, no," he told Ryan Bridge TODAY. "If that was the number National got on the actual election, that would not be an acceptable result.

Bruce Patton, left, Chenin Madden and Mike Ramsay with their gold medal hauls from the recent NZ Masters GamesThree Queenstowners each hauled in four golds at the recent New Zealand Masters Games in Dunedin — Mike Ramsay, 75, Chenin Madden, 47, and Bruce Patton, 83. It was his first Masters Games for about 10 years ago when he also won gold medals. Competing in athletics in her 45-to-49 age category, Madden won golds in the 100m, 400m, 800m and long jump before tearing a hamstring in the 200m sprint. While winning gold was good, especially in front of her 12-year-old daughter, Madden says the biggest buzz was just the atmosphere — ‘‘you come away buzzing’’. Patton, meanwhile, won gold in his 80-to-84 age category in swimming, indoor rowing and cycling — he hadn’t competed in the latter for 26 years.