Top Stories for Friday 14 July 2017
Snow dumps, flooding, power cuts and traffic worries. Our reporters have the latest updates as the polar blast moves north. The Ruapehu District is experiencing power outages, road closures, and their waste water plant is struggling. The Mayor of the Ruapehu District Council, Don Cameron, updates us on the situation "we are asking people to keep an eye on each other." A New Zealand woman dies in the Caribbean after a jet engine blast knocks her to the ground. The 57 year old, whose identity isn't yet known, was doing what's known locally as fence surfing when tourists hang onto a fence to get blown back as jets take off. The Independent's travel contributor Cynthia Drescher, whose tried out fence surfing, says cruise ships tell their passengers about the stunt but the authorities warn against it. Twenty-seven-year-old Kelly Savage died after spending ten days tied to a bed in a Japanese psychiatric ward. The struggle of his family to get answers about exactly what happened and hold people accountable brings back painful memories for Christine Wilson, who lost her son, Hans Dalton, in a Samoan prison in 2012, and has been thwarted in her quest for justice ever since. On current polling both the Green Party and New Zealand First would need to support Labour if it's to lead the next Government. This weekend both parties are holding their annual conferences and they told RNZ's Mei Heron that the focus will be on themselves, not each other. The ACT Party's new deputy leader Beth Houlbrooke says parents who cannot afford to have children should not be having them. She says giving handouts increases dependency and says to really address poverty, housing and education need to be the focus.
