The owner and chief pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed this morning near Queenstown leaving 11 people injured says he is “deeply upset” about the incident. The Sunrise Balloons trip was “hit by a gust of wind” shortly before…

By Gill Bonnett of RNZ Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has confirmed that people who applied for visitor visas to be reunited with their partners have had their applications cancelled.The Government decided to cancel and refund…

Police were late on Friday still waiting for someone to shine a light on whoever had shone a laser directly at the cockpit of an Air New Zealand aircraft landing at Hawke’s Bay Airport, north of Napier.Senior Sergeant Kevin Stewart,…

A number of sharks have circled surfers off Bondi this morning in the middle of a huge bait ball.

About four of the animals were first spotted by a news helicopter about 9.30am, along with at least one stingray.

Aerial shots of the sharks show the sea creatures swimming off the shore with surfers, boogie boarders, and swimmers in close proximity.

They were in the middle of a large bait ball – a school of small fish packed tightly together to protect them from predators.

Surf Lifesaving NSW was alerted and lifeguards at Bondi cleared the water.

It is unclear what species the sharks are.

Green flights due to open up from NSW will be held off, Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said this afternoon after the Australian state recorded 44 new community infections and tightened its lockdown rules . The current travel pause…

Construction crews working at Flaxmere College were treated to a hangi produced by a group of college students for Matariki. Twenty Year 11 to 13 Flaxmere College students spent two full days planning, preparing and producing 100…

Test your brains with the Herald’s afternoon quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz for the morning quiz tomorrow. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.

New South Wales can expect heavy rain today and high winds in some areas, with wet conditions continuing into the weekend.

A low pressure off the NSW coast will bring widespread rainfall of 15-30mm across the northeast of the state today.

Falls of 40-80mm are expected over the North West Slopes and Plains and Northern Tablelands.

The same weather system will also bring strong, possibly damaging winds to parts of the Central and Mid North Coasts tomorrow and shifting north on Sunday.

As the low deepens over the Tasman, blustery winds and showers will sweep up the NSW coast in coming days, accompanied by a surge of large surf with residents warned to keep an eye on severe weather warnings.

https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1413030143975727104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

NSW winter sports fans permitted to travel under COVID-19 restrictions can expect good snow conditions at the state's ski resorts.

Last weekend's snow falls topped up the base in NSW resorts to the point where they are now running at near full lift capacity.

Another frontal system will also impact southwest Western Australia today.

It is forecast to bring another burst of strong to damaging winds to the state, as well as heavy rain over parts of the Lower West and South West districts.

Rainfall of 20-40mm of rain can be expected in these areas.

Two billionaires are putting everything on the line this month to ride their own rockets into space.

It's intended to be a flashy confidence boost for customers seeking their own short joyrides.

The lucrative, high-stakes chase for space tourists will unfold on the fringes of space — 88km to 106km up, pitting Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson against the world's richest man, Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos.

READ MORE: Amazon begins new chapter as Jeff Bezos hands over CEO role

Mr Branson is due to take off Sunday from New Mexico, launching with two pilots and three other employees aboard a rocket plane carried aloft by a double-fuselage aircraft.

Mr Bezos departs nine days later from West Texas, blasting off in a fully automated capsule with three guests: his brother, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer who's waited six decades for a shot at space and the winner of a $36 million charity auction.

Mr Branson's flight will be longer, but Mr Bezos' will be higher. Mr Branson's craft has more windows, but Mr Bezos' windows are bigger.

Mr Branson's piloted plane has already flown to space three times. Mr Bezos' has five times as many test flights, though none with people on board.

Either way, they're shooting for sky-high bragging rights as the first person to fly his own rocket to space and experience three to four minutes of weightlessness.

Mr Branson, who turns 71 in another week, considers it "very important" to try it out before allowing space tourists on board.

READ MORE: Branson warns stumbling vaccine rollout 'risks Australian economy'

He insists he's not apprehensive; this is the thrill-seeking adventurer who's kite-surfed across the English Channel and attempted to circle the world in a hot air balloon.

"As a child, I wanted to go to space. When that did not look likely for my generation, I registered the name Virgin Galactic with the notion of creating a company that could make it happen," Mr Branson wrote in a blog this week.

Seventeen years after founding Virgin Galactic, he's on the cusp of experiencing space for himself.

"It's amazing where an idea can lead you, no matter how far-fetched it may seem at first."

Mr Bezos, 57, who stepped down Monday as Amazon's CEO, announced in early June that he'd be on his New Shepard rocket's first passenger flight, choosing the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's moon landing.

He too had childhood dreams of traveling to space, Mr Bezos said via Instagram.

"On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother," he said.

"The greatest adventure, with my best friend."

Mr Branson was supposed to fly later this year on the second of three more test flights planned by Virgin Galactic before flying ticketholders next year. But late last week, he leapfrogged ahead.

He insists he's not trying to beat Mr Bezos and that it's not a race. Yet his announcement came just hours after Mr Bezos revealed he'd be joined in space by Wally Funk, one of the last surviving members of the so-called Mercury 13. The 13 female pilots never made it to space despite passing the same tests in the early 1960s as NASA's original, all-male Mercury 7 astronauts.

Mr Bezos hasