Justice Ministry acknowledges issuesActing Ministry of Justice courts and justice services policy acting general manager Megan Noyce acknowledged van Rooyen’s concerns and apologised. “The ministry appreciates the effort and contribution members of the public make when serving on juries, as it is a crucial part of our justice system. “Is the jury system working at its best to ensure they are best reflection of the community? “This is not new, there have been a number of people looking at it.”Money said she did still see the importance of juries within the justice system. “Juries are really important in our justice system, but are we looking at them in terms of $31 for a half day, if someone can’t get childcare, are we excluding certain populations?

At St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2026, an eclectic crowd signalled loyalty to indie princesses and Soundcloud rappers. A near sold-out crowd amplified a sense of festivity through themed dress at Laneway Festival on Thursday. If last year’s Brat summer forecast big boots and micro shorts, Chappell Roan conjured something a little more fantastical. Photo / Felix JacksonPhoto / Felix JacksonPixie and BunnyBoth Pixie and Bunny don lace and high contrast makeup looks. At Laneway Festival 2025, Big Belts, Tiny Mini-Skirts & Leather Boots Displayed Uniformed Rebelliousness.

A vehicle was seen engulfed in flames on the Khyber Pass offramp on Auckland's Southern Motorway. Sign in hereAccess to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. A car has caught fire and blocked an off-ramp on Auckland’s Southern Motorway, sending smoke billowing over the central city. Police are at the scene of the incident and the off-ramp at Khyber Pass is closed to traffic. Video supplied to the Herald shows the front of the car completely swallowed by flames.

Residents have been told to prepare for evacuation as winds fan a vegetation fire near Clyde. Crews from Clyde, Alexandra, Dunstan and Tarras were called to a property near the intersection of Springvale and McArthur Rds about 1pm, following reports of a grass fire, a Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said. "When they got there, they had a grass fire that was basically out, but it was into some pine trees," the spokesman said. People had been told to prepare for evacuation, but it was unclear if an order to leave had been given, he said. Although fanned by wind, the fire was contained and crews were working to extinguish it.

Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis is leaving the newspaper, it has announced, after carrying out widespread layoffs this week. Jeff D'Onofrio, chief financial officer of the newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, will serve as acting publisher and CEO, the Post said. Unions representing Post employees said Lewis' departure was necessary. "Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue," The Washington Post Guild said in a statement. Lewis' Post tenure was rocky even before the subscriber losses.

‘Baseless’ accusationsBefore news of his resignation emerged, Lang told AFP that the accusations against him were “baseless” and he welcomed the probe. His daughter Caroline Lang, a film producer, also appeared in Epstein’s will as a beneficiary of €5 million ($9.8m), according to investigative website Mediapart. Le Monde newspaper and Mediapart said no files released by the United States Justice Department suggested either Lang or his daughter had been implicated in Epstein’s sexual crimes. Lang is best known as an innovative and popular culture minister during the presidency of socialist Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s and 90s. Lang also oversaw major modern architectural projects such as the building of the Louvre Pyramid and the Bastille opera house.

“I’m grateful to be alive.”Every 90 minutes, a family in New Zealand loses a loved one to heart disease. It aims to support research that leads to improved treatments for heart disease and to help prevent premature loss. Heart Foundation medical director, Dr Gerry Devlin, said heart disease was “the single biggest killer” in New Zealand and globally. Heart disease at a glance:Heart disease claims the lives of more than 6500 New Zealanders every year. More than 180,000 New Zealanders are living with heart disease.

The hemp industry in New Zealand has been fettered by strict regulations on industrial hemp growers, slowing the marketing of products like hemp milk. In general, hemp milk is not widely available in Kiwi supermarkets. Products such as hemp protein and hemp milk contain negligible amounts of THC which is the chemical component in marijuana that makes people high and induces psychoactive effects. In Faumuina’s view, hemp milk is a good choice because hemp is a sustainable, fast-growing crop that uses minimal water. She believes hemp milk will become as popular as almond and oat milk.

Thom Linley in Evolver, a dual-screen projection that follows the journey of breath through a human body, using data from multiple scans. A kapok tree in Colombia was intricately mapped to create a digital rendering of the active life within. Te Papa curator Thom Linley, who accompanied the Herald through the exhibition, says the result is not only a technically accurate scan but a portrait of an individual tree. “It isn’t a model of a tree; it isn’t a representation of a tree. We are all connected.”Breathe|Mauri Ora is on at Te Papa in Wellington until April 27.

Photo: GettyThe Cook Islands has reported its first dengue-related death, amid a significant increase in cases, and reminders to tourists to stay safe. The Cook Islands declared a dengue outbreak in May 2025, and more than 500 cases have been recorded there since. In New Zealand, 86 people had been reported to have contracted dengue, with 75 of those cases connected to travel to the Cook Islands. There had been "a significant increase in dengue cases on Rarotonga at the end of December 2025, and again at the end of January 2026", the Cook Islands health ministry said. "If you aren't improving or concerned, you should seek medical attention, especially if you think you have dengue fever after returning from the islands," Heather said.

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Tropical Cyclone Mitchell has strengthened to a category three storm as it nears the Western Australia coast, bringing with it damaging wind gusts of up to 185kmh. Mitchell is expected to make landfall between Onslow and Exmouth on Sunday night before taking a more southerly track over land on Monday, Emergency WA warned. "Damaging to destructive winds are expected to ramp up in the next 24 hours," bureau forecaster Angus Hines said on Saturday. "Those winds are strong enough to bring down big branches or entire trees, damage property, and lead to power outages." Authorities warn the central and west Pilbara coast faces the risk of flash flooding throughout the weekend, with the west Gascoyne region likely also affected by Monday.

Delgado said if we suddenly had no NZ Super, the country would be in trouble. “Changes to NZ Super are inevitable, and it’s because we need them. It’s unsustainable at the moment, with our ageing population.”Like many others, she suggests lifting the retirement age, and/or means testing. Photo / 123RFDelgado both expects and would like to see changes to KiwiSaver to ensure that her generation has more savings come retirement. She also talks about the need to ingrain the importance of savings into our culture, especially if NZ Super undergoes structural changes.

The man, who has name suppression, was issued with three antisocial behaviour notices during his tenancy. Now he’s taken his landlord to the Tenancy Tribunal, saying the notices were unjustified and he was harassed by neighbours and landlord staff. The landlord, who also has name suppression, wanted the tenancy terminated because of the antisocial behaviour, which occurred on three instances. Antisocial behaviourThe first antisocial behaviour notice related to an incident on May 29 last year, when the tenant got into a physical fight with a person who was visiting him at the property. But the volume, persistence and intensity of this tenant’s behaviour was too much for the team, and required “far greater resourcing and specialist management than is sustainable in the long term”.

Photo: ODT FilesA big hospital IT crash in the South Island in mid-January was caused by a third-party hardware failure, Health New Zealand says. It had earlier said a similar outage later the same month in Auckland and Northland was due to a technical failure at a commercial data centre. "We are working with the vendor and internally reviewing opportunities to speed up the response and restoration," he said. HNZ earlier said all four outages in January were due to technical issues, and three were due to "third-party vendor issues". Key IT projects it has promised will cut wait times and boost care for patients have anchor contracts with US Big Tech companies.