Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Amnesty International

5 August 2026

Responding to the arrest of a Han Chinese man in Lhasa, Tibet – the human rights activist Zhang Yi – Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:

“The arrest of Zhang Yi after he showed a photograph of the Dalai Lama while visiting a monastery is a chilling reminder of how far the Chinese authorities will go to police the peaceful exercise of human rights.

“This case bears all the hallmarks of the Chinese authorities' long-standing misuse of the offence of ‘inciting separatism’ to criminalize peaceful expression in Tibetan areas and in relation to Tibetan history, culture and religious belief.

“Displaying a photograph of a religious leader should never be treated as a threat to national security. The Chinese authorities must immediately release Zhang Yi as he has been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights.

“Pending his release, they must ensure that he has prompt access to his family and a lawyer of his own choosing. Authorities must protect him from torture and other ill-treatment while in detention.”

Background

According to an arrest notice received by his family on 5 August and seen by Amnesty International, Zhang Yi was formally arrested on 28 July 2026 on suspicion of “inciting separatism” (煽动分裂国家罪). His family was informed of the arrest by telephone on 30 July.

Zhang Yi was detained by police in Lhasa on 1 July 2026 while visiting Sera Monastery in Tibet with his younger brother. After he was unable to communicate verbally with a Tibetan worshipper from whom he wished to borrow a prayer mat, Zhang Yi showed the person a photograph of the Dalai Lama on his mobile phone. According to his family abroad, two plainclothes men observed the interaction and appeared to record Zhang Yi and his brother as they left the prayer area. Police detained Zhang Yi before he had left the monastery.

Zhang’s family received a Criminal Detention Notice issued by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau on 18 July, stating that he had been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of “inciting separatism” and was being held at Lhasa Detention Centre. The authorities have not publicly disclosed the factual basis for the accusation.

Zhang Yi was detained on the same day that China's Ethnic Unity Law entered into force on 1 July 2026. The law contains broad and vaguely worded provisions requiring the promotion of “ethnic unity” and a shared national identity, creating additional legal grounds for restricting the peaceful exercise of human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, religion or belief, and cultural rights.

Amnesty International has repeatedly documented the Chinese authorities' misuse of the offence of “inciting separatism” to prosecute Tibetans for the peaceful exercise of their human rights, including advocating for Tibetan language education and expressing views on religious freedom and the Dalai Lama.

Zhang Yi is a prominent Chinese pro-democracy activist and human rights defender from Wuhan, Hubei province. He first became politically active as a student leader at Wuhan University during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.

Source: Médecins Sans Frontières

MSF Statement on the occasion of the high-level visit to DRC of Dr Tedros Abhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Geneva – 6 August 2026

“Two and a half months after the Ebola disease outbreak was declared, the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is more critical than ever. The outbreak is spreading at an alarming and unprecedented rate despite the tireless efforts of frontline medical teams.

According to the WHO, 3,605 confirmed cases had been reported by August 1st, making this the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the DRC, surpassing the 2018 epidemic. In just 11 weeks since it was declared, nearly 1,500 people had died. That is a far higher death toll than in comparable periods of previous outbreaks: the devastating 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa caused 279 deaths over the same timeframe.

Even more concerning, the outbreak shows no sign of slowing down. New suspected cases are being reported almost daily in new locations, outside already identified transmission chains.

To prevent further loss of life, the response must outpace the current rate of transmission. The international medical response must scale-up without delay, and many critical gaps still need to be addressed.

Undeniable progress has been made in screening and contact tracing, but these efforts remain very insufficient to contain the epidemic. In the MSF Ebola treatment centre (ETC) in Bunia, 90% of admitted patients were not traced contacts, while in the whole of Ituri province only 59% of contacts were traced.

There is an urgent need for improved community engagement. A successful response can only be achieved if it is built with and led by local actors. Without communities at the centre of the response, surveillance and contact tracing will continue to miss cases. Better integration of local communities is essential to ensure cases are detected as early as possible and followed up rigorously.

This outbreak is aggravating an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Malaria, measles, cholera, malnutrition, and other preventable and treatable conditions continue to cause significant illness and death. Continued support for health facilities is also critical so they can keep providing vital healthcare services throughout the response and protect health workers.

Access remains a critical issue, particularly in remote areas where the onset of the rainy season will make movement difficult and risk disrupting operations. Providing medical supplies, as well as incentives and support for frontline health workers, is essential.

Clear assurances are needed that border restrictions, sanitary measures, or administrative burdens will not impede humanitarian staff rotations, medical referrals, or the delivery of supplies.

For now, the situation remains uncertain. Strengthening epidemiological surveillance, improving community engagement, and guaranteeing access for humanitarian personnel are top priorities. The response is expanding but is still not reaching communities quickly enough to break transmission chains.

Immediate action is needed. Every day lost allows the virus to stay one step ahead and more lives to be needlessly lost.”

Dr Philippa Boule, Deputy Medical Director, MSF.

Notes:

More than 1,400 MSF staff members are currently mobilized in the Ebola virus disease outbreak response in eastern DRC. MSF operates seven Ebola treatment centres (ETCs) and more than 15 isolation units in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tshopo, with a total capacity of more than 480 beds. Since the start of the outbreak, our teams have admitted more than 1,362 patients, including 554 confirmed cases, and supported the recovery of 282 survivors following their treatment and care.

MSF supports the Ministry of Health in surveillance and screening activities, community mobilization, training, and efforts to ensure safe access to other essential health services. We also continue to provide primary and secondary health care in several provinces of the country.

MSF is an international, medical, humanitarian organisation that delivers medical care to people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, or political affiliation. MSF Australia was established in 1995 and is one of 24 international MSF sections committed to delivering medical humanitarian assistance to people in crisis.

Every year more than 120 Australians and New Zealanders go on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières working as: doctors, midwives, psychologists, laboratory technicians, human resource/finance coordinators, pharmacists, mental health specialists and logisticians.

MSF delivers medical care based on need alone and operates independently of government, religion or economic influence and irrespective of race, religion or gender.

Médecins Sans Frontières Australia

Source: KOF Swiss Economic Institute

Zurich, 08/05/2026, 9 AM

The KOF Business Situation Indicator for the Swiss private sector, which is calculated from the KOF Business Tendency Surveys, rose in July. It had previously fallen for two consecutive months. Business activity is now more buoyant than it was at the start of 2026. Companies' business forecasts for the next six months are also brightening significantly. Overall, the survey results suggest that the Swiss economy is gaining momentum.

Business is improving in almost all of the sectors surveyed, reflecting a fairly broad-based recovery across the Swiss economy. This improvement is particularly pronounced in the wholesale trade, manufacturing, and financial and insurance services. It is less evident in construction, project engineering, other services and the retail trade. The hospitality sector stands out as an exception: the business situation here is worsening noticeably in both the food-service and accommodation sectors. The deterioration in business is particularly marked among accommodation providers in the major towns and cities.

More upbeat business forecasts point to an economic upturn

The business outlook is consistently positive across all of the sectors mentioned, with expectations for the next six months more optimistic than before. Business confidence for the next six months is rising again in the hospitality sector too, even though restaurants no longer expect to see a turnaround for the better in the current quarter. Overall, the results point to a broad-based recovery in the Swiss economy.

Price inflation not rising any further

On balance, firms are planning to raise their prices almost as frequently as in the previous month. This means that price inflation is currently slightly lower than it was in May and June of this year. This July, companies in the manufacturing sector intended to raise their prices more often than before. By contrast, plans to raise prices in the construction sector are now less pronounced and, in the retail trade and other services, slightly less pronounced than they were previously.

