Category: CTF

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say one person has died following a crash in Lower Motuere on Wednesday night.

The single vehicle crash at the intersection of Waiwhero and Edwards Roads was reported at around 8.25pm.

The sole occupant of the vehicle died at the scene.

The road was closed for some time after the crash but has since re-opened.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/one-dead-after-single-vehicle-crash-in-tasman-district/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A pōwhiri is being held this morning as the Prime Minister and other parliamentarians arrive at the lower Treaty Grounds.

The past few years at Waitangi have delivered political fireworks and MPs bracing for, if not necessarily expecting, a reprise when politicians are welcomed with a pōwhiri about 11am.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who was absent from the Treaty Grounds last year, promised to bring a message of unity.

After meeting with Māori leaders at the Iwi Chairs Forum on Wednesday, he said they were “aligned” on issues like localism, devolution and lifting Māori outcomes in health, education and law and order.

Follow our live coverage of all the action through the day at the top of this page.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/live-pm-and-other-politicians-to-be-welcomed-onto-waitangi-treaty-grounds/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Families waiting for news on British passports fear planned holidays to the United Kingdom will be upended by processing times and delivery delays.

In three weeks’ time, all UK citizens in the world will need to travel with a British passport or an endorsement (COE) when they visit there – previously dual citizens could choose to use a different passport.

Sue Sands, of Te Kuiti, left Britain with her parents when she was one and was returning there for the first time with her partner next month, to see her half-sister and other relatives.

“I was born in England and came out here as a baby. And so consequently I’ve never thought about being a British citizen because I already had my New Zealand citizenship and passport.

“And so this is the first chance in 67 years to go back and see what family’s left over there. So we’re going to London for about a week, and then Jersey for a couple of weeks where my half-sister lives.”

Those plans all depended on getting her first British passport in time. Otherwise, she may fly to France, and cross to Jersey from there using her NZ passport and an ETA (electronic travel authorisation) – having to miss out on seeing an uncle in London, who is 88, and other family in the UK.

Insurance cover

Changing flight destinations and dates also costs money.

Earlier this week, the Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman warned travellers to check both the new UK passport rules and their travel insurance.

“Travel insurance usually won’t cover situations where a traveller doesn’t meet passport or visa requirements and can’t travel,” said ombudsman Karen Stevens.

“We commonly see travel insurance claims declined because of this. If someone can’t board a flight because they don’t have the correct passport or visa, that can turn out to be a very expensive situation.”

New Zealanders with no British citizenship also needed to be aware of the requirement for an ETA before flying, which has been in force since last year, and the upcoming changes to European Union (EU) requirements, which had been delayed but were expected by the end of the year.

“These are new, unfamiliar requirements, and it’s understandable travellers may not be aware of them,” Stevens said. “Airlines won’t generally make their customers aware of entry and passport requirements, it really is the responsibility of the traveller to make sure they know what they need.”

New Zealand-based Britons have been rushing to get passports, and noticed their applications were taking time to get to the UK via an NZ Post express tracked service.

Delivery times

They had shared NZ Post tracking information with RNZ, which suggested the $121 fast-track service had been held up in Auckland.

Other people reported good experiences, with one man saying his renewal application sent away on 15 January took 16 days door-to-door.

“I understand that many people are in a more difficult situation with a looming travel date and/or children without passports, but my advice would be don’t waste time, just get the applications away.”

Sands, who found out about the border rule change three weeks ago and had to get a copy of a marriage certificate, sent her passport application with documents to the UK on Friday, 23 January. It got to Auckland’s outbound depot swiftly, but remained there until the following Friday.

“Once in the DHL system it was quickly in the UK,” she said, reporting it was delivered to the UK passport office by Monday. “I’m told there is about a four-week [passport] processing time, then of course I need to rely on getting it back. I wonder how many others are also in limbo.”

If the passport processing estimate was accurate, and the delivery time was similar to the outward-bound one, she would potentially get the passport back a week before they were due to fly.

NZ Post did not answer questions about its current international delivery timeframes or whether it was dealing with a surge in demand. It said Customs declarations were sometimes not fully filled out, though no-one who had contacted RNZ about delays reported getting queries about missing information.

“Sensitive documents like passports and passport applications are treated as restricted items when being sent overseas, including to the UK,” said a spokeswoman. “This means passports and passport applications must be sent through our express service, to make sure these important documents remain as safe as possible throughout the journey. This is our most secure service with regular tracking notifications provided and the cost to send reflects this.

