A map this morning showing a rescue helicopter searching the area. Photo: Flightradar24Emergency services are responding to a helicopter crash near Wellington. Police said they were notified at 7.30am by an activation of an automated crash alert in Paekākāriki Hill, a rural area in Porirua. A spokesperson said two rescue helicopters and police were at the scene, and support from Fire and Emergency crews was being organised. Currently, two helicopters appear to be flying search patterns in the area.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis. Photo: RNZFinance Minister Nicola Willis has announced when she will deliver this year's Budget. The Budget would focus on supporting the delivery of core public services like healthcare, education, defence and law and order, she pledged. "As has been the case with this government, it will be a responsible budget and it will be a budget that invests in the important things and makes savings to ensure that we can do important things in the future." The Budget date announcement follows Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announcing last week the general election would be held on November 7.

Reports of knocking and mystery figures disappearing into the night had Dunedin police chasing shadows last night. Multiple searches around the area for the mystery knockers by police turned up nothing, Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen said. At 11.40pm, residents at a house in George St started hearing bangs and knocks coming from inside their home. They found their back door wide open and outside saw two shadowy figures fleeing into the night. In an unrelated incident residents in Brown St, Central Dunedin, reported a figure lying in the front garden of their neighbour's home.

Dunedin's mayor says she will raise a flag to mark the 1000th chick to be hatched at Taiaroa Head and celebrate the city as an "icon of wildlife throughout the world". The 1000th chick was a "great story of conservation success", she said. The 1000th albatross chick (also below) to hatch at Taiaroa Head held by Doc ranger Scott Latimer. Photos: Doc/suppliedDoc ranger Sharyn Broni said she considered it a privilege to have witnessed the 1000th chick hatch at the colony. Ms Broni began working at the Royal Albatross Centre 28 years ago and was there in 2007 when the 500th chick hatched.

Photo: Peter McIntoshEmergency services rescue a patient after a fall near the Soldier’s Memorial in Highcliff Rd on Otago Peninsula. They had made it to the top, but she took a tumble and was injured in the process. He said the entire family was "extremely grateful" to all of the emergency services who came to help her. A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman said firefighters were called at 11.24am yesterday to help transport the person to an ambulance after a fall. A Hato Hone St John spokesman said the person was assessed at the scene and transported to Dunedin Hospital.

The former Beneficiaries Hall, at the corner of Filleul and Hanover Sts, has been demolished to make way for planned student accommodation. "It's pretty much the birthplace of early Dunedin Sound, for The Enemy and The Clean, and, as such, it should [have been] preserved. Workers demolish the site of the former Beneficiaries Hall, at the corner of Filleul and Hanover Sts, yesterday. "It was really important to those early Dunedin bands that really shaped the Dunedin Sound. The former Beneficiaries Hall is not the only historic Dunedin music venue to be demolished in recent memory.

Click the image to track David Hutchinson's swim Dunedin's David Hutchinson has begun his swim across Cook Strait this morning. He started at Ohau Point, west of Wellington, about 8.30am and is now several kilometres into the marathon swim. The Tūhura Otago Museum board chairman and University of Otago physics professor is attempting the swim in a bid to raise money for a much-needed new fire sprinkler system at Tūhura Otago Museum. David Hutchinson waves to one of the Broad Bay locals while training for his swim across one of the world’s toughest stretches of open water, Cook Strait. "Swimming the Cook Strait felt like something I could do to highlight the circumstances in which the Museum Trust finds itself.

A long range Boeing Dreamliner 787-9. Photo: SuppliedThe Flight Attendants Association says problems with Air New Zealand's planes and services are creating extra headaches for staff working to look after passengers at 38,000 feet. Flight attendants working aboard the airline's B777 and B787 long range aircraft will stop work for three strikes on February 11, 12 and 13. With inflation continuing to bite, many flight attendants are concerned they'll be back below a liveable wage within a short time," Featherby said. "Air New Zealand must recognise that flight attendants are integral to the airline's success.

Photo / Hayden WoodwardSince then, Mount Maunganui had been battered by many weather systems including Cyclone Wilma in 2011 and the Auckland Anniversary Floods and Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. Damage to the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park and nearby hot pools after the deadly slip. Emergency services tape closes Mount Maunganui Beach to the public. Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale (inset) says there will be a full inquiry into the tragedy at Mount Maunganui. He said Mount Maunganui was clearly a “landslide-prone” location.

Leaft Foods co-founders John Penno and Maury Leyland Penno have released a consumer brand and are working on a food ingredient protein. Bringing far more satisfaction for him is taking what New Zealand is good at and making it better or finding new business to earn a living in this world. As if that is not enough, he has just become the new chairman for The NZ Merino Company (NZM). From a distance he observed long-term contracts adding value to customers and farmers through the highs and lows of commodity markets. As a scientist, he worked to help dairy farmers increase their productivity and profit.

The declaration said the council gave "landowner approval" for Santana’s proposed goldmining activities on land occupied by council-owned roads. "CODC’s putative decision to give ‘approval’ on a secret basis, without prior consultation or public discussion, may be illegal," he wrote. It is presumed Mr Kelly signed the declaration on behalf of the district council, but it is not known. Mr Taylor advised in his letter that Mr Kelly should retract the declaration by way of a notice to the EPA’s fast-track panel convener Jane Borthwick. Mr Kelly was asked to comment on EDS’ letter but did not.

PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSHEmergency services attend a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Midland and Otaki Sts in South Dunedin yesterday. A police spokesman said emergency services were called just before 9am. The intersection was blocked for a short time, he said.

Several categories have sold out for the Easter Weekend show, which usually sells out a week before the event. General manager Ed Taylor confirmed the majority of grandstand tickets for the three-day event had been sold. About 300 general admission tickets were available for Saturday’s show, but plenty were still available for Sunday and Friday, he said. Mr Taylor said having the United States Air Force F-22 Raptor Demo Team perform on all three days of the air show was a real coup. "This team displays at all the major air shows in the United States and at big military airshows around the world," he said.

Services were also ending at Invercargill’s NZ Post Avenal (Herbert St), NZ Post Newfield (Centre St) and NZ Post Sylvan Bank (Yarrow St). The post shop at Kaikorai Valley was closed earlier this month after NZ Post did not renew the contract, and the Weston Four Square supermarket was recently taken over by new owners and the post contract was not renewed there either. But shop owners say adding two extra shops to the chopping block was unnecessary and accused NZ Post of putting profits ahead of people. "But it actually came as a surprise when my NZ Post rep rang me last week and told me that they’re looking to take the Octagon NZ Post as well. NZ Post consumer general manager Sarah Sandoval said NZ Post services would be removed from 142 urban retail partner stores nationwide in 2026, but 567 stores would remain.

Sweeney is later seen laughing before moving to the front of the sign to arrange the hanging bras into three draping strands. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce did not rule out filing a police report against White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney. “The production involving Sydney Sweeney and the Hollywood Sign, as reported by TMZ, was not authorised by the Chamber nor did we have prior knowledge of it,” the organisation said. Last year, critics claimed the White Lotus actor’s American Eagle advertisements, which featured the slogan “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans”, had white supremacist implications. Many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren’t true.”The Hollywood Sign was built on Mt Lee in the Hollywood Hills in 1923.