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‘Pretty hyped to tick that one off’ – Melville Ives’ back on podium after landing trick for first time

Finley Melville Ives in action at the FIS World Cup halfpipe event in Calgary, 4 January, 2026. FIS Park and Pipe

Wānaka teenager Finley Melville Ives’ impressive form has continued in the latest FIS World Cup event with a second in the halfpipe in Calgary.

The 19-year-old reigning world champion won the China leg last month, and has followed up with runner-up in Calgary after being outpointed by American Nick Goepper.

His consistency is a good sign with the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in northern Olympics just over a month away.

Conditions were testing in Calgary with temperatures of about -10deg Celsius affecting speed in the pipe, while flat light reduced visibility.

But that didn’t deter Melville Ives from successfully performing a trick for the first time in competition, nailing a switch left double corked 1440 safety grab on the second hit of his second finals run.

“The conditions were pretty tricky today, but managed to put my run down and land a trick I’d never done before in competition, so I am pretty hyped to tick that one off,” Melville Ives said.

New Zealand free skier Finley Melville Ives, left, on the podium after finishing second to American Nick Goepper, centre, and Birk Irving, who was third in the FIS World Cup halfpipe event in Calgary, 4 January, 2026. Snow Sport NZ

After topping qualification from his heat, he took the early lead with his first run, but Goepper took the lead on the second run.

Melville Ives struck back with his trick switch 1440, but a couple of bobbles on two of his runs saw him fall short of Goepper, whose American team-mate Birk Irving finishing third.

“I’m so stoked, I can’t believe it. It’s been an incredible start to the World Cup season,” Melville Ives said.

“To be up there on the podium with Nick, I am so grateful.”

Fellow Wānaka athlete Ben Harrington had his best result of the season, finishing eighth.

The halfpipe tour heads to Aspen for next weekend, with New Zealand’s slopestyle athletes returning to competition.

Tough day for Robinson

It wasn’t such a good day for Queenstown alpine skier Alice Robinson, who crashed out of a second successive World Cup event, failing to finish the first run in the giant slalom in Slovenia.

The two dips have dropped Robinson to third in the overall World Cup standings, behind American Mikaela Shriffin and Switzerland’s Camille Rast, who won a World Cup giant slalom for the first time in Slovenia.

Robinson had led the standings after winning two giant slaloms in November and December, followed by the first Super G win by a New Zealander in St Moritz.

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

January 4, 2026

‘The mood is of happiness and hope’ – Venezuelans in NZ

Source: Radio New Zealand

A person flutters a national flag in Caracas on January 3, 2026, after US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. AFP / FEDERICO PARRA

A Venezuelan woman living in New Zealand says her family and friends in Venezuela are happy – but anxious – about the move by the United States to capture the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Ari Ruiz and her sister Katherine Halkett have both lived in New Zealand for more than 10 years.

Ruiz said she rang her parents in Venezuela this morning to tell them the news, and her mother broke into happy tears.

Ruiz said her parents hoped this will be the first step towards change for the country.

“There has also been a lot of uncertainty about what comes next,” said Katherine Halkett.

“I think that is where a lot of the anxiety comes from, but the mood in Venezuela, of most Venezuelans, is of happiness and hope. The attacks started at about 8 o’clock (pm) New Zealand time, and we haven’t stopped watching the news since and it very scary.”

Halkett said their parents are in Barquisimeto – about five hours drive from Caracas where the attacks were – and knew nothing of the attacks until their phone call.

Other friends and family members who live in Caracas had a very different experience.

“None of them were in any danger at any point, but there were loud noises, windows shaken by the explosion, and smoke. Very scary of course.”

MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP

Halkett said America’s reasons for the attack may be complicated, but she said people who say it was all about oil did not understand the situation in Venezuela.

“To all the people in New Zealand, from the comfort of their couches with all their human rights, I tell them that we in Venezuela have not had access to the petroleum money from the Venezuelan government for many years.

“They have given away our petrol to Iran, to Cuba, to Russia, to China. So for them now to be worried about our petrol when we haven’t had our petrol for many years.

“That’s why Venezuelans are not really worried about that.”

Halkett said people in New Zealand were worried about what will happen with the petrol, but not the torture, state violence and political detainees.

Halkett said about 90 percent of the population lived in poverty, with about half the population in extreme poverty.

“My mum’s pension is $US4 a month, and box of 20 eggs is $US10, so people are dying,” said Ruiz. “People don’t have access to food.”

Ruiz said their family and friends say the streets have been very quiet, and it felt as if everyone was waiting to see what will happen next.

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

January 4, 2026

Manage My Health cybersecurity hack: GPs whose patients’ data was stolen identified

Source: Radio New Zealand

General practices remain open and are providing services, and people have been assured they can continue to seek care as normal. File photo. Photo /123RF

Manage My Health has identified general practices whose patients have had their private health information breached in a cybersecurity hack – but it is not yet clear when all those patients will be told.