“We’re focused on getting these documents delivered safely, as quickly as possible. However, in order for us to do this it’s essential that customers correctly complete their customs declarations and provide all the information required – including a recipient phone number and an accurate contents description. Unfortunately, incomplete customs declarations can cause delays, as NZ Post needs to contact senders to make sure the correct information is captured.”

NZ Post was reminding its stores about the specific requirements for international mail to help minimise delays, she added.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/nervous-wait-for-british-passports-as-deadline-looms/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fire and Emergency says it responded to a significant house fire in Lower Hutt overnight.

A spokesperson said four fire trucks were dispatched to a house on Wainuiomata Road after reports of a house fire shortly after midnight.

They say the house was well aflame when crews arrived, and it took several hours to extinguish.

No one was injured in the fire.

A fire investigator will return to the scene on Thursday to determine the cause.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/lower-hutt-house-fire-extinguished/

Source: Radio New Zealand

What message is Vonn sending to the public?

What is it like to rupture an ACL?

How common is the injury for a non-athlete?

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/is-pushing-on-with-a-ruptured-acl-a-good-idea/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Clinicians are warning ADHD diagnoses might have unexpected side effects for children, after two independent studies have linked it to poor performance and unhappiness at school.

The studies involving hundreds of adolescents have independently shown those with an ADHD diagnosis tended to have worse outcomes in areas like reported happiness, academic grades, even their likelihood of self-harm.

But while some clinicians are concerned by these results, it remains true that for many people, a diagnosis brought validation and life-changing help.

Meanwhile, behavioural experts say labels and medication are far from the only solution.

The two studies, one in Irelandpublished in 2020 and one in Australia in 2022 compared children with behaviours such as hyperactivity and inattentiveness (H/I) who did have an ADHD diagnosis, to those with the same behaviours but no diagnosis.

The Australian study found diagnosed teens had a worse sense of belonging, believed in themselves less, displayed more negative social behaviours and were more likely to self-harm themselves.

Among the Irish cohort, they displayed more emotional and relationship problems, worse prosocial behaviour, and poorer self-concept.

New Zealand clinical psychologist Giselle Bahr told RNZ the results were surprising, even to the authors.

“When you compare them a few years down the track, when they’ve all become adolescents, the adolescents who have been given a formal diagnosis did worse on every measure than the children who had the same behaviours but weren’t given a diagnosis,” she said.

She said it was possible a diagnosis lead to children developing a negative view of themselves, or receiving different treatment from teachers and parents.

“I know that there’s also … people feel like they belong to a community, and they feel a relief and they feel like they finally have an answer, but the research shows that this happens, but so does this other process of stigmatisation.”

The Australian authors – Luise Kazda, Kevin McGeechan and Katy Bell – found a diagnosis had “significant negative associations with academic self-concept, negative social behaviours, sense of school membership, self-efficacy, and self-harm”, with no difference between boys and girls.

They wrote they had expected the inverse effect – that a diagnosis would have improved outcomes, and concluded a large, randomised clinical trial with long-term follow-up was needed.

The authors of the Irish study – Cliodhna O’Connor and Fiona McNicholas – identified no significant differences in the demographic characteristics or socio-emotional wellbeing of 9-year-olds with hyperactivity/inattention who had and who had not received a diagnosis of ADHD.

“However, by age 13, those who had held a diagnosis at 9 years showed more emotional and peer relationship problems, worse prosocial behaviour, and poorer self-concept. Further research is required to clarify the developmental pathways responsible for these effects.”

Bahr said while correlation did not equal causation, it would be unwise to ignore these studies – clinicians should be aware of the risks, and inform parents of the risk of a diagnosis having this effect.

“I think it’s really off for us to not be at least letting parents know that this is what studies have shown,” she said. “And you can see that with a study like that, some researchers aren’t going to want to explore that more.”

For her, it sat in the context evidenced already – like the immaturity bias, wherein the youngest child in the class was far more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the eldest.

[https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/585715/first-gp-prescriptions-for-adult-adhd-patients-issued

Changes to ADHD prescription rules] this week mean GPs can now prescribe ADHD medication for adults, meaning easier access to medication.

And of course, for many, a diagnosis could be life-changing for the better.

Kelly Cuff, who lives in Wairarapa, told RNZ she often thought about the person she could have been, had she been diagnosed and had access to medication earlier.

She said she got lucky in childhood, attending a small rural primary school in which the student-teacher ratios were small, which meant less chance for her to slip through the cracks.

But when she moved to intermediate and then high school, she said she had trouble focusing, found school work difficult, and was often sent out of the classroom on errands to stop her distracting her classmates, meaning she missed big chunks of learning time.

“I just sort of was constantly sort of confronted by my limitations, which was wildly frustrating.”

