Author: Sarah McMillan/cvnznews.com

Police say they are now approaching the final stages of the long‑running criminal investigation into the first explosion at Pike River Mine in November 2010, a disaster that claimed the lives of 29 men and remains one of New Zealand’s darkest industrial tragedies. Detective Superintendent Darryl Sweeney says the investigation has been both “nationally significant and legally complex,” with Police working closely alongside the Crown Solicitor in Wellington for more than 18 months. The collaboration reflects the scale of the case, which involves technical mining evidence, expert analysis, and the challenge of reconstructing events inside a mine that has never…

An independent investigation is underway at Wesley College after disturbing claims surfaced that staff performed “deliverance and exorcism” rituals on students to rid them of “demonic serpents.” Allegedly conducted in darkened rooms without parental consent, the Pentecostal-style ceremonies involved “laying hands,” speaking in tongues, and encouraging students to cast out dark forces from peers. Two staff members have been suspended over the rituals, while a third faces unrelated negligence claims. Methodist Church president Te Aroha Rountree said she was “shocked” by the whistleblower’s revelations and confirmed the church acted swiftly to remove those involved. “These kinds of practices were denounced…

Wellington City Council has issued a second apology to ratepayers after uncovering another error in its 2025–26 rates calculations — though this latest mistake means households will pay slightly less than expected. The admission comes only weeks after the Council revealed it had undercharged the household and commercial sludge levy in invoices sent out in August and November 2025. At the time, officials promised a full review of the billing system to understand how the error occurred. That review has now revealed a separate issue: while Wellington City Council’s own rates were correctly invoiced, the regional council portion — set…

Unidentified individuals scrawled antisemitic slogans at the restroom of a McDonald’s restaurant on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, near where 15 people were killed last month during an attack on a Chanukah event, a local Jewish group said on Wednesday. The perpetrators used a black marker to write “f**k Israel” and “Jews rape kids” on the door of the restroom, footage uploaded by the Australian Jewish Association to X showed. Between Dec. 1, 2024 and Dec. 1, 2025, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) documented 1,654 antisemitic incidents in Australia. This tally did not include the Bondi Beach massacre, which happened…