Northern Advocate 7th November 2025

Frustrationaswater Fight to save last of the lions

Owners race to find new backers as ageing big cats face death

Karina Cooper

Whangarei’s lion park and its remaining five big cats have been offered a “glimmer of hope”

The Northern Advocate broke the news on Tuesday that the last seven and elderly lions at the Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary were to be put down

While two of the lions, Imvula and Sibili, were euthanised on Wednesday because of ill health, the park s owners Bolton Equities and its facility operator Janette Vallance say

they are making every last-ditch effort to save the final five

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) confirmed Wednesday s process had adhered to the Animal Welfare Act

Imvula was a 21-year-old African lioness born at the Bothongo Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve in Krugersdorp South Africa

Sibili, an 18-year-old male, was born at the Kamo sanctuary, along with his brother Sabie, who is not one of the five big cats left

In an update yesterday Vallance said the two euthanised lions had untreatable conditions and were deteriorating

“These decisions were made with deep care and consideration

She said the wellbeing of the five remaining lions females Shikira 21 and Cleo 19 and males Abdullah, 19, and 18-year-old brothers Timba and Themba was a priority

“Unfortunately due to their age number and complex needs, relocation is not a viable or humane option ” International research suggests lions in captivity may live into their late teens or early twenties

Experts have said the lions cannot be

released into the wild because they lack the hunting and social skills needed to survive

Rehoming them to a zoo sanctuary or suitably registered welfare centre was unlikely because of their number

“However there is a glimmer of hope ” Vallance said, with some individuals expressing an interest in buying the sanctuary and continuing to care for the lions The 32 5ha property was put up for sale in August

Vallance claimed “immense pressure”

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Frustration grows as water outage drags on

Office shut as Kaeo enters third week of water woes

Yolisa Tswanya

aeo’s ongoing water crisis has forced Te Runanga o Te Whaingaroa to shut its offices and redirect team members to other sites While at least one other business, reliant on the water supply, is also at risk of not being able to operate

This is the third week the town’s water supply has been shut off The Far North District Council was asked by Water Services Authority

Taumata Arowai to provide a drinking water tanker to the town last week

The tanker is currently still in the town as the outage persists, with water expected to remain off for the rest of the week

Residents said the water has been off since October 18 but Bryce Aldridge of the water supplier, Wai

Care Environmental Consultants disputed this and said it had only been days

Te Runanga o Whaingaroa pou

arahi (cultural manager) Raniera Kaio said staff were not able to operate from their offices in Kaeo and were working in other buildings around town and nearby towns

He said their health clinics were able to operate as they are on tank water

“It’s a proactive closure, to avoid any health risks and maintain staff wellbeing

We remain committed to working with FNDC to keep our community

been ridiculous, we are trying to survive here and no one seems to care.

Anna Valentine

informed and advocate for long-term water security solutions ” The closure comes as frustration grows among residents

Anna Valentine, who runs a small business in town, said she may have to cancel classes and bookings if the water doesn’t return soon

“We can’t function without water It has been ridiculous, we are trying to survive here and no one seems to care,” Valentine said She said they were grateful the tanker was in town to provide water, but it was not a long-term solution

The water in the tank only lasts about two days and it s a bit sludgy at the bottom and when it gets filled all that gets mixed in with the water, then it’s all brown ” Aldridge did not disclose the reason for the outage and said he was not able to say when the water would be back on Meanwhile Aldridge s brother, Vance Aldridge Smith said the situation is disheartening to him as a former Kaeo resident

He said he supplies water tanks across the country and was now looking to get 1000 litre IBC tanks, from Hamilton, to residents that need them

What I am offering is a more sustainable way for them to get water, so they don’t have to take their containers back and forth to the truck to fill them up They can have it outside in their yard ”

“I am feeling really gutted for those people in Kaeo and it doesn’t look good for our family We are Kaeo born and bred, that is our whakapapa ”

He said the town’s water issues have gone on for too long and something needed to be done

The FNDC said it was working closely with Taumata Arowai on the situation and was investigating the reasons behind the water being shut off

RSAs

Jenny Ling

Northlanders are being encouraged to head along to their local RSA to observe Armistice Day on November 11.

The annual commemoration marks the anniversary of the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front in World War I in 1918.

Dubbed The Great War, more than 20 million people died, with hostilities officially ending at 11am on November 11, 1918 Armistice Day.

Kerikeri RSA former president Bill Godfrey who is still involved in the RSA while his replacement is found

invite locals to remember Armistice Day

said it was a day to remember the sacrifices of those who died in service to their country.

“It’s to honour those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom; to recognise them, and keep their memory alive.”

This year is the 107th anniversary of Armistice Day, a temporary ceasefire which was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

That was followed by the formal peace treaty the Treaty of Versailles which officially ended the war and set out the terms of peace, and was signed in June 1919.

Puketotara Lodge –

Godfrey said about 100 people are expected to turn out to the Kerikeri War Memorial next to the library at the Kerikeri Domain just before 11am

Everyone is invited, he said.

“We have two major functions; Armistice Day and Anzac Day.

“This event is smaller than Anzac Day, we don’t get as many turn out, but there’s still a significant number.

“A lot of people who attend will be descendants of veterans and will be wearing the family medals.

“That’s probably the most specific way to commemorate their service by putting on the medals and marching to honour them.”

Godfrey said students of Springbank School and Kerikeri High School are “doing the hard yakka” organising and hosting the event.

The programme included a welcome, speeches, a minute of silence, the recital of the roll of honour, the playing of The Last Post, and wreathlaying.

Just under 10% of New Zealand’s then population of 1.1 million served overseas during WWI, with more than 18,000 dying.

More than 40,000 were also hospitalised with injury or illness. Nearly every New Zealand family was affected.

Potential buyers emerge to save Kamo lions

continued from A1

added to the situation sanctuary learned 10 days funding was being cut Equities director Laurie said they had indicated for years that there was an end notice had been given recently.

Bolton Equities was maklast-ditch effort possible to last big cats being talking to all sorts of sancpeople, animal welfare people, date, we have not found a that would prevent this We’re doing our very, very Margrain said. said they had been in with animal rescue charity remain open to any conconversations that may a future for the remainchief executive Carolyn Press-McKenzie said the charitable reached out to the wildlife after hearing about the said, we know this is a really and there’s big decisions made, but did you want us to we can sort of test our

NZ has previously found circus monkeys and from the Solomon they wanted a chance to the lions.

Press-McKenzie said they asked Equities and Vallance to put hanasia on hold. were just really impressed open they were to give us just try and see if there’s we could do. we’re kind of doing a little see if we can pull off a Press-McKenzie said. NZ was working with potential buyers of the property as well as looking at offshore options.

Press-McKenzie said the owners found that less favourable given the lions’ ages and fragility.

“New owners for the property would be obviously the best way forward.”

However, the time frame, believed to be days, was tight.

“We just don’t know if we’re going to pull it off but we haven’t run out of puff yet. We’re going for it,” PressMcKenzie said.

International partners had got onboard as had Safe [Save Animals From Exploitation], who were working alongside Huha NZ to find a solution.

“But if it doesn’t work out, everyone needs to know, you know, every avenue was tried,” PressMcKenzie said.

Tipene vows unity for Northland

Veteran leader aims to unite regional voices after a narrow Maori ward vote

Susan Botting

Prominent Maori leader Pita

Tipene has been selected by fellow councillors as Northland Regional Council’s chair

Kawakawa’s Tipene (Ngati Hine Ngati Te Tarawa) was chosen in a 5-3 vote to helm the council at its inauguration ceremony in Whangarei on Wednesday

Tipene 64, retired in June from seven years at the helm of the Waitangi National Trust He has held numerous regional and national leadership roles, including on the council’s Maori committee Te Ruarangi

He was chosen as council chair after being elected on to NRC’s Te Raki Maori Constituency last month

Tipene edged out former chair Hikurangi’s Geoff Crawford who lost his bid for a second stint as chair

Tipene is one of two chairmen among New Zealand’s 11 regional councils from a Maori constituency

Tipene said he represented his Maori constituency which brought a particular world view, but would be working on behalf of all Northlanders

He said he was disappointed NRC electors voted to get rid of NRC’s Maori constituency

Just 661 votes separated electors 50 5% majority vote to get rid of the constituency with 31,539 people

wanting and 30,878 wanting to keep it in what was Northland’s smallest majority vote to get rid of the ward

Tipene said he was humbled to be elected chairman

He said the nine politicians around the NRC top table were individuals but they moved collectively, working on behalf of all Northlanders

His first aim was to build cohesion and unity of purpose in the governance team and focus on supporting Northland Crawford, who was re-elected as

a councillor unopposed, said he looked forward to working with Tipene and fellow councillors in the new term

Tipene and others acknowledged Crawford’s contribution as chair

Crs Jack Craw, Toss Kitchen, Amy Macdonald, Arama Morunga and Tipene himself voted for his chairmanship

Crawford s votes came from himself and councillors John Blackwell and John Hunt

Councillor Joe Carr abstained

Meanwhile, councillors elected Whangarei s Craw as deputy-chair from a three-person choice of himself, Carr and Crawford

This is Craw’s second stint in the role in his third term

Craw said his main role was to support the chair He would be focusing on building harmony between councillors

The new 2025 NRC council sees a mix of old and new among the ninemember top table sworn in at NRC s Whangarei council chambers on

Wednesday Tipene Craw and Blackwell, Carr, Crawford Hunt, Kitchen, Morunga and Tipene Macdonald attended the meeting remotely from Wellington law firm Simpson Grierson where she was sworn into office by Kaipara Moana

Remediation chief executive Justine Daw, who was delegated to the role of officially witnessing Macdonald s swearing in

The council meeting saw the return of Kitchen a long-time local government politician Northland Civil Defence chair, Fire and Emergency New Zealand Kaitaia chief and community leader

Kitchen, who now lives between Tokerau Beach and Te Ngaere Bay, was a Far North District councillor for 12 years before being elected to the NRC in 2019 and standing down at the 2022 elections

He had sought re-election to help bring harmony back to the council top table

He said the last council term had seen a very divided governance team which had created stress for councillors and staff

Meanwhile Morunga (Te Hikutu hapu, Ngapuhi/Ngati Hine) a firsttime Maori constituency councillor said being in the council chamber for the swearing-in ceremony felt like having his family around him

His wife Bronwyn and children Kanoa (then 7) and Waiaaio (then 6) feature in the mural on the council chamber s east wall in a giant photographic mural in AH Reed bush in 2019 when Morunga worked at NRC as its cultural adviser

MBIE targets risky practices

Fireworks shot at Dunedin police

Crackdown on unsafe nail and beauty salons

Aregistered beauty therapist with more than 25 years of industry experience has welcomed the Government s crackdown on North Island beauty businesses, saying people “could lose a limb” if non-compliance persists and hygiene standards aren t upheld

In the wake of rising complaints in the beauty sector, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) recently launched Operation Antic an enforcement initiative targeting the central North Island It involves unannounced site visits to nail salons and massage businesses in Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke s Bay Manawatu-Whanganui, Taranaki, Wairarapa and Wellington

Kim Ryan, an executive member of the NZ Association of Registered Beauty Professionals, shared her support for the crackdown on Herald NOW this morning saying the association had been lobbying successive governments for decades to implement nationwide regulations

“The implications are huge for nails,” she told host Ryan Bridge

“The problem is that we’re getting a lot of immigrant people coming into the country that are untrained

They re then going into these nail salons They don t speak very good English They don t understand hygiene practices

And let me tell you there s a lot of things that can go wrong with nails And it could end up somebody with an amputation ”

As an example, Ryan said someone with diabetes could end up with a wound This wound could become infected and cause sepsis, leading to gangrene and the possible loss of a limb

MBIE s crackdown was tied to a rise in ACC claims, particularly for nail-related incidents, Ryan said “We haven’t had so much with massage, but that does still have

significant impact if they aren’t asked the right questions And a lot of these places, they aren’t asking or doing a client consultation prior to doing a treatment ”

MBIE had made 17 visits to nail salons, massage parlours and beauticians by yesterday The visits will continue over the next few months “The beauty sector has seen a rise

in complaints and referrals, especially in the Waikato and Wellington areas ” said Margaret Meafua, labour inspectorate compliance manager for the central region

We re taking a proactive, intelligence-led approach to disrupt non-compliant practices and support businesses in doing the right thing ”

MBIE has not provided details of any issues of concern identified

Fireworks were again shot at police

Dunedin’s notorious Castle St on Wednesday night, resulting in three Fawkes arrests.

Sergeant Matt Lee said police responded to multiple reports of disorder on the student party street h fireworks being let off and people drinking in the street”.

“Police attended, and unfortunately, some attendees decided to aim fireworks at officers, which is reckless and dangerous. Thankfully, no one was injured.”

Despite multiple warnings, some of around 80 people on the street inued to shoot fireworks at police said Lee.

Three males were arrested for disorderly behaviour and transported to Dunedin Custody Unit

All received a formal warning, but “will be receiving infringement ices for discharging fireworks in public place”.

follows fireworks being aimed at police officers on Sunday night after emergency services responded to reports of a large group setting off fireworks on Castle St about 9.30pm.

Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond witnesses reported about 50 people shooting fireworks at each other.

“When officers arrived, they verbally warned everyone involved,” Bond said.

A 20-year-old man was arrested for being disorderly and released with a verbal warning.

However, as officers were returning to their patrol vehicle, a group of males deliberately shot fireworks in their direction, narrowly missing the officers.

“As a result of that reckless behaviour, another 20-year-old was held in custody overnight and released this morning with a warning,” Bond said.

