Midday Edition: 31 July 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 31 July 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 Thursday, the thirty first of July. Civil
Defense is looking into a glitch with its mobile emergency
alert system. Nationwide alerts were sent warning of the ongoing
risk of strong sea surges and currents until at least midday,
triggered by yesterday's Magnitude eight point eight quake in Russia,

(00:25):
but many are reporting receiving repeated alerts since early today.
The National Emergency Management Agency's John Price says telecommunications and
software providers are working on fixing things. The message goes
out via the TELCNE providers goes out to their cell
towers and they then hit off any cell phone that
is in that given area. Meanwhile, Emergency Management Minister Mark

(00:47):
Mitchell told Kerry Woodham he's aware that some people received
too many alerts and others got none. The national alert
has not been used for a long time, so what's
up to us now to identify where the issues are,
work with the telcos and make the s some even better.
Newly released documents show a now scrapped police directive led
to a significant drop in retail crime investigations across the

(01:09):
country officers were controversially told not to investigate allegations of
retail crime below certain values. Kate Ricard has more.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
More than five thousand shoplifting complaints under five hundred dollars
were made during the directive and weren't looked into. As
a result, only seventy three of more than nine hundred
complaints were assigned to police in Auckland. Only one hundred
and thirty one of almost seven hundred were assigned in Wellington.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Canada is adding its voice to the chorus of countries
saying it will recognize the state of Palestine. Prime Minister
Mark Carney says that recognition will come at the eightieth
session of the UN in September. A man who threatened
online to hang Jasinder R. Durn says he's horrified to
be in jail. Richard Sivil was convicted last October on

(01:54):
a charge of threatening to kill the former prime minister.
From late twenty twenty one to early twenty twenty two,
Polis say he made repeated death threats in social media
posts during a heightened period of the COVID pandemic. Response.
After being granted bail post arrest, he went on the
run for twenty months. Sybil has finally was finally tracked

(02:15):
down and yesterday sentenced to eleven months in prison with
no special release conditions. A man's being taken into custody
in Auckland's Glen Eden after a standoff with police. Officers
are cordoned off the Selac Place property about seven and
asked the man to come out. He was the subject
of a parole recall warrant and taken into custody without incident.

(02:38):
Excitement over the government's plans to harness New Zealand's geothermal energy.
Shane Jones's draft strategy lays out a goal of doubling
its production by twenty forty. Earth Sciences Isabel Chamberfor says
scientists have been calling for a geothermal strategy for seventy
five years. She says New Zealand has huge geothermal potential.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
From truism to saciitate a new electricity generation exactly are
we already doing?

Speaker 1 (03:04):
And then to explore for innovation in the super critical
realm to sport. Corbyn Strong has claimed the first general
classification victory of his professional cycling career on the Tour
de Waloni in Belgium. Athletes wishing to compete as females
at the World Championships in Tokyo during September, are required

(03:24):
to undergo a once in a lifetime cheek swab or
blood test for the Shrie gene, which they claim is
a reliable proxy to determine biological sex. And Double Olympic
biathlon champion Laura Dalmeyer has died after a mountaineering accident
in Pakistan. The thirty one year old German was caught

(03:46):
in a rock fall. I'm Malcolm Jordan. That's your latest
news fix. We'll be back with the next update at
five pm from the newstalg ZB newsroom