Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

It's been a busy 24 hours of crime in Christchurch, with police chasing down out of control youths.

They've been smashing their way into shops, fleeing police and reportedly driving on a footpath dangerously close to a woman pushing a pram.

It marks the second day in a row Christchurch police have dealt with repeated incidents- on Monday, 10 youths were arrested before dawn.

Police Association President Chris Cahill says these criminals are endangering police and civilians- and many will be repeat offenders.

"A lot of them are repeat offenders- they're literally getting apprehended and there's no secure vent for them. They're getting released again and they're back out on the streets."

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Te Whatu Ora is asking the Employment Relations Authority to help resolve its pay dispute with senior doctors and dentists.

Members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists have scheduled a four-hour strike tomorrow.

Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa says they've asked for help, because they're at an impasse.

"We're yet to hear back, so we're hoping that we are chasing them, because we'd like to get it in front of them as quickly as possible." 

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The alarm is being sounded about a future drop off in Pharmac funding.

A boost for the drug buying agency announced in Budget 2022- ends in 2024.

Medicines NZ Chief Executive Graeme Jarvis wants the major parties to commit to continuing the money.

He says if the gap isn't filled, Treasury is warning there will be years where it won't be possible to keep funding the same medicines.

"So in other words, there's going to have to be either a reduction in the number of medicines funded- or patients won't get access to them if we do not fund this $181 million dollar hole."

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Help and support for exploited migrants will be delivered in a new Government scheme.

The Government has confirmed a package of basic financial support, for accommodation and essential living costs.

It plans to stop 90-day trial periods for employers using the Accredited Employer Work Visa.

Immigration Minister Andrew Little says they're tightening the scheme meant to fill gaps by letting businesses employ offshore.

"The vast majority of employers are doing exactly that, they're doing a good job. There is a small number, a very small minority who seem to have found an opportunity to scam others."

Little says investigations into employers are underway.

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Another snapshot of how political parties are faring in the polls is out at 6pm - in another One News -Verian poll.

Its figures last week had National leaps and bounds ahead of Labour, which have been on stubbornly low 20s for weeks.

Newstalk ZB chief political reporter Aaron Dahmen says even a one percent bump would help Labour.

National has been criticised for not releasing costings for its multi-billion-dollar tax cut package- and Dahmen says that could play into today's rankings.

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Elon Musk has hinted that Twitter, now X, could soon go behind a paywall.

Currently, the platform only charges users for the service X Premium, which offers benefits such as a verification badge.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says Elon believes the fee would keep bots and artificial accounts away, an issue that has plagued the platform. 

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Chris Hipkins revealed an unexpected policy announcement in last night's debate.

During last night's event, Hipkins said he wanted to ban sugary drinks in secondary schools- claiming they already were in primary schools.

Today, he claimed he'd misremembered banning sugary drinks from primary schools, but had consulted on this issue as Education Minister.

Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Boyd Swinburne said Chris Hipkins had the opportunity to introduce tougher measures against sugary drinks in schools. 

"It was a kind of policy that didn't have much impact. But it was put on the table by the Ministry of Education and went out for consultation about what schools should be doing in this respect."

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The Black Caps will decide whether senior pace-bowler Tim Southee will be available for next month’s ODI Cricket World Cup in India.

The veteran seam bowler will have surgery on his broken thumb tomorrow, with a decision on his availability for the World Cup to be made early next week.

Sportstalk host Nick Bewley explained Southee's selection will swing on whether he can tolerate the pain when he returns to training.

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London police have received an accusation of sexual assault dating back 20 years, following media reports about accusations against comedian and actor Russell Brand.

The statement from the Met Police says the assault took place in 2003 in central London's Soho.

Brand's accused of sexual assaults and rape dating from between 2006 and 2013.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says this has led to several stand-up performances being outright cancelled.

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Tonight on The Huddle, Neale Jones from PR firm Capital and Paddy Gower from Paddy Gower Has Issues joined in on a discussion about the following topics- and more!

Labour appears to have quietly scrapped their prison reduction target- is this a big deal? They had achieved a 30 percent drop in the last two terms but it's since climbed again to 20 percent. Does it seem to you also that Hipkins accidentally announced this? 

More young people are behind violent crimes- in the last couple days, we've seen an 18-year-old in court following a deadly car accident and a 16-year-old accused of murder at Albany. What's going on? Is this nation growing more violent? 

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