Photo: Getty ImagesHighlanders prop Ethan de Groot is tackled during his side’s round three Super Rugby match against the Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane last night. The Highlanders went to the sheds down 19-7 at halftime. In the earlier Super Rugby game, the Western Force registered a rare win on New Zealand soil — their second in 26 attempts — over Moana Pasifika in Pukekohe. The Australian side ran in five tries to three to come out deserved 35-19 winners. It was their first win of the season after two losses on the road.

Photo: suppliedA rates increase of 10.5% could be coming for Dunedin residents, as bigger council budgets are needed for water services, roading and footpaths and an extra stadium bill. They will go through budgets for the 2026-27 draft annual plan, which included reference to rates possibly needing to increase by 10.5%. The proposed Three Waters rates increase was 16.7%, which was higher than the 15% that had been signalled in the long-term plan. For non-water activities, the budgeted rates increase would be 6.9%. The planned increase in Three Waters rates is partly because the council has to move towards no longer subsidising the activity through other parts of the operation.

It aims to prevent further offending and to facilitate their safe reintegration into the community. "It’s good work," Mr Kircher said. "In my last role as mayor, it was working for the community directly. Having had time to reflect since ending his 12-year tenure as mayor, Mr Kircher still felt he made the right call. He was full of support for mayor Melanie Tavendale who was deputy mayor under Mr Kircher for the last two terms.

He confiscated Dias’ car and said he would have it wrecked if his money was not returned in 48 hours. Heidi told the ODT Dias seemed "very personable" but the problems were soon evident. Dias’ work on the home of a Southland woman was "significantly below acceptable professional standards", a Master Painters report said. "His main focus was just getting jobs done fast and moving on to the next, getting his money," Mr Pyper said. The ODT contacted Dias on various social media platforms and sought comment by email but received no response.

Queenstown-raised graphics operator Cam Jackson’s working on his first NZ Open. While this New Zealand Open’s showcasing some amazing Queenstown golfers, another local’s getting involved for the first time in broadcasting the event. Cam Jackson, 25, is in a team of four graphics operators using virtual graphics and AI graphics to track the golfers’ shots. For the NZ Open, he says they also show off each hole ‘‘to give the TV viewers a good idea of what’s coming up’’. Having grown up in Queens-town, ‘‘it’s really cool to be able to do a home event rather than travelling elsewhere’’.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s leadership in ascribing Taranaki Maunga and the Whanganui River legal personhood is celebrated as a unique step forward. But at the same time, Prof Ruru demonstrates how colonial countries can more meaningfully connect with Indigenous peoples. It was an enormous honour to join in applauding the 100 years of Forest & Bird’s outstanding advocacy and action for Aotearoa New Zealand’s lands, waters, flora and fauna. Most of these statutes are silent on things Māori, and I would go further in saying, hostile to Māori leadership and mātauranga Māori knowledge. • Colonial laws have done an enormous amount of damage to destroy and disrupt Indigenous peoples’ intergenerational responsibilities of environmental care and use.

NZ Open tournament chairman John Hart. But arguably his greatest sporting role has been securing the future of golf’s NZ Open, and positioning it in Queenstown. Hart visited the late Sir Michael Hill, whose new Arrowtown course The Hills had hosted the NZ Open, then lost the hosting rights. Meanwhile, by Hart’s estimate, NZ Golf was losing $500,000 to $800,000 a year running the NZ Open. ‘‘It doesn’t cover their costs by any means, but it’s something I think they appreciate.’’Hart says this year’s budget’s $8.5m, up from $1m for the first NZ PGA pro-am.

Davidson told Fox LA that the couple first became suspicious when they were “feeling funny”. They decided to comb through footage from the camera they had placed in the kitchen. “We’ve caught it on video twice,” Billy told Fox LA. They told Fox LA they needed hospital treatment at one point for a “mysterious illness". “I have liver damage and [Billy] had health issues on top of the ones that she already has,” Davidson said.

Continuing his rant against De Niro, Trump also hit out at another high-profile critic, Rosie O’Donnell, who moved to Ireland last year in protest at his re-election but recently confirmed she had been back to the US for a brief visit to her family. “The only difference between De Niro and Rosie is that she is probably somewhat smarter than him, which isn’t saying much. “ I don’t want everybody going around with their MAGA, the American flags, like they’re the only ones. We are Americans too.”He later said: “People have to resist, resist, resist, resist, resist. There’s no nothing – people are not going to go away, even if Trump dies for some reason by having an illness or something.

“There’s other things I know about that I’m not talking about, by the way, just for anyone at Air New Zealand that thinks I’m being unfair. Seymour said that he couldn’t reveal what the “other stuff” is because he thinks “that they have the right to a bit of privacy”. Air NZ, along with many other airlines worldwide, is working towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “We need to be fighting fit in a number of different versions of what the future holds and that’s what we’re focused on,” Air NZ chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar said. The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm.

Ronndog Keefe pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including distributing objectionable child exploitation material and threatening to kill. Photo: Open JusticeWarning: This article discusses issues of child sexual exploitation and mass killing and may be distressing for some people. A Hawke's Bay man who distributed "repugnant" videos and images showing the sexual abuse of children, and who was dubbed a national security threat by police for planning a mass killing, can now be publicly identified. Keefe distributed extreme child sexual exploitation material while communicating with members of an international online extremist group known as 764. A police summary of facts said Keefe's "extremist ideologies" and his wish to conduct a mass stabbing event were considered a "national security threat".

The result was "clearly disappointing", said Labour Party chair Anna Turley. The Green Party's Hannah Spencer won the contest for the vacant parliamentary seat of Gorton and Denton. The Green Party won 40.7% of the vote on Friday in an election triggered when an MP resigned for health reasons. Nigel Farage's Reform Party came second with 28.7% of the vote and Labour finished third with 25.4%. Starmer was unlikely to face an immediate threat to his position if he lost, Labour lawmakers said before the vote.

But when the noises didn’t stop, she quickly realised he was having a heart attack. “I should have called the ambulance first, but I didn’t think it through,” she said. But the experience helped her to recognise the symptoms when another loved one suffered a heart attack. “I used to get an erratic heartbeat but didn’t think much of it,” she said. “The funds raised also help support education for New Zealand heart professionals and improve treatment for those living with heart disease.

Photo: ODT filesSecondary principals say the worsening shortage of teachers is forcing schools to cancel subjects and hire untrained teachers. Education Ministry figures showed schools this year faced a bigger shortfall of secondary teachers than previously expected. The ministry's figures showed that while there were too few secondary teachers, there was a surplus of primary school teachers. However the ministry's report said primary schools in Taranaki, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty faced persistent shortages over the next three years. "Currently, we have more teachers in the workforce since records began in 2004, with the largest year-on-year increase for primary teachers in 2024 and for secondary teachers in 2025."

The box of batteries ignited in the back of a Rotorua bin truck on Wednesday. Photo / SuppliedA fire inside a Rotorua rubbish truck this week has prompted renewed warnings about the dangers of discarding batteries in household waste, after firefighters traced the incident to a box of improperly disposed lithium batteries. Fire and Emergency said a single appliance from the Rotorua station was dispatched at 11.43am after receiving reports of a rubbish truck carrying a “smoking load”. Photo / Stephen ParkerWhen crushed or punctured during compaction inside a rubbish truck or at a transfer station, the batteries can short-circuit and ignite, sometimes explosively. A Fire and Emergency spokesperson reiterated that recycling was the safest option and warned against stockpiling discarded batteries at home.