Midday Report

Tim Southee is determined to remain Black Caps captain and coach Gary Stead is confident he'll bounce back from a form slump this summer. The 35 year old Southee took just six wickets all up in the four recent tests against Australia and South Africa.

Midday Business News for 12 March 2024 Air New Zealand is suspending its flights to Chicago because of maintenance issues with the engines on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The ANZ Truckometer shows the light traffic index rose 1.9 percent in February over January, while the heavy traffic index rose 2.4 percent. A new digital based finance firm is offering small businesses the chance to use their provisional tax payments as security for cheap finance.

The family of a New Zealand ski guide killed in an avalanche in Japan says she was full of vitality and life and had a passion for the outdoors.

Twenty-one-year old Isabella Bolton from Christchurch died when the avalanche hit a group of six people on the Mount Yotei skifield on the island of Hokkaido on Monday.

A New Zealand man in his 30s was also killed.

Ben Strang spoke to RNZ's Tokyo correspondent Chris Gilbert.

The New Zealand Airline Pilots Association has reached out to the crew of a LATAM Airways flight to offer support after yesterday's onboard emergency.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner suddenly lost altitude on a flight from Sydney to Auckland - sending dozens of passengers flying into the air.

Up to 50 people needed medical treatment.

Ben Strang spoke to Airline Pilots Association President Andrew McKeen.

A plagiarism controversy has broken out and is casting a shadow over the 96th Academy Awards as the ceremony gets underway in Los Angeles.

It's alleged the story of the film The Holdovers is remarkably similar to a script written by screenwriter Simon Stephenson called Frisco, which was never made into a movie.

RNZ lifestyle and entertainment journalist Jogai Bhatt joins Ben Strang to discuss it.

Firefighters remain at the scene of two fires which broke out in Otago.

No homes have been lost, but Fire and Emergency says a small number of farm buildings have been destroyed or damaged at Nenthorn, near Middlemarch, while the other fire at Earthquakes, near Duntroon, has burned through 30 hectares of conservation land.

FENZ Otago Commander Phil Marsh spoke to Ben Strang.

News from the rural farming sector.

Play has finally got underway on day four of the second and final cricket test between New Zealand and Australia in Christchurch.

Midday Business News for 11 March 2024.

Wellington Water has begun working with national industry body Master Plumbers as it contends with a backlog of leaky pipes and what is says is constrained council funding.

The agency was given an extra $1 million in funding in December, with the promise of a further $1 million in March if it met its targets but the cost of repairing leaks has ballooned.

Ben Strang spoke to Wellingon Water's acting chief executive of Kevin Locke.