News from New Zealand

ODT

• Pride of place. 19 Jan 2026  

  PHOTOS: GERARD O’BRIEN & SUPPLIED A mural of a lion now graces the side of a Dunedin building.

• Mainlander service returns to Dunedin. 19 Jan 2026  

  The Mainlander. PHOTO: SUPPLIED It will be a full Mainlander passenger train that arrives for the first time at the Dunedin Railway Station this afternoon.

• Price of meth drops over 50% since 2017. 19 Jan 2026  

  PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES A 50% drop in the price of methamphetamine has fuelled a "sharp rise" in its use across Otago and Southland over the past year, prompting fears of a related increase in serious crime and social harms.

• Shed fire quickly extinguished. 19 Jan 2026  

  PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH Firefighters remove corrugated sheets after a shed fire in the Brighton Domain yesterday.

• Professor urges care on funding Wegovy. 19 Jan 2026  

  Jim Mann. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A leading health academic says Pharmac should not consider wide-scale funding of so-called "miracle" weight-loss drugs until the country has a solid approach to treating obesity.

• War plane retires to life in Waikouaiti. 19 Jan 2026  

  Angus Murray, 13, of Waikouaiti, stands beside a Royal New Zealand Air Force Douglas DC-3 cockpit in his family’s backyard. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH Sitting in the yard of a small settlement north of Dunedin is a piece of World War 2 aviation history.