Vaping law ‘not my focus’, says Police Minister

Police still can’t issue fines for smoking and vaping law passed five years ago

Ethan Griffiths

A law passed five years ago to fine drivers caught smoking or vaping in cars with kids still can’t be enforced and not a single fine has been issued.

It’s despite Police Minister Mark Mitchell intervening a year ago after police said they didn’t plan to enforce the law as their computer systems didn’t allow it.

Mitchell ordered police to update their systems but Newstalk ZB has revealed this never happened.

The law was passed by the previous Labour Government in 2020 with support from National and aimed to prevent the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

It came into force in 2021, allowing officers to use their discretion to issue warnings, $50 spot fines, or issue a court summons.

According to data obtained under the Official Information Act, police have issued 302 written warnings since the law came into effect.

Last August, when it was first revealed no fines had been issued, police initially said they were focusing on a “health-first” approach and wouldn’t give officers the power to

doing this for ourselves and our whānau’

issue fines.

“A punitive infringement notice approach will not help resolve underlying addiction challenges,” a spokesperson said.

Asked if police were worried people would flout the law knowing they couldn’t be fined, the spokesperson said officers could issue a court summons.

Police later confirmed it had not issued any court summonses.

In response to questions last year, Mitchell said he disagreed with the approach and ordered police to update their systems.

“Police have assured me that work is now under way to introduce an enforcement mechanism for this legislation,” Mitchell said.

“I agree that police should use operational discretion but the mechanism for enforcing legislation passed by Parliament should be available to frontline staff and that was not done.”

Fourteen months later and nearly four years after the law came into force in November 2021 police still haven’t updated their systems.

Mitchell now appears more relaxed about the situation.

“I’ll go back and ask again and see where they are on it, but that’s not

my focus.

“Vaping in cars is not really something I had contained in my letter of expectation [to police], quite simply I’m focused on serious violent crime, making this country safer and getting on top of retail crime.”

tation of a new system currently scheduled to be implemented proximate to July 2026.

“The scheduling of specific infringements to go live in the new system is still to be determined.”

Asked if a law is effective if the public knows they can’t be fined for

Quite simply I’m focused on serious violent crime, making this country safer and getting on top of retail crime.

breaking it, Mitchell said that’s a question for police.

Police said work to allow infringements to be issued is under way.

“We anticipate this capability will be in place following the implemen-

In 2020, the Ministry of Justice warned the select committee considering the bill that if it became law before a system upgrade allowing police to issue fines, it could “undermine attempts by police to enforce” it.

As a result, Parliament voted to delay its enforcement by 18 months specifically to give police time to update their systems.

According to the Ministry of Health, second-hand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including asthma attacks and respiratory and ear infections.

The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation’s chief executive Letitia Harding said the lack of enforcement was frustrating.

“It’s timely to look at this again because it is all part of the education that vaping and smoking is detrimental, especially for our kids, as secondhand smoke.”

She suggested using the revenue from fines to pay for smoking and vaping-related education.

“We should be looking at fines. If we can fine $150 for texting and driving, I think this is an easy can-do situation.”

Labour’s police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen said the law needs to be enforced.

“[Mitchell] made an undertaking to pass this. It doesn’t seem acceptable at all that he now chooses not to do so.

“Both National and Labour voted in support of this law when it was in the House. The minister committed to it, he now seems to be stepping away from that

“I think that’s because there’s pressure on the frontline due to his failure to deliver 500 new police.”

From 6 October 2025, the National Bowel Screening Programme is extending to include 58- and 59-year-olds in Northland. If you’re aged 58 to 60, look out for your green envelope your free bowel screening test is coming Don’t put it aside Do the test If you’re aged 60 to 74, you might already have your kit Do the test now it’s quick, easy, and it could save your life. Make sure to check the expiry date on your kit before using it, follow the simple steps inside, and return it by post or drop it off at your nearest Awanui Lab

32 concerts plan wishfu is thinking

Promoter questions Ed

RNZ

Aconcert promoter says the government is being “wishful” in thinking Eden Park could host 32 concerts a year

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has written to Auckland Council with an eye on loosening restrictions on Eden Park’s operations which he says are costing hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue

In September, Bishop commissioned the consultancy Incite to investigate local planning rules at Eden Park, which limit the stadium to just 12 concerts a year

The report published on Wednesday, recommended allowing another 20 concerts every year on top of that for between 10,000 and 30 000 attendees

The government is now seeking feedback on the findings

Concert promoter and Eccles Entertainment founder Brent Eccles said his jaw dropped when he heard the news

I can t imagine in what world we d get 32 shows at Eden Park, unless their thinking that s the only venue we use in Auckland There just aren’t that many stadium shows to come through New Zealand,” Eccles told

Morning Report

It d be wishful thinking

He praised the government for setting the goal of 32 concerts and seeking to remove some of the “red tape” with concerts and Eden Park

“Every venue has its own place Eden Park is the jewel in the crown

It’s a very expensive venue,” he said

“I d like the idea of having a central focus that everyone can look at and say okay, I ll aim to go here but you need to consider the artist as well ”

But he said the cost of freight and touring is becoming greater, causing higher ticket prices

“It makes it more difficult to come to New Zealand more difficult then it has been in recent times,” Eccles said

“Except now the government is putting money into it to boost the financial equation to get these artists here

“It’s all going in the right direction but a little bit of reality is not being considered

When asked whether Taylor Swift would ever come to New Zealand Eccles said “yes”

Hopefully the voices will be so loud in New Zealand she will recognise that she will want to come here next time ” RNZ

Fenz looks to t costs and jobs in $50m savings plan

Phil Penningto

Fire and Emergency (Fenz) is considering cutting jobs and “stopping or slowing” activities as it seeks to save $50 million a year.

It says the jobs of frontline firefighters are not at risk, but the union fears new recruits will not be added.

Fenz says it is in a tightening financial bind, while also dealing with increased demands on firefighters in non-core work like being first responders to Cyclone Gabrielle and to the wild wind damage of recent weeks and a debate over whether the front line is fit for purpose.

A firefighter clashed publicly this week with Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour over fire trucks breaking down.

An email and internal document, seen by RNZ, emphasise a new “significant” drive by Fenz to be more efficient.

“We can’t keep doing everything for everybody and that’s not a bad thing,” chief executive Kerry Gregory said in an email to staff last week.

He has proposed a restructure that would involve “the disestablishment and establishment” of positions.

Fenz confirmed to RNZ that the proposal would be sent to staff next Wednesday and it could not go into details until then.

“What we can say at this stage is that frontline firefighters and ComCen call takers will not be losing their jobs and we will not be restricting what we are responding to as part of this change proposal,” it said.

Core duties like firefighting and additional” but unfunded services such as responding to medical emergencies and rescuing people in floods were not part of the changes, it added. The core and additional duties are

covered by sections 11 and 12 of the Act that set up the agency in 2017.

“Our Section 11 or 12 functions are not being considered as part of this change.”

But the Professional Firefighters’ Union said while it was aware the current front line was exempt, it feared an additional 230 positions would be jeopardised by the restructure.

“We’ve got no guarantee that we will get the additional fire-fighters,” the union said.

‘Heavy workload’

Gregory also told staff: “There’s no good time to make the kind of changes being proposed.”

But he said the organisation needed to become more efficient.

“Our people are carrying a heavy workload and our new strategic direction allows us to focus our energy and resources on what matters most.”

He told them in an August memo: “We need to make careful, smart choices, stopping or slowing some things so we can keep doing the most

important ones well.”

Part of the focus appears to be on shrinking the corporate structure from five regions down to three.

After feedback, a final restructure decision would be issued on 17 December, and changes would kick in next year.

Fenz top management earlier in the year had pledged “more transparency to our front-line about our operational priorities and focus areas”.

But firefighters told RNZ they were uncertain if the restructure might signal a retrenchment of services such as responding to storms.

RNZ revealed last week that Fenz had banned any rescues using motorised boats.

Three volunteer brigades had equipped themselves this way, including with jetskis on the Waikato River but the agency said it was a “dangerous” capability it did not have the capacity to do.

It has since told RNZ that the “watercraft issue is not at all related to cost savings”.

Fenz has six water teams but their rafts have no motors. Some firefight-

We can’t keep doing everything for everybody and that’s not a bad thing.

ers regard this as a cut-rate response to the escalating risk of flooding, but believe the agency is reluctant to put more resources into this new area.

As the demands on firefighters have grown, revenues have also risen, almost doubling since 2017 to about $800m a year.

But the government has reduced a levy rise in 2026, and told the agency to save $60m by 2029.

Funding was “less reliable” as insurance levy income dropped and Fenz had to plan “for the possibility that our funding will continue to go down”, Gregory said in the August memo. He originally set a savings target of $240m over three years, and now needed $150m.

“That’s why from 2026/27, we’re aiming to save $50 million each year.”

Some unspecified changes under the first phase of the organisational reset had saved $14m by August.

About half a billion of the $800m a year budget goes on personnel 1800 paid firefighters, 12,000 volunteer firefighters and 1300 management and support staff. The next biggest cost is its fleet and gear at

$100m.

Union national secretary Wattie Watson said they did not know details of the restructure and feared for non-firefighter roles they covered, such as trainers and health and safety staff.

Fenz was “shimmying around” about the 230 extra paid firefighters agreed on in 2022 pay talks, she said. Fenz said late on Wednesday a working group had put forward an increase in front line numbers but they had agreed in principle that a blanket increase was “not effective and increased firefighters should be placed where there is the greatest need”.

It was ensuring existing firefighters were used maximally before introducing others

“A risk-based assessment is currently being conducted. All data should be ready for analysis by Christmas and will provide the evidence to build the case for an uplift.”

It had temporarily put 50 extra firefighters into Auckland, and funded Gisborne to add nine more paid crew.

“The intention of this change is to enable Fire and Emergency New Zealand to focus on delivering our core business,” it said.

Gregory told staff in August they had to keep investing in people, buildings “by fixing or upgrading old stations” its regulatory duties, and in gear “like replacing our old fire trucks and keeping our equipment up to date”.

A firefighter clashed publicly this week with Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour over the fleet. “What is clear is that there does need to be a lot of upgrades and at the same time, it’s only in the last two years that Fenz has had an asset maintenance plan,” Seymour told First Up on Tuesday. RNZ

NOTICE OF INTERRUPTION TO ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

11 November 2025 –

Top Energy is advising electricity customers in these areas that there will be a power outage from 11am to 5pm on Tuesday 11 November for essential maintenance.

Russell & Surrounding Areas

Tuesday,11am to 5pm

POWER OUTAGES WILL AFFECT

From Russell Whakapara Road and Aucks Road Intersection to Tapeka Point including all side roads.

Ashby Street, Aucks Road, Baker Street, Beresford Street, Brind Road, Brumby Lane, Cass Street, Chapel Street, Church Street, Du Fresne Place, Emerald Ridge, Flagstaff Road, Florance Avenue, Gould Street, Grants Avenue, Hazard Street, Hope Avenue, James Street, Lichen Grove, Little Queen Street, Long Beach Road, Matauwhi Road, Oneroa Road, Pitt Street, Pomare Road, Prospect Street, Pukematu Lane, Queen Street, Queens View Road, Rewa Place, Robertson Street, Russell Heights, Russell Road, Russell Whakapara Road, Tapeka Heights Lane, Tapeka Road, Te Akau Drive, The Strand, Tikitiki Lane, Titore Way, Toi Track, Ureti Road, Uruti Road, Weka Lan e, Wellington Street, York Street

If the work has to be postponed, it will move to Tuesday 25 November at the same time

We apologise for any inconvenience this outage may cause Please remember to treat all power lines as live at all times.

Opinion

EDITORIAL

Let scientists return Whakaari

‘Possi Whi was Eart Zealand update week

The alleged e Zealand’s most a volcano happen daylight, but clea not have access information to d an eruption had The following confirmed there weak eruptions a Monday obser noting that ash w

Part of the rea flow of informat small eruptions a immediately dis Whakaari s usua puffing That is g compounded ho limited real-time scientists can ac

There are no l operational sens monitoring equi island – a situatio described as “fru “strange”

Scientists hav allowed to visit Whakaari since the deadly December 2019 eruption, which killed 22 people

EMMERSON’S VIEW

In the harsh volcanic environment and without servicing, the network of on-island equipment degraded and stopped working

“Without on-island monitoring, our ability to detect and confirm eruptions at Whakaari is limited,” natural hazard scientist Graham Leonard wrote last year

Scientists rely on remote methods, such as live cameras on the mainland about 50km away satellite imagery and gas and observation flights to assess the level of activity on the island

In May last year, then Whakatane Mayor Victor Luca wrote to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and relevant ministers asking for ministerial intervention to allow GNS Science access to the island to install monitoring equipment

Luca said ash from a major Whakaari eruption would have serious consequences for people on the mainland Minister of Emergency Management and Recovery Mark Mitchell said he would seek advice on expediting the return of onisland monitoring equipment

A year later, Mitchell told 1News that restoring scientific access was more complicated than anticipated, but he was cautiously optimistic

The Buttle family, who own Whakaari, told 1News they had always supported monitoring and research, but wanted to negotiate a formal licence instead of the prior verbal licence

Kiwis count on our scientific institutions to have the tools to properly inform us about New Zealand’s many natural hazards

For Eastern Bay of Plenty people who see Whakaari puffing away on the horizon every day and wonder when the Big One will hit, the return of on-island monitoring cannot come soon enough

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Chill out while you still can

Scene brings memories of youthful nirvana

COMMENT

IWyn Drabble

think I ve just seen an image of freedom, of youthful nirvana

No, it had nothing to do with Buddhism but I think it hit the bull’s eye for freedom relaxation lack of worries

It involved two young males (17 to 18 years at a guess), a car, a surfside location perfect weather and lunch

Their car was parked about 15 metres from the surf’s edge where, further out, surfers bobbing on boards had heads twisted to spot any incoming waves which might carry them on that joyous natural ride that I remember so well from my teens

Their car’s sunroof was open One sat on the roof, his legs dangling into the car s void, the other stood inside the car with his upper torso protruding from the roof

Lunch was fish and chips purchased from the local fish and chippery and because they had a mutual respect for tomato sauce one had, obviously by agreement, drizzled said condiment in a zigzag fashion across the entire contents of their paper parcel

If they had known their lunch was being recorded by a newspaper columnist, they might well have placed the opened paper parcel at a more rakish angle on the car s roof Or maybe not

They responded cheerily to the well wishes of a couple of much older people and their now sandy and salty dog

We were once those boys, yet, burdened as we are by the responsibilities of age, saw nothing but their lack of worry, their freedom It was refreshing

Who knows? They could have been Trump admirers or Winston supporters but I feel chances were slim They might not even have heard of those people!

They could also have been criminals planning their next daring deed, the daylight theft of a deepfryer, some tarakihi fillets and a carton of tiny pottles of tartare sauce

Or perhaps they were far from the relaxed vision we imagined but in fact two nervous students about to hit the horror of examinations

This might have been a last taste

of freedom before the rigours of NCEA

They certainly appeared unaware of council rates and were surely better for it ( Council Rates! What sort of music do they play?”)

And arthritis was surely decades away (“Arthritis! Is he a DJ?”)

We could have and there’s no way we would have stepped in and reminded them that their apparent relaxation would not last In Katherine Mansfield’s short story Her FirstBall, a character referred to only (from memory) as a “fat man” steps way out of line and tells the heroine that her youthful looks will not last

And those pretty little arms will have turned into little short fat ones and you ll beat time with such a different kind of fan a black bony one Of course what he said was true but her first ball was not the occasion

A recent beach scene sparked memories of surfing and a simpler life for Wyn

to tell her How dare he! Let the good times roll first Nor was it our place to tell them that those taut six-packs might turn to unsightly flab and their tousled windswept hair might one day be styled into a handsome comb-over Their hatch-roofed car might one day be turned into a walking frame

So, no Please let’s stick with that initial image These were just two young people not yet caught up in the hurly burly of life the extraordinary hiking of council rates, the inconvenience and pain of arthritis, and for that we thank them and their perfect image of no worries, their reminder of what once was Keep chilling for as long as you can, guys Thanks for the image

Why New Zealand’s heifers don’t deserve the climate blame

Jane Smith

Among the many satisfying jobs on the farm is shifting our Angus heifers on to fresh pasture They love it

Tails up they gallop around for a minute, then it s heads down those long, raspy tongues pulling in mouthfuls of lush green feed

Two hours later, they’re lying down chewing their cud and belching contentedly In that short time the age-old carbon cycle has turned a complete circle

Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been drawn from the atmosphere through photosynthesis to grow the grass.

The heifers eat it, natural juices break down the fibre, and a little methane gas is burped back into the air. Immediately, hydroxyl (OH) radicals begin breaking that methane down into CO2 and water vapour. The natural, biogenic carbon cycle is complete.

And that’s when my contentment turns to confusion. Despite the circular science, livestock like my heifers are condemned as climate culprits. There’s no chance to enter a plea, let alone ask for a trial by science. We are told we must do “our bit”. Yet our stable, sustainable livestock systems get no credit for the CO2 absorbed to grow the grass in the first place. Basic high school science tells us that the only way ruminants produce greenhouse

gases is by eating plants that use greenhouse gases to grow. You can’t have one without the other.

THINK?

Email editor@northern advocate.co.nz to have your say. Responses may be published.

Ironically, New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme pays out nearly $1 billion each year to carbonforestry owners often global conglomerates for planting exotic trees to absorb CO2 , yet our pastures have been doing that forever.

Pasture plants are photosynthetic powerhouses, continuously drawing carbon from the atmosphere, feeding it into our soils, and cycling

it through livestock and back again. Climate scientists remind me that methane is more potent than CO2 at trapping heat. Fair point but even allowing for that, all the cattle, sheep, goats and deer in New Zealand (plus the half-dozen giraffes at the wildlife park) contribute only about fourmillionths of a degree of global warming each year. On a moleculefor-molecule basis, only around 4% of the CO2 absorbed in photosynthesis ends up being returned as methane.

For comparison, humans collectively breathe out three million tonnes of CO2 every year, yet we’re excused from emissions statistics because our carbon is “biogenic” it came from food grown by photosynthesis. Shouldn’t the same

logic apply to our livestock?

Let’s look at the numbers. When I run three heifers on each hectare of pasture, the annual CO2 uptake by photosynthesis is around 20-30 tonnes CO2/ha. The heifers respire about 7 tonnes, manure, wastage and meat out the gate account for another 6 tonnes, and methane burps equate to roughly 7 tonnes CO2-equivalent. That totals 20 tonnes less than the CO2 absorbed by the grass. Add in shelter belts, native plantings, soil carbon, and the 2.6 million hectares of native bush on New Zealand farms, and you could argue we’re already offsetting quite a few gas-guzzling SUVs.

Yet the inequity continues.

Ruminant methane levels in New Zealand are falling, and when methane levels are stable or declining, no additional warming occurs. Peer-reviewed research from the Oxford Martin School shows ruminant methane’s warming effect has been overstated by 300-400% a point the IPCC acknowledged in its latest report.

Technically, that means New Zealand’s livestock sector is now offsetting warming elsewhere. But rather than celebrating that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted on methane-reducing boluses, vaccines, and feed additives synthetic technologies that carry toxicity risks, add their own emissions footprint, and could undermine our “naturally pasture-raised” reputation.

Strangely, there’s no measurable gain in global temperature reduction

from them either.

Dr Kevin Trenberth, one of the world’s top climate scientists, with more than 600 published papers, and a lead author for the IPCC, put it plainly: “Growing trees does not help climate change Nor does getting rid of cows. Biogenic methane must be separated from fossil methane as the former is circular the methane comes from carbon dioxide that was in the atmosphere and taken up by grass during photosynthesis, and it ends up as carbon dioxide again.”

Our farmers produce food with the lowest carbon footprint per unit of naturally raised product in the world. That’s something to be proud of economically, ethically, and environmentally.

If we’re forced to slash production or adopt questionable methanereduction technologies, our produce will simply be replaced by imports from countries with far less efficient systems. The result? Higher global emissions and fewer export dollars for us climatically counterproductive and economically reckless.

So I say: not guilty, sir. No need for politically driven methane targets. No need for expensive “Frankenstein” fixes. Let’s save taxpayers’ money for health-care, housing, and education and let science, not slogans, guide the conversation. There is no “bit” to do when there is no warming to undo.

Quiz

1 Which novel begins with the quote, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen”?

A crow walks over a beer table in the English Garden in the centre of Munich, Germany.

2 Which city is located on two continents?

3 Which former All Black was nicknamed The Kamo Kid?

4 D’Angelo, Maxwell and Erykah Badu are artists associated with which musical subgenre?

5 What is the capital city of Namibia?

6 Tofiga Fepulea’i and Eteuati Ete formed which comedic duo?

7 What principle explains how a rocket is propelled forward?

8 What neurotransmitter is most often associated with ADHD?

9 What is the Streisand effect?

10 Which Prince song begins with the line: “Dig, if you will, the picture?”

Complaints

This newspaper is subject to the NZ Media Council. First email a complaint to editor@ northernadvocate.co.nz. If not satisfied, go to mediacouncil.org.nz.

Engine detached

The death toll from a cargo plane crash in the southern US state of Kentucky rose to 12 yesterday, with investigators saying the accident was caused by one of the engines catching fire and detaching during takeoff. The McDonnell Douglas MD11, operated by package delivery giant UPS and bound for Hawaii, crashed on Wednesday, shortly after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. It exploded into flames as it ploughed into businesses adjacent to the airport, killing multiple people on the ground. A three-person crew was aboard. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called the tragedy “heartbreaking” and “unimaginable”

World Sudan killings

More people may have died in the past week than in Gaza war, experts believe

Hani lay face down as the blood from his two neighbours’ heads seeped into the sand around him

The bullet wounds were still fresh and rifle barrels were warm in the hands of the militiamen standing above him

‘We'lltakecareofit’

US President Donald Trump yesterday said the United States had lost “sovereignty” after New Yorkers elected leftist Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor. “We'll take care of it,” Trump said without explaining what he meant, while claiming the country's largest city would become communist. In a speech in Miami a day after Mamdani's convincing victory, Trump added that the Florida city “will soon be the refuge for those fleeing communism in New York”. The speech marked the first anniversary of Trump's election victory against Democrat Kamala Harris. Mamdani's mayoral race win came despite fierce attacks on his policies and Muslim heritage from business elites, conservative media commentators and Trump himself. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said in a victory speech on Wednesday Mamdani's win, as well as the Democratic Party's other victories in the governors’'s races in Virginia and New Jersey, suggested a shift in political mood as the country looks toward next year's midterm elections, when control of Congress will be up for grabs.

Royal shooting

Spain’s former king Juan Carlos has detailed for the first time how he shot his younger brother dead nearly 70 years ago. The exiled royal, 87, who now lives in Dubai, published his memoirs this week, in which he detailed the death of Alfonso. Juan Carlos has remained tight-lipped since the 14-year-old was killed by a single bullet that struck his forehead on March 29, 1956. In the book, published in France under the title JuanCarlosId’Espagne: Reconciliation he said: “I will not recover from this tragedy. Its gravity will accompany me forever.”

Spying claim

German lawmakers yesterday accused the far-right AfD of harbouring a Russian “sleeper cell”, in the latest claim that the party is spying for Moscow, prompting a denial in Parliament. The AfD has faced accusations since October of using parliamentary questions to collect sensitive details on critical infrastructure, security and military matters, particularly in the eastern state of Thuringia. Marc Henrichmann, a lawmaker for Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU, yesterday said: “At the very least, they have a sleeper cell loyal to Russia in their ranks,” he said. “How lucky for Vladimir Putin that the AfD exists in Germany.” AfD politicians rejected the accusations as “embarrassing” and “malicious” but did not offer justifications for the inquiries.

The two women’s lives had ended on the outskirts of the Sudanese city of El Fasher because they had dared to move They were among dozens who were shot for disobeying the order to lie still by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebels who caught them fleeing a possible genocide just a few kilometres away

For those like Hani whose lives were spared it would not be the end of the ordeal Their journey to freedom would go through a gauntlet of murder, torture, robbery, kidnapping, humiliation and blackmail

Only four of the 200 who left the city together would survive

Their lives were spared mostly through good fortune but also partly down to the speed at which they could summon millions of Sudanese dollars while traipsing through the desert with nothing but the possessions they could carry

There is mounting evidence the city of El Fasher in the Darfur region, where no journalists have been allowed to report for more than two years, is at the centre of one of this century s worst ethnic massacres

More people may have died in the past week there than in the entire Gaza war, researchers now believe

Evidence of graves and bodies from satellite pictures suggested “a velocity of killing that can only be compared with the Rwandan genocide”, according to the Yale School of Public Health s Humanitarian Research Lab

But witness testimony remains sparse Hani spoke from a refugee camp run by international aid groups operating inside territory controlled by the RSF

His group of 200 people had only just left the piles of bodies in El Fasher when they quickly encountered RSF troops he said as he recounted the first shootings

“My head was on the ground and I could see, to my right, two women of my neighbours lying dead ”

When the guns went silent, militiamen then climbed into their trucks and started to run over the bodies of the living and the dead

About 65 survived and escaped into the brush only to run into another band of RSF fighters who opened fire, killing another 15

“We kept running, trying to escape,” Hani recalled

Later, coming across three checkpoints, they were beaten and intimidated, but allowed to continue At the fourth checkpoint, what little luck the survivors had ran out

The militiamen demanded a ransom of 10 million Sudanese pounds, more than $4600 per person and gave them only two hours to get the money

“Only four of us managed to pay,” Hani said “The rest were killed They killed children, the elderly, and women I cannot describe the scene, it was unbearable to watch people die right in front of you, each with a single bullet

The Telegraph could not independently verify Hani s testimony, but his version of events chimes with similar witness accounts slowly emerging

Detailed analysis of satellite research meanwhile suggests the killings may be far more widespread than what has been confirmed so far

One woman who recently made it out and declined to be named said: “Fathers were killed, brothers kidnapped and women were raped in front of us At that point, you only think about how to survive They were like monsters

“Our families were killed, and we have no news about the rest We don t know if they are dead or alive Sometimes I wish they were dead, it s better than being tortured The suffering is unbearable, and I never want to witness such things again ”

El Fasher had been the last stronghold of the Sudanese army in the Darfur region and more than a quarter of a million people had been sheltering inside when the RSF broke the siege and took control about a week ago

As many as 200,000 are feared trapped in the city With communications links blocked and few escaping, refugees and aid workers fear the killing is continuing unseen

Nathaniel Raymond, the Yale lab’s executive director, said: We are looking at a mass casualty event that could exceed in a week the amount of people who have died in two years in Gaza That’s the speed of killing we re at, based on what we’re seeing with piles of bodies on the ground ”

The US State Department said in January that members of the RSF had committed genocide in Sudan

Sudan’s civil war between the army and its paramilitary rival, the RSF, broke out two years ago and has since killed as many as 150,000 and seen 14 million leave their homes

Almost 70,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there Telegraph Group Ltd

Burned villages and broken promises

David Blair Comment

It was early morning in Sudan when actress Mia Farrow and her son, Ronan, drove southwards through the ramshackle streets of El Fasher, swirling with desert sand, heading for Zamzam refugee camp

This was almost 20 years ago, and I was with them in their white United Nations Landcruiser.

