Category: CTF

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hundreds of people gathered at two separate protests on Saturday afternoon, prompting police cordons and some road closures.

Destiny Church-affiliated Freedom and Rights Coalition protesters gathered at Victoria Park in the late morning, and marched towards Fanshawe Street, where a police cordon had been set up.

A second protest took place in early afternoon, led by Toitū te Aroha, who calling for solidarity among diverse communities.

The first was led by Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki, who delivered a speech and then asked the large crowd to follow him in a march.

In anticipation of the march, police had set up a cordon at the Fanshawe Street motorway on-ramp and off-ramp.

Superintendent Naila Hassan said more than a thousand marched towards the cordon.

“In Victoria Park, at its peak, police estimate 1200 people gathered and marched to our Fanshawe Street cordon, before dispersing.”

Hassan said the police cordons were a “precautionary measure” for the safety of pedestrians and motorists.

“I’m immensely proud of all the police staff deployed on today’s operation for their professionalism in response to this event. Pleasingly, Aucklanders have been able to largely go about their weekend without incident.”

The protesters marched to the entrance of the motorway, but retreated, after being met with dozens of police officers.

Tamaki addressed supporters of the Freedom and Rights Coalition at the cordon, and not long after, the group dispersed with many returning to Victoria Park.

The group was denied a permit to walk across the harbour bridge last month and police said no protest group from here on would be allowed to cross the harbour bridge for safety reasons and the pressure placed on the bridge’s infrastructure.

Superintendent Naila Hassan said a temporary stoppage of all southbound traffic on State Highway 1 was put in place from the Onewa Road off-ramp, but was lifted after a short period of time.

“We thank the public for their understanding, particularly those motorists who were briefly stopped on the northern motorway earlier today.”

About midday, a protest led by Toitū te Aroha saw hundreds of attendees march along Queen Street, escorted by police and temporarily blocking the road.

Spokesperson Bianca Ranson had said the aim was to stand in solidarity with diverse communities across Aotearoa.

The march continued through to Te Komititanga Square and the group then gathered in Myers Park.

Community group members addressed the gathering, including New Zealand Central Sikh Association representative Marshal Walia.

The rally ended with a haka led by Eru Kapa-Kingi.

After both rallies had ended, Hassan said police operations would continue to monitor any protest activity happening across Auckland CBD.

The police cordon around the Fanshawe Street motorway ramps was stood down about 2pm and Hassan said the protest group at Victoria park had largely dispersed.

“Our operation remains , and a police presence will remain across parts of the motorway network and CBD to monitor the situation.

“There are no further issues to report at this stage.”

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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/2026/01/31/two-protests-in-aucklands-cbd-monitored-by-police-with-cordons-road-closures/

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the teams who have worked at the tragic Mt Maunganui campground landslide are returning home.

The Fire and Emergency specialist Urban Search and Rescue team are “in the process of demobilisation” and have left the cordoned-off site, FENZ said on Saturday.

However, Bay of Plenty police district commander Tim Anderson confirmed recovery efforts were continuing at the site.

“While some teams have started to depart, all the required safety measures and equipment remain in place to ensure the safety of all the teams who continue to work at the scene,” Anderson said.

The departing FENZ team have “worked meticulously and tirelessly throughout the operation”, FENZ assistant national commander David Guard said.

“Our thoughts remain with the families who lost loved ones in this devastating event. I would also like to thank the community for their outpouring of support.”

Guard also acknowledged the FENZ partnership with Police: “It was instrumental in our ability to achieve outcomes through our rescue phase and as we supported them in the DVI recovery phase.”

Six people were believed missing at the site, after the massive landslide struck on 22 January. On Saturday, a coroner confirmed the body of Rotorua woman Susan Doreen Knowles had been identified – she is the sixth victim formally identified.

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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/2026/01/31/mt-maunganui-landslide-fenz-search-and-rescue-team-return-home/

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the teams who have worked at the tragic Mt Maunganui campground landslide are returning home.

The Fire and Emergency specialist Urban Search and Rescue team are “in the process of demobilisation” and have left the cordoned-off site, FENZ said on Saturday.

However, Bay of Plenty police district commander Tim Anderson confirmed recovery efforts were continuing at the site.

“While some teams have started to depart, all the required safety measures and equipment remain in place to ensure the safety of all the teams who continue to work at the scene,” Anderson said.

The departing FENZ team have “worked meticulously and tirelessly throughout the operation”, FENZ assistant national commander David Guard said.

“Our thoughts remain with the families who lost loved ones in this devastating event. I would also like to thank the community for their outpouring of support.”

Guard also acknowledged the FENZ partnership with Police: “It was instrumental in our ability to achieve outcomes through our rescue phase and as we supported them in the DVI recovery phase.”

Six people were believed missing at the site, after the massive landslide struck on 22 January. On Saturday, a coroner confirmed the body of Rotorua woman Susan Doreen Knowles had been identified – she is the sixth victim formally identified.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/31/mt-maunganui-landslide-fenz-search-and-rescue-team-returns-home/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say a large operation is now underway in central Auckland as two planned protests take place in central Auckland today.

Protesters have begun gathering at Victoria Park as part of the Destiny Church-affiliated Freedom and Rights Coalition rally.