She observed other students who had a diagnosis receiving the help of a laptop and extra time during exams.

Outside of the classroom, she was making decisions in search of immediate rewards. “I was drinking when I was younger, I was making sort of questionable relationship choices,” she said.

“If I had support and if I had, at least, just the medication to sort of pause my thinking a little, I might not have taken so many sort of personal risks.”

It was not until about four years ago, finding herself struggling to focus in a new job, that she sought a diagnosis and medication. That had been life-changing, she said.

“I look at my dishes and I go, I should do those dishes. And then I stand up and I do them, and it’s not something that I have to force myself to do. I don’t have to bribe myself with treats or bully myself into doing it. There’s no guilt there.”

Jayne Fox, a Wellington-based ADHD coach, said plenty of adults sought a diagnosis in order to have access to medication to help them focus at work, or regulate their emotions.

A diagnosis could also provide “that feeling of legitimacy” and “self-compassion”.

But it was not the only solution.

“For some people, they may already have some level of self-understanding and self-identification with those ADHD traits, and may not be seeking that validation from a doctor,” she said. “And it may be that they are quite happy to look at what strategies can support them without an actual diagnosis of ADHD.”

Her coaching played to people’s strengths, rather than putting the emphasis on where they were lacking.

Carolyn Robertson, who works with parents of children with ADHD, told RNZ some kids responded to charts, others to a rush of dopamine from doing something they love, before settling into a difficult task.

“For us, it’s more about meeting them where they’re at, and looking at tapping into what your child is interested in and can find success in, and therefore gain a better understanding of themselves, and more confidence in themselves.”

She said sometimes differences could be a strength, and tapping into what kids were excited about could be a path to a solution.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/two-studies-link-child-adhd-diagnoses-to-poor-performance-and-unhappiness-at-school/

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland grandmother looking after two of her mokopuna says she went into debt with their school to pay for uniforms and fees.

Fiona Marks recently moved to secure a bigger state house, which also meant a new school and new uniforms to buy for grandchildren under her long-term care.

Then there was footwear, yet another cost.

“You’ve got to have two different sets of shoes because they are in the high school side of the kura so they need their normal school shoes but when they get dressed into their number one uniform, when they’re representing the kura whether its powhiri or whatever, they have to have dress shoes.”

Her grandchildren wore blazers, shirts and ties as part of their school uniform.

“It’s around $700 for one child.”

Otago University research showed secondary school uniforms could cost anywhere from $250 to about $1000.

Charities and politicians are calling on school boards to keep the price of uniforms in check.

Last year, more than 38,000 hardship payments were granted to help parents with school expenses, including uniforms, totalling $11 million.

Marks said it was hard to keep up – she needed a grant from Work and Income (WINZ) to pay off debt owed to the children’s previous school.

“Last year I ended up, with the school trips, the uniforms and everything for the whole year, I ended up still owing the school around $500 at the end of the year.”

The debt parents and guardians owe schools was unknown – both the Ministry of Education and School Boards Association said they did not keep such data.

Marks receives an invalids benefit and two unsupported child benefits which, after household expenses, left $160 a week for food.

“Everyday living is just so hard and my grandson is coming up 15 in April, I mean he eats like a horse so it’s just constant in the cupboard. He can have dinner then he’s back in the cupboard.”

Her granddaughter was at high school and said her Nan did an amazing job providing for them.

A teenager, she also worried about the cost of school uniforms.

She did not have the exact uniform required for Monday – and did not end up going to school.

Variety sponsors Fiona Marks’ two grandchildren and chief executive Susan Glasgow said moving to a new area could put huge pressure on families.

The charity recently helped a father to pay for his children’s third school uniform after he moved the family out of transitional housing.

“When they were moved to a third transitional house, they were moved to a third school requiring yet another uniform and they couldn’t borrow any more money from WINZ so they came to us,” Glasgow said.

“He was in tears at our door asking for our help so we provided the funding for him to get a school uniform for his children.”

She said some families were forced to move if they were in temporary housing.

“That’s the reality of the situation, families are being moved so they require more than one school uniform. It’s really hard for many members of our community.”

This year Variety had recorded a 16 percent increase in requests for help to pay for school uniforms and fees.

Glasgow said it would help if schools allowed generic school uniform basics to be bought anywhere.

“One of the things that schools might consider is this notion that they have in Britain of the uniform uniform, where a family or a child is only expected to have a maximum of three branded items.”

Variety sponsored more than 7000 children and there were 3000 on its waitlist.

Now in her 60s, Marks had looked after grandchildren off and on since she was in her 40s and has had custody of two for over a decade.