When asked for their assessment of general consumer price inflation over the next twelve months, firms show no overall change compared with the April survey: they continue to expect consumer price inflation of 1.2 per cent on average over this period.

The results of the KOF Business Tendency Surveys for July 2026 are based on responses from around 4,500 firms in the manufacturing, construction and key service sectors. This equates to a response rate of around 57 per cent.

Source: BestBrokers.com

Paul Hoffman
August 4, 2026

The world’s billionaires continue to accumulate wealth on an extraordinary scale, with many of the world’s richest individuals seeing their fortunes grow by hundreds of billions of dollars in a single year. Others were not so lucky, shedding significant chunks of their net worth over the past twelve months. While the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and technology has created striking gains for some of the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs, billionaire wealth creation extends far beyond tech, spanning industries from finance and manufacturing to retail, energy, and real estate.

This is what inspired the team at BestBrokers to analyse the Forbes Real-Time Billionaire List as of 27 July 2026. To establish an accurate year-on-year comparison, we used the Wayback Machine to retrieve an archived version of the Forbes list dated 27 July 2025 and recorded each billionaire’s real-time net worth. We tracked how each individual’s fortune changed over the year to identify the biggest increases and declines in wealth, while also examining how billionaire wealth is currently distributed across countries and industries.

Where the World’s Billionaires Live

There are currently 3,356 billionaires in the world, with a disproportionate share concentrated in just a handful of countries. The world’s most populous nations are, perhaps unsurprisingly, also home to some of the largest billionaire populations. The United States leads by a considerable margin, with 990 billionaires, accounting for 29.5% of the global total. The country is also home to nine of the world’s ten richest people, including Elon Musk, Larry Page and Michael Dell. Collectively, U.S. billionaires are worth a staggering $8.43 trillion. Canada ranks second in North America with 78 billionaires worth $449.5 billion, with cryptocurrency entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao standing out as the country’s richest billionaire with a net worth of $107.6 billion. Mexico is home to 24 billionaires with a combined fortune of $258.6 billion, led by business oligarch and investor Carlos Slim Helú, whose $125.4 billion fortune makes him the richest person in Latin America.

China is Asia’s largest billionaire hub and the country with the second-most billionaires globally, with 511 billionaires collectively worth an estimated $2.06 trillion. Much like the U.S., China’s wealthiest billionaires are heavily concentrated in the technology sector, led by ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, the country’s richest person with a net worth of $69.3 billion. Hong Kong is home to a further 69 billionaires, whose combined wealth stands at $410.4 billion. India’s billionaire wealth is spread across a much wider range of industries, from conglomerates and infrastructure to pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, retail and telecoms, with Mukesh Ambani ($86.8 billion) and Gautam Adani ($85.2 billion) leading the country’s wealth rankings. Other major billionaire hubs in Asia include Taiwan, which is home to 63 billionaires worth $272.2 billion, led by art collector and businessman Pierre Chen ($17.6 billion), and Singapore, with 57 billionaires worth a combined $155.4 billion, led by businessman Jason Chang with a net worth of $20.3 billion.

Germany has Europe’s largest billionaire population, with 205 billionaires whose combined fortunes total $944.8 billion. The country’s richest is Lidl chairman Dieter Schwarz, worth $59.1 billion. Italy is next with 80 billionaires worth $465.0 billion, with cryptocurrency entrepreneur Giancarlo Devasin in the lead, whose $89.3 billion fortune makes him Italy’s richest person. The UK has 60 billionaires worth a combined $278.6 billion, led by hedge fund manager Michael Platt with $20.9 billion. France, despite having fewer billionaires than the UK with 53, has more than twice its combined billionaire wealth at $574.6 billion. The difference is largely driven by the country’s concentration of major fashion and luxury fortunes, with just four billionaires: Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (L’Oréal), Alain and Gérard Wertheimer (Chanel) holding a combined net worth of $311.7 billion, or 54.2% of France’s total billionaire wealth.

South America’s billionaire population is overwhelmingly concentrated in Brazil, which is home to 73 billionaires worth a combined $269.3 billion. The country’s richest is Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, worth $33.1 billion, followed by banking heiress Vicky Safra at $25.3 billion and investment veteran Jorge Paulo Lemann at $19.8 billion. Colombia has six billionaires worth $63.8 billion, led by banking and infrastructure tycoon Jaime Gilinski Bacal with $16.9 billion, while Argentina’s five billionaires are worth $20.7 billion, led by Mercado Libre founder Marcos Galperin with $7.4 billion.

Australia is home to 57 billionaires worth a combined $242.8 billion, led by mining magnate Gina Rinehart with a fortune of $25 billion, followed by property developer Harry Triguboff and mining billionaire Andrew Forrest. Africa is home to 29 billionaires across eight countries, with a combined fortune of $143.2 billion. Nigeria leads the continent with four billionaires worth $53 billion, and it is also home to Africa’s richest person, businessman Aliko Dangote, whose $31.2 billion fortune accounts for more than half of the country’s billionaire wealth. South Africa follows with seven billionaires worth $42.7 billion, led by luxury goods magnate Johann Rupert at $17.6 billion. Egypt has six billionaires worth $23.9 billion, while Morocco has three worth $4.7 billion.

Billionaires Who Gained the Most Wealth in One Year

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, also recorded the largest increase in net worth between 2025 and 2026. After briefly becoming the world’s first trillionaire following the initial public offering of SpaceX, his net worth stood at $725.1 billion on 27 July 2026, up from $405.6 billion a year earlier. This means that his net worth increased by $319.5 billion over the past year, equivalent to roughly $875 million in additional wealth every day since last year.

Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell recorded the second-largest increase, adding $107.6 billion to his fortune over the same period. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ranked third and fourth, increasing their net worths by $104.3 billion and $91.2 billion, respectively. The scale of these gains highlights just how strongly the world’s largest technology companies have contributed to billionaire wealth creation over the past year, with soaring valuations and investor enthusiasm translating into enormous increases in the fortunes of their founders and major shareholders.

Crypto also produced some of the year’s biggest individual wealth gains. Italian businessman Giancarlo Devasini, whose fortune is closely tied to stablecoin giant Tether, saw his net worth rise from $22.4 billion in 2025 to $89.3 billion in 2026, an increase of $66.9 billion. Other major cryptocurrency billionaires also recorded substantial gains, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Tether executives Jean-Louis van der Velde and Paolo Ardoino, who added $36.4 billion and $29 billion to their net worths over the course of a year, respectively.

DeepSeek Founder Is the Person With the Fastest Growing Fortune

It is one thing to have billions of dollars at your disposal and steadily grow that fortune through smart investments, business expansion and rising asset values. It is another thing entirely to build a multibillion-dollar fortune in the space of just one year. Yet some of the world’s billionaires have seen their net worth increase at extraordinary rates between 2025 and 2026, with the fastest-growing fortunes expanding ten-fold or even more.

Artificial intelligence is at the centre of some of the most dramatic increases. As investment and demand continue to pour into AI models, infrastructure, and applications, the founders and early backers of some of the sector’s most closely watched companies have seen their fortunes surge. Chinese AI entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng is perhaps the clearest example. The founder of DeepSeek, the high-performance AI chatbot that reached impressive compute power at a fraction of the price of leading U.S. large-language models last year, saw his estimated net worth skyrocket from just $1 billion in 2025 to $39.5 billion in 2026 – representing an extraordinary 3,850% increase in a single year, placing him in the top 50 richest people in the world.