Farrow had flown to the Darfur region on the southern fringe of the Sahara as an “ambassador” of the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef); Ronan was accompanying her as a “youth spokesperson”.

Both cared enough about the suffering wrought by Darfur’s conflict to exchange the safety and comfort of their lives in the US for the squalid camps and militia checkpoints of what was already one of Africa’s most troubled lands.

Yet, when I picture that morning

in June 2006, I realise that none of us could have imagined how Darfur’s ordeal would last for decades, escalating remorselessly, until the whole of Sudan would begin tearing itself to pieces in a senseless civil war.

Nor could we have foreseen that, in 2025, the place where we were staying, El Fasher, would suffer a massacre so hideous that heaps of corpses scattered on blood-drenched sand could be photographed from space.

When we reached Zamzam, it was at that time just possible to believe that the camp’s jumble of shelters made from reeds, branches and plastic sheets would be a temporary place of refuge. Surely the war would end at some stage and its inhabitants’ villages would become safe enough for them to go home?

But that day never came. Instead, over the past two decades, a whole generation has grown up in Zamzam’s

Irish police got a call about a lion — it

John O’Reilly, a forest manager in western Ireland, could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the grainy video on his phone, sent to him by a truck driver

There, slinking through the woodlands of County Clare, in Ireland, was the impossible: a stocky, tan-coloured animal with a shaggy mane and tufted tail, lumbering into the trees and then out of view.

“You’re saying, ‘Christ, that couldn’t be what it looks like’,” O’Reilly recalled.

A lion? Here?

The video began spreading on news sites and social media in Ireland, prompting both speculation and scepticism After nearly a week, Ireland’s police force, known as An Garda Siochana, solved the confounding

case. The creature was no apex predator. It was a shaggy Newfoundland dog. Its name? Mouse.

“Gardai from Killaloe have concluded that the recent video of a lion like’ animal roaming around the woods in East Clare is in fact the very friendly dog named ‘Mouse’,” police said in a post on social platform X, with photos of a calm, docile dog,

whose shaved fur resembled a lion’s mane and tail.

(Despite the proximity to Halloween, it’s still unclear why Mouse had been groomed to look like a lion. Vets do not recommend shaving water dogs like Newfoundlands, whose coats protect them from the elements).

It is the amusing end to a saga that O’Reilly said began weeks ago, when

horrors of genocide

suffering for

returned again in 2006 and 2008.

privation and hunger, where conditions became so abject that famine was officially declared in 2024.

Today, I can only marvel at the triumph of the most blood-soaked combatants in Darfur’s tragedy, the futile emptiness of UN resolutions, and the merciless escalation of a catastrophe that has now engulfed almost all of Africa’s third biggest country.

On my first visit to Darfur, in 2004, most of the killing was being done by a militia known as the Janjaweed, loosely translated as “demons on horseback”. These mounted gunmen were recruited, armed and funded by Sudan’s Arab rulers in Khartoum to crush rebels from African ethnic groups of Darfur, who attacked El Fasher airport in 2003.

In Riad camp in western Darfur, Mariam Abdul Karim Mohammed, a mother of five, told me in 2004 how the raiders had burned her village to

the ground.

She watched as they rounded up dozens of men and boys, some younger than 10, and pushed them into four huts. The gunmen doused the thatched huts in petrol and set them alight.

“The children were crying and crying, then finish. The hut was burned,” she told me.

So egregious were the Janjaweed’s atrocities that on July 30, 2004, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1556 demanding Sudan’s regime “disarm” the militia within “30 days” and bring its leaders to justice.

What happened? The Janjaweed’s murderous campaign continued and its fighters were later incorporated into Sudan’s armed services and rebranded as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Under this label, the Janjaweed/RSF has taken over the whole of Darfur.

They carried out this month’s massacre in El Fasher. They committed a similar atrocity when they captured another provincial centre, El Geneina, in 2023.

And in the same year, General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of the Janjaweed/RSF, began

fighting General Abdul Fattah alBurhan, the army commander, for dominance of all of Sudan. That clash between two generals triggered the nationwide civil war.

With the seizure of El Fasher, Dagalo has become master of Darfur.

But he will not stop until he has taken over the rest of the country.

Having travelled with Mia Farrow, I have no doubt that she was genuinely moved by the suffering we witnessed.

The same was true of most of the famous people who took up Darfur’s cause all those years ago, from George Clooney to Kofi Annan, then UN Secretary General.

But the hard reality is that Darfur’s tragedy has now spread across Sudan and the Janjaweed, whose total disarmament the UN once demanded, is more powerful and bloodstained than ever before.

Telegraph Group Ltd

was actually a dog named Mouse

construction crews and workers in the East Clare area noticed a large animal moving among the trees. They assumed it was a deer or a trick of the light, he said.

And then came that video, from the truck driver.

O’Reilly, who runs a private forestmanagement company in neighbouring County Meath, said he decided to report the video to the Gardai be-

cause of safety concerns. Police, as perplexed as anyone at the apparent sight of a lion in Ireland, initially asked O’Reilly if it could have been made with artificial intelligence, he said.

The video could’ve been “everything from a dog, to a wannabe Al Pacino in Scarface keeping an animal in the woods to protect his grow house”, O’Reilly said of the

possibilities he considered adding that it wouldn’t be the first time an exotic animal was found roaming the island.

It wouldn’t even be the first lion in a 1951 incident that is now island lore, a lioness escaped from a lion tamer’s home in Dublin, where it was once legal to keep the large cats. The lioness mauled a city teenager before being shot by police.

Court sceptical

A majority of US Supreme Court justices appeared deeply sceptical of the legality behind a swathe of Donald Trump's tariffs as they heard a landmark case yesterday that could uphold – or upend – the US President's economic agenda. Billions of dollars in customs revenue and a key lever in Trump's trade wars are at stake as the conservativedominated panel again grappled with the Republican's attempts to expand presidential powers. In a hearing lasting more than two-and-a-half hours, several conservative justices, with the three liberals, questioned whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that Trump invoked confers the authority to impose tariffs. The justices sought to clarify whether Congress has to give clear authorisation for policies with significant economic or political consequences.

President groped

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called for sexual harassment to be made a crime nationwide after being groped on the street on Wednesday in an attack that underscored the dangers women in the Latin American country face. Sheinbaum, 63, was attacked while greeting supporters near the presidential palace in Mexico City as she was walking to a public event. A drunken man approached her, put his arm around her shoulder, and with the other hand touched her hip and chest, while attempting to kiss her neck. A member of the presidential security detail pulled him away. Mexico's first woman President initially appeared confused by the incident, which was caught on camera, even agreeing to take a picture with the man. He was later arrested.

Emissions deal

The European Union struck a deal yesterday on the 27-nation bloc's next big emissions-cutting targets in time for next week's UN COP30 climate summit at the cost of deep concessions to reluctant capitals. After months of haggling and marathon overnight talks, the bloc averted the worst-case scenario of turning up empty-handed to the gathering in Brazil where it hopes to assert its leadership in the fight against global warming. EU countries agreed to target a 90% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 compared to 1990 levels a key milestone towards its goal of becoming carbon neutral by midcentury. They also agreed on a related 2035 target to bring to the UN summit, which EU chief Ursula von der Leyen trumpeted as “good news” as she arrived in the northern Brazilian city of Belem for a leaders' summit before the talks next week.

Typhoon toll rises

Lions have not inhabited the European continent in thousands of years. But the Irish, ironically, once cultivated a reputation for breeding the captive wildcats, which were marquee items of many circuses and shows in the mid-century. The famed MGM lion, with his luxurious mane, bore the Irish name Cairbre and was born at the Dublin zoo. New York Times

The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the central Philippines has climbed past 140 as the devastating impact on Cebu province became clearer after the worst flooding in recent memory. Floodwaters described as unprecedented had rushed through the province's towns and cities, sweeping away cars, riverside shanties and even massive shipping containers. Cebu spokesman Rhon Ramos told AFP yesterday that 35 bodies had been recovered from flooded areas of Liloan, a town that is part of provincial capital Cebu City's metro area. The grim news brought the toll for Cebu to 76.

Astone’s throw from Venezuela, in the eye of a political storm fuelled by a US naval deployment, fishermen from the archipelago of Trinidad and Tobago fear getting caught up in the tumult

Between Venezuelan military preparations in response to muscular US provocation on the one hand, and Trinidad-backed American strikes on alleged drug boats on the other, people who normally ply their trade in the sea told AFP they are keeping a low profile

In Cedros a village in the extreme southwest of the island of Trinidad, a group of them chatted in hammocks on the beach, their boats unusually idle

The fishers eyed the Venezuelan coast, about a dozen kilometres away, as they discussed their dilemma

Barefoot and dressed in shorts, Kendrick Moodee told AFP he and his comrades were taking “a little more caution , with the Venezuelan coastguard “a bit tense” these days

There has been closer policing, the 58-year-old said, of fishing in Venezuelan territorial waters where boats from Trinidad and Tobago were previously left to operate undisturbed

Several Cedros fishermen said Venezuelan patrols have been violently repelling Trinidadian vessels, and beatings and extortion have increased

Their territory curtailed, the fishermen have seen their yields and income dwindle

US strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific have killed at least 65 people on boats Washington claims were ferrying drugs in recent weeks

Family members and victims’ governments have said some of them

Fishermen keep clear of troubled waters

were fishermen at sea

Earlier this month US President

Donald Trump hailed the success of the operation saying: “We’re so good at it that there are no boats In fact even fishing boats nobody wants to go into the water anymore

At least two of those killed were Trinidadians according to mourning loved ones, though the Government

of the US-aligned nation of 1 4 million people has refused to confirm the identities

“This [fishing] is the only thing we have to make a dollar, 42-year-old Rakesh Ramdass told AFP, saying he was afraid of the diplomatic fallout, but without an alternative “You have to take a chance ” he said But at sea “anything can happen”

Fishermen said the Trinidadian coastguard was also making life more difficult for them in an area known as a hotspot for the trafficking of drugs, arms and people including Venezuelans fleeing dire economic straits in their own country

Prime Minister Kamla PersadBissessar is a fierce critic of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and

a friend of Trump and has welcomed the US strikes

Maduro accused her of turning Trinidad and Tobago into “an aircraft carrier of the American empire” after Washington sent a guided-missile destroyer there for four days for a joint military exercise within striking distance of the Venezuelan mainland

Caracas fears the US deployment of war vessels is part of a regime change plan under the guise of an anti-drug operation

The diplomatic standoff has meant that “everyone becomes suspect, even simple fishermen”, a Western diplomat in Trinidad and Tobago told AFP on condition of anonymity

Those who fish “find themselves caught in the crossfire”, said the diplomat, and “normal economic life is disrupted”

In Icacos, a village near Cedros, Alexsi Soomai, 63 lamented that fishermen like him were going out to sea less frequently

“Better safe than sorry,” he said Icacos is the arrival point for many undocumented Venezuelans seeking a better life elsewhere

A few steps from the beach, a hamlet with houses made of salvaged wood shelters several families, including that of Yacelis Garcia a 35-year-old Indigenous Venezuelan who left that country six years ago

In Venezuela, she recounted, “sometimes we ate, sometimes we didn t

Her brother-in-law Juan Salazar said he now lives solely from fishing”

But he does not dare venture far in the current political climate, fearing he will be caught and sent back or worse AFP

The country singer girlfriend at centre of FBI jet row

For the second time this year, Kash Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, has ended up in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Neither of them were really her fault.

Wilkins, a 27-year-old country music star, is at the centre of a media storm after Patel, the FBI director, was accused of using one of the bureau’s private jets to watch her sing at a wrestling match.

It was just months ago that she was accused, without evidence, of spying for Mossad, prompting an angry intervention by Patel against the “cowardly” attacks on his girlfriend.

Wikins counts Garth Brooks among her influences. Her country songs borrow heavily from country motifs: Grit and Quite Like Whiskey, and Country Back According to profiles, she was born in the US but

spent part of her childhood in England and Switzerland. She moved back to the US at the age of 9 when her father, who worked for Gillette, took a job in Arkansas.

Determined to pursue a country career, she moved to Nashville after high school, where she attended Belmont, a private Christian university.

She released her debut single, Holdin’ On in early 2020, which was followed by three more songs over the July 4 weekend. Much of her music is dedicated to veterans, and she often cites the influence of her “papa”, who served in the US Navy during the Korean War.

So far, so uncontroversial. But it is her relationship with Patel almost 20 years her senior, whom she reportedly met in Nashville in 2022 and began dating the following year,

that has seen her attract controversy. Wilkins became the focus of a bizarre conspiracy theory this year that she was a Mossad agent on a “honeypot” mission to entrap the FBI director.

She is not Jewish, despite the claims of online commentators, and says she has never set foot in Israel in her life.

Earlier this year, she sued Kyle Seraphin, a conservative commentator and ex-FBI agent, for US$5m ($8.8m) over the claim.