The group had its bid to march across the Harbour Bridge denied.

A second Palestine solidarity rally is expected at Te Komititanga Square.

Toitū te Aroha spokesperson Bianca Ranson said the aim was to stand in solidarity with diverse communities across Aotearoa.

Follow RNZ’s liveblog at the top of this page.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/31/live-traffic-delays-expected-in-auckland-with-two-protests-planned/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say a large operation is now underway in central Auckland as two planned protests take place in central Auckland today.

Protesters have begun gathering at Victoria Park as part of the Destiny Church-affiliated Freedom and Rights Coalition rally.

A second Palestine solidarity rally is expected at Te Komititanga Square.

Follow RNZ’s liveblog at the top of this page.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/31/live-twin-protests-set-to-cause-traffic-woes-for-auckland/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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A large flash that lit up the night sky over Wellington was captured by a live feed camera and has prompted speculation it could have been a meteor.

The bright light was seen by people facing south at 11.25pm on Friday night, and travelled from east to west on an almost horizontal trajectory.

A PredictWind.com live feed camera (at timestamp 23:25:26) at the Heretaunga Boating Club, facing over Wellington Harbour from Petone, captured the ‘shooting star’.

It showed a circle of light with a long bright tail behind it entering view over the Eastern Hutt Hills from about a 10 o’clock bearing. The ‘head’ of light then flared brightly to a much bigger size – producing a wider and brighter trail behind it and at least two small bursts of light directly below it – then disappeared, leaving the brightest part of the trail to fade slowly.

“I live in Petone and it lit up my room,” one person said on a Lower Hutt Facebook group.

“I saw it in Tītahi Bay,” another person said. “From my point of view it looked like a green line shooting across the sky,” another said.

Several social media commenters asked if it could have been a meteor.

“Watched from my window in Ngaio. Most fantastic streak of blue/teal. Would have burnt up in the atmosphere,” a Redditor said.

A MetService spokesperson said sometimes their weather monitoring does pick up things like this, but in this case, while forecasters had checked their radars and other monitoring systems on Friday night, nothing had showed up.

The International Meteor Organisation posted online that data from the US Space Force indicated space debris had been observed re-entering the atmosphere 800km south of New Zealand – but later in the night, at 1.39am NZT(12.39pm UTC).

That was from a “massive (11 tons) second stage of a Chinese rocket, launched on December 3, 2025.”

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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/2026/01/31/bright-shooting-star-delights-wellingtonians/

Source: Radio New Zealand

One in five schools recently scrutinised by the Education Review Office needs external support or intervention.

Twenty-one of the 100 most recently-published reviews of state or integrated schools said they needed or should continue to have statutory managers, a commissioner, or guidance for improving things like attendance and student achievement.

The recommendations were made in review reports signed off between early January and mid-November.

Last year ERO called for firmer action on schools that failed to improve despite support and some school principals warned the office was not giving schools enough credit for the challenges they faced due to social issues in their communities.

One principal spoken to by RNZ said reviewers who visited their school told them the school was doing excellent work, but “moderation” of their report resulted in only some mention of the school’s positive work and a recommendation that the school needed help.

The principal warned that ERO’s approach would discourage competent principals from taking on challenging schools in poor communities.

They also said schools with moderate results would get away with cruising or even declining results so long as their achievement and attendance figures were not in the danger zone.

ERO was unable to tell RNZ if it was making more recommendations for support or intervention than in the past.

“The Ministry of Education is the agency responsible for delivering support and is best placed to provide you with information on how many schools receive support,” it said.

However, it said it was “building a tracker” to indicate what types of support or intervention it recommended most.

Asked what common problems reviewers saw across schools, ERO said: “There are a range of common issues and can include us identifying schools that have low regular student attendance, a large proportion of students who are regularly and chronically absent, low student achievement and a lack of progress, and a significant number of students leaving school without NCEA qualifications,” it said.

Among the 21 review reports recommending support or intervention, 17 called for new action and five recommended continuing existing measures.

Eleven of the 21 schools had high equity index numbers placing them in the 14 percent of schools facing the most socio-economic barriers to achievement.

Eight were in the next most challenged group of schools, described as facing “many” barriers to achievement.

Just one of the schools was classed as facing “average” socio-economic barriers to achievement.

The office recommended dissolution of Herekino School’s board and appointment of a commissioner in order to improve leadership and student attendance and achievement at the Northland school.

It recommended appointment of a limited statutory manager at Te Kura a Iwi o Pawarenga to manage the relationship between the board and tumuaki and support strategic planning and teaching.

It also recommended a limited statutory manager for Randwick School in Lower Hutt to improve leadership, action planning and assessment and attendance.

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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/2026/01/31/one-in-five-schools-recently-scrutinised-by-ero-needs-external-support-or-intervention/

Source: Radio New Zealand

One person has died after a single vehicle crash on Wickliffe Road in Port Chalmers on Friday night.

Emergency services were notified of the crash about 9.10pm.

A second person was also seriously injured and one person sustained minor injuries.

The Serious Crash Unit attended and enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.

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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/2026/01/31/one-person-dead-and-another-seriously-injured-after-single-vehicle-crash-in-dunedin/