Midday Edition: 09 July 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 09 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 on Malcolm Jordan, and this is your
midday news fix for Wednesday, the ninth of July. The
death toll from flooding in Texas over the weekend has
risen to one hundred and ten and the number missing
has skyrocketed to one hundred and seventy three. The dead
include twenty eight children, in the US's deadliest freshwater flooding
event in nearly fifty years. Governor Greg Abbott says they

(00:27):
won't stop searching until their work is done.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
The primary job right now continues to be locating everybody
who is affected by this flood.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
We have to find every single person who's missing. Copper
prices have soared to an all time high after the
US president has an ounceday fifty percent import tax. Donald
Trump's also threatening two hundred percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals. He
warned fourteen trade partners yesterday they'd faced tariffs of up
to forty percent from next month if they don't sign

(00:57):
up to deals with the US. Deputy US Trade Representative
Robert Hollyman told CNN Trump hopes that setting deadlines will
get trade agreements in motion. No full flags trade agreement
is likely to be negotiated in the short amount of
time that the.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
US is given, so I think at most what we're
going to see are the frameworks for agreements.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Auckland community leaders say fear and misinformation remain lasting impressions
from the COVID pandemic. The Royal Commission of Inquiries second
phase began this week looking at New Zealand's response, focusing
on the twenty twenty one lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Mangary
Minister Reverend Victor Poesi says differing information even within families,

(01:40):
created paranoia.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
That is spreading quite fast, faster than the COVID itself,
and there's almost like a competition between the right and
wrong information.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
A quarter of farmac's workforce have walked off the job
this morning in the agency's first ever strike. Unionized health economists,
health experts and medical practitioners stopped work for an hour
from ten to thirty. Claudia O'Neill reports the.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Public Service Associations is farmac's proposing reductions in members' terms
and conditions, including removing the step pace system. FARMAC says
it's committed to bargaining a new collective agreement that is
both fair to staff and fiscally sustainable. It's hoping a
constructive resolution will be reached in a mediation next week.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
An organized crime expert doesn't want people to feel like
they're telling on their mates when they report crime in
their communities. The Ministerial Advisory Group has released its third
report calling for a proactive approach to reduce drug demand
with community based treatment. The group believes there should be
a balanced approach between law enforcement and community objectives. Advisory

(02:47):
Group chairs Steve Simon says attitudes need to change to
stamp out crime.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
I'm okay to have that business going on. Run our
families and run our friends. We want to get rid
of it. Then if we take that approach, really it's
not so much a marketing thing. It's more saying you're
not welcome here to sport.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Calls from Basketball New Zealand for a funding model change
after the junior Tall Blacks attendance at the Under nineteen
World Cup, where they came fourth. Each player had to
pay five thousand dollars to attend, with costs reduced by
the governing body from an initial ten thousand. Chelsea striker
Jao Pedro scored both goals in a two zero win

(03:24):
over his former team flew Menense to send the English
club into the final of football's Club World Cup, and
halfback Rionardi has extended his time at the Hurricanes for
next year's Super Rugby season. 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.