As she noted in the legal filing, the claim could have been fatal to her image as a country musician and political commentator, which is based on being a “patriotic American”. Seraphin had met the couple two years previously and was aware Wilkins was not Israeli court docu-

ments claim. Seraphin had previously suggested the ongoing lawsuit is an attempt to distract from the “bad job” Patel is doing of running the FBI.

In late October, Wilkins posted a selfie with her boyfriend at a Penn State University wrestling contest, where she had performed the national anthem.

She could never have imagined that, too, would become the subject of scrutiny. But Patel has been accused of using an FBI plane to attend that performance, despite having previously criticised his predecessor at the bureau for using jets paid for by “taxpayer dollars”.

“The disgustingly baseless attacks against Alexis a true patriot and the woman I’m proud to call my partner in life are beyond pathetic,” Patel said in response.

“She is a rock-solid conservative and a country music sensation who has done more for this nation than most will in 10 lifetimes,” he added, claiming the reporting “jeopardises our safety” while hitting out at “allies” who stayed silent

It is in Grit, her debut EP, that Wilkins lauded the “cowboy spirit” exemplified by her idols such as John Wayne.

“Grit is something that we’re lacking now,” she told an interviewer. “I really miss the grit of previous generations. They were drafted to fight wars and came home to provide for their families.”

Now Wilkins has found herself in the political trenches without many allies. What she’ll need, more than anything, is grit.

Telegraph Group Ltd

Air NZ begins trials of electric aircraft

John Weekes

An Air New Zealand electric aircraft demonstration project got under way in Hamilton yesterday.

The airline is working with United States-based Beta Technologies to launch the aircraft.

The battery-powered Alia CX300 aircraft had a test flight in Tauranga last month, but it was yesterday that extensive proving trials began.

It is expected to fly across the Cook Strait this summer.

Air NZ pilots Andrew Mercer and James Owen will work with Beta’s flight operations and engineering team and will fly in a range of conditions, flight manoeuvres and

Tech

Tech sector revenue hits $20b as Tin200 firms expand offshore

Aroutes, building knowledge and training systems.

The airline said the knowledge gained would then be applied not just to local conditions, but globally.

Air NZ chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar said the programme was part of the airline’s long-term innovation and fleet strategy.

“While new propulsion technologies are still developing, Beta is leading the way and we’re witnessing a true technology stepchange.”

Sixty per cent of New Zealand regional flights were less than 350km, and about 85% of the country’s electricity was from renewable sources, Ravishankar said.

Those factors made New Zealand the perfect laboratory for nextgeneration aircraft. The Alia could accommodate two crew members and up to 5.6cu m of cargo on missions of up to about 400km

and chief executive Kane Patena said the demo would help the CAA better understand emerging aircraft systems.

“Emerging aviation technologies don’t always fit into existing rules, so it’s our job to facilitate a clear pathway that helps operators safely bring these technologies into New Zealand’s unique aviation system.”

Mark Morgan, Hamilton Airport chief executive, said the local airspace was ideal for learning and understanding the systems, infrastructure, and logistics that would one day support next-generation aircraft nationwide.

After Hamilton, the Alia CX300 will travel to Wellington via Taupo, Napier, and Palmerston North.

“Our aircraft are designed to carry out all types of flight missions, and this programme represents the next step in validating and preparing our technology for rigorous, real-world environments.”

Civil Aviation Authority director

Simon Newitt, Beta Technologies’ head of global sales, said New Zealand’s operating conditions provided insights for the aircraft’s global deployment.

Then it will prepare for Cook Strait crossings to Blenheim by the end of January.

The aircraft, which was made in Vermont will return to Beta Technologies in the United States early next year.

firms oom year

financial year Will the good times continue amid the trade wars sparked by US President Donald Trump s tariffs?

“The decline in the NZ dollar against the US dollar is helping offset some of the disruption in the US market,” Shanahan said

Chris Keall

fter something of a postpandemic hangover in 2024, with slowing growth, tech sector revenue expanded strongly in the 2025 financial year

But although it generated record receipts and the total number of staff employed in the sector increased slightly (despite some artificial intelligence layoffs), the number of jobs supported by the tech sector in New Zealand fell sharply

The latest Technology Investment Network (Tin) annual ranking of New Zealand s 200 largest tech firms by revenue the “Tin200” found:

• Total revenue generated by the companies in the Tin200 increased 9 9% to $20 billion

• Total Tin200 exports were up 12 4% to $15 31b which Tin founder Greg Shanahan says makes tech our third-largest export earner after dairy ($26 2b) and tourism ($16 0b)

• Total Tin200 employment was 61,369, up 778 or 1 3%

• But the fastest employment growth was overseas, with offshore job creation outpacing domestic growth nearly three-to-one

• The number of onshore Tin200 staff fell 12 4% from 32,813 in FY2024 to 28 751 in 2025

We re now well into the FY2026

Another key advantage for the tech sector is that software and services have avoided Trump s tariffs

And, outside of an occasional tilt at Hollywood, there has been no sign the US President plans to extend his taxes on imports beyond the current focus on physical goods but even there, Trump (with one eye on costof-living issues) has exempted generic pharmaceuticals from tariffs which is good news for New Zealand’s Douglas Pharmaceuticals and AFT

Shanahan says Tin200 companies are now heftier, too, which positions them better to negotiate global chaos

This is the first year that two Tin200 firms Xero and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare have topped $2b in revenue, while 40 had turnover above $100 million, compared to 19 last year

Shanahan also points to pushes into markets outside the suddenly tariff-heavy US particularly China India, the rest of Asia and Europe

Some of these predate Trump’s second term He points to the manufacturing facility that Fisher & Paykel Healthcare opened in China in July last year (the firm also has a $250m expansion under way in East Tamaki), plus the factory that Rakon opened in India

Shanahan says “growing commercial sophistication was another factor, citing payments company Windcave’s rapid expansion in the US

Top export earners

For the year to March:

● Dairy: $26 2b (+7 1% of the prior year)

● Tourism $16 0b (11 0%)

● Meat: $11 7b (+5 4%)

● Horticulture: $6 1b (+33 2%)

● Forestry: $6 0b (+2 8%)

● Seafood: $2 2b (+2 1%)

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

last year that underpinned a $100m jump in revenue (by Tin200‘s estimate of the privately-held firm)

Rich-lister, founder and owner Andy Cullen partially shielded Windcave from tariff headwinds and got close to his largest market by reincorporating his company in the US (it’s now registered in Arizona) and opening offices in Phoenix and New York

Windcave also expanded locally

opening a new plant in Auckland, with about 400 staff for producing its payment terminals

Although cloud software stars like Xero continued to enjoy strong growth in FY2025 high-tech manufacturing grew fastest, increasing its exports by 11% as firms from the giant Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (which saw 16% revenue growth to $2 02b) to fast-growing start-up Syos Aerospace (which landed a $66m drone deal with the UK Government) surged

But the highest-profile hardware contender was the Kiwi-American Rocket Lab as it increased its number of launches from Mahia and Virginia and dramatically expanded its satellite business

Its growth is accelerating Sir Peter Beck’s firm reported US$242m ($428m) revenue for its June quarter, a 36% jump Rocket Lab is now hiring many more people in North America than New Zealand but it continues to expand at pace in New Zealand; it was recently advertising for 54 new staff in Auckland

Stats NZ reported $2 2b in software exports last year as a subset of $3 5b in “ICT [information and communications technology] software and services exports”

It said “high-tech manufacturing” generated $7 9b in export receipts

Other tech-related export categories included “ICT consulting and development services” ($629m), ICT support services ($323m) and hosting and IT infrastructure services” ($334m)

Analysis of Stats NZ figures by industry group NZTech found a total of $11 4b in exports from technology in 2024

Another Tin200 quirk is that with

its focus on offshore earnings and New Zealand-founded firms (even after they’re sold) its rankings include some firms that are now only partly Kiwi or high-tech and miss out large swathes of the local tech scene

For example, Fisher & Paykel Appliances has been owned by China’s Haier since 2012 and has moved all of its manufacturing offshore to China, Mexico and other locations It remains in the index by dint of maintaining an R&D crew in Auckland

The focus on export revenue means a clutch of our largest tech players all with multibillion-dollar market caps Spark, Chorus and Infratil (owner of One New Zealand and half-owner of CDC Data Centres) are not part of the Tin200 2degrees is out for the same reason notwithstanding the healthy export receipts it pulls in through supplying ground station services to Elon Musk s Starlink and other offshore firms

Self-styled edu-techs Kami, Education Perfect and the $1b+ private equity-valued Crimson all New Zealand-based, global players are also absent

But BeingAI, which has a notable percentage of its business outside high-tech in a stable that spans (or used to span before this year’s asset sell-off) schools to a courier business to software and AI consultancy, does make the cut

NZTech which includes telcos and allcomers says the total number employed by the tech sector inside New Zealand last year was 119,520 a 2100 reduction, with Wellington hit hardest as a number of Government agency tech projects were cancelled or paused

VOTETOBE INTOWIN $2,500OFFUEL

Microsoft offers software charge refund

Tecnology giant apologises to customers by email

Chris Keall

Microsoft is offering New Zealand and Australian customers of its 365 software a refund, or the chance to return to their old pricing, following a controversial price hike that kicked in over late 2024 and early 2025

The tech giant offered an apology in an email to customers and said: “We fell short of our standards ”

It seems the initial rollout of the refund has also fallen short of the company s standards, with multiple people saying the refund link does not work (more on which below)

The move follows legal action lodged by Australia’s market regulator, with the threat of a A$50 million

($56 9m) penalty and a warning letter sent by New Zealand s Commerce Commission

From October last year through to early this year Microsoft emailed New Zealand customers to say the price of a 365 annual subscription was increasing from $179 to $229 (a 28% increase) and the price of a 365 personal subscription was rising from $129 to $179 (a 38% increase)

Microsoft said 365 (which includes Outlook, Word and other popular apps) was being boosted with the addition of its Copilot AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot

It did not mention the option for customers to continue with their existing pricing if they did not want Copilot

That “Classic Plan” option only appeared if a customer went to cancel their subscription

Consumer NZ called that a “flagrant breach of goodwill and trust” and lodged a complaint with the Commerce Commission, which decided against a formal investigation but did send the tech giant a

warning letter

The Commerce Commission’s Vanessa Horne told the Herald: “In February this year, we provided information to Microsoft New Zealand outlining that we had received complaints that potentially raised issues under the Fair Trading Act ”

A Microsoft email sent to 365 Family and 365 Personal subscribers from 11am NZT yesterday morning offered them the option to keep their current (increased) pricing or switch to their old pricing (and lose Copilot), including a refund for period they paid the higher rate

The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) said it was suing Microsoft for “misleading” 2 7 million Australians by telling them that they had to accept the increase tied to the addition of Copilot or cancel

Microsoft declined to say how many Kiwis have 365 Personal or 365 Family subs

‘We apologise’

“Today, we began reaching out to

our Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in New Zealand regarding a subscription alternative that we could have communicated more clearly when we changed our pricing in October 2024,” Microsoft said in a statement

“In response to the demand for advanced AI tools, we introduced AI capabilities into the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions that we offer in New Zealand.

“In hindsight, we could have been clearer about the availability of a non-AI enabled offering with subscribers, not just to those who opted to cancel their subscription.

“We have been present in New Zealand for more than 35 years, operating on the principles of trust and transparency. We fell short of our standards here, and we apologise. We will learn from this and improve.”

‘Result of strong action by Australian regulator’

“Today’s announcement from Microsoft is huge, and very welcome

THE NUMBERS

news that will benefit heaps of people. We encourage every eligible 365 subscriber to take up the offer of a refund,” Consumer writer Nick Gelling told the Herald after the Microsoft 365 email was sent to this reporter’s personal email account at 9.38am.

“We think this announcement is highly likely to be a result of the strong action taken by the Australian regulator. In that respect, New Zealanders are lucky to have this win off the back of the Australian regulator standing up to a tech giant,” Gelling said.

In its comments, Microsoft has not referenced the ACCC’s legal action.

“We’re hearing of some teething difficulties with the offer, which has clearly been set up for Australian customers, but we have faith that Microsoft NZ will sort out those issues quickly,” Gelling said.

A tech industry veteran who also received the 365 offer at 9.38am told the Herald: “The email says that the offer applies in New Zealand but it doesn’t work here.”

Manipulation case filed

The Financial Markets Authority has filed civil proceedings against experienced Auckland-based retail investor Franco Belgiorno-Nettis for alleged market manipulation of shares in NZX-listed Steel and Tube Holdings Limited.

The regulator alleges that between November 2020 and July 2023, Belgiorno-Nettis made orders for Steel and Tube’s shares which repeatedly affected its closing share price, therefore likely having the effect of creating a false or misleading appearance of trading.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) also alleges that the orders lacked a genuine commercial purpose and that Belgiorno-Nettis deliberately took actions to increase or maintain the price of shares in Steel and Tube for his personal advantage at a time when he held a substantial shareholding in the company.

The orders were made via two broking accounts he held with ASB Securities.

The proceeding follows an investigation by the FMA after ASB had earlier reported potential concerns about the orders to NZ RegCo.

“We take cases of market manipulation seriously to ensure New Zealand’s markets reflect genuine supply and demand, in order to preserve their integrity and reputation,” said FMA head of enforcement Margot Gatland.

Steel and Tube is not a party to the proceeding.

‘Significant public benefit’ Watchdog backs Huntly power plan

Jamie Gray

The Commerce Commission has given its final seal of approval to a deal that allows the big power companies access to Genesis Energy’s Huntly Power Station.

The competition watchdog gave its blessing to allow the big four Genesis, Contact, Meridian and Mercury to enter into a series of agreements referred to as the Strategic Energy Reserve Huntly Firming Option.