The founders of Claude maker Anthropic have experienced a similarly dramatic revaluation. Tom Brown, Jack Clark, Sam McCandlish, Jared Kaplan, Daniela Amodei, Dario Amodei, and Christopher Olah all saw their estimated fortunes rise from $1.2 billion to $15.5 billion, an increase of 1,191.67%. The surge reflects the extraordinary rise in the valuation of the AI company, as investors have poured billions of dollars into the race to develop increasingly capable foundation models and AI applications.

Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of robotics company Figure AI, saw his fortune climb from $1.5 billion to $19.1 billion, an increase of more than 1,170%. Figure AI’s focus on humanoid robots places Adcock at the intersection of two of the fastest-growing areas of technology, as investors increasingly bet on the convergence of artificial intelligence and physical automation.

The gains are also spreading further down the AI supply chain. Chinese telecom and optical component manufacturers have become increasingly important to the infrastructure supporting the AI boom, helping provide the high-speed networking and connectivity required by increasingly powerful data centres. Wang Weixiu, whose fortune is tied to Zhongji Innolight, saw his net worth increase from $4.5 billion to $26.4 billion, a 486.67% increase. Meanwhile, Zou Zhinong of ZTE had his fortune rise from $2.9 billion to $12.5 billion, a 331.03% increase.

But the fastest-growing billionaire fortunes were not exclusively linked to artificial intelligence or technology. Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Greek yoghurt brand Chobani, reached $12.5 billion in estimated net worth (up 443.48% from 2.3 billion in 2025), while metal-processing entrepreneur Yuan Fugen saw his fortune rise from $3.4 billion to $17.4 billion, up 411.76% in one year. Patrizio Vinciarelli, whose wealth comes from power electronics manufacturer Vicor, more than tripled his fortune, from $1 billion to $4.5 billion (up 350%).

Larry Ellison’s Wealth Was Cut Nearly in Half in a Single Year

On the other end of the scale, Larry Ellison, CEO of U.S. cloud company and tech conglomerate Oracle, recorded the largest one-year decline. His net worth fell from $290.60 billion to $151.90 billion, a drop of $138.7 billion, equivalent to roughly $380 million wiped from his fortune every day over the past year. The decline reflects growing scepticism on Wall Street over Oracle’s aggressive AI spending plans and mounting debt load, with investors increasingly questioning whether the company’s cloud infrastructure growth can justify the scale of its investment.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg recorded the second-largest decline, with his net worth falling from $245.9 billion to $204.3 billion, a $41.6 billion drop equivalent to roughly $114 million a day. The decline came as investors grew increasingly concerned about Meta’s enormous AI spending, with the company expected to spend as much as $145 billion on capital expenditure in 2026.

Elsewhere, India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani lost $18.5 billion as shares in Reliance Industries weakened, with the conglomerate facing weaker-than-expected earnings, slower growth in its retail business and pressure on its refining operations. Colin Huang’s $12.6 billion decline reflects continuing pressure on PDD Holdings, the parent company of Temu, as the business faced intensifying competition in China and increasing regulatory and trade-policy challenges in international markets. Indonesian tycoon Prajogo Pangestu also saw his fortune fall by $17 billion amid weakness in the shares of companies including Barito Renewables and other businesses in his energy empire; Indonesian stocks linked to Pangestu came under additional pressure after Morgan Stanley Capital International and FTSE Russell both raised concerns around transparency and concentrated ownership.

The Industries Mining Billionaires

Tech is by far the biggest driver of billionaire wealth in 2026, with 511 of the world’s 3,356 billionaires, around 15% of the global total, deriving their fortunes from the sector. Finance & Investments follows with 449 billionaires, while Manufacturing accounts for a further 408. Diversified and conglomerate businesses rank fourth with 267 billionaires, followed by Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare with 256 and Food & Beverages with 241.

The concentration of billionaires in technology is reflected even more strongly in the amount of wealth held by the sector’s billionaires. Collectively, tech billionaires are worth $5.30 trillion in 2026, more than double the combined wealth of Finance & Investments tycoons who collectively own $2.39 trillion. Technology is also home to eight of the world’s ten richest people, including Elon Musk, Larry Page and Jeff Bezos, highlighting the extraordinary fortunes that can be generated by the world’s largest technology companies.

Finance & Investments remains one of the most established routes to billionaire status, with 449 billionaires collectively worth $2.39 trillion. Manufacturing also has a substantial billionaire population, with 408 billionaires and a combined fortune of $1.37 trillion. Meanwhile, diversified businesses and conglomerates account for 267 billionaires worth $1.69 trillion, reflecting the fortunes built across multiple industries and asset classes rather than around a single business sector.

Beyond these leading categories, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Food & Beverages, Real Estate & Infrastructure, and Retail each account for more than 170 billionaires. Together, these sectors demonstrate that billionaire wealth remains highly diverse, spanning everything from healthcare and consumer goods to property and retail, even as technology continues to dominate at the very top of the wealth rankings.

The distribution of billionaire wealth has also shifted significantly over the past year. Technology recorded by far the largest increase, with the combined fortunes of its billionaires rising from $4.28 trillion in 2025 to $5.30 trillion in 2026, an increase of more than $1 trillion in just one year. Finance & Investments followed, with combined billionaire wealth increasing by $263.5 billion, while Manufacturing recorded a $328.3 billion increase, taking the sector’s total from $1.04 trillion to $1.37 trillion.

Several other industries also recorded substantial gains. Cryptocurrency & Blockchain saw one of the fastest expansions in percentage terms, with combined billionaire wealth rising from $189.8 billion to $346.6 billion. Mining & Commodities, Logistics & Transportation, and Telecom also recorded sizeable increases as the fortunes of billionaires across these industries grew during the year.

Not every industry became wealthier over the past year, however. Media & Entertainment was one of the few major sectors to record a decline, with combined billionaire wealth falling from $506 billion to $499.2 billion. The biggest decline came from Canadian billionaire Sherry Brydson, whose fortune fell by $7.6 billion over the year. Her wealth is largely tied to Thomson Reuters, whose shares fell by nearly 18% in February amid concerns over the potential impact of new AI tools on its legal and professional-information businesses.

Consumer Products also declined slightly, from $109.4 billion to $106.8 billion, with Chinese billionaire Chen Zhiping recording the largest individual loss in the sector. The chairman and CEO of vaping-device maker Smoore International saw his fortune fall by $3 billion, from $5.5 billion to $2.5 billion, as the company’s profits fell despite strong revenue growth, with higher costs and increased spending on its own-brand products weighing on its bottom line.

Methodology

To analyse the changing fortunes of the world’s billionaires, the team at BestBrokers analysed data from the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List as of 27 July 2026. To establish a consistent year-on-year comparison, we used the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to retrieve an archived version of the Forbes list from 27 July 2025 and recorded the estimated net worth of the same billionaires at that point in time. This allowed us to calculate how much each individual’s fortune increased or decreased over the one-year period.

Using these datasets, we identified the biggest absolute net worth and percentage gains over a 1-year period, while also calculating how much billionaires’ wealth has increased or shrunk on average every day over the past year. We analysed billionaires by country or territory to compare their numbers and combined wealth, and standardised their primary sources of wealth into 24 industry categories. This allowed us to analyse both the distribution of billionaires globally and how combined billionaire wealth changed across industries between 2025 and 2026.

All figures represent estimates based on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List and archived Forbes data available through the Wayback Machine. Billionaire net worths can fluctuate significantly with changes in public and private company valuations, asset prices and other market conditions, meaning the figures represent a snapshot of estimated wealth on the specified dates. All calculations and comparisons were based on the same methodology and dates to provide a consistent measure of changes in billionaire wealth over the year.