“I am enjoing life with my grandchildren but I should be able to be sitting in my home just relaxing doing what I want to do without responsibilities of grandchildren, but I wouldn’t give them up for anything.”

Even so, she would like the government to do more to support grandparents looking after their mokopuna.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/everyday-living-is-just-so-hard-families-going-into-debt-to-pay-for-school-uniforms/

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/what-are-the-best-fish-and-chip-shop-sides/

Source: Radio New Zealand

This year, the most contested “ice” at the Winter Olympics isn’t on the rink – it’s US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

For Kiwis, the Winter Olympics no longer feels like we’re on the outside looking in.

RNZ First Up presenter and sport reporter Nathan Rarere says New Zealand has a great team of 17 for the Italian games which start on Friday.

In a Games that has long been dominated by Northern Hemisphere countries – specifically, Norway – our young snow athletes are really starting to make their mark. And that should add excitement to what has long been a thrilling spectator event.

Today on The Detail, Winter Olympics tragic Rarere talks about the highlights, the anticipated wins, and the controversies of the Games.

And before the world’s spotlight has even reached the Italian snow, a different kind of ICE has secured a part in the 2026 Winter Olympics story, dominating headlines, causing anger, and a chilling unrest.

The focus is meant to be on tomorrow’s opening ceremony, but away from the slopes, controversy has followed reports of ICE agents operating around Olympic infrastructure to support American security operations during the 19-day-long Games, hosted in Milan and Cortina.

“This is a militia that kills… of course they’re not welcome in Milan,” the city’s mayor, Beppe Sala, was quick to tell an Italian broadcaster.

An ICE spokesperson responded by saying that “all security operations remain under Italian authority”.

But still, hundreds of protestors took to Italian streets at the weekend, arguing it risks chilling effects – on athletes, spectators, and media – particularly those travelling on complex visas or from politically sensitive regions.

Rarere, a long-time Winter Games follower who covered the most recent Summer Olympics in Paris, tells The Detail that while the locals aren’t happy about the arrival of ICE agents, teams have been known to send security with their athletes in the past.

“When I did Paris [in 2024] … the security was incredible, I had never seen so many actual soldiers,” he says.

“And on the Champs Élysées, I think it was the second to last day, I saw a group of about 12 of them coming along, all the mirrored glasses and what-have-you, and then there was a guy walking along and then up goes the finger to the earpiece and there was a nod, and then they all turned and follow, and they completely enveloped him and demanded to have a look in his bags.

“The security everywhere was massive, even coming in from the airport… my cab driver was so excited, he said ‘the German police are doing the motorway, they are the best, you watch them’, and they were just right up to cars – vans in particular, they were very worried about vans, they would bang on the side of them…. so, security is always massive at these Games.

“I don’t think America really needed to send their own. I don’t understand why they did. I don’t think the rest of the world understands either, and I know from the Europeans, they were like ‘hey, we have it covered, we are fine’.”

Sports not politics

He says the focus should be on the athletes and their performances, not the politics.

This year’s Games, he says, will be spread across two distinct hosts: the fashion capital of Milan and the dramatic peaks of Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites. It will be “visually stunning”.

For New Zealand athletes the road to get there is always longer than most – geographically, financially, and often psychologically.

Rarere says competing isn’t just about medals. It’s about legitimacy – proving New Zealand belongs in winter sports’ biggest arena.

“From a New Zealand point of view, these games are all about where we stand in the world now, in these sports, because we have made massive strides.”

He says, “Possibly, we have three medals coming our way, which will be massive.”

“That’s if [alpine skier] Alice Robinson can recapture her form, if [free ski halfpipe athlete] Ben Harrington can keep his as well, and if [women’s snowboard slopestyle and Big Air athlete] Zoi Sadowski-Synnott can keep hers as well, I think those are the three medallists.”

It should be noted that Kiwi gold medal Olympian Nico Porteous won’t compete at the Games; he walked away from competitive free skiing last year, retiring at age 23.

Rarere did point out that the difference between winning an Olympic medal in ski jumping or being disqualified this year could come down to a tiny piece of fabric.

In an unusual cheating scandal, it’s been discovered that the cold temperature on the ski jump ramp has an indirect effect on aerodynamics.

Dubbed the “crotch-enlarging scandal” or even “Penisgate”, the controversy centres on Norwegian team officials who were caught illegally modifying athletes’ suits to gain an aerodynamic edge, specifically by enlarging the crotch area for extra lift and distance.

“They can jump an extra five to six metres… that’s the difference.”

Regulators have now added new measures to ensure all competitors play by the same rules after the scandal rocked the sport.