In energy, “firming” ensures constant supply of power to the grid, regardless of conditions at the time.

The commission found the public benefits of the proposed arrangements which last for 10 years likely outweighed any potential lessening of competition.

It had already provisionally approved a deal between the big power

generators to support Genesis Energy’s fossil fuel-powered Huntly Power Station, which backs up the hydro- and wind-dominated national grid when conditions warrant it.

The arrangements give Contact, Meridian and Mercury an option to access certain notional generation capacity from Genesis’ coal- and gasfired Rankine steam turbines at Huntly until December 31, 2035.

In exchange, Contact, Meridian and Mercury will pay an annual premium and pay for running costs incurred on their behalf.

The arrangements were proposed to provide a commercial incentive for Genesis to maintain Rankine Unit 2, a gas/coal-fired unit at Huntly Power Station, for use as “dry-year cover” when other forms of electricity generation, such as hydro generators, may not be sufficient to ensure security of supply.

The electricity sector has been in the spotlight over the last 12 months or so after last winter’s sharp price spike, which was driven by extremely dry conditions and constrained gas supply.

Cooling towers at Genesis Energy’s Huntly Power Station.

“The commission is aware of the difficulties currently facing the electricity sector and, after thoroughly testing the impacts of this authorisation, believes there is significant public benefit in ensuring security of supply for New Zealanders during dry years,” Commerce Commission

chair John Small said.

“We have found the public benefits of these proposed arrangements likely outweigh any potential lessening of competition,” Small said.

“It is our view that, as well as improving security of supply, they will lower wholesale prices, compared to a future scenario in which Unit 2 is shut down,” he said.

The commission had previously acknowledged the urgency regarding the application by the generatorretailers and had worked “with pace” to issue a determination quickly to allow Genesis to work on Rankine Unit 2 before next winter.

It noted New Zealand’s electricity system is susceptible to “dry-year risk” reducing the amount of hydroelectricity that may be generated and increasing the risk that there is inadequate electricity supply to meet demand.

Bespoke BARK

Meet Bailey, the only dog in the world with his own bespoke Rolls-Royce Spectre

If you’re a dog person, you’ll understand the bond we have with our dogs and how their big, goofy faces and charming personalities bring us joy on a daily basis. You would also do almost anything for your best mate; but would you commission a special Rolls-Royce just for him?

That’s what one dog owner in the US has done, with Rolls-Royce recently unveiling the results; the Rolls-Royce Spectre Bailey.

“We are lifelong car enthusiasts, yes, but we are also lifelong animal lovers, and our dog Bailey is a cherished member of our family,” says the unnamed owner of both the car and Bailey, a labradorgolden retriever cross

“When we started our RollsRoyce Spectre commission, we saw the opportunity to create something beautiful which would remind us of him for decades to come Working with the RollsRoyce Bespoke Collective, we were surprised at every turn with their wonderful ideas the wood inlay, or the paw prints on the sill which added so much to the experience.

“Spectre Bailey is everything we hoped for and more; it’s a joyful tribute to our loyal companion.”

The Spectre Bailey is finished in unique iridescent two-tone paint

job, with the main body is finished in Crystal Fusion over Beautiful Bailey, a hue “inspired by the soft fur on Bailey’s ear”. The shoulder Coachline features an “exact reproduction” of Bailey’s paw print, hand-painted in rose gold to match the Spirit of Ecstasy figurine.

Likewise the interior is finished in Bailey-centric hues, with Moccasin and Creme Light leather complemented by Dark Spice and Casden Tan accents, with High Gloss Royal Walnut wood veneer.

The centrepiece of the interior is a lifelike marquetry portrait of Bailey between the rear seats.

Rolls-Royce says the intricate

composition took more than four months to complete and comprises more than 180 pieces of veneer.

No staining or artificial treatments were used to match Bailey’s colours; instead each piece was for its natural hue and pattern, with grain direction, tone, and texture of the wood being used to represent Bailey’s fur.

Bailey’s tongue alone was crafted using four wood veneers never previously used by RollsRoyce purple heart, tulipwood, louro faia, and pear which were all selected for their subtle colour variations. In total, nine veneers were used, representing 22 natural

shades.

More paws also feature throughout the interior, with the passenger side of the dashboard featuring a smaller marquetry motif, while more paw prints are engraved on the bespoke rose gold treadplates on the door sills.

“For Rolls-Royce, one of the great joys of a Bespoke commission is becoming immersed in the client’s world and the unique story behind their vision,” says Phil Fabre de la Grange, head of Bespoke, RollsRoyce Motor Cars.

“This is perfectly captured by Spectre Bailey, a charming commission that reaffirms that

inspiration can come from anywhere. Our team was absolutely delighted to collaborate with our longstanding clients to bring this concept to life in a playful yet timeless manner, reflecting the special place Bailey holds in their hearts.” Of course, the best part of all of this is the fact that Bailey isn’t a pure-bred designer dog, with the adorable labradorgolden retriever cross proving that even mongrels deserve the very best.

Puzzlesandhoroscopes

Former I’m to

WordWheel

WordBuilder

Your Stars

Previous solution: MERIDIAN

allowed There’s at least one five-letter word Good 9 Very Good 13 Excellent 18 Previous solution: deli, delis, die, diel, diels, dies, dis, eld, de, ides, idle, idles, ids, isle, led, lei, le s, lid, lids, lie, lied, lies, lis, sei, side, sidle, s ld, sled, slid, slide

ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19): The people who inspire laughter, creativity and closeness can be the same people who bring you friction, misunderstandings and overwhelm Blame chemistry. Either way, it's an invitation to grow

TAURUS (Apr 20-May 20): The mind doesn't store time; it stores impressions A memory will light up your nervous system as though it's happening right now Just because something is in the past doesn't mean that it's over

GEMINI (May 21-Jun 21): The familiar falls away Something extraordinary wants to come through. Release routine. Before you even have time to feel that emptiness, something wondrous replaces it.

CANCER (Jun 22-Jul 22): The astral omens warn against crowdsourcing today, only because your vision is beautiful and clear, and extra opinions will only compromise. Just act on your own

LEO (Jul 23-Aug 22): Those who encounter your light feel more awake to their own You're honest, and it's why people sense they can rely on you. In a world hungry for something real, your candour is both medicine and magnet.

VIRGO (Aug 23-Sep 22): You're handling life with emotional intelligence. Today you'll realise how you're really training your attention to go where it heals instead of where it hurts. Small things build genuine self-esteem.

LIBRA (Sep 23-Oct 23): The way to freedom is through a little chosen restraint. Skip a luxury, delay gratification or sit with a craving instead of satisfying it right away. You'll find that the "need" quickly dissolves

SCORPIO (Oct 24-Nov 21): Myths, love stories, art, politics – they are all constructs humans agreed to believe in, and they've shaped everything we know Don't fear illusion. Use it. The line between is where humanity does its best work.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22-Dec 21): There will be admin to do. Try to find a way to make it fun for yourself – rewards, music, small interruptions, a change of scenery... it all becomes a game instead of a grind.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19): Unresolved emotion lingers It waits, quietly influencing your relationships, fears or ambitions until it's acknowledged and integrated The emotional past becomes the psychological present.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20-Feb 18): You get to know people by letting them teach you who they are. You're showing up with coffee, awake to what's being taught. The lessons will come through more feelings than facts today.

PISCES (Feb 19-Mar 20): Exchanges leave you stronger and give you the sense that you're on the right path. Because the right kinds of challenges are regenerative, not exhausting. You'll naturally be drawn to experiences that give back.

Y E W

S

ALICE ARTHUR BASHFUL

BELLE

BIG BAD WOLF

BRIAR ROSE CINDERELLA CLIFFORD

DOC DOPEY

EEYORE

ELOISE

FAIRY

GIANT

GRETEL GRUMPY HAGRID HANSEL HAPPY

HARRY POTTER HENNY PENNY

JACK KATNISS MADELINE

MARCH HARE MATILDA

MAX

NANCY DREW

PADDINGTON PETER PIED PIPER PIGLET POOH

RAPUNZEL ROSE RED RUMPELSTILTSKIN

SLEEPY

SNEEZY SNOW WHITE THUMBELINA

TRIO

Find the threeletter sequence which will complete all these words

3

4 LETTERS ABUT ACNE ACTS AIMS AMMO ANTE ARAB BEAU DAMN DEFT DROP DUTY EARS EVIL EWER EWES EYED HEAT HOAX KIWI LATE LEAK MESH MIEN MOVE NAPE NETS NOSH PERT POPE READ REAP REAR SARI SCAT SNOB SPAY SPIN STEM STEW STIR TIES WILD YEWS Fit the words into the grid to create a finished crossword

5 LETTERS AGAPE ASCOT ASIAN CODED CREAK DEALT EARLS EASEL ETUDE GAUGE IDLED INSET LEVEL MALTS MANGO MARGE MUSES OCEAN OLDEN OVERT PEDAL REEVE REVUE SAUNA SCENT SKIED SPEND TENET TIGER TRULY

6 LETTERS DEADLY GASKET MORTAR MOSAIC

7 LETTERS ASEXUAL ELEMENT IDEALLY SKELTER

0 Stories of the day from around New Zealand

7 30 The Repair Shop PG 0 Expert craftspeople bring pieces of family history, and the memories they hold, back to life

8.25 Chateau DIY 0 The clock is ticking for the build of a gazebo for a mum’s birthday celebration a couple face a plaster disaster as they struggle to get their salon renovated

9 25 Coronation Street PG 0

10.20 Deal or No Deal Australia 3

10.45 Hard Quiz PG 3 In a battle of the duds Tom welcomes back experts on French and Saunders, Tiger Woods, and other topics

11.25 Dream Home PG 3 The Queensland teams get to see their transformed homes and after the reveals, they get back to work as the next stop is Sydney where a stormy build awaits

12.50 Mrs Brown’s Boys 16L 3

1.20 Te Karere 3

1 45 Quiz

2am Infomercials

5 30 Te Karere 3

6am Les Mills Born to Move 3 0

6 25 Children’s Programmes

9 05 Infomercials

9.35 Les Mills Adult Classes 3 0

10.05 DrewBarrymoreShow PG 0

11am Home and Away PG 3 0

11.30 Home Economics PG 0

Noon Tipping Point Australia 3 0

1pm Come Dine with Me 0

1 30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine PG 3 0

2pm The Rookie MV 3 0

3pm Seinfeld PG 3 0

3 30 Neighbours 0

4pm Tipping Point Australia 3 0

5pm The Big Bang Theory 3 0

6pm The Simpsons 3 0

6 25 F The Paper PG 0

Ned stifles his desire to win at the Ohio Journalism Awards; Nicole uncovers Detrick’s monogamy and becomes furious; Oscar comes to terms with the documentary

7pm Home and Away PG 0 Lacey tries to stay busy; Levi struggles with being parted from Mackenzie; Dana feels betrayed

7 30 The Graham Norton Show M 0 Keira Knightley, Malala Yousafzai Aimee Lou Wood and Chris McCausland join Graham on his sofa There is live music from Mumford and Sons and Hozier

8 35 Michael McIntyre’s Big Show

M Lewis Capaldi bravely hands over his phone in send-to-all before performing, and one football fans dream comes true as he unknowingly signs for his team

9 50 Taskmaster NZ 16L 3

The comedians set out to create history as water gets thrown terrible investments are shown, and Josh Thomson tries not to touch a cow

10.45 Hullraisers M 0

11 15 2 Broke Girls PG 3 0

11.45 Hell’s Kitchen 16L 3

12.45 Dracula 16VS

1 30 Emmerdale PG 3

2 20 Infomercials

3.20 Come Dine with Me: The Professionals 3 5am Closedown

6.25 The Martian ML 2015 Drama

8.45 The Illusionist MVS 2006 Drama

10 35 Before Sunrise ML 1995 Romantic Drama

12.15 The Longest Ride MS 2015 Romantic Drama A young couple make a fateful connection that changes their lives

2.25 The Next Three Days MVL 2010 Crime A couple’s life is upset when the wife is accused of

4 35 The Count of Monte Cristo MVC

Along Came a Spider MV 2001

8 30 Dog Eat Dog 18VLSC 2016 Crime A botched baby snatch leaves a trail of dead bodies and three excons on the run from the police and the mob Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe

10.05 World War Z MVLC 2013 Action A former United Nations employee must help stop a world-wide zombie pandemic

12.05 Red Sparrow 16VLSC 2018

6am Beachfront Bargain Hunt: Renovation 3 0

6 55 Homestead Rescue PG 0

8 55 Infomercials

10 35 Gossip Girl M Chuck throws a Saints and Sinners masquerade party

11.30 Pretty Little Liars M 0

As Aria Emily Hanna and Spencer try to keep their distance the girls seek distractions to help fulfil the separate time request from their parents

12.30 The Good Doctor M 3 0 Morgan and Shaun must make a decision on how to treat a young violinist with an infected finger; Lim Claire and Park cannot figure out if their patient is attention-seeking

1 30 Flip or Flop 3 0 Tarek and Christina take on a 100-year-old house, and have the challenge of preserving the home’s original charm

2pm Buried in the Backyard M 0 When a young mother goes missing, dark secrets and a trail of deceit threatens to derail the investigation

3pm Dog Detectives PG 3 0

4pm Beachfront Bargain Hunt 3 0

4.30 Island Life 0 A couple want to make the move to Oak Island where they want outdoor space and a beautiful ocean view

5pm House Hunters International 0

5 30 House Hunters International 0

Newlyweds move from Chicago to Amsterdam, where she wants a quiet neighbourhood but he craves the city

