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7 Jun 2025

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Pike River movie to premiere at Sydney Film Festival
The feature film Pike River will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival on Saturday, before its release in New Zealand later this year. The movie follows the families of the...

Otara youth challenged to design new town centre playground
Auckland Council removed the playground and seating area in January in a bid to deter antisocial behaviour and public drinking outside the Otara TAB.

Anthropic releases custom AI chatbot for classified spy work
"Claude Gov" is already handling classified information for the US government.

David Beckham to be awarded a knighthood by King Charles
Becks is to receive a knighthood in next week's honours list from King Charles III, according to UK media reports.

The Kiribat pilot inspiring the next generation of Pacific aviators
When Salote Mataitini first dreamed of becoming a pilot, she was a child reading newspaper articles about aviators, long before iPhones or social media.

Millions of low-cost Android devices turn home networks into crime platforms
BadBox malware has been menacing low-cost Android devices for nearly a decade.

‘Loud bang’: Air NZ flight to Queenstown struck by lightning
Air New Zealand said NZ625 from Auckland to Queenstown was turned back for engineering checks as a precaution after lightning hit the plane shortly after departure.

Take $400 off a Surface Laptop 15 with Snapdragon
There are new Surface Laptop models to choose from. They’re…not great. They’re not bad, but for their diminished size and capacity, they really should be cheaper. Today you can get a better deal on a bigger, roomier 15-inch Surface Laptop from 2024, with a long-lasting Snapdragon processor. Amazon has it for $899.99, a cool $400 off the retail price. This Surface Laptop has 16GB of memory, which is good — that’s as low as I’d go for any modern device running Windows 11. It also has 256GB of storage, which is…not as good. It’s bad, in fact, for a $900 laptop regardless of discount. Fortunately you can replace it with a more roomy SSD with just a little elbow grease. That is to say, you can use elbow grease to change out the storage, you cannot use elbow grease as storage. My editor says I need to be specific. The more impressive parts of this deal are the very nice Surface fit-and-finish, the big, beautiful touchscreen, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. That Arm-based setup means this laptop isn’t very good for gaming, but it handles everything else really well, especially battery life. With that ultra-efficient chip, this Windows laptop can finally compete (and sometimes even best) Apple’s Arm-based Macbooks. The 15-inch Surface Laptop doesn’t see a lot of discounts on the base model, they’re usually reserved for the much more expensive configurations. So if you’ve been waiting for a deal, here it is — you can use those savings to get a replacement SSD, like this one. If this deal doesn’t tickle your fancy, try PCWorld’s picks for the best laptops around. Get a 15-inch Surface Laptop for $900View Deal

Should I contribute to KiwiSaver or pay mortgage faster - Ask Susan
RNZ money correspondent Susan Edmunds answers your questions.

Building apprentices go head to head in Hamilton skills challenge
Jack Mathis planned on becoming a dairy farmer, but has changed his career pathway.

Farmers risk being cut off as bridge funding dries up
Waka Kotahi has announced it will not extend a 30 June sunset clause or offer additional funding for a replacement for a quake damaged bridge at the Waiau Toa Clarence River.

Is location-sharing actually making teens less safe?
When a romantic relationship becomes unhealthy, the location-sharing apps teenagers use for safety can put them at risk of psychological abuse, says Spanish researcher María Atiénzar Prieto.

Manslaughter charge dropped against woman accused of killing former rugby league player
Former Auckland and Maori representative Neville Ramsay had been charged with contravening a protection order.

A chief's children's book weaves fa'amatai and proverbs
"I didn't want the children to miss out on the richness of the values."

Weather: Fears for extreme cold snap don't eventuate despite chilly temperatures
However, fears of an extreme cold snap have not come to pass so far.

Why an almost $17m central city property has been vacant for two decades
The government owned site was formerly Christchurch Women’s Hospital. But that closed down in 2005, so why is it still empty?

Foreign student income down on pre-Covid earnings
But the fees were about $100 million less than the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019.

Upgrade to this 360Hz 1440p OLED gaming monitor for just $575
Do you feel the need? The need for speed? Or, if you’re young enough not to get that reference, do you feel the need for vivid colors and perfect black levels on your gaming PC? Then upgrade to an OLED monitor already! Today, you can get a 27-inch ASRock model with a super-fast 360Hz panel from Newegg for just $575 even. That 360Hz panel is definitely the standout feature here, as most of the OLED monitors in this price range settle for 240Hz. That makes this 27-inch 2560×1440 panel ideal for fast-paced online shooters. Otherwise, the design is pretty basic. It does come with a USB-C port that supports video, but it’s best for desktop PCs—with just 15 watts of charging, you’ll still have to plug your gaming laptop into something else with more juice. Monitor deals have been thin for the last few weeks, so I doubt you’ll find a better one for this particular size and speed anytime soon. That said, Father’s Day is around the corner, so you might hold out if you want a discount on a larger ultrawide or 4K OLED. You might also want to check out PCWorld’s picks for the best gaming monitors. Get a 360Hz 1440p OLED gaming monitor for $575Buy now from Newegg