All up, about 2800 of the world’s best athletes will participate in the 2026 Winter Games, which run until February 22.

The Winter Paralympic Games will be from March 6-15.

Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut, featuring three events – men’s and women’s sprints, and a mixed relay.

Skeleton will also feature a mixed team event for the first time in the Games’ history, while separate men’s and women’s doubles events will be held in luge, replacing the open doubles event.

The alpine skiing mixed team parallel event has been removed, with the men and women set to compete at separate resorts.

But the question hanging over these Games isn’t just who will win.

It’s whether the Olympics can still be a place where the hardest part of the journey begins at the start gate – not at passport control.

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/snow-speed-and-surveillance-at-the-winter-olympics/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Tauranga mayor said any decisions on the land immediately surrounding the fatal Mount Maunganui landslide will be months away, but feels it is unlikely that the area will remain a campsite in the future.

Six people died after a section of the maunga collapsed into a campground during the extreme weather event two weeks ago.

On Wednesday, Mayor Mahé Drysdale announced that Tauranga is moving to a “transition period” for a month, focusing on assessing damage and making plans for what reopening Mauao looks like.

The mayor said any decisions on the future of the land surrounding the landslide will require conversations with iwi, communities, and people closely affected by the tragedy.

“We’ve got a number of conversations to have with the families of those that lost loved ones, because we also want to be respectful and understand what they’d like to see,

“I think I can probably confidently say we don’t have a campground where the slip happened, we got to make some decisions around what we do with that land and how we remember this very tragic event,” he said.

Access to Mauao is restricted, and cordons remain along parts of Marine Parade and Adams Avenue, as geotechnical experts assess conditions.

Drysdale said the current focus is to mitigate risks around the Mount Maunganui landslip, so that businesses nearby can open before the Waitangi weekend.

He said three businesses remain closed on Adams Avenue, but he’s hopeful that they can safely open by Friday.

Drysdale said shipping containers have been put in as a precaution, and more work will be done on Thursday to stabilise the land.

“By putting these mitigations in place, and this is always subject to geotechnical advice, we’re confident that we can make it safe enough that we’re happy to open that,” he said.

Drysdale said businesses have had a hard time since the tragedy, and he hopes that visitors can still come and support them during the Waitangi weekend.

“We hope that people still come down to the area and support these businesses, this was a natural disaster and no doing of themselves, but they have been caught in the crossfire, so we’re doing what we can to support them,” he said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/tauranga-mayor-says-its-unlikely-mt-maunganui-landslide-area-will-remain-a-campsite/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Some locals have described a Wellington sewage plant shutdown as gross, sad and unacceptable.

An average of around 70 million litres of untreated wastewater had been pouring into the capital’s South Coast since Wednesday morning.

The Moa Point plant’s lower floors had been completely flooded when sewage backed up in the 1.8km outfall pipe, which normally sent treated wastewater into the Cook Strait.

Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty said it was critical the company understood why the pipe failed.

RNZ went out to Wellington’s South Coast on Wednesday evening.

Lyall Bay on a bright summer evening would normally have been humming with surfers out in the waves and locals on their post-work walks.

But instead, the area was deserted – the only people there were Wellington Water staff members in large fluro coats warning people about the sewage.

RNZ spoke to locals from the safety of concrete paths and carparks.

Angus was planning to go down to the water for a surf, but decided against it after looking at the water.

“I didn’t want to go there because it looked like I don’t know… toilet paper or jellyfish, so I was like I don’t really want to go in on either of those.”

Stacey said she came down to the beach to enjoy the view and that the plant breakdown was “pretty shocking” and “pretty gross”.

She held concerns about how Wellington Water managed the pipes and plants.

“Where I live Ngaio there’s water out quite a lot, so this is just sort of on top of ongoing issues that they seem to have with the infrastructure.”

Kristina said the news was horrible.

“Really unacceptable, this is a beach where you might see a lot of surfers and they are all in the water all year around,” she said.

“I think it is pretty toxic.”

Leila Martley told RNZ it was a “hugely sad” situation.

“I really feel for Wellington Water.”

She also felt for Tiaki Wai – the new organisation set to take over Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua’s water operations.

“It is just an awful thing to set off with.”

Further to the east of the coast at Tarakena Bay Alishba said she was about to go swimming but was warned by a local not to get in the water.

“It is pretty gross; I don’t know how that would happen though.”

A Rahui was in place throughout the South Coast, with people told not to gather food and to keep themselves and their dogs out of the water.

Wellington Water said it was taking water samples from a wide area and was expected to provide an update later on Thursday.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/05/pretty-gross-locals-shocked-as-raw-sewage-flows-into-wellington-sea/