Good evening, it’s been a day of trouble with black number plates, potentially expensive al fresco dining and a development in a toddler homicide case.
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1 Critical Baby Ru evidence taken from home
The distressing case of Ruthless-Empire, known as Baby Ru, took a new turn today.
Police believe a hard drive of CCTV footage containing “critical evidence” was taken from the address where the Lower Hutt toddler lived before his death.
They’re now after sightings of a light-coloured Nissan Sentra, registration TE6972, which officers think was used to remove the hard drive from the property.
2 Foreign buyers tax ‘to be victim of coalition talks’
The National Party's foreign buyers tax plan is likely to be sacrificed amid ongoing coalition talks with ACT and New Zealand First, a former Reserve Bank economist expects.
Michael Reddell said Christopher Luxon's plan, which was supposed to help pay for tax cuts, looks increasingly doomed given NZ First’s opposition to that kind of investment. Meanwhile, the coalition talks continued for another day…
3 Black number plates hard to read
Waka Kotahi has admitted to Fair Go it’s known for six months that police officers are having difficulty reading new black number plates.
The plates went on sale last year and they’re still available to buy. But after new concerns from police last month that roadside cameras sometimes can't capture a clean image of them, some plates may have to be replaced.
4 Al fresco dining – but at a cost?
Tauranga cafes and other businesses want more access to the town’s footpaths to promote outdoor eating and drinking but fear the charges the council might put in place.
If the move gets the go ahead but the fees are too high, warns Claudia West from the local Business Association, then “these costs would simply have to be passed on to the customer”. Could the Bay of Plenty town end up with a Paris-style scenario where the cost of your drink depends where at the cafe you sit?
5 Quite the comeback for former UK PM
He wasn’t even an MP, but all of a sudden former British Prime Minister David Cameron is back – as foreign minister.
Current PM Rishi Sunak sacked his divisive Home Secretary Suella Braverman, moved some ministers around, made Cameron a Lord and, hey presto, the man who called 2016’s Brexit referendum was back in Cabinet.
ONE BIG CALL TO DITCH MARRIAGE
Australian feminist Clementine Ford argues that women should reject marriage once and for all. Not holding back on her views, she says in her new book: “I don't understand why a system that has been so monstrously violent, to women in particular, has maintained its primacy in culture.”
Sharon Stephenson read the book and reflected on her own relationship with the ancient institution.
ONE INCREDIBLE BOWLING PERFORMANCE
A club cricketer from Australia’s Gold Coast has made international headlines with a remarkable feat.
Gareth Morgan’s Mudgeeraba side needed a beyond unlikely six wickets off the final over against Surfers Paradise. But he did exactly that – taking a wicket off every ball to win the game. "Everyone was going wild,” he said afterwards.
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