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What you need to know
What you need to know headlines with summaries.
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Twelve-month prescription renewals: What you need to know
7 Jun 2025Explainer - The government announced in the Budget a plan to allow 12-month prescription renewals. But how will it work?
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What will the changes to Sport New Zealand actually mean?
6 Jun 2025Explainer - A government-ordered independent review of the sports agency recommended an overhaul of its institutional set-up. What will the overhaul mean for people on the ground?
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Run It: How a knock on the head can kill
1 Jun 2025Explainer - A 19-year-old died playing a version of the controversial violent 'Run It' contest. Just how dangerous is it? Audio
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King's Birthday weekend: What's it all about?
29 May 2025Explainer - King Charles' birthday is commemorated with a public holiday - so how do those royal honours get chosen and should we still celebrate it, anyway?
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Prostate cancer - What you need to know about how it's detected
26 May 2025Explainer - Prostate cancer will affect one in 8 Kiwi men. Former US President Biden's diagnosis reaffirms how important it is to be aware of the disease. Audio
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Emergency mobile alerts - how they work, why you're getting them
24 May 2025Explainer - Every May, NEMA sends out an emergency alert as part of an annual test of the system. Here's what you need to know. Video
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Budget 2025: Why is Budget Day such a big deal?
20 May 2025Explainer - Budget Day is coming on Thursday, but what does it all mean? RNZ is here to tell you what you need to know. Video
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Australia's social media ban will go ahead regardless of election outcome
3 May 2025Explainer - Why is YouTube exempt from the ban, and does this undermine its intended aim?
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New Zealand's shifting seasons, explained
30 Apr 2025Our weather is getting 'increasingly muddled'. What does that mean, and when does winter even start now?
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What to know about getting a flu shot this year
21 Apr 2025Explainer - Flu season is almost here. Here's what you need to know about the different vaccine options.
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What you need to know as Cyclone Tam brings heavy wind and rain
17 Apr 2025As Cyclone Tam continues to pummel the upper North Island tens of thousands of homes and businesses are without power.
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Putting the new Defence Capability Plan in context
Explainer - $12 billion sounds like a lot to spend on the military. But is it, really? Audio
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Deadline for comments on copper access: What you need to know
9 Apr 2025The Commerce Commission is calling for views on its recommendation that would see the copper network switched off sooner
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Aluminium, jeans, and whisky? What tariffs mean for New Zealand
27 Mar 2025Explainer - We've heard a lot about tariffs recently. But how do they work, and where does NZ fit in?
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Gene technology changes: What you need to know
18 Mar 2025Explainer - The current GMO regime is out of date, experts agree. But proposed changes sideline Māori, some say. Audio
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The US TikTok ban and security concerns: What you need to know
8 Feb 2025Explainer - Why is TikTok seen as a bigger security risk than other social media platforms? Audio
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Was the Mangawhai storm a tornado? Here's what science tells us
27 Jan 2025Explainer: The wind speed of the Mangawhai tornado is similar to one that's occurred before - RNZ has been looking at what we know so far.
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January's Auckland rail shutdown: What you need to know
26 Dec 2024The January shutdown was to allow for KiwiRail to complete rail rebuild works that are crucial to the successful opening of City Rail Link in 2026.
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The tikanga dos and don'ts of pounamu
16 Dec 2024Want to gift someone pounamu - or buy it for yourself? Here's what master carvers and other kaitiaki would like you to know.
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What we know about the man accused of shooting a CEO
10 Dec 2024Luigi Mangione, 26, is an Ivy League graduate from a prominent family, who once favourably reviewed the manifesto of the Unabomber.
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Is it 10,000 or 40,000? How to count a big crowd
5 Dec 2024Explainer - Estimates of hīkoi attendees ranged from more than 100,000 to fewer than 30,000. We look at the challenges and controversies of crowd counting.
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Bird flu in NZ: What you need to know
3 Dec 2024Explainer - Can we still eat NZ eggs? And are our native birds safe? As 80,000 birds are to be killed on an Otago farm, here's what we know so far.
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The Covid inquiry: What you need to know as it lands
28 Nov 2024Explainer - The first phase of the Covid inquiry concludes today. We don't know when it will be made public. But here's what we do know.
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What you need to know about the whooping cough epidemic
26 Nov 2024New Zealand has declared a whooping cough epidemic, the fourth since it became a notifiable disease in 1996.
Top News stories
- Watch: Judith Collins and Winston Peters reveal new $2.7b planes and helicopters
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- Port of Auckland works first project to get consent under fast-track regime
- Police probe possible links between multiple shootings in Levin
- Police use of force on detainee in Auckland Custody Unit unjustified, IPCA finds
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