Waitangi in the age of the Treaty Principles Bill, Cook Islands passport 'off the table at the moment', and Sydney snake catchers pull 102 redbellies from a mulch pile.
1 John Campbell: Waitangi in the age of the Treaty Principles Bill
The crowd was smaller, the Prime Minister was absent and, one year after the jubilation of 2024, the mood at Waitangi felt strikingly different, writes TVNZ Chief Correspondent John Campbell.
"The day on which the politicians came to Waitangi, the absence of people was so striking that someone asked me, 'where the hell is everyone, John?'
"I asked other people the same thing. The general conclusion, expressed in terms that ranged from ennui, to exhaustion, to sadness, to anger, was that everybody was 'over it'."
2 Two killed in separate incidents on Auckland motorways
Two people have died on the Auckland motorway network overnight, with delays continuing on SH1 after a crash halted northbound traffic for several hours.
State Highway 1 was earlier closed to northbound traffic between the Manukau and the East Tamaki Rd on-ramp, near Ōtara following a single-vehicle crash that killed one and injured four.
Earlier in the morning, a pedestrian walked onto the motorway and was killed after being struck by at least three vehicles.
3 Cook Islands passport 'off the table at the moment' – report
The Cook Islands has put a controversial proposal to create its own passport on the "back burner", Prime Minister Mark Brown has told local media.
There had been a standoff with New Zealand amid fears the plans would fracture the relationship between the two countries.
1News' Barbara Dreaver revealed in December the Cook Islands was pushing for its own passport despite New Zealand arguing it would be constitutionally impossible to do so as a realm country.
4 Nottingham Forest fan raves about Kiwi 'talisman' Chris Wood
Kiwi footballer Chris Wood has become a cult hero among Nottingham Forest fans, who have labelled him a "talisman" in the club’s dream campaign this Premier League season.
The striker has netted 17 goals for the English club this season, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down, scoring a hat-trick in the team’s 7-0 thrashing of Brighton & Hove Albion last week.
According to Forest fans, Wood has been a surprising but significant contributor to the team’s excellent form this season, becoming "universally liked" among fans.
5 Musk uses X, White House role to push Trump priorities, intimidate detractors
The emergence of X owner Elon Musk as the most influential figure around US President Donald Trump has created an extraordinary dynamic — a White House adviser who's using one of the world's most powerful information platforms to sell the government's talking points while intimidating its detractors.
His use of the social media platform he owns has become both a cudgel and a megaphone for the Republican administration at a time when his power to shape the electorate's perspective is only growing, as more Americans turn to social media and influencers to get their news.
ONE BUCKET OF SNAKES
When snake catchers were called to a job in the Western Sydney suburbs, they expected to pull four red bellies from a mulch pile.
Little did they know, they'd end up finding 102.
ONE 'PERFECT' BOILED EGG
Italian scientists believe they have cracked the secret to cooking a "perfect" boiled egg.
Researchers at the University of Naples Federico II used computer simulations to find a method that cooked the egg yolk and white evenly and with a consistent texture, before putting it into practice against conventional methods.
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