A Māori historian is searching for the stories and photos of war veterans from the 28th Māori Battalion's D Company.

Dec 27, 2017  - A young woman with plans to study engineering, specialising in mechatronics, has been awarded Rocket Lab’s inaugral scholarship.  Wairoa College year 13 student Arianna Ormond is rapt to have been granted the $20,000 scholarship. Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck said Arianna’s love for engineering throughout a rigorous application process gave her the edge to be awarded the scholarship to study a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Canterbury. She plans to specialise in mechatronics, an interdisciplinary engineering field that includes aspects of mechanical, computer and electrical engineering. The Rocket Lab Scholarship was…

Top story: Trump gushes for ‘King of China’ Xi Jinping Hello – it’s Warren Murray separating the wheat from the chaff for you today. Donald Trump has heaped fawning praise on Xi Jinping, sending congratulations for his “extraordinary elevation” after the Chinese president was given exalted status by the Communist party this week. Trump will arrive in Beijing on 8 November for a three-day visit and it is pretty obvious he is seeking to curry favour with Xi – most of all, the US president needs his help in dealing with North Korea. Trump continued his charm offensive in an…

The troubled triumph of 1993’s Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits by Jonny Potts | Guest writer for TheSpinOff October 3, 2017 Tom Petty died today, aged 66. Jonny Potts remembers his 1993 Greatest Hits album, one of the best single-disc greatest hits compilations ever released. I still have my copy of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits on CD. It was one of the first CDs I bought after acquiring a shitty boombox from an older kid at school. Up till then, it had all been tapes: The Rhythm Volume 3, Joyride, Use Your Illusion II, The…