Midday Report

Firefighters have gone on a one-hour strike again today -- in an ongoing dispute over working conditions including hours, staffing levels, and equipment.

A short time ago, the professional firefighters union's secretary Wattie Watson told RNZ Fire and Emergency was refusing to engage in mediation. 

Fire and Emergency's national commander Russell Wood spoke to Charlotte Cook.

Worksafe says it's investigating after a gas explosion at a busy Auckland building site early this morning left five people in hospital.

The incident was reported around 0630 on Halsey Street in the Wynyard quarter.

RNZ reporter Felix Walton spoke to Charlotte Cook from a nearby vantage spot.

Businesses near Mt Ruapehu are having to adapt to a warming climate, after one of the warmest, wettest winters on record for the region left the mountain's two skifields almost bare of snow.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts has laid off a third of its staff, and the Tūroa ski area is now closed until it receives a significant snow dump.

National Park Village Business Association president Andrea Messenger spoke to Māni Dunlop.

New Zealanders lost almost four million dollars to cyber scammers between April and June this year.

The government agency that supports those affected by cyber security incidents, New Zealand's Computer Emergency Response Team, received about 2000 incident reports in the second quarter.

New Zealand's Computer Emergency Response Team Director Rob Pope spoke to Māni Dunlop.

News from the rural farming sector

Midday sports News for 25 August 2022 The All Blacks coach Ian Foster has made just one injury enforced change to the team for this weekend's test against Argentina, with Beauden Barrett ruled out and replaced by the uncapped Stephen Perofeta.

News from the business sector

The emergency management minister Kieran McAnulty is back in Marlborough today, and will soon head off in a convoy along broken roads to visit communities cut off by last week's horrendous rainfall.

He's set to visit sites along Queen Charlotte Drive before visiting Rai Valley.

Marlborough district council mayor John Leggett spoke to Māni Dunlop.

Tributes have been pouring in for the off-duty New Zealand soldier killed in eastern Ukraine while fighting on the frontline.

Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University Wellington, Dr Marnie Lloydd researches foreign fighters and international law and spoke to Māni Dunlop.

Midday News for 25 August 2022