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3 Jul 2025

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Green MP dismisses police data showing drop in crime - here’s why
“There hasn’t been any convincing data being released around trends,” Lawrence Xu-Nan told Stuff.

Redacted evidence 'delayed police grooming cases'
The decision led to significant delays in police investigations, an inspection says.

'Diddy' denied bail after being cleared of most serious charges
Combs will remain behind bars because of his history of violence, the judge said, setting sentencing for October.

Queenstown landlord with 22 migrant tenants in unlawful five-bedroom home fined over $100k
James Truong chose to ignore tenancy rules and had 22 people living in the building.

Queenstown landlord fined more than $113,000 for operating unlawful boarding house
Landlord ordered to repay rent to 22 tenants, many of them migrant hospitality workers.

Visa launches Security Roadmap to combat AI-driven payment fraud
Visa launches a Security Roadmap in New Zealand to tackle rising AI-driven payment fraud, offering new tools and support for small businesses amid NZD $194m losses.

Government announces first recipients of proceeds of crime fund
The fund is administered by the Ministry of Justice, and comes from cash and assets that have been gained through crime, and seized by police.

Khandallah murder trial: Victim was bludgeoned, forensic pathologist tells jury
The elderly woman found dead in her home in Wellington's suburb of Khandallah last year was bludgeoned, a forensic pathologist has told a jury.

Who testified in the trial?
A look back at some of the key people who gave evidence during the New York trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Amazon sets an end date for its standalone Freevee app
Nearly eight months after Amazon announced it was phasing out its ad-supported Freevee streaming service, the standalone Freevee app is still widely available. Now it appears the app’s days are numbered. On the July 1 update for the Apple App Store version of the Freevee app, a new note reads: “The Freevee app will be available until August 2025. Continue watching your favorite Freevee Originals and our library of hit movies, shows, and live TV on Prime Video for free, no subscription needed. Download Prime Video to get started and sign-in with your Amazon account.” It’s not clear if the same deadline applies to the Freevee app for other platforms. For example, a similar message without the August 2025 deadline appears on the Fire TV version of the Freevee app. We’ve reached out to Amazon for more details. Word that the standalone Freevee app will only be available until next month—for Apple users, at least—doesn’t come as a big shock. Amazon announced back in November 2024 that it would sunset the Freevee brand and fold all its ad-supported streaming shows and movies into Prime Video, a move intended to “deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers.” At the time, Amazon said the phase-out of the Freevee brand would occur within a matter of weeks, but it didn’t give a firm date for yanking the standalone Freevee app, which has remained widely available. First launched as IMDb Freedrive in 2019 before being rebranded as IMDb TV six months later, Freevee offered a mix of on-demand and ad-supported TV shows and movies as well as a wide range of FAST (short for “free ad-supported streaming TV”) channels. In April 2022, Amazon rebranded the service yet again as Freevee and gave it a splashy re-rollout, complete with buzzy new shows such as Bosch: Legacy. Freevee scored at least one genuine hit with Jury Duty, a reality show in which an unsuspecting juror served in a fake trial populated by actors, including James Marsden. But having Freevee side-by-side with Prime Video soon became confusing for viewers and advertisers alike. Paying Prime Video subscribers were often surprised to find Freevee’s ad-supported content mixed in with Prime Video’s ad-free offerings, while the arrival of Prime Video’s ad-supported tier meant Amazon had two “with ads” streaming services but with different branding.

Home detention for man who used fake passports
A 61-year-old Nelson man who used fake passports to travel to Australia and Fiji over three years has avoided jail, with a judge instead sentencing him to 12 months’ home detention due to his age and poor health.

Woman left fighting for life as fake Botox beautician apologises
As the BBC names a beautician who gave illegal jabs, two victims share their story.

Tracer unveils AI tool to shield brands from ChatGPT fraud
Tracer AI launches Tracer Protect for ChatGPT, an AI tool to monitor and combat brand fraud and scams exploiting ChatGPT chatbot responses.

Prominent figure facing charges gets continued name suppression
The man has appeared in court after it was revealed he had been arrested last week.

It's no longer illegal to be a proudly violent Proud Boy
The terrorist label has been dropped from extremist group the Proud Boys, but its ideology still lurks online in New Zealand.

Infamous former South Island sex industry kingpin dies
Terry Brown flew strippers to love sick rural lads and had ties to an array of sex industry businesses, as well as the criminal underworld.

Watch: What it was like inside courtroom when verdict came in
In total, the jury deliberated for 13 hours over three days to come to a unanimous decision on the charges against Combs.

Judges order new inquiry into MI5 false evidence exposed by BBC
Earlier investigations into evidence in case of neo-Nazi state agent were "deficient", judges rule.