6pm Three News 0

7pm The 1% Club Australia PG 0

8pm Love it or List it Australia 3 0

9 05 9-1-1 M 3 Hen and Karen welcome a new addition; a call unfolds involving a limb with a mind of its own; Eddie and Marisol look at their relationship; Buck navigates his new feelings

10.05 NCIS PG 3

11pm Buried in the Backyard M 3 0 12am Infomercials

8am The Drawing Show 3 0

8 10 Moe and Friends 3 0

8.25 Kiri and Lou 3 0

8 35 Extreme Cake Sports 3 0

9am Crowd Goes Wild PG 3

9 30 UFC on Sky PGC 3 10am Infomercials

Noon George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces 3 0 George meets a teenager building a shepherd’s hut and a young engineer creating a stylish garden office, and he discovers a Tolkieninspired home inside a white van

1pm World’s Most Secret Hotels 3 0

2pm Diners, Drive-ins and Dives PG 3 0

2.30 Sky Speed 3

3pm The 100K Drop 3 0

4pm Crowd Goes Wild PG 3

4.30 UFC on Sky PGC 3

5pm Sky Speed 3

5.30 Suddenly Susan PGC 0 Susan tells Vicki how much she dislikes the idea of her moving into her building; Susan accidentally breaks Ians bookstand

6pm The New Adventures of Old Christine PGC 0 Barb and Christine go on a double date but only one of them is asked out again

6 30 The 100K Drop 3 0

7.30 M Mr and Mrs Smith 16VL 0 2005 Comedy A bored married couple are surprised to learn they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie

9 45 Mud Mountain Haulers PGL 3 (Starting Today) 0 Craig LeBeau and his crew set up camp in a remote part of the Shuswap Highlands as Brent clears a snowmobile trail for a ski resort

10.40 Raised by Refugees PGS 3 0 11 10 Rutherford Falls ML 0 As Reagan tries to overcome family tension to honour her late aunt’s final wishes, Nathan tries to help, but gets entangled with her freeloading brother, Curtis 11.40 Chucky 16VLC 0 Jake Devon and Lexy infiltrate a Halloween ball to stop Chucky

12 30 Infomercials

Mornings With Andrew Clark 10am Days With Nick Tipping. 3pm Three to Seven With Bryan Crump 7pm Evenings With David Morriss 8pm Music Alive With Clarissa Dunn Visit rnz co nz/musicalive for more information.

10pm Evenings Continued. 12am Music Through the Night Details available on rnz co nz/concert

THE SITUATION

A front moves onto the North Island this afternoon and weakens. Meanwhile a trough approaches the North Island from the north. A second front approaches the lower South Island. A weak ridge of high pressure covers most of the country tomorrow while a front lies near the south of the South Island. This front moves slowly northwards during Sunday as a low forms over the Tasman Sea The front and low are expected to cross the South Island and lower North Island during Monday

NORTHLAND FIVE DAY FORECAST

Today: Often cloudy with a few showers, some heavy from afternoon with thunderstorms possible Easterlies.

Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, with isolated showers in the afternoon. Northeasterlies.

Sunday: Mostly cloudy with isolated showers, becoming widespread for a time in the afternoon. Light winds.

Monday: Showers developing. Northwesterlies developing. Tuesday: Showers, easing. Southerlies.

NEW ZEALAND TODAY

Hamilton mainly fine 25 12

Tauranga mainly fine 23 15

Rotorua mainly fine 23 12

Taupo mainly fine 22 11

Napier mainly fine 25 14

New Plymouth mainly fine 20 11

Palmerston Nth few showers 21 13

BAY OF ISLANDS MARINE FORECAST

Today: Variable 5kt SE 10kt developing for a time in the morning and afternoon. NE 10kt developing in the evening. Sea slight NE swell 1m Mostly cloudy Poor visibility in showers.

Tomorrow: NE 10kt. NE swell 1m. Showers, clearing.

Sunday: N 10kt. NE swell 1m. Mostly cloudy, with a few showers developing.

Monday: N 15kt. NE swell 1m. Mostly cloudy, with a few showers developing.

WHANGAREI MARINE FORECAST

Today: Variable 5kt SE 10kt developing for a time in the morning and afternoon. NE 10kt developing in the evening. Sea slight NE swell 1m Mainly fine. Chance of a shower from afternoon Tomorrow: NE 10kt. NE swell 1m. Rain, clearing.

Sunday: N 10kt. NE swell 1m dying out. Partly cloudy

Monday: N 15kt. N swell 1m developing. Rain developing.

NORTHLAND WEATHER

Mostly cloudy, with a few showers. Easterliest.

Cloud clearing and becoming fine in the afternoon. NE developing.

Mostly cloudy, with a few showers. Light winds. Showers developing. Northerlies developing.

H L 9:52am 10:10pm 3:22am 3:49pm H L 9:32am 9:49pm 3:08am 3:35pm H L 9:28am 9:45pm 3:06am 3:33pm H L 9:13am 9:30pm 2:56am 3:23pm H L 9:28am 9:45pm 3:10am 3:37pm H L 9:34am 9:48pm 3:15am 3:41pm

H L 9:58am 10:15pm 3:36am 4:03pm

H L 12:25pm 6:09am 6:34pm

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Pouto Point

Cape Maria V. D’n Opononi Te Kopuru

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Family Notices

Deaths

METCALFE, Helene Elizabeth Rose. (nee Marshall)

On Tuesday 4th November 2025 aged 79 years.

Beloved wife of 55 years to Roger. Mother and mother-in-law to Catherine and Graham, Chris and Sarah, Matthew and Nicola Doting grandmother to Joshua, Jacob and Israel, and Henry, Aimee, and Jess, and Saskia Great grandmother to Elior.

Loved sister and sister-in-law to Susan and Richard, and Ian and Chris.

A Celebration on Helene’s life will be held at the Chapel of Morris and Morris Funerals (Entrance 17 Western Hills Drive) Whau Valley, Whangarei At 10:30am on Saturday 8th November 2025. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to www.stoke.

org.nz

All communications to the Metcalfe Family c/- PO Box 8043 Kensington, Whangarei 0145

METCALFE, Helene.

04/11/2025

Adored wife and companion to Roger and his family. Loved sister in law to Barbara and Ted Julian (dec), Frank (dec) and Marge Metcalfe, Morell and Audrey Metcalfe, Nelson and Valerie Metcalfe, Lyn and Jerry Nelson, and Celia and John (dec) Eastman.

TRIGG, Douglas John (Doug). Died in Whangarei Hospital age 94 on 4 November 2025.

Loved husband of Cynthia (deceased) Loved dad of Christine, Sherrill, Leslie, Vicki and Brian and his 13 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren In accordance with Doug's wishes he has had a private cremation.

WILLIAMS, Shane Christopher. On 5th November 2025 peacefully after a brave battle with Huntington’s disease; aged 58.

Much loved eldest son of Margaret and the late Christopher Mischievous and loving brother of Andrew (deceased), Katrina and Galv, and Nikki. Loved uncle to his nephews and nieces.

‘Forever in our hearts. Rest in peace.’

A celebration of Shane’s life will be held at the Chapel of Morris and Morris Funerals (entrance 17 Western Hills Drive) Whau Valley, Whangarei on Monday 10th November 2025 at 10:30am. Margaret and family wish to acknowledge all the staff at Radius Rimu Park for the incredible care, compassion and friendship that Shane received. We will be forever grateful.

ANGLICAN COUNSELLING AND CARE CENTRE Corner Deveron St and Mill Road. Counselling (also at Dargaville and Waipu), Budget Advice and Crisis Care. Hours 9 00am-5 00pm MondayFriday. Ph 09-437-6397.

Local Classifieds

Pere Ngairo Wharemate Ahu Whenua Trust AGM

November 31st 2025 at 10am

Venue: 99 Owens Rd, Epsom, Auckland. For Zoom Link: arihianordstrom@gmail.com

Te Hungaiti Marae Trust Tautoro AGM

November 31st 2025 at 1pm

Venue: 99 Owens Rd, Epsom, Auckland. For Zoom Link: arihianordstrom@gmail.com

Steel Yacht “BOXABIRDS”

If costs incurred by the sailing vessel “BOXABIRDS’ are not paid in full by 30th November 2025 the vessel will be sold to defray expenses.

Norsand Boatyard 10 Fraser Street, Whangarei

NOTICE OF ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

Under the Ngātiwai Trust Deed notice is hereby given that on Friday 23 January 2026, elections will be held for fourteen (14) Marae trustees of the Ngātiwai Trust Board.

NOMINATIONS

Nominations must be made on the official nomination form available:

– at the Ngātiwai Trust Board office (129 Port Road, Whangārei)

– by accessing www.ngatiwai.iwi.nz

– by telephoning 0800 922 822

To be eligible, nominations must:

– be registered adult members of the Ngātiwai Trust Board

– be in writing and signed by the nominator and the nominee

– contain the nominee’s full name, address and contact details

– include a declaration that the nominee is not precluded from holding office as a trustee:

(i) is of sound mind;

(ii) is not a person whose affairs are subject to the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988;

(iii) is fit and able to act as a Trustee;

(iv) is not an undischarged bankrupt or the subject of other conditions imposed under the Insolvency Act 2006:

(v) has never been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty as defined in section 2(1) of the Crimes Act 1961;

(vi) has never been convicted of an offence under section 373(4) of the Companies Act 1993;

(vii) is not a person disqualified from being registered as an officer in accordance with section 16 of the Charities Act 2005.

– be accompanied by a brief statement containing details of experience and objectives relevant to the position of trustee

– include the name of the Marae to which the nominee is affiliated and on whose behalf the nominee intends to stand – be endorsed by the Marae governance body for their respective Marae, by way of resolution.

All nominees will be required to undergo a police check and will be required to complete the Request for Criminal Conviction History - Third Party form and submit this with their nomination material. Failure to do so will invalidate a nomination.

All nomination material should be lodged together, and can be lodged at the Ngātiwai Trust Board office, 129 Port Road, Whangārei in time to be received no later than 5pm Friday 5 December 2025.

NOTE: nominations cannot be withdrawn once submitted.

Dated 7 November 2025 Dale Ofsoske, Returning Officer Independent Election Services Ltd for Ngātiwai Trust Board

Phone 0800 922 822

www.ngatiwai.iwi.nz

DECEASED ESTATE NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND CLAIMANTS

All persons having a claim against the estate of COLLEEN PATRICIA BOOTH formerly of Omapere. Retired who died 7 October 2023 are hereby requested to send details of their claims to the undermentioned solicitors, not later than 30 days from the date of this advertisement. They are warned that on or after that date, the estate maybe administered or distributed having regard only to the claims received. Claims due and owing at the date of death should be so certified.

This notice is issued pursuant to section 79 of the Trusts Act 2019.

Peter Broad, PO Box 76517, Manukau City Auckland 2241 Ph.: 022 3246298

E: Peter@broad.lawyer

WHANGAREI PHILATELIC SOCIETY INC.

Meet 1.30pm on the second Wednesday of each month.

Riverbank Centre, Reyburn House Lane, Town Basin

Enquiries to Barry 021 263 9635

Livestock & Poultry

PERIA SALE

Thursday 13th

November 2025

Start: 12.30pm

50 2yr W/F, S/Park, Dev X & S/Horn X, Beef & Beef X Strs

110 1yr W/F, Char, S/Park, Santa & Beef X Strs

80 A/B Ang Hrfd X, BWF & Char Wnr Strs

10 2yr Beef X Bulls

15 1yr Beef X Bulls

15 RWB Beef Cows

13 2yr Char, Ang & WF Hfrs

105 1yr Hrfd & WF Hfrs

75 A/B Ang Hrfd X Ang, BWF & Char Wnr Hfrs

Contact

Sloane Livestock

Harley Sloane 027 279 5397 Pgg Wrightson Dean May 027 590 1001

Carrfields Reuben Wright 027 284 6384

For Sale

GARDEN BEDS,

Naming day is still capable of surprises

A handful of players have found new homes for Super Rugby

Squad naming day for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific sides lacked the anticipation of old with many marquee signings and moves already signalled, but as the teams rolled out their lineups yesterday, there were still some surprises to be found

First to be named were the Highlanders with head coach Jamie Joseph continuing to build a side stacked with exciting talent as they push back towrds finals contention

Los Pumas lock Tomas Lavanini heads to Dunedin after leaving Lyon, while former All Blacks prop Angus Ta avao adds experience to their front-row

NZ U20s outside back Stanley Solomon adds to the explosive depth after an impressive NPC season with Wellington, scoring eight tries in six starts

The Blues maintained a relatively stable squad ahead of their push to reclaim the title

Centre Pita Ahki is the big signing for the Blues, with the experienced midfielder coming back home after several years in French rugby Chiefs forwards Bradley Slater and Malachi Wrampling make the move up north to the Blues, with centre James Cameron a tidy pick-up from the Crusaders

Moana Pasifika’s squad has gone through plenty of changes, with Ngani Laumape the big-name signing for the club

SUPER RUGBY SQUADS 2026

Highlanders: Props: Josh Bartlett, Ethan de Groot, Sosefo Kautai, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Saula Ma’u, Angus Ta’avao.

Hookers: Henry Bell, Jack Taylor, Soane Vikena.

Locks: Tai Cribb, Mitch Dunshea, Fabian Holland, Tomas Lavanini.

Loose forwards: Nikora Broughton, Oliver Haig, Te Kamaka Howden, Veveni Lasaqa, Hugh Renton, Will Stodart Sean Withy.

