Heavy rain causes flooding across the country, there are “grave concerns” for a missing Auckland man, and Netball New Zealand celebrates 100 years.
1 Heavy rain causes flooding in Auckland, moves to East Coast
Heavy rain was set to continue its course down the North Island today, after downpours left parts of Auckland flooded last night.
A number of severe weather watches ended overnight – but not before their effects were felt.
Fire and Emergency NZ said there were 67 weather-related events between 11pm and 2am. Police also recorded calls for 36 weather-related events in Auckland between 6pm Monday and 6am Tuesday.
The heavy rain then moved east and forced multiple main roads across the country to close, including State Highway 35.
2 Auckland man's disappearance: Details emerge after 24 days
Police say they hold "grave concerns" for an Auckland man, who disappeared three weeks ago, as they release new details about his last contact with his wife.
Sandringham man Ronny Okeke, 60, was last seen on April 27 at a New World supermarket in Mt Roskill. He was reported missing five days later.
Okeke's "last confirmed sighting" was on surveillance camera footage as he left the Stoddard Rd New World at about 4.42pm, according to police.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said police urgently needed to hear from anyone with information. He said investigators were keeping an "open mind about what has happened".
3 Scarlett Johansson 'in disbelief, angered' over ChatGPT voice
OpenAI says it plans to halt the use of one of its ChatGPT voices after some users said it sounded like Scarlett Johansson — who famously voiced a fictional, and at the time futuristic, AI assistant in the 2013 film Her.
In a post on the social media platform X today, OpenAI said it is "working to pause" Sky — the name of one of five voices that ChatGPT users could choose to speak with.
The company said it had "heard questions" about how it selects the life-like audio options available for its flagship artificial intelligence chatbot, particularly Sky, and wanted to address them.
4 Hush money trial: Judge tells off Trump witness for bad behaviour
The judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial cleared the courtroom of reporters today and then threatened to remove the defence's witness from the trial altogether because of his behaviour on the stand, a court transcript later showed.
Judge Juan Merchan told Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor, that his conduct was "contemptuous right now".
Costello aggravated Merchan repeatedly in his testimony by making comments under his breath and continuing to speak after objections were sustained — a signal to witnesses to stop talking.
5 National MP 'mistakenly' failed to declare $178k in donations
National MP David MacLeod has been stood down from his select committee roles after failing to properly declare nearly $180,000 in donations to his electoral campaign.
The New Plymouth MP this morning issued an apology — along with a stern statement from the Prime Minister — after the omission was picked up and corrected.
A release from the party today explained that MacLeod "mistakenly failed to declare 19 candidate donations".
Party leader and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the party was "taking the matter very seriously".
ONE HELPFUL KIWISAVER EXPLAINER
New Zealanders struggling with the cost of living have been tapping into their KiwiSaver accounts in greater numbers.
Inland Revenue data shows that 3700 people withdrew savings for financial hardship reasons in April, compared to 1820 in the same month a year before. They withdrew a combined $30.1 million, up from $14.1m in 2023.
So what do you need to know if you're eyeing your KiwiSaver to tide you over a tough time?
ONE-HUNDRED YEARS OF NETBALL
In 1924 netball was being played on grass fields and asphalt courts, the uniform of the day was gym frocks and black stockings with nine players a side.
Netball has a rich history in Aotearoa, the tapestry of change in the game has not only reflected the development of the sport, but also the changing role of women in society.
Now in 2024, Netball New Zealand celebrates its centenary, the first association in the world to reach that milestone.
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