Read the original report from BestBrokers.com

Source: Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA)

The EMA (Employers and Manufacturers Association) says today's increase in unemployment reflects the cautious approach many businesses have adopted as they navigate a challenging and uncertain economic environment.

Stats NZ today reported unemployment rose to 5.6% in the June 2026 quarter, up from 5.3% in the March quarter.

EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald says the result highlights the pressure many businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, have faced over recent months.

McDonald says today’s result is not unexpected, with Treasury forecasts a year ago suggesting unemployment could reach this level by this point in the year, but that does not make the result good news and it should be seen in context.

“Many businesses have been focused on retaining the staff they already have rather than taking on new employees.

“For some firms, higher costs, weaker demand and global uncertainty have meant delaying investment decisions and being much more cautious about growth.”

McDonald says the June quarter coincided with significant international uncertainty, including the conflict in the Middle East and sharp movements in global oil prices.

“Fuel, transport and input costs matter enormously to New Zealand businesses. The volatility we saw during the quarter affected confidence, investment decisions and hiring intentions.”

McDonald says it is important to remember that unemployment is a lagging indicator.

“These figures reflect what businesses were experiencing during April, May and June. More recent business confidence measures and PMI data have shown some more encouraging signs, suggesting many firms are still looking for opportunities to grow when conditions improve.”

McDonald says the significant increase in the number of young people not in employment, education or training reflects the reluctance of many businesses to take on new staff.

“The rise in the NEET rate (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) is further evidence that employers are concentrating on holding onto the people they have rather than expanding their workforce.

“When recruitment slows, young people are often the first to miss out because entry-level jobs become less available.”

McDonald says restoring business confidence remains critical to improving labour market conditions.

“Businesses want to invest, grow and create jobs. If uncertainty eases and confidence continues to improve, we would expect hiring intentions to strengthen over the coming months.”

Source: Earth Sciences New Zealand

July 2026 – Issued: 4 August 2026

July 2026 summary

Category	Summary
Temperature	Temperatures were above average (0.51-1.20°C above average) or well above average (>1.20°C above average) for most of the South Island. Temperatures were near average (±0.50°C of average) for much of the North Island, with below average temperatures (0.51-1.20°C below average) in localised parts of Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
Rainfall	Rainfall was above normal (120-149% of normal) or well above normal (>149% of normal) for most of Southland, Otago, southern, inland and northern parts of Canterbury, the West Coast, Marlborough, and Nelson. Rainfall was below normal (50-79% of normal) or well below normal (<50% of normal) for most of the North Island.
Soil Moisture	At the end of July, soil moisture levels were higher than normal for northeastern parts of Otago. Soil moisture was lower than normal for eastern parts of Canterbury about Christchurch. Near normal soil moisture levels were typical for the remainder of the country.

July 2026 began on a settled note, with high pressure resulting in widespread clear weather and frosty conditions, particularly for southern and central parts of the South Island. A brief warm northerly airflow delivered record and near-record high daily maximum and minimum temperatures for southern and inland parts of the South Island. From 5-9 July, a broad area of low pressure prevailed over and east of Aotearoa New Zealand, delivering consecutive days of considerable rainfall to eastern parts of the country. Significant impacts resulted from the rain including damaging flooding, with a local State of Emergency declared in Waitaki, Kaikōura, and Wairoa, respectively (see Highlights and extreme events for further details). The middle and latter portion of July was often settled across the country, with a cool southerly airflow prevailing over the final week of the month. El Niño conditions were present in the tropical Pacific atmosphere and ocean, and by all measures the event strengthened during the month – including the strongest atmospheric measurements on record for July. By the end of July, sea surface temperatures (SSTs) around New

Zealand were mostly near or above average, particularly around much of the South Island and Tasman Sea with Marine Heatwave (MHW) conditions1 experienced in these areas. The nationwide average temperature in July 2026 was 8.9°C. This was 0.8°C above the 1991-2020 July average, making it New Zealand’s 12th-warmest July since Earth Sciences New Zealand’s seven station temperature series began in 1909. Temperatures were above average (0.51-1.20°C above average) or well above average (>1.20°C above average) for most of the South Island. It was especially warm for Fiordland, Arthur’s Pass, and Greymouth where mean temperatures were at least 2°C above the July average, respectively. Temperatures were near average (±0.50°C of average) for much of the North Island, although there were below average temperatures (0.51- 1.20°C below average) in localised inland parts of Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. It was a particularly cool month in Taupō where the mean temperature was 1.1°C below average. Rainfall was above normal (120-149% of normal) or well above normal (>149% of normal) for most of Southland, Otago, southern, inland and northern parts of Canterbury, the West Coast, Marlborough, and Nelson. Several areas observed more than double their normal July rainfall including eastern Otago, and eastern parts of southern and northern Canterbury. Rainfall was below normal (50-79% of normal) or well below normal (<50% of normal) most of the North Island. Further Highlights:

• The highest temperature was 20.4°C, observed at Wairoa on 15 July.

• The lowest temperature was -13.5°C, observed at Lake Tekapo on 12 July.

• The highest 1-day rainfall was 133 mm, recorded at Hanmer Forest on 6 July.

• The highest wind gust was 141 km/h, observed at Puysegur Point on 14 July, and Cape Turnagain on 18 July.

• Of the six main centres in July 2026, Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch was the coolest and driest, Tauranga was the sunniest, Wellington was the wettest, and Dunedin was the least sunny.

• The sunniest four locations in 2026 so far are Nelson (1608 hours), Whakatāne (1587 hours), New Plymouth (1578 hours) and Richmond (1520 hours).

Temperature: A warm month for the South Island

Five locations along the western South Island observed their warmest July on record, including Greymouth and Milford Sound, where records date back to 1947 and 1934, respectively. New Zealand’s warmest location relative to normal was Arapito, where the mean temperature of 10.6°C was 2.4°C above its July normal. No locations observed record or near-record low mean temperatures for the month. Relatively calm and clear conditions prevailed over the North Island 1 Defined as five or more consecutive days with SSTs above the 90th percentile for the time of year.

for much of July. This resulted in many cool and frosty nights, especially for inland locations. Five North Island locations observed record or near-record low mean minimum temperatures during the month. Record2 or near-record mean air temperatures for July were recorded at:

Record or near-record mean air temperatures for July

Location	Mean air temperature (°C)	Departure from normal (°C)	Year records began	Comments
Arapito	10.6	2.4	1978	Highest
Reefton	7.5	2.1	1960	Highest
Greymouth	10.0	2.0	1947	Highest
Haast	9.5	1.7	1949	Highest
Milford Sound	7.6	2.2	1934	Highest
Westport	10.3	1.4	1937	2nd-highest
Hokitika	9.2	1.7	1866	2nd-highest
Ōkārito	9.0	1.4	1982	2nd-highest
Le Bons Bay	9.0	1.4	1984	2nd-highest
Tiwai Point	8.0	1.6	1970	2nd-highest
Tautuku	8.0	1.6	1976	2nd-highest
Campbell Island	6.8	1.7	1991	2nd-highest
Secretary Island	10.4	1.3	1985	3rd-highest
Puysegur Point	9.7	1.3	1978	3rd-highest
Medbury	6.7	0.9	1927	3rd-highest
Akaroa	9.7	1.4	1978	3rd-highest
Tapanui	6.3	1.4	1900	3rd-highest
Invercargill	7.1	1.7	1905	3rd-highest
South West Cape	9.2	1.5	1991	3rd-highest
Waipara West	8.8	1.5	1973	4th-highest
Diamond Harbour	9.1	1.7	2004	4th-highest
Manapouri (West Arm Jetty)	5.4	2.0	1971	4th-highest
Manapouri	5.3	1.3	1991	4th-highest
Waipounamu	5.0	1.1	1980	4th-highest
Oban (Stewart Island)	8.1	1.6	1975	4th-highest
Nugget Point	7.6	1.3	1970	4th-highest
Low records or near-records
None observed

² The rankings (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.) in all tables in this summary are relative to climate data from a group of nearby stations, some of which may no longer be operating. The current climate value is compared against all values from any member of the group, without any regard for homogeneity between one station’s record, and another. This approach is used due to the practical limitations of performing homogeneity checks in real-time.

