NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

Global rankings show New Zealand’s passport is less powerful than last year.

The Henley Passport Index for 2026 ranks New Zealand 24th-equal in the world in terms of destinations passport holders can travel to without a prior visa.

People with New Zealand passports have easy access to 183 countries, compared to 190 last year. Countries in which travellers can get a visa on arrival are included in the calculation.

The ranking puts New Zealand in the sixth tier, on par with nations such as Croatia, Estonia and Poland and in front of the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

Last year New Zealand was in 17th-equal place, in the fifth tier with easy access to 190 countries.

Singapore remains the most powerful passport in the world, with access to 192 countries without a prior visa, followed in second-equal place by Japan and South Korea.

Henley said its rankings were based on “exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – the largest, most accurate travel information database” and enhanced by its own research team.

The top passports were:

• 192 countries – Singapore
• 188 – Japan, South Korea
• 186 – Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
• 185 – Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy ,Netherlands, Norway
• 184 – Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates
• 183 – Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Malta, New Zealand, Poland
• 182 – Australia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, United Kingdom
• 181 – Canada, 180 Iceland, Lithuania
• 180 – Malaysia
• 179 – United States

The weakest passports belonged to Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Holders of an Afghan passport only have easy access to 24 countries.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning: This article discusses family harm.

Horowhenua’s mayor says a shooting overnight that left a man dead and three people critically hurt was a family harm incident.

Police were called to a Waitārere Beach address near Levin at about 12.40am on Wednesday.

They found four people with gunshot wounds when they arrived.

Hato Hone St John said it sent two helicopters, two ambulances, one operations manager and two rapid response vehicles to the scene.

Manawatū Area Commander Inspector Ross Grantham said a woman and two teenage boys have been taken to hospital in a critical condition. The woman was taken to Palmerston North Hospital by ambulance and the two teenagers were flown to Wellington Hospital.

“Another young person who was at the address is physically unharmed and they are being given wrap-around support,” Grantham said.

He said the gun was found at the scene and a forensic examination of the property will take place on Wednesday.

Access to State Highway 1 from Waitārere Beach Road was closed overnight; however, it has since reopened under traffic management.

Horowhenua Mayor Bernie Wanden told RNZ it was a family harm incident and described the shooting as tragic.

“As far as I am aware, it is only family members who have been involved in this incident,” he said.

Neighbour Elizabeth Taylor told RNZ she was woken up last night by helicopters and lights.

“We thought, ‘What the heck is going on?'” She said.

She said a handful of neighbours gathered in the street.

Grantham said police were not looking for anyone else in relation to the shooting, and officers would be visible around the area while an investigation is underway.

“This is a shocking incident for Waitārere Beach and the district,” Grantham said.

“This was a confronting scene, and I want to acknowledge the emergency personnel who responded to the call for help.

“We are still in the very early stages of our enquiries, but we are focused on understanding how and why this tragic event occurred.”

He said police will release more information when it becomes available.

The police presence had reduced on Wednesday morning, with two officers and a patrol car parked outside the address.

Another family killing

The latest incident comes just over ten years after a horrific crime shook the small township.

In 2016, 26-year-old Eric McIsaac was sentenced to life imprisonment after he admitted murdering his brother, 10-year-old Alex Fisher, at Waitārere Beach the previous year.

Alex’s body was found after a three-day search involving more than 100 people helped by helicopters, police dog units, search and rescue teams, and Air Force personnel.

McIsaac was sentenced to life in jail with 14 years without parole for the murder.

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
• Healthline: 0800 611 116
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
• Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Family Violence

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Scientists at the University of Auckland hope a $1 million grant will help them develop groundbreaking new therapies for deadly skin cancers.

New Zealand has the world’s highest melanoma death rate, with almost 300 people losing their lives to the cancer each year.

Associate Professor of Pharmacology Stephen Jamieson and his team are developing new treatments to kill deadly skin cancers caused by a specific type of gene mutation.

The Winn Trust has granted $1 million for research into melanoma led by Jamieson and Dr Dean Singleton from the university’s Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre and Centre for Cancer Research.

“It just enables us to put all our resources into trying to develop new therapies for melanoma,” Jamieson said.

He is using cutting-edge gene editing technologies to try to develop new treatments to tackle melanomas caused by a mutation of the NRAS gene. This mutation is found in about 15 to 20 percent of melanomas, but there is no specific treatment at present.

“Melanoma is a major issue in New Zealand – with Australia, we have the highest incidence and mortality rates in the world,” he said.

“Immunotherapy can be used to treat melanomas, but if that fails, there are no effective treatment options for NRAS-mutant melanomas and there’s a very poor prognosis – so there’s an urgent need for new treatments.”

Every year, more than 7,000 melanomas are diagnosed and approximately 300 people die from the skin cancer in New Zealand.

Under Jamieson’s supervision, former PhD student Andrea Gu investigated weaknesses in melanoma’s genetic makeup, before making a groundbreaking discovery – that the SHOC2 gene is essential for the growth of melanoma cells with the NRAS mutation.

This research, funded by Cancer Society New Zealand and Cancer Research Trust New Zealand, was published in the journal, Cancer Communications, last year.

Gu won a John Gavin Postdoctoral Fellowship from Cancer Research Trust New Zealand and Melanoma New Zealand to research at the Wellcome Sanger Institute at Cambridge University in the UK. She plans to return to the University of Auckland to share her knowledge.

With $200,000 from Cancer Society New Zealand, Jamieson’s research team plans to investigate billions of compounds to see if they can block the SHOC2 protein and kill melanoma cells with NRAS mutations.

Promising compounds will be tested, with the goal of developing a new drug or combination of drugs to treat this type of melanoma.

Jamieson hopes a new treatment will be ready to test in patients in just over five years.

Singleton’s research is focused on finding out why immunology treatments are not helping about 60 percent of patients with metastatic melanomas – those which have spread from the skin to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, brain or liver.

Melanoma cells were complex and could take many forms, some of which were not recognised by new treatments that used the body’s immune cells to fight cancer, Singleton said, who is a senior lecturer in molecular medicine and pathology.

Singleton hopes discovering how some melanoma cells dodge existing treatments and finding their vulnerabilities might pave the way to developing new treatments with higher success rates.

“Immunology treatments aim to kill melanoma cells, but sometimes they make the cells change. Then cancer cells can hide from the treatment and are less able to be recognised and killed,” he said.

“We’re investigating what’s going on in those different melanoma cell differentiation states and how best to target them.”

Cancer Society Auckland Northland has funded research supervised by Singleton and led by PhD student Claire Palma that is investigating the PHD2 gene and oxygen sensing pathways in melanoma cells. This gene seems like a weak point that drugs could potentially alter to wipe out some melanomas.

“It’s exciting to be involved in this project, which is trying to make new medicines that will block PHD2 and will hopefully work better at killing melanoma cells,” Singleton said.

Both Jamieson and Singleton said a valuable resource powering their search for cures for melanoma is the New Zealand Melanoma living biobank. It holds more than 100 cell lines grown in the lab from samples donated by New Zealand melanoma patients.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Heavy rain is forecast to hit the top of the South Island as a low-pressure system moves in this evening.

MetService has an orange heavy rain warning in place for Marlborough Sounds, Richmond Range and the Rai Valley from 7pm on Wednesday until Thursday afternoon.

Up to 110 millimetres of rain is expected to fall and people in the area are encouraged to prepare by clearing their drains and gutters and avoiding low-lying areas.

️ Heavy Rain Watches issued for Tasman and Marlborough
☔ A low-pressure system moves in late tomorrow night into Thursday, bringing heavy rain to the upper South Island
⛈️ Widespread rain is expected on Thursday, with a risk of thunderstorms for the North Island especially pic.twitter.com/qbWc8kbspf

— MetService NZ (@MetService) January 13, 2026

Heavy rain watches have also been issued for parts of Nelson, Tasman, Buller, Wellington, the Kaikoura Coast and Marlborough south of the Richmond Range.

MetService said there was a moderate chance of them being upgraded to warnings.

Taranaki has a severe thunderstorm watch in place from 2am until 11pm on Thursday due to a moist unstable northwesterly flow.

Intense, localised rainfall of 25 to 40 millimetres an hour is predicted with the potential for surface or flash flooding.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning: This article discusses suicide.

A coroner is calling for urgent psychological support for prisoners before and after their release, following the death of a man who served almost 30 years of a life sentence for murder.

Lee Rawiri Kohiti was sentenced in 1996 for the murder of his cousin. He was released on parole in May 2025.

Two months later, Kohiti was found dead at the Hamilton parole address he had been living at.

He was 19 when he entered prison.

According to the coroner, on his release at 49 years old, he wasn’t visited by friends or family and he expressed a desire to return to the prison environment.

“His closest support had been his mother; however, her health had deteriorated, and she had recently passed away,” Coroner Bruce Hesketh said.

Kohiti’s death has been ruled a suicide.

It’s a story that’s all to familiar to University of Auckland professor Tracey McIntosh.

“We’ve a parole board that largely looks at risk, with particular focus, as we can understand, on risk to community, but perhaps far less is done in actually determining the risk for individuals, particularly around their wellbeing,” she said.

McIntosh wanted more support on the inside to prepare prisoners for re-integrating into society.

“We’re letting people down … it’s very difficult for me to understand why these people wouldn’t be the highest priority, given that they’ve been in prison for such a long time because of the reasons of what they were convicted with.

“We do need to look at community, Corrections, probation, is there emphasis, particularly in that first six months, on the right things,” she said.

It was a significant and urgent issue, McIntosh said.

“When we think about how we do reintegration, I don’t know if there’s any country that really does integration extremely well, but we certainly, we’ve got so much more work to be done at the reintegration level,” she said.

“If you’re really going to talk about community safety, then it has to be a much broader view, and there has to be a much more nuanced understanding of safety.”

Work with other agencies needed

Coroner Hesketh’s ruling on Kohiti’s death recommended the Department of Corrections work with other agencies to address systemic issues in providing services to prisoners on release.

He also suggested Corrections collaborate with relevant partners to collate and review data on suspected suicide deaths after release, within a relevant time period.

“I add a further recommendation that long-term prisoners should have their cases marked as ‘urgent’ to receive psychological services support in preparation for their release in the critical weeks and months both before and after their release,” he said.

Corrections chief mental health and addictions officer Dr Emma Gardner said there were teams that regularly assess inmates’ risk of suicide.

“If a person becomes unwell after they have left prison, they will be having, if they are on probation, regular connections with their probation officer. That probation officer would be doing wellbeing checks on an individual and if they became concerned about their mental health then they would be able to refer them to services in the community…,” she said.

Gardner said a lot of work had been done for those in prison, such as expanding the mental health services across the prison network.

“We are now starting to turn our attention to ‘what does support in the community look like, how do we ensure that the relevant agencies that are already available out in the community are connecting with our people’, but it’s early days on that work and we’ve got a lot more to do,” she said.

Gardner said the Corrections executive have commissioned a piece of work looking at community support.

She said there was always room for improvement, but that Corrections had done a lot of work over the last four to improve internal services for inmates.

Gardner believed the systemic issues mentioned by the coroner were being addressed.

“We really do take every death in custody very, very seriously, and obviously every death for people on community sentences is an absolute tragedy, and we are really, really focused on doing everything we can to improve the support we offer those people and their whānau.”

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
• Healthline: 0800 611 116
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
• Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Record temperatures in Kerikeri have highlighted a long-standing bugbear in the Northland town – declining access to once-popular swimming spots.

According to MetService, last Saturday’s maximum of 32.3C set a new January record for the town.

That was broken just 24 hours later by Sunday’s high of 32.7C.

Sweltering temperatures send Northlanders, like 17-year Te Moemoea Milne, flocking to streams and waterholes.

“It’s been ridiculously hot. Just boiling,” he said.

When RNZ caught up with him he was cooling off by doing bombs off Charlie’s Rock, a scenic waterfall on Kerikeri’s Waipapa River.

“If I have money, I just ask the boys to come and pick me up and go somewhere. Anywhere with a wharf or any jumping spots.”

Over recent decades, however, the fast-growing town has lost access to beaches due to the coastal property boom and the closure of privately owned roads once used by the public.

The most recent swimming spot to become off-limits is Fairy Pools, on the Kerikeri River, which used to be accessed from a public road in the town centre.

Fairy Pools Lane was closed by the Far North District Council in November 2024 for what was supposed to be a four-month period, due to a major housing development on the surrounding land.

Late last month, the closure, already three times longer than originally intended, was extended indefinitely.

At the time a council statement said the closure was for safety reasons, and the extension was because the developer’s work programme had expanded.

“Heavy machinery, tree felling, bush clearance, and earthworks in and around the accessway make public entry unsafe,” the council said. To ensure public safety during the ongoing works, a full closure of access to the reserve is required… The extended closure will remain until all major development works have been completed.”

Young swimmers told RNZ that Charlie’s Rock was far superior for its jumping-off places and cool water, but Fairy Pools was close to the town centre and easy to access.

Charlie’s Rock was reached via a 20-minute, bouldery path, which was challenging for less mobile residents.

Tommy Lodge, 17, said Charlie’s Rock was easily the town’s best freshwater swimming spot.

“But Fairy Pools is nice and accessible, real close and still good for a swim.”

He described the closure as “pretty stupid”.

“I reckon it should be open, especially for people that don’t have as much access to cars or transport.”

RNZ contacted the Matakana-based developer, Turnstone, and the council for an estimate of when Fairy Pools Lane would officially reopen. Neither had responded before this story was due to be published.

Long-time Kerikeri resident Anne Trussler lamented the loss of what she described as “a serene and beautiful spot”.

She said Fairy Pools was her late father’s favourite place, where he used to take his dog for daily walks. Now she was unable to go there to remember him.

“More and more of these very, very special places, uniquely Kerikeri places, are slowly being denied to us. It’s wrong, and nobody’s really looking out for the people of Kerikeri. So I am deeply concerned.”

Fairy Pools Lane and reserve was until recently surrounded by the Bing property, named after a previous owner, and planted in gum and redwood trees about 90 years ago.

The roughly 20-hectare property, between Kerikeri’s town centre, the Heritage Bypass and Kerikeri River, was sold to a developer in 2021. Transfer of the land was delayed by a legal dispute until 2024.

Plans for the land included up to 350 homes, a “lifestyle village”, new roads, and commercial premises.

Most of the trees have now been cut down but felling is continuing this week alongside the river, prompting a two-day closure of part of the Rainbow Falls Track in the nearby Department of Conservation reserve.

Firefighters were called to at least two fires in the property late last year.

In the most recent blaze, on 14 December, two helicopters and firefighters from five Far North brigades were needed to bring the flames under control.

FENZ said the fire started when high winds fanned a burn pile back into life.

Recent record-breaking temperatures prompted community group Our Kerikeri to compile a list of the town’s remaining swimming spots.

As well as Charlie’s Rock, the list included the pool at the bottom of Rainbow Falls, Waipapa Landing, and waterholes along Wairoa Stream, accessed via a bush track off Cobham Road.

The nearest beach was Wharau Bay, 14km away at the entrance to Kerikeri Inlet.

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