Appeal Court finds David Tamihere murdered Swedish couple, Auckland motorway closed by 'serious' crash, and food prices drop for the first time in nearly six years.
1 David Tamihere did murder Swedish backpackers 35 years ago, Court of Appeal finds
The Court declined to quash Tamihere's convictions, saying it was satisfied he had murdered 23-year-old Urban Höglin and his fiancée, 21-year-old Heidi Paakkonen.
Tamihere was convicted in 1990 of killing the couple, who disappeared while tramping in April the previous year. The Court of Appeal previously rejected Tamihere's case in 1992, and an appeal to the Privy Council was denied in 1994 – but Tamihere was released on parole in 2010.
David Tamihere told 1News he wasn't surprised by the Court of Appeal decision and maintained his innocence.
2 Major bank announces changes to interest rates
Westpac NZ has dropped special fixed home loan rates in the six-month (7.24% to 7.05%) one-year (7.14% to 6.89%) and 18-month (6.89% to 6.79%) terms.
The standard fixed home loan rates have also dropped in the 6-month (7.84% to 7.65%) one-year (7.74% to 7.49%) and the 18-month (7.49% to 7.39%) terms.
Westpac NZ's move comes one day after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced the official cash rate will remain at 5.5%.
3 Part of Auckland motorway closed by 'serious' multi-vehicle crash
An 8.2km section of Auckland's Northern Motorway was closed after a crash near Dairy Flat around 2pm on Thursday. Both northbound lanes were blocked between the Oteha Valley Rd on-ramp and Silverdale.
"Traffic is already heavy and building, so please plan ahead, drive with care and use the available detour route," said an NZTA spokesperson.
Police said initial indications suggested there were critical injuries.
4 BBC commentator's family members killed in crossbow attack
Carol Hunt and her two daughters, Hannah and Louise, were found injured at a home in Hertfordshire on Tuesday (local time), dying at the scene shortly after. It has since emerged they were the family of well-known BBC racing commentator John Hunt.
Neighbours paid tribute to the three women killed, saying they were a "very close-knit family" and "beautiful souls".
5 PM uninterested in Aratere 'rumours and reckons'
The Interislander vessel ran aground shortly after leaving Picton on June 21, due to what authorities described as a "steering failure". Yesterday, an internal safety bulletin obtained by 1News said the Aratere ran aground after a button was "inadvertently pressed", sending the vessel off-course.
On Tuesday, NZ First asked on its X account: "Is it true that the Aratere ran aground when someone put the autopilot on, went for a coffee, and then couldn’t turn the autopilot off in time when that someone came back? If so, why haven't the public been told that?"
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had not seen "what Winston has said or done".
ONE FOOD PRICE DROP
Annual food prices across the board have fallen by 0.3% in the first decrease since August 2018.
Stats NZ consumer prices manager James Mitchell said the decrease for food prices was driven by lower prices for tomatoes, cheese, and potatoes.
Prices for fruit and vegetables, and meat, poultry, and fish fell 16.1% and 1.4% respectively during the 12 months to June 2024.
ONE COSMIC DISCOVERY
A massive black hole, nearly 20,000 times the size of the sun, has been confirmed as the closest to Earth's solar system by an international study involving University of Queensland researchers.
The study involved analysing and cataloguing 1.4 million stars in the Omega Centauri cluster amongst the Milky Way — where the black hole was located amongst the innermost stars at the centre — roughly 18,000 light-years from Earth.
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