Record or near-record mean maximum air temperatures for July were recorded at:

Record or near-record mean maximum air temperatures for July

Location	Mean maximum air temperature (°C)	Departure from normal (°C)	Year records began	Comments
Tākaka	15.7	2.3	1978	Highest
Arapito	15.5	2.6	1978	Highest
Milford Sound	11.4	2.2	1934	Highest
Waipounamu	10.7	2.1	1980	Highest
Invercargill	11.7	1.8	1905	Highest
Westport	14.1	1.2	1937	2nd-highest
Blenheim	14.8	1.5	1932	2nd-highest
Dunedin (Musselburgh)	12.2	1.8	1947	2nd-highest
South West Cape	11.2	1.6	1991	2nd-highest
Campbell Island	8.6	1.6	1991	2nd-highest
Secretary Island	13.2	1.4	1985	3rd-highest
Puysegur Point	11.9	1.2	1978	3rd-highest
Diamond Harbour	12.8	2.2	2004	3rd-highest
Le Bons Bay	11.5	1.5	1984	3rd-highest
Orari	13.2	2.2	1972	3rd-highest
Middlemarch	11.4	1.9	2000	3rd-highest
Manapouri	10.0	1.7	1991	3rd-highest
Gore	11.1	2.5	1907	3rd-highest
Oban (Stewart Island)	11.4	1.3	1975	3rd-highest
Tautuku	11.8	1.6	1976	3rd-highest
Chatham Island	12.4	1.1	1878	3rd-highest
Matamata	15.0	1.4	1999	4th-highest
Rotorua	13.3	1.3	1964	4th-highest
Pukekohe	16.0	1.7	1969	4th-highest
Tūrangi	12.7	1.1	1968	4th-highest
Reefton	11.8	1.6	1960	4th-highest
Medbury	13.0	1.6	1927	4th-highest
Cheviot	13.7	1.5	1982	4th-highest
Christchurch	13.2	1.8	1863	4th-highest
Oamaru	12.2	1.2	1967	4th-highest
Tiwai Point	11.3	1.4	1970	4th-highest
Low records or near-records
None observed

Record or near-record mean minimum air temperatures for July

Location	Mean minimum air temperature (°C)	Departure from normal (°C)	Year records began	Comments
Hokitika	5.4	2.3	1866	Highest
Greymouth	6.7	2.4	1947	Highest
Haast	6.3	2.3	1949	Highest
Tiwai Point	4.8	1.9	1970	Highest
Ōkārito	5.1	2.3	1982	2nd-highest
Milford Sound	3.9	2.3	1934	2nd-highest
Mt Cook (Village)	0.1	2.3	1929	2nd-highest
Campbell Island	4.9	1.7	1991	2nd-highest
Arapito	5.7	2.3	1978	3rd-highest
Reefton	3.1	2.4	1960	3rd-highest
Le Bons Bay	6.5	1.4	1984	3rd-highest
Manapouri (West Arm Jetty)	3.2	2.5	1971	3rd-highest
Puysegur Point	7.5	1.4	1978	4th-highest
Cromwell	0.1	1.4	1949	4th-highest
Oban (Stewart Island)	4.8	2.0	1975	4th-highest
South West Cape	7.2	1.4	1991	4th-highest
Low records or near-records
Taumarunui	0.0	-1.9	1947	Lowest
Warkworth	4.7	-1.6	1966	2nd-lowest
Mt Ruapehu Chateau	-1.6	-1.0	2000	3rd-lowest
Whakatu	1.5	-1.5	1982	3rd-lowest
Takapau Plains	1.5	-1.5	1962	4th-lowest

Rainfall: Wet for much of South Island, dry for the North Island

About 33% of New Zealand’s regularly reporting climate stations observed above normal (120- 149% of normal) or well above normal (>149% of normal) July rainfall. Notably, these stations were all located in the South Island. New Zealand’s wettest location relative to normal was Dunedin Airport, where 445% of normal July rainfall was recorded. This made it the location’s wettest July since records began in 1962. Rainfall was also exceptionally high in Oamaru, with the town receiving 400% of its normal July rainfall. In contrast, about 44% of New Zealand’s regularly reporting climate stations observed below normal (50-79% of normal) or well below normal (<50% of normal) July rainfall. All but one of these stations were in the North Island. It was a particularly dry month for Tūrangi, where just 55 mm of rain (36% of its July normal) was recorded. This resulted in the town’s third-driest July since records began in 1968. Record or near-record July rainfall totals were recorded at:

Record or near-record July rainfall totals

Location	Rainfall total (mm)	Percentage of normal	Year records began	Comments
Dunedin (Airport)	176	445	1962	Highest
Waiau	149	199	1974	2nd-highest
South West Cape	174	162	1991	2nd-highest
Oamaru	191	323	1941	3rd-highest
Middlemarch	84	157	1896	4th-highest
Low records or near-records
Tūrangi	55	36	1968	3rd-lowest
Mokohinau Island	69	56	1994	4th-lowest
Auckland (Western Springs)	70	46	1948	4th-lowest

July climate in the six main centres

Temperatures were well above average in Dunedin, with above average temperatures in Wellington. In contrast, it was a relatively cool month for Hamilton and Auckland, where temperatures were 0.6°C and 0.5°C below average, respectively. It was a very wet July for Dunedin where rainfall was 231% of normal. The three northernmost main centres experienced a relatively dry July, with rainfall totals approximately half of normal for the time of year. Of the six main centres in July 2026, Auckland was the warmest, Christchurch was the coolest and driest, Tauranga was the sunniest, Wellington was the wettest, and Dunedin was the least sunny. July 2026 main centre climate statistics:

July 2026 main centre climate statistics – Temperature

Location	Mean temperature (°C)	Departure from normal (°C)	Comments
Auckland¹	10.6	-0.5	Near average
Tauranga²	10.5	0.0	Near average
Hamilton³	8.3	-0.6	Below average
Wellington⁴	9.8	+0.6	Above average
Christchurch⁵	6.5	+0.5	Near average
Dunedin⁶	8.2	+1.5	Well above average

July 2026 main centre climate statistics – Rainfall

Location	Rainfall (mm)	% of normal	Comments
Auckland¹	74	53	Below normal
Tauranga²	58	44	Well below normal
Hamilton³	65	47	Well below normal
Wellington⁴	144	98	Near normal
Christchurch⁵	51	79	Below normal
Dunedin⁶	119	231	Well above normal

July 2026 main centre climate statistics – Sunshine

Location	Sunshine (hours)
Auckland¹	194
Tauranga²	210
Hamilton⁷	165
Wellington⁴	128
Christchurch⁵	159
Dunedin⁶	96

¹ Māngere; ² Tauranga Airport; ³ Hamilton Airport; ⁴ Kelburn; ⁵ Christchurch Airport; ⁶ Musselburgh; ⁷ Ruakura. Hamilton rainfall is missing five days of data.

