Midday Edition: 05 September 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 05 September 2025, straight from the Newstalk ZB newsroom - bringing you everything you need to know in news, politics, business, entertainment and sport.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good afternoon. I'm Malcolm Jordan and this is your midday
news facts for Friday, the fifth of September. New Zealand
won't yet commit to putting troops on the ground in Ukraine.
Chris Luxen has taken part in a virtual meeting overnight
with other members of the Coalition of the Willing, a
group of Western countries that support Ukraine. Some countries have
formerly committed to deploying troops by land, sea or air

(00:27):
to Ukraine the day after a ceasefire. Dealers agreed, but
Luxon says New Zealand is providing training support and hasn't
yet committed to a deployment.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
New Zealand has made no commitments and won't until we
see a peace plan and we know how we can
best help and support.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Meanwhile, the Defense Minister has criticized two former prime ministers
for attending a Chinese military celebration which hosted North Korea, Iran,
and Russia. While Sir John Key and Helen Clark were
in Beijing, Judith Collins was on a secret trip to Ukraine.
That country's been fighting off a Russian invasion with Chinese
and North Korean support. Collins told are Enz neither she

(01:05):
nor Prime Minister Christopher Luxen would have accepted an invitation.
Next time Helen Clark criticizes me for getting a bit
of extra money for our defense force, I think I'm
going to tell her exactly where she can put her thoughts.
A call for public help to find a young woman
who went missing in Central Auckland more than two weeks ago.
Twenty five year old to Anihana Pomana was last seen

(01:26):
leaving Sky City on Thursday, the week before last, just
after five am, leaving all her belongings in the hotel.
She's of a thin build where around one hundred and
fifty four centimeters tall, with curly black hair and tattoos.
Mother Katherine Anderson has made an emotional appeal to her
daughter and the public. Someone must have seen her, and

(01:47):
our goal is to find her. Tianyana, if you see this,
we all love you and we miss you. Please let
us know that you're okay. Tougher times for Kiwi retailer
KMD brands both here and abroad, the company closing twenty
one of its global network of more than three hundred Katmandu, Rip,
Curl and Obo stores. It's looking to find twenty five

(02:09):
million dollars in savings following a period of low sales.
KMD Brand's chair David Kirk says, when households are struggling,
they pull back on nice to have whilets are a
bit tight and straight to being high for a qual
period that's been difficult for people. Then they don't exercise
their discretion and buy the sorts of products that we sell.
The government's pushing ahead with plans to give Auckland Council

(02:31):
and local boards greater power over transport. It's taking responsibilities
away from Auckland Transport with more business reporter Michael Sergle.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Major transport decisions, including decisions about arterial roads and the
city center will be made by counselors, including the mere
decisions about local roads, including speed limits, closing roads for events,
managing parking and creating cycleways will be made by local boards.
Orkland Transport will become a smaller organization, focusing on its
core role of public transport to sport.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
The New Zealand Women have opened their Oceania Cup hockey
campaign against Australia with a one nil win in Darwin
thanks to an Olivia Shannon strike. The men lost to
two nil to the Kookaburras. Michael Venus and Indian partner
Yuki Barmbury have lost their US Open semifinal in three
sets against Britz Neil Skupsky and Joe Salisbury despite securing

(03:26):
the opening set at the US Tennis Open, and Tottenham
Hotspur football chair Daniel Levy has resigned with immediate effect
after twenty four years in the role. I'm Malcolm Jordan.
That's your latest news fix. We'll be back with the
next update at five pm from the news Talk ZB
news room.