New Zealand has pledged $10 million to a global fund to help developing countries respond to climate change damage. 

Minister-in-charge, Simon Watts has made the commitment at the UN Climate Change Summit in Azerbaijan.

Watts says the contribution will help deliver effective support to help people in the most-affected regions build stronger communities.

He explained that this will come out of New Zealand's overseas aid budget.

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There's concern for hundreds of Kiwi workers as one of New Zealand's biggest pulp and paper mills looks to halt production.

Tokoroa's Kinleith Mill plans to halt paper processing by June 2025 - with 230 jobs on the line.

E tū negotiations specialist Joe Gallagher says these jobs cuts will have a ripple effect that impacts the rest of Tokoroa.

"Tokoroa was born out of the fact that a lot of people migrated to the area to work at Kinleith - a lot of people rely on Kinleith. 230 jobs is not insignificant and that's not counting the downstream of people in cafes, doctors, nurses and all those other jobs.

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There's proof regulating children's screen time can reduce the risk of childhood obesity.

An Auckland University study has found cutting young children's device use and ensuring they get enough sleep both lower obesity risk.

Professor Boyd Swinburn says it used data from more than 5,000 children aged between two to four-and-a-half

He says the World Health Organisation recommends pre-schoolers have less than an hour of screentime a day.

"In this cohort, 70 percent of them actually had more than an hour of screen time a day - it is a challenge keeping these young kids from the screens."

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New Zealand's new Police Commissioner is keeping an open mind about arming front line staff. 

Deputy Commissioner Richard Chambers is replacing Andrew Coster - and has just returned from secondment with Interpol in France. 

He says he's worked with many jurisdictions over the years, and hopes New Zealand doesn't get the point of arming cops. 

But Chambers says policing is complex and volatile, and he'll do all he can to protect his staff. 

"I've got to keep an open mind -what do my staff need? What sort of support do they need? I think we need to get to that place as a country." 

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The nation's new top cop is prepared to step into the role.

Richard Chambers has been appointed the new Police Commissioner by Minister Mark Mitchell - and he's ready to get stuck in on the eve of the Government's new patch ban.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says Chambers has been rising through the ranks for decades - and he's a good fit for the job.

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SpaceX's sixth Starship test flight splashed down in the Indian Ocean following today's highly-anticipated test mission. 

The booster earlier plunged into the Gulf of Mexico soon after the launch.

President-elect Donald Trump joined Elon Musk to watch the test - and wrote a supportive post about Musk and the team on his Truth Social network.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says the pair have been inseparable after the US election - when Musk was made a key adviser to Trump.

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There's hope a women's trans-Tasman Super Rugby final is a sign of things to come.

The Super Rugby Aupiki champions will face the Australian Super W winners in a crossover finale to be hosted in New Zealand next year.

Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave unpacks this news further. 

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The Transport Agency has spent nearly $800 million on traffic management in the past three years, according to new reports.

The Government has revealed the spend went to road cones, temporary traffic management, state highway maintenance and capital works. 

Transport Minister Simeon Brown says this is an 'exorbitant' sum and the spending needs to come down. 

"We need to see a much more efficient use of taxpayers' money when it comes to maintaining our roads and keeping road workers safe - we have to get that balance right."

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Sir Keir Starmer is hopeful the UK's relationship with China will be strengthened off the back of his meeting with Xi Jinping. 

The pair met at the G20 summit - the first time a UK Prime Minister has met with the Chinese President since 2018.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says Starmer's a pragmatist - and will be hoping to strengthen the business relationship between both nations.

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The pressure on New Zealand's labour market continues to tighten, with job ads falling for the third consecutive month.

Despite these grim figures, one expert has noticed there's light at the end of the tunnel for the economy

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen explains further.

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