Highlights and extreme events

Temperatures

The highest temperature was 20.4°C, observed at Wairoa on 15 July. The lowest temperature was -13.5°C, observed at Lake Tekapo on 12 July. Record or near-record daily maximum air temperatures for July were recorded at:

Record or near-record daily maximum air temperatures for July

Location	Extreme maximum (°C)	Date of extreme temperature	Year records began	Comments
High records or near-records
Westport	18.5	7th	1937	Highest
Secretary Island	18.0	7th	1985	Highest
Middlemarch	19.6	3rd	2000	Highest
Manapouri	17.8	3rd	1991	Highest
Purerua	19.0	16th	1983	2nd-highest
Stratford	17.5	15th	1960	2nd-highest
Tākaka	19.8	15th	1978	2nd-highest
Puysegur Point	17.3	3rd	1978	2nd-highest
Brothers Island	17.6	16th	1997	2nd-highest
Lumsden	17.3	3rd	1982	2nd-highest
South West Cape	16.3	3rd	1991	Equal 2nd-highest
Tara Hills	16.1	17th	1949	3rd-highest
Chatham Island	16.3	15th	1878	3rd-highest
Campbell Island	11.7	3rd	1991	Equal 3rd-highest
Arapito	18.8	6th	1978	4th-highest
Mt Cook (Airport)	17.6	17th	1929	4th-highest
Tautuku	17.4	30th	1976	4th-highest
Kerikeri	20.1	14th	1945	Equal 4th-highest
Whakatāne	19.0	16th	1975	Equal 4th-highest
Lake Tekapo	16.0	3rd	1925	Equal 4th-highest
Oban (Stewart Island)	15.6	3rd	1975	Equal 4th-highest
Low records or near-records
Pukaki Aerodrome	-2.3	12th	1972	4th-lowest

Record or near-record daily minimum air temperatures for July

Location	Extreme minimum (°C)	Date of extreme temperature	Year records began	Comments
Low records or near-records
Mt Ruapehu Chateau	-7.6	3rd	2000	Equal lowest
Diamond Harbour	-0.3	26th	2004	Equal lowest
High records or near-records
Martinborough	13.9	16th	1986	Highest
Wellington (Airport)	14.0	16th	1972	Highest
Milford Sound	11.7	4th	1935	Highest
Puysegur Point	13.7	3rd	1978	Highest
Manapouri (West Arm Jetty)	8.6	4th	1972	Highest
Manapouri	9.9	4th	1991	Highest
Cromwell	10.6	4th	1949	Highest
Roxburgh	10.8	4th	1950	Highest
Tiwai Point	10.1	18th	1972	Highest
Campbell Island	10.0	3rd	1991	Highest
Wellington (Kelburn)	12.7	15th	1931	Equal highest
Upper Hutt (Trentham)	13.8	16th	1972	Equal highest
Paraparaumu	13.6	16th	1972	2nd-highest
Kaikōura	11.9	15th	1972	2nd-highest
Wānaka	10.0	4th	1972	2nd-highest
Pahīatua	11.8	16th	1946	3rd-highest
Mt Cook (Village)	9.1	18th	1929	3rd-highest
South West Cape	11.5	3rd	1991	3rd-highest
Oban (Stewart Island)	10.3	4th	1975	Equal 4th-highest

Rain, flooding, and slips

The highest 1-day rainfall was 133 mm, recorded at Hanmer Forest on 6 July. From 5-9 July, a broad area of low pressure was present over and near New Zealand, delivering consecutive days of rainfall impacts to eastern parts of the country. The primary impacts are listed in chronological order below:

• From 5-6 July, persistent heavy rain caused surface flooding for eastern parts of Otago including Dunedin, Mosgiel, and Oamaru. Waitaki District Council declared a State of Emergency, with flooding affecting homes and businesses along Thames Street in central Oamaru. At least 20 people self-evacuated their homes in Oamaru, with reports of emergency crews responding to people trapped in cars and homes by floodwaters. The Taieri Bowling Club in Mosgiel was opened as an evacuation centre and several families had self-evacuated there. Flooding caused the closure of SH88 from Sawyers Bay to Port Chalmers, SH87 from Factory Road to Cargill Street in Mosgiel, several local roads in the Clutha District, SH1 between Oamaru and Glenavy, and SH83 between Seven Mile Road and SH1.

• From 6-8 July, heavy rainfall impacted eastern parts of Canterbury, and Marlborough. A State of Emergency was declared in Kaikōura as the Kowhai River burst its banks, with an evacuation centre set up for approximately 80 people who were displaced by flooding. SH1 was closed between Ward and Waipara due to flooding, with considerable sections of the highway eroded away by the Conway River between Parnassus and Hundalee. A section of the Cribb Creek Bridge on the Inland Kaikōura Road was washed away, and two vehicles were accidentally driven off the bridge and into the river below. A person was rescued from their car after spending several hours trapped in a vehicle surrounded by floodwaters near Mt Lyford. Part of Hanmer Springs was cut off after flooding damage caused the closure of Woodbank Road bridge. Flooding of the Ōpaoa River in Blenheim led to evacuation of people staying in caravans at the Blenheim Bridges Holiday Park. In Wairarapa, three bridges (Waihenga, Lower Valley and Huangarua) were closed due to heavy rain from 7-8 July, isolating some communities in the region's south.

• On 8 July, another burst of heavy rain hit eastern parts of Otago, and SH1 was again closed between Oamaru and Glenavy due to flooding. Surface flooding was also reported

on SH83 from Pukeuri to Kurow, and SH82 from Kurow to Waimate. At least eight homes were evacuated in Dunedin due to possible landslips, while three homes were evacuated in Oamaru due to a landslip. Farther north, the Inland Route 70 was closed between Kaikōura and Rotheram (SH7) due to flooding and washouts.

• On 9 July, areas of Hawke’s Bay received heavy rainfall as the area of low pressure moved east of New Zealand, continuing to drive a moist southeasterly airflow over eastern parts of the country. A local State of Emergency was declared in Wairoa following considerable flooding across the district. The Wairoa River flooded, prompting the evacuation of residents from low-lying areas in Wairoa. Roads were closed due to surface flooding and debris including SH38 from Frasertown to Tuai and SH2 at Turiroa Cutting, while 15 streets were closed in the Wairoa township.