Halfbacks: Folau Fakatava, Adam Lennox, Dylan Pledger. First five-eighths: Andrew Knewstubb, Cameron Millar, Taine Robinson.

Midfielders: Reesjan Pasitoa, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Tanielu Tele’a, Jake Te Hiwi, Josh Whaanga. Outside backs: Finn Hurley, Jonah Lowe, Jona Nareki, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Stanley Solomon, Caleb Tangitau, Xavier Tito-Harris.

Blues: Prop: Ben Ake, Flyn Yates, Jordan Lay, Joshua Fusitu’a, Marcel Renata, Ofa Tu’ungafasi

Hooker: Bradley Slater, James Mullan, Kurt Eklund

Locks: Josh Beehre, Laghlan McWhannell, Patrick Tuipulotu, Sam

Darry

Loose forwards: Anton Segner, Cameron Christie, Che Clark, Dalton Papali’i, Hoskins Sotutu, Malachi

Wrampling, Terrel Peita, Tristan Cook

Halfback: Finlay Christie, Sam Nock, Taufa Funaki

First fives Beauden Barrett, Rico

Simpson, Stephen Perofeta, Zarn

Sullivan

Midfield: Corey Evans, James Cameron, Pita Ahki, Xavi Taele

Outside backs: AJ Lam, Caleb Clarke, Cody Vai, Cole Forbes, Kade Banks, Payton Spencer

Moana Pasifika: Props: Abraham Pole, Chris Apoua, Feleti SaeTa’ufo’ou, Malakai Hala-Ngatai, Paula Latu, Tito Tuipulotu

Hooker: Mamoru Harada, Millennium Sanerivi, Samieula Moli

Tuna Tuitama, William Havili

Hurricanes: Prop: Pasilio Tosi, Pouri Rakete-Stones, Siale Lauaki, Tevita Mafileo, Tyrel Lomax, Xavier Numia Hooker: Asafo Aumua, Jacob Devery, Raymond Tuputupu, Vernon Bason

Locks: Caleb Delany, Hugo Plummer, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Tom Allen, Warner Dearns

Loose forwards: Arese Poliko, Brad Shields, Brayden Iose, Devan Flanders, Du’Plessis Kirifi, Peter Lakai

Japan hooker Mamoru Harada also joins Moana, with young wingers Israel Leota and Glen Vaihu ones to watch Ardie Savea headlines the players who will not be there in 2026 going on sabbatical

The Hurricanes have two massive signings in the form of Jordie Barrett and Warner Dearns Barrett has completed his sabbatical overseas with Irish club Leinster helping them to the URC title, joined by fellow returning Hurricane Josh Moorby

and captain

Meanwhile, NZ-born Dearns returns home after making his name in Japanese rugby, where h was recently appointed Brave Blossoms captain

The Chiefs have put together a strong squad, with 15 capped All Blacks across the forwards and backs

Former Wallaby Lalakai Foketi headlines the new faces joining from the NSW Waratahs, while Kyren Taumoefolau is an excellent pick-up from Moana Pasifika

The defending champion Crusaders have opted to promote from within as they look to go backto-back

All Black Leicester Fainga’anuku is the main signing, heading back to Christchurch to add further weapons to their midfield

Toby Bell, Louie Chapman, Maloni Kunawave Liam Jack Manumaua Letiu and James White have all come through the Crusaders Academy for the maiden contracts

Locks: Alefosio Aho, Allan Craig, Jimmy Tupou, Ofa Tauatevalu, Tom Savage

Loose forwards: Dominic Ropeti, Miracle Fai’ilagi, Niko Jones, Ola Tauelangi, Semisi Paea, Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa, Tupou Afungia

Halfbacks: Augustine Pulu, Jonathan Taumateine, Melani Matavao, Siaosi

Nginingini

First five: Jackson Garden-Bachop, Patrick Pellegrini

Midfield: Julian Savea, Lalomilo Lalomilo, Ngani Laumape, Faletoi Peni, Tevita Latu

Outside backs: Glen Vaihu, Israel Leota, Solomon Alaimalo, Tevita Ofa,

Halfbacks: Cam Roigard, Ere Enari, Jordi Viljoen

First fives: Brett Cameron, Lucas Cashmore, Harry Godfrey, Callum Harkin

Midfield: Billy Proctor, Jone Rova, Jordie Barrett, Josh Timu, Riley Higgins, Bailyn Sullivan

Outside backs: Fehi Fineanganofo, Josh Moorby, Kini Naholo, Ngatungane Punivai, Ruben Love

Chiefs: Props: Benet Kumeroa, George Dyer, Jarred Proffit, Ollie Norris, Reuben O’Neill, Sione Ahio Hookers: Brodie McAlister, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tyrone Thompson

Locks: Aisake Vakasuiola, Fiti Sa, Jayden Sa, Josh Lord, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Taine Kolose, Tupou Vaa’i

Loose forwards: Jahrome Brown, Kaylum Boshier, Luke Jacobson, Samipeni Finau, Simon Parker, Wallace Sititi

Halfback: Cortez Ratima, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Xavier Roe

First fives: Damian McKenzie, Josh Jacomb

Midfield: Daniel Rona, Kyle Brown, Lalakai Foketi, Quinn Tupaea, Tepaea Cook-Savage

Outside backs: Emoni Narawa, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Isaac Hutchinson, Kyren Taumoefolau, Leroy Carter, Liam Coombes-Fabling

Crusaders:Props: Finlay Brewis, Fletcher Newell, George Bower, Kershawl Sykes-Martin, Seb Calder, Tamaiti Williams

Hooker: Codie Taylor, George Bell, Manumaua Letiu

Locks: Antonio Shalfoon, Jamie Hannah, Liam Jack, Scott Barrett, Tahlor Cahill

Loose forwards: Dominic Gardiner, Christian Lio-Willie, Corey Kellow, Cullen Grace, Ethan Blackadder, Xavier Saifoloi

Halfback: Kyle Preston, Louie Chapman, Noah Hotham

First five: James White, Rivez Reihana, Taha Kemara

Midfield: Aki Tuivailala, Braydon Ennor, Dallas McLeod, David Havili, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Toby Bell

Outside backs: Chay Fihaki, Johnny McNicoll, Macca Springer, Maloni Kunawave, Sevu Reece, Will Jordan

Reckless rotation in the past as Home Nations bridge the gap

Liam Napier

There was once a time, not so long ago either, when the All Blacks viewed Scotland and other home unions as a chance to rest and rotate en masse.

Sandwiched between Ireland in Chicago last week and England at Twickenham next week, Scotland at Murrayfield was always the delicate juncture at which All Blacks coach Scott Robertson would pause to assess whether to usher in selection risks.

The 2005 All Blacks, led by Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, used their full squad in their first two tests en route to New Zealand’s second successful Grand Slam tour. That included fielding two completely different starting XVs, with Tana Umaga captaining the first squad against Wales and a freshfaced Richie McCaw leading the All Blacks the following week in Dublin. Both All Blacks teams scored more than 40 points, while conceding one try.

The highly competitive test rugby landscape has drastically evolved in the 20 years since that tour. Ireland savouring an extended period as world No 1 prior to the 2023 World

Cup is testament to the Northern Hemisphere’s vastly altered competitiveness.

Scotland have notably improved, too. Gregor Townsend’s side pushed the All Blacks to the brink in their last visit to Murrayfield three years ago and last July contributed eight players to the British and Irish Lions tour to earn due respect this weekend.

No one, therefore, expected Robertson to turn back the clock and rest the bulk of his squad that surged over the top of Ireland last week, but the premise of calculated rotation remained pertinent.

The All Blacks have, of course, been forced into changes with Jordie Barrett returning home to recover from his ankle and knee injuries and captain Scott Barrett ruled out this week while a nasty cut on his knee heals.

Ardie Savea will assume the captaincy, with Quinn Tupaea and Leicester Fainga’anuku combining in the power-packed midfield. Josh Lord will start in the second row alongside Fabian Holland, and Sam Darry was expected to come on to the bench.

Robertson’s messaging strongly suggested changes elsewhere would be minimal, though.

Internally, the All Blacks have spoken about the importance of preserving their 120-year, 32-test

unbeaten record against Scotland. Publicly, Robertson has showered Scotland with compliments and acknowledged the significance of Murrayfield celebrating 100 years of rugby.

Context is also important.

To this point Robertson’s tenure lacks a notable trophy, a statement series success, to signal definitive progress.

Attaining the first Grand Slam in 15 years, therefore, assumes greater significance which heightens pressure to perform each week.

A maiden loss to Scotland, while seemingly unlikely, would be another black eye following the first loss in Argentina and the All Blacks’ heaviest defeat in history against the Springboks in Wellington earlier this year.

Set against that backdrop, Robertson is expected to select his strongest available team.

Wallace Sititi impressed off the bench last week with his dynamic ball carrying helping spark the All Blacks’ three-try last-quarter blitz. Sititi’s favoured position is No 8,

but last season, in his rookie test campaign that propelled him to World Rugby breakthrough player of the year, he largely started at blindside where Simon Parker was very quiet against Ireland.. Luke Jacobson is yet to be sighted for the All Blacks this year after injury prevented him from featuring in the third test against France in July. As far as likefor-like replacements go, Jacobson’s defensive presence could perform a similar role to Chiefs teammate Parker. Before Scott Barrett’s injury, the All Blacks might have viewed this test as a chance to spell Codie Taylor by starting Samisoni Taukei’aho, with George Bell coming onto the bench.

But having lost Barrett’s experienced lineout calling for Scotland, the All Blacks will be reluctant to further expose their valued lineout platform.

Minor tweaks were possible but as he prioritises the quest for the Grand Slam, Robertson was unlikely to adopt radical rotation in Edinburgh. NZHerald

Windies into stride

Mitch Santner’s lone hand not enough to save the Black Caps from game one defeat

CRICKET

Abrilliant bowling performance secured the West Indies an unlikely seven-run victory in the first T20 against New Zealand on Wednesday despite a stunning solo effort from Black Caps captain Mitchell Santner

The West Indies, who landed in New Zealand just two days earlier, struggled on the Eden Park drop-in wicket that offered some seam and turn to the home bowlers, making 164-6 from their 20 overs

The visitors then delivered a precise bowling performance to restrict the Black Caps who needed

a brilliant 28-ball 55 from captain Santner to keep the game interesting Santner won the toss and elected to field at an initially sun-filled Eden Park

The Black Caps struck twice in the powerplay Brandon King and Alick

Athanaze falling to Jacob Duffy and Kyle Jamieson respectively to leave West Indies 32-2 after six overs

Captain Shai Hope looked to anchor the innings for the visitors, cautiously approaching his opening overs before ramping up the risk as he attacked the straight boundaries

The West Indies were 66-3 halfway through their innings, but then plundered 34 runs in the next three overs as Hope brought up a 38-ball 50

He fell from the very next ball, a Zak Foulkes delivery staying low and wiping out the leg stump as Hope tried to hoist it over the leg side

Rovman Powell provided muchneeded power for the West Indies, clubbing two sixes as he brought up a 23-ball 33 but his side meandered towards what appeared an under-par score

But then it was all West Indies

Tim Robinson opened the batting for New Zealand alongside Devon Conway, who returned to the XI after Tim Seifert broke a finger while batting in domestic cricket on Sunday

Seamer Matthew Forde was superb for West Indies, taking 1-9 from three powerplay overs

New Zealand struggled to find the boundary and a double strike by Jayden Seales in the 13th over flipped the game, removing Daryl Mitchell and Michael Bracewell in the space of three balls Seales finished with 3-32 from his four overs

A late flurry from Santner gave New Zealand faint hope but needing 20 from the final over, he fell just short

The two sides played again at Eden Park overnight in the second game of the five-match series Game three is at Nelson’s Saxton Oval on Sunday afternoon AFP

Why Sydney, though?

League: New Zealand Rugby League boss Greg Peters is keen for a shake-up of test match locations He has weighed in ahead of the Kiwis’ Pacific Championships final against Toa Samoa in Sydney on Sunday. Even with the Kangaroos absent, matches have still been staged in Australia to gain momentum before next year’s World Cup. But once that’s complete, Peters hints there could be more freedom to host more games in different places. Peters said a request to shift Sunday’s game to New Zealand was turned down.

Under-17s scoreless

Football: New Zealand have lost their opening pool match at the Fifa under-17 men’s World Cup in Qatar, going down 3-nil to Mali in Doha. The Africans led 1-nil at halftime, before adding two more goals in the second spell. The Junior All Whites next face Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Big hopes for Ashes

Cricket: Former Aussie great Steve Waugh has picked this summer’s Ashes series against England to be the most competitive in recent history. Australia have named their squad for the first test, with allrounder Cameron Green the only player under 30 and Steve Smith as captain. Pace bowler and regular skipper Pat Cummins is unavailable. Waugh believes the five-test showdown will be decided by small margins.

Hawks take flight

Basketball: A JaVale McGee masterclass helped the Illawarra Hawks pull off the biggest upset of the Australian NBL season with a 107-93 victory over Melbourne United. McGee racked up a season’s best 37 points and 14 rebounds, helping his struggling side shock the competition leaders. The Hawks have moved into eighth on the ladder, surpassing the Breakers, who faced Adelaide last night.

San Siro doomed

Football: Confirmation one of the world’s most prestigious stadiums is headed for the scrap heap. Italy’s 99-year-old San Siro Stadium, shared by AC Milan and Inter Milan since 1947, will be demolished and replaced with a 71,000-seat arena.