New Zealand

Quite a fascinating story, and I was absolutely amazed he was found alive.

After a four-year wait, the abundant fruiting of the rimu tree could inspire the world’s heaviest parrots to boost their population

Some quotes from the article:

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Around 1000 youth congregated at Williamson Park in Whangamatā while another 300 gathered near the Surf Club Resort at Pauanui last night, police said.

In short, 2025 was a difficult year. New Zealand often scores well or shows improvement on global indexes, but look closer to home and the devil is in the detail. To borrow a phrase from old school reports: Shows great potential but needs to try harder.

The advice from the AG, Judith Collins, on the new Age Verification Bill gives it a big thumbs up and includes a scenario where it would be OK to restrict access to adult websites, even though the bill is targeted at social media, and none of the debate has mentioned adult websites.

Criminal mastermind at work, ladies and gentlemen.

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But “the story falls apart” for regions that rely on one or two industries, which are vulnerable to global competition or global warming.

The government is cutting transport subsidies for elderly and disabled people for elderly and disabled people from 75 percent to 65 percent.

Looks like its going to be a pretty sweet pool

Fuck me, our justice system is beyond useless. Not even a financial contribution towards the tracks due to the damage done?

While both major political parties agree on the need for a nationally coherent adaptation plan, there is an impasse between the previous Labour government’s Treaty-based, equity-centred approach and the current National-led coalition’s fiscal discipline and burden-shifting logic.

While other Auckland areas saw turnout drop, voting numbers in Papatoetoe increased by more than 7 percent. All four seats went to first-time candidates from the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team. The result was inconsistent with historic voting patterns. None of the previous local board members of the Papatoetoe subdivision were re-elected.

The government’s plan for Parliament’s final full week of the year moved 12 different proposed laws through 32 stages of approval.

[Op-ed by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark and former secretary general of Nato.]

Loads of info on environment.govt.nz

A former Labour Prime Minister says Parliament is passing too many laws without proper scrutiny.

I’ve been enjoying the free cricket on TVNZ - especially this matchup vs the west indies.

not neseserily just this artical but over the past few months I have noticed RNZ with a number of articles along the lines of “10 steps to change party leadership” with their target firmly on Luxon.

Have you ever felt the urge to knock a judge out, to see if they still think that doesn’t deserve prison?

So who is in charge?

police had seized two consignments of drugs, totalling 630kg of methamphetamine worth $220 million, and 112kg of cocaine worth $50.4m

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/55895056

The best part of half a mil in fines, that’s got to sting. It sounds like they’ve invested in the infrastructure to manage this properly now.

“Easing the cost of new and used imported vehicles” was the pitch of transport minister Chris Bishop’s media release last Monday.

Home loan borrowers are paying the price as competition heats up with cash back deals, one broker says.

Associate health minister Casey Costello has labelled New Zealand’s recent plummet in global tobacco control as “ridiculous” and “ludicrous”.

Fuck this conservative government

This reminds me of the Ribena debacle, where a bunch of school kids stumbled onto the fact Ribena were lying massively about the amount of vitamin C in their product.

According to Wilson, the Ockham awards committee alerted publishers to an amendment to the eligibility conditions in August, outlawing AI covers. He thought the books he entered for the Acorn Jann Medlicott fiction prize were on safe ground but was belatedly told by the designer that the covers were heavily reliant on AI.

The Australian Ministry of Education has confirmed the number of schools and early learning centres in contact over asbestos-contamination concerns has doubled - with seven closing.

This is probably the best idea I’ve heard in a while. The money is going to go into the KiwiSaver account anyway, if we put it in there 20 years earlier, it will accrue and compound interest from much earlier on.

Back in my day toys were recalled for metabolising into drugs! Asbestos is no fun.

The new plan from the government seems to double down on the old ways of attempting to suppress drugs in our communities and ignores the health-led approach from NZ Drug Foundation’s recent evidence-based report.

Six out of ten of the young people had ADHD either diagnosed or suspected. Three of those diagnosed were unmedicated. Other learning difficulties among the cohort also included auditory processing challenges for example.

I haven’t been following the ins and out of all this but John Tamahere has a history of manipulative horrible bullshit so I’m inclined to believe Kapa-Kingi on this one.

What could possibly go wrong?

Government ministers have confirmed they are considering measures to move homeless people out of Auckland’s city centre - but the exact details remain unclear.

Duelling opinion pieces have been published this morning about the standoff between police and Stuff, after the news website posted police audio from the night fugitive dad Tom Phillips was shot dead. In a rare move, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has explained the fears police had over the radio communications being heard by the public; in response the website’s editor in chief has shot back outlining his rationale. RNZ is publishing both pieces in full below.

A 13-year-old boy in New Zealand swallowed up to 100 high-power magnets he bought on Temu, forcing surgeons to remove tissue from his intestines, doctors said on Oct 24.