On 24 July, SH7 was closed from Greymouth to Stillwater due to surface flooding. On 25 July, a heavy downpour of rain caused surface flooding in parts of Wellington. In Kelburn, 36 mm of rain was recorded in one hour between 9-10 a.m. Preliminary analyses indicate this is the fifth-wettest hour on record at Kelburn. Record or near-record July extreme 1-day rainfall totals were recorded at:

Record or near-record July extreme 1-day rainfall totals

Location	Extreme 1-day rainfall (mm)	Date of extreme rainfall	Year records began	Comments
Waiau	62	6th	1974	Highest
Dunedin (Airport)	116	5th	1962	Highest
Campbell Island	59	30th	1991	Highest
Hanmer Forest	133	6th	1905	2nd-highest
Ashburton	103	6th	1927	2nd-highest
Oamaru	110	5th	1950	2nd-highest
Awakino	61	24th	2005	3rd-highest
Winchmore	70	6th	1947	3rd-highest
Middlemarch	56	5th	1896	3rd-highest
Tautuku	39	4th	1976	3rd-highest
Port Taharoa	42	24th	1973	4th-highest
Windsor	44	5th	2000	4th-highest
Dunedin (Musselburgh)	63	5th	1918	4th-highest
South West Cape	35	18th	1991	4th-highest

Wind

The highest wind gust was 141 km/h, observed at Puysegur Point on 14 July, and Cape Turnagain on 18 July. From 6-7 July, strong southeasterly winds occurred for northern and western parts of the South Island. Concrete power poles near Harihari snapped due to the strength of the wind, while downed power lines caused power outages in several areas of the South Island. Specifically, around 260 homes were without power between Lake Ianthe to Lake Parinha, and some in the Haupiri area. Nearly 400 homes were also without power in Kaikōura. Twenty homes in the outer Marlborough Sounds were without power near Clova and Beatrix Bay. Several roads were closed due to strong winds and fallen trees including SH6 from Whataroa to Harihari, SH6 from Haast to

Fox Glacier, and SH63 from Kawatiri to Howard (Tasman District). Farther north, power outages also occurred in parts of Wellington. Record or near-record July extreme wind gusts were recorded at:

Record or near-record July extreme wind gusts

Location	Extreme wind gust (km/h)	Date of extreme gust	Year records began	Comments
Tūrangi	134	20th	1973	Highest
Middlemarch	117	4th	2000	Highest
Oamaru	93	5th	1984	Highest
Upper Hutt (Trentham)	91	8th	1999	3rd-highest
Nelson	102	6th	1972	3rd-highest
Secretary Island	130	13th	1994	4th-highest

Snow and ice

On 1 July, widespread frost and icy conditions caused issues across many South Island roads. Dunedin’s Southern Motorway (SH1) was temporarily closed to southbound traffic from the Riselaw Rd overbridge due to an accident. Other accidents were reported on roads about Roxburgh, Cromwell, and Lumsden. SH8 was closed between Lake Tekapo and Omarama due to black ice. On 2 July, black ice was reported across Dunedin, with Dunedin City Council urging residents to take care on roads and footpaths. Dunedin’s Southern Motorway (SH1) was again closed to southbound traffic near the Riselaw Rd overbridge due to an accident. NZTA warned motorists to take extra care due to ice on SH1 between Dunedin and Palmerston, SH85 between Palmerston and Kyeburn, SH87 between Kyeburn and Mosgiel, SH8 between Milton and Raes Junction, and SH8 from Lake Tekapo to Twizel. From 5-6 July, there was widespread snowfall above approximately 500 m elevation across inland parts of the South Island. Heaviest snowfalls occurred about eastern and northern parts of Central Otago including the Maniototo and about the Lindis Pass, Mt Cook Village, and Lake Tekapo. ESNZ’s monitoring station measured a peak snow depth of 25 cm at Mt Cook village, with similar snow depths reported at Lake Tekapo, Oturehua, St Bathans, and Naseby. Snow damage to powerlines left about 300 customers without power in Clarks Junction, Hindon, Redbank, Ranfurly, Waipiata-Kyeburn and Middlemarch-Bald Hill. Snow caused the closure of numerous roads in the South Island including SH87 from Outram to Kyeburn, SH85 from Alexandra to Palmerston, the Ranfurly-Naseby Road, St Bathans Loop Road, Ida Valley-Omakau Road, Danseys Pass Road from Naseby, SH8 from Tarras to Omarama (the Lindis Pass), and SH8 from Lake Pukaki to Fairlie. On 8 July, snow fell to approximately 300 m above sea level in eastern parts of Central Otago, with heavy snowfall about the eastern ranges and inland areas of Canterbury. Snow and ice caused the closure of SH85 from Kyeburn and Morrisons, SH87 from Kyeburn and Middlemarch, and SH8 from Fairlie to Twizel. Extreme caution was advised to motorists travelling on SH85 from Kyeburn and Springvale, and SH8 from Tarras to Omarama (the Lindis Pass), due to snow and ice. On 25 July, snow was reported in several Canterbury towns including Darfield, Methven, and Glentunnel. Chains were required for vehicles travelling on SH73 between Springfield and Castle

Hill (Porters Pass) due to snow. Farther south, several centimetres of snow reportedly settled in Naseby and Oturehua, with approximately 1 cm of snow reported in Winton. On 31 July, snow caused the closure of SH85 from Palmerston to Kyeburn, and SH87 between Kyeburn and Outram. Snow also impacted highways farther north in the South Island. SH7 was closed from Reefton to Springs Junction turnoff (Rahu Saddle) and from Springs Junction to Hanmer Springs turnoff (Lewis Pass). Chains were required on vehicles travelling from Arthur’s Pass Village to Otira.

Lightning, hail, and tornadoes

On 6 July, a home in Whangamatā suffered considerable damage after being struck by lightning.

Cloud and fog

On 15 July, 17 flights were delayed or cancelled at Auckland airport due to fog. On 20 July, fog at Auckland airport caused the cancellation of 21 domestic flights, with a further 13 domestic flights delayed. On 23 July, flights at Auckland and Hamilton airports were cancelled or delayed due to fog.

© Copyright Earth Sciences New Zealand 2026.

All rights reserved. Information presented in this summary is based on data available at the time of publication, which is subject to ongoing quality assurance procedures.

Earth Sciences New Zealand climate and weather research

Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is deploying six incident management specialists to Canada this week to support the country’s response to extensive wildfires.

The six personnel are part of an Australasian team requested by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre under a long-standing agreement between Canada, the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand to provide mutual assistance with wildfire suppression.

A Liaison Officer left for Winnipeg yesterday and the other five depart tomorrow for Vancouver, where they will be assigned to incident management teams working on fires in British Columbia.

Each is a specialist in aspects of managing large-scale wildfires. Two will be filling Division Commander positions and the others will be stepping into roles as Logistics Chief, Safety Officer and Helicopter Supervisor.

Canada is currently experiencing extreme wildfire activity with 484 active wildfires and over 2 million hectares affected. Our specialist team will provide much needed relief and assistance to the local resources.

This is New Zealand’s second deployment to North America this fire season. Five incident management team members travelled to the United States last month and are working on fires in Idaho. An indicative request has been received from the US for a second contingent and Fire and Emergency is considering availability of personnel in case that request is formalised.

Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said that Fire and Emergency was able to provide support to other countries without diminishing its capability to respond to any large-scale emergencies at home.

Wildfire deployments to North America take place during the southern winter and by joining with Australia to make up incident management teams, New Zealand’s contribution was proportionate to its resources. Partner agencies including Department of Conservation, NZ Defence Force and the forestry industry also regularly contribute their staff to international wildfire deployments.

“The international agreements we have in place allow us to be a good global citizen and lend support where we can. In return our people bring back valuable experience that enhances New Zealand’s own capability to manage large-scale incidents,” Megan Stiffler said. “Given the predictions for a challenging fire season here, these opportunities to be part of wildfire management in Canada and the US couldn’t be more timely.”

Source: Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi Public Service Association

The PSA is criticising a new proposal handed down by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to cut security personnel at its service centres as irresponsible and even dangerous.

After reducing the number of security guards at 20 regional MSD Service Centres earlier this year, the agency has proposed to cut teams at a further 22 sites from three security guards per site to two.

One guard would be inside giving visitors access via CCTV, with the other person on duty roaming the site.

“We’re very disappointed that MSD has forged ahead with their plan to reduce security guard numbers at its sites, even as staff feed back to them that they already feel unsafe at work,” Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi Public Service Association National Secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons, says.

