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4 Sep 2025

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More than half of NZ SMEs have experienced cyber threats, says NCSC
NZ businesses are not doing enough to protect themselves from cybercrime even though 28% have taken new cybersecurity actions in the past six months.

Eight-Year Dig Unearths 'Most Monumental' Roman Bathhouse

'Ketamine Queen' pleads guilty in Matthew Perry overdose case
Jasveen Sangha, 42, pleads guilty to five charges relating to the actor's death in Los Angeles.

Four phones, three weeks: Would a social media ban for teens work?
A proposed ban has the support of some teenagers. Others say it's a feel-good quick-fix for the adults.

FIFA dishes out 6-figure fines after fan racism at World Cup qualifiers
The six nations charged with “discrimination and racist abuse” were Albania, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Nurses, midwives and health care assistants strike for second day in a row
More than 36,000 workers are walking off the job again today, demanding better pay and increased staffing.

Will Razor spring a selection surprise for Springboks?
All you need to know ahead of the All Blacks team naming for the Springboks clash at Eden Park.

All Whites star eyes World Cup after fixing knees and making football fun again
Ryan Thomas is back in the All Whites for the first time in almost six years as they face Australia home and away.

Tamaki Makaurau by-election: Dynasty v underdog
One is an experienced former minister who carries the mana of a political family dynasty. The other is a former newsreader who carries the underdog status.

The regions where patients are dying and going blind waiting for help
What’s keeping bosses at your local hospital up at night? Documents reveal major risks and cases of distressing harm.

Developer deemed a 'squatter' at $8.9 million mansion
Aaron Ghee and family told to leave property immediately

Windows 11 gets automatic light/dark modes in next PowerToys update
If you haven’t tried PowerToys—Microsoft’s official add-on pack that gives Windows dozens of extra features—you really should. I’m a huge fan of the FancyZones tool that lets you customize Windows’ snap functionality. But a big update is coming to the fan-favorite program: an option to automatically shift between light and dark modes in Windows 11. That’ll arrive in PowerToys version 0.95, according to Niels Laute, Windows Platform Senior Product Manager. He said the feature will arrive next month (October 2025), along with a revamped user interface for the Keyboard Manager tool. The option to automatically shift between light and dark modes according to a user’s set schedule is something that’s oddly missing, considering how deeply integrated the light and dark modes are in Windows and most major software programs at this point. The developer update was spotted by The Verge. In the meantime, version 0.94 adds several smaller tweaks to PowerToys, most notably a search bar that lets you find specific tools and settings in PowerToys itself. Since the PowerToys application now includes more than two dozen separate tools/sections and hundreds of individual settings, it’s a welcome addition. Other changes include a shortcut conflict manager and new options for the Mouse Pointer Crosshairs tool. You can download the latest version of PowerToys from GitHub.

Deadly South African building fire blamed on lack of affordable housing

‘Look at my son, he’s dying!’: Father of hostage Rom Braslavski begs MKs to act

Russia slams German chancellor for calling Putin a 'war criminal'

Sudan landslide: A collapsing mountain and bodies still buried under rubble

M&S hackers claim to be behind Jaguar Land Rover cyber attack
The hack has caused severe disruption at manufacturing plants globally, with some staff told not to come into work.

Driving change for better road safety
The road to getting a driver licence is set to become easier and more efficient, but experts question whether safety is enough of a consideration

Cybersecurity survey reveals most small-to-medium businesses targeted in past six months
One expert believes businesses don't understand how to protect themselves.

Check Point launches Enterprise Browser for safer unmanaged access
Check Point unveils Enterprise Browser for Harmony SASE, enhancing Zero Trust security on unmanaged devices used by contractors and BYOD users worldwide.

FICO named top category leader for enterprise fraud solutions
FICO has been named a category leader by Chartis Research for the fifth consecutive time in enterprise, payment fraud solutions and fraud platforms in 2025.

World’s best or fifth-worst? How New Zealand ranks in work-life balance
New Zealand has ranked both the best and the fifth-worst country in the world for work-life balance in recent months. Stuff looked at what is true.

Promoter behind failed Juicy Fest now bringing Snoop Dogg to NZ
Pato Alvarez was a key figure behind the failed Juicy Fest and Timeless Summer Tour and is now involved in a Snoop Dogg show.

Earth’s core has ‘reversed’ its rotation. What does that mean for us?
As early as 2024, scientists from the US and China discovered that the Earth’s core had slowed down and even stopped moving in relation to the Earth’s crust. But until now, the general public—that’s people like you and me—has barely noticed this remarkable change. The Earth’s core is comprised of metals and, as the name suggests, makes up the interior of the Earth. It consists of a liquid outer core (made of iron and nickel and other elements, which play a role in the Earth’s magnetic field) and a solid inner core (also made of iron and nickel, at a temperature up to 5,700 degrees Celsius). The Earth’s outer core begins around 1,800 miles below the Earth’s surface and the inner core begins around 3,200 miles below. Rotation changes in the Earth’s core For a long time, scientists assumed that the Earth’s inner core had a stable, even, and constant rotation below the Earth’s crust. However, with the help of seismic analyses (i.e., studies of earthquakes), researchers have discovered that this rotation is by no means constant but fluctuates. These fluctuations can be so massive that the Earth’s core can move as fast as the Earth’s crust and then appear to stand still. However, this doesn’t mean that the Earth’s core rotates in the opposite direction. Instead, it only appears that way because it rotates more slowly in relation to the Earth’s crust—sometimes even significantly more slowly. Nor does the Earth’s core ever remain stationary, but simply stops changing in relation to the Earth’s crust. This current slowdown in the rotation of the Earth’s core began as early as 2009. At that time, the Earth’s core and crust moved more or less in unison, but since then, the movement of the Earth’s core has become even slower. It seems that the Earth’s core changes its rotational direction relative to the Earth’s crust every 35 years. Therefore, the fluctuations that comprise an entire cycle last 70 years. What effects does this have on Earth? Technically, days can become longer or shorter due to the changes in rotational speed of the Earth’s core. However, the changes are tiny—in the range of milliseconds. We humans might not notice this, but it can have an effect on astronomical measurements and satellites. Changes to the Earth’s magnetic field and the climate are also possible.