Midday Edition: 16 May 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 16 May 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 fix for Friday, the sixteenth of May. A former
Ordraanga Tamariki employee has been sentenced to three years in
prison for fraudulently obtaining two million dollars from the agency.
Its former property and facilities manager, Nehashama and her husband,
Arman Deep Shama pleaded guilty to charges of obtaining by

(00:26):
deception following a serious Fraud Office investigation. Jordan Dunn has more.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Missus Sharma used a forged document to gain employment at
rang At Samariki, where she ensured work was assigned to
her husband's company, Divine Connection. The pier has also pleaded
guilty to money laundering after transferring about eight hundred thousand
dollars to an overseas account before leaving the country. Mister
Sharma is due to be sentenced next month.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
The government's committing to more than half a billion dollars
to support film and television in the upcoming budget. Budget
twenty twenty five comes with a five hundred and seventy
seven million dollar fund to grow the industry over the
next four years in a bid to compete with the
global powerhouses of the United States, UK and Canada. Finance

(01:11):
Minister Nikola Willis says the rebate scheme's been working.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
With the message that the New Zealand government wants to
send is that this New Zealand is the best place
in the world to make movies and we want more
people making film productions here.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
The government's not yet committing to signing up to an
International Pandemic Treaty. Foreign Minister Winston Peters says the government
will subject the treaty to a full national interest test,
saying decisions about how New Zealand responds to a health
emergency are made in Wellington, not Geneva. A finalized draft
degreement requires countries to increase collaboration in a response to

(01:50):
a global health emergency, making sure medicines are available to
poorer countries. Peters expects it to take a number of
years before a decisions made on whether news Land signs up. Meanwhile,
natural disasters are costing the country five point five billion
dollars a year. IAG research reveals the government spent sixty

(02:11):
four billion dollars responding to natural hazards in since twenty ten.
The Canterbury Kaikota earthquakes and North Island weather events in
twenty twenty three dominate spending. Climate spokesperson Bryce Davies says
the total amount is expected to be much higher. We
don't include many of the long term social costs that

(02:31):
we know come from natural disasters, and we certainly haven't
included any of the border economic costs. A toxicologist who
found the deadly chemicals and what's become the most infamous
beef Wellington in Australia is taking the stand today. It's
the third week of Aaron Patterson's mushroom trial. She's pleaded

(02:51):
not guilty to three counts of murder and one of
attempted murder. Thousands of New Zealanders are wearing pink today
as they take a stand again means to bullying. The
Mental Health Foundation says thirteen percent of KIWI students are
frequently bullied, with seventy percent experiencing the behavior online in
the past year. To sport, Cristiano Ronaldo has topped Forbes

(03:14):
list of the world's highest paid athletes for a third
consecutive year and the fifth time in his career, with
earnings of four hundred and sixty eight million dollars. Tottenham
football captain Son Jung min has filed a criminal complaint
with the South Korean police as the victim of an
alleged blackmail plot after a woman threatened him with a

(03:35):
false pregnancy claim, and a peloton pile up has seen
Dion Smith exit cycling Zerodetalia on the sixth stage with
his bike shorts torn to shreds. 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 newsroom.