“The tragedy at Ashburton looms large in workers’ minds, with many people saying that it’s just a matter of time before another major act of violence and even loss of life.

“Every worker deserves to be safe at work. No-one’s whānau should have to worry about whether their loved one is coming home.

“As well as that, everyone visiting an MSD site deserves to be safe.

“The PSA is calling on MSD to ditch this proposal and instate at least three security guards in every Service Centre in the country.”

Many staff are also in favour of re-instating security outside the Service Centre doors to help vet people before they come in, and installing polycarbonate screens between staff desks and the public area.

According to official data from MSD, security incidents have decreased this year.

However, PSA workers dispute this, saying that that violence is under-reported, increasingly normalised, and becoming more aggressive.

“Staff face regular incidents of aggression, including people jumping over their desks, spitting, throwing objects, and making bomb and gun threats.

“Changes to the benefit system under the coalition government, including the traffic light system and harsher sanctions, mean that people visiting MSD Service Centres are under extreme pressure.

“The staff who are there to help them have a huge workload, and report having to rush from client to client – even staff deployed to train others say they don’t have the resources to do their job to a high standard.

“So it’s no real surprise that staff don’t have the time to report the many incidents they’ll see each week. They also say that they feel there’s no real point to reporting violence, as nothing really changes when they do make reports, or the incidents are so common they’re not seen as an issue.”

Consultation with staff at the affected sites closes on 12 August. The PSA will be supporting workers to reject the proposal and strengthen security at all MSD Service Centres.

Previous PSA statements:

MSD plan to cut security guards risks repeating mistakes of the past
https://www.psa.org.nz/news-media/msd-plan-to-cut-security-guards-risks-repeating-mistakes-of-the-past

Notes to editors:

Affected Service Centres are located in:

Dargaville
Flaxmere
Huntly
Johnsonville
Kamo
Kāpiti
Kawakawa
Kawerau
Kerikeri
Morrinsville
Motueka
Mount Maunganui
Ōpōtiki
Paeroa
Richmond
Ruatoria
Te Awamutu
Te Puke
Tokoroa
Tūrangi
Waihi
Wairoa

The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand's largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.

Source: deVere Group

August 4 2026

Stablecoins just moved to a core financial infrastructure, and most investors haven’t caught up, affirms the CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations.

Nigel Green of deVere Group’s comments come as Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK, the London-based stablecoin infrastructure firm, in a deal worth up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in performance-linked payments.

It marks Mastercard’s largest move yet into digital currency infrastructure, and the biggest stablecoin infrastructure acquisition on record, surpassing Stripe’s $1.1 billion purchase of Bridge in 2024.

He says: “Mastercard doesn’t make an acquisition like this on a hunch. This is one of the most conservative, risk-averse companies in global finance putting real capital behind stablecoins as permanent infrastructure, not a passing trend.

“Investors still treating digital currencies as a speculative sideshow are behind a shift that just received one of the clearest institutional endorsements it could possibly get.”

The deVere CEO points to the scale of what Mastercard is actually buying as evidence this goes well beyond experimentation.

“BVNK isn’t some early-stage startup with a clever idea and no customers,” he says. “It’s already processing around $30 billion in annualised payment volume, and that figure grew more than double year over year.

“Mastercard is buying proven infrastructure with real transaction volume behind it, not a concept.”

He argues the deal signals a broader shift in how incumbent financial institutions view digital currencies.

“For years, traditional payments companies treated stablecoins with suspicion.

“What we’re watching now is the opposite. Mastercard chose to buy this capability outright rather than partner or build it internally, and that tells you how seriously it takes the competitive threat of standing still.”

Nigel Green notes that BVNK’s reach across more than 130 countries and its work with major clients including Worldpay and Visa Direct point to how embedded this infrastructure already is.

“This technology is already sitting inside some of the biggest names in global payments.

“Mastercard isn’t betting on future adoption. It’s buying into adoption that has already happened.”

He highlights the specific use cases driving this shift as particularly relevant for investors focused on business and institutional finance rather than retail speculation.

“Cross-border B2B payments, remittances, settlement and treasury flows are the areas Mastercard is targeting here.

“These are unglamorous but enormous markets, and traditional rails moving money through them have stayed slow and expensive for years.

“Stablecoin infrastructure fixes that problem directly, and that’s where the real commercial value sits.”

Nigel Green points to the wider pattern of consolidation in this space as confirmation the shift is accelerating.

Stablecoin-related transactions have been rising steadily, with more than a dozen announced last year alone.

“Mastercard’s move is likely to push other incumbents to make similar decisions quickly, because nobody wants to be the payments giant left without this capability.”

The deVere CEO concludes: “Digital currency infrastructure is no longer a fringe allocation for investors comfortable with high risk.

“It’s becoming a core part of how global payments actually function, backed by companies with decades of credibility and enormous balance sheets.

“Investors who wait until this becomes obvious to everyone will likely have missed the point at which real value gets created.”

deVere Group is one of the world’s largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients. It has a network of offices around the world, more than 80,000 clients, and $14bn under advisement.

Source: Flinders University

An international study led by Flinders University has found a fertile area of inspiration to explain an important step in evolution – and it’s a whole lot of poop.

The new study describes the ‘faecal revolution’ to explain a crucial turning point in animal and environmental evolution on Earth.

In a new article in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, fossil and evolutionary experts credit the buildup of lowly excrement for being a key cause for the ‘Cambrian Explosion’ about 540 million years ago, a brief period when the first marine ecosystems developed and most of the major animal groups started to appear.

The scientists from Australia and Germany describe how these pieces of fossilised pellets or ‘coprolites’ deposited by primitive sea creatures in the early Cambrian times played a vital part in evolution, encouraging marine life to evolve and diversify.

The new research, to be published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, gives an alternative view to this remarkable diversification.

“Next to rising oxygen levels and other contributing factors, the importance of faeces in ancient ecosystems is often overlooked,” says Dr Russell Bicknell, an Australian Research Council Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellow at Flinders University’s College of Science and Engineering.

“We have considered these ancient diets, increasingly sophisticated digestive systems and trophic interactions as part of a much bigger picture to help explain how more organic matter and nutrients poured into the ancient oceans to accelerate ecosystem development at the end of the Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods.”

After the earliest animals appeared around 600 million years ago during the Ediacaran Period, more complex digestive systems and the first fossilised coprolites start to appear at the onset of the Cambrian Period.

Dr Bicknell, with lead author Dr Julien Kimmig from Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), says the complexity, shapes and sizes of coprolites and fossil gut systems increased as the Cambrian progressed – with evidence of this from more than 35 deposits around the globe.

“The faecal matter includes microscopic pellets through to centimetre-scale coprolites containing shells and other animal fragments,” says Dr Bicknell, an evolutionary biologist and palaeobiologist who specialises in arthropods.

“With this shift, we see increasingly complex digestive systems, particularly in early anthropods which evolve specialised foreguts and digestive glands capable of processing a wider variety of food.

“It becomes clear in the fossil record that the evolution of feeding strategies aligns with the production and distribution of organic carbon and nutrients to start creating conditions we see in modern oceans and later on land where fertiliser today is used to produce our food,” adds Dr Bicknell.

The review article – ‘The Cambrian fecal revolution: Fueling the Cambrian Radiation’ (2026) by Julien Kimmig and Russell DC Bicknell has been published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution (CellPress). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2026.06.013

Funding: This research was funded through an Australian Research Council (grant DE250100256) and a MAT Program Postdoctoral Fellowship – both to Dr Bicknell.