More than 120,000 patient files on the privately-operated portal were compromised in the ransom-ware attack, which was reported to the authorities in the early hours of New Year’s Eve.

Health NZ national director of planning, funding and outcomes Jason Power said the company has advised that individual patients will be notified.

“We expect MMH to share the timeframe for notifications by Tuesday.”

Meanwhile, Health NZ was working with primary care providers through General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) to clarify the potential impact on patients and general practices.

It had also established an incident management team and was co-ordinating with other government agencies, including the National Cyber Security Centre and the Police Cyber Crime Unit.

“Unfortunately, malicious cyber activity is a constant threat, and New Zealand is not exempt from this.

“We expect MMH, and all other providers of health information systems, to meet the highest standards around system security, with patient safety and privacy a top priority,” Power said.

“We are working with MMH to ensure clear communication to patients and general practices impacted by this breach. We expect assurance that appropriate protections are in place to avoid any repeat and that learning from this incident will be rapidly shared across the health system.”

There had been no impact on Health NZ systems nor any other patient portals, Power said.

The agency was “supporting” MMH in legal action it was taking to protect the information taken in the breach.

GPNZ chair Bryan Betty said Primary Health Organisations would continue to work with their general practices in the coming days.

“They will be assuring that queries and concerns are able to be addressed and will work alongside MMH and Health NZ to engage and support any patients whose information has been compromised.”

General practices remained open and providing services, and people could continue to seek care as normal.

MMH said it would provide regular updates on its website and directly through its patient app and would be establishing an 0800 number for concerned and impacted people.

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

January 4, 2026

Summer jobs: Spotting fake poo at Hanmer Springs

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa is a water park two hours north of Christchurch. There is archaeological evidence that Māori travellers used the area to rest and warm up on their journeys long before Pākehā arrived in New Zealand.

The first dressing shed was built 150 years ago. It has since transformed into a water park with 22 outdoor pools of various temperatures and four waterslides, including the 13.5 metres-high Conical Thrill.

During summer, daily patrons swell to 4000 from a winter low of 300 people. The complex has 20 lifeguards on duty while it is open in the busy season. Lifeguard manager Chantelle Hutton has some interesting techniques to make sure they are paying attention.

Lifeguard manager Chantelle Hutton at Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa.

supplied

Source: Radio New Zealand

Changes are coming to the rules that prevent gay men from giving blood. AFP

The blood service is on track to start accepting donations from men who have sex with men by the middle of 2026.

It has been almost two years since NZ Blood first committed to change its rules, and almost a year since [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/540366/rules-preventing-blood-donations-from-men-who-have-sex-with-men-to-change

Medsafe gave it the green light].

The new policy would have each donor assessed on an individual basis, rather than the current blanket ban on men who had sex with another man during the previous three months.

It was a change that required significant time and effort to formalise, NZ Blood spokesperson Dr Gavin Cho explained.

“We’ve undergone a series of steps, and this is evidence-based, so we started off with joining the SPOT (Sex and Prevention of Transmission) study where there was a survey of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men on how they viewed blood donation,” he said.

“We found that there was a clear desire for NZ Blood to tailor our assessments rather than having a blanket MSM (men who have sex with men) rule.”

The blood service then looked at its counterparts in other countries such as the UK and Canada which had made similar changes.

“A number of them have already implemented individualised donor assessment so we are fortunate to be able to learn from their experiences,” Cho said.

“Some of these blood services [internationally] have published their results after implementation and they’ve shown there is no increase in risk [of HIV] so we’ve felt confident about this in terms of safety.”

After a thorough risk assessment, NZ Blood started to consult with pharmaceutical partner CSL Behring, which converts donated plasma into products that can be used.

“They’ve told us that we need to do certain things including introduce a new test, and this involves new equipment, training staff and a whole lot of other things,” Cho continued.

“So there’s been quite a lot involved in making the decision to do this, but we’ve made that decision and we’re committed to seeing it through.”

The Burnett Foundation, formerly the AIDS Foundation, had long been campaigning for such a change.

The foundation’s research and policy officer Pete Hanl said he “can’t wait,” but “safety is always first”.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction, and it’s important that things are getting done in the right way,” he said.

“New Zealanders need to have full trust that the blood donation process is safe.”

Hanl noted that in the SPOTS study, only 13 percent of gay or bisexual men surveyed fit the existing criteria of not having had sex in the prior three months.

“Why should people who live in a monogamous relationship not be able to donate blood?”

“Just like anybody else, MSM try to be altruistic and do something good for the community.”

Cho said gay and bisexual men eager to donate blood would have to wait just a little bit longer.

“We don’t have a definite date at the moment, we’re confident it will probably be in 2026 and our hope is to be able to announce a date early in the year,” he said.

“We’re aiming for the first half of the year, but there’s no firm commitment at the moment because there are still a few things we need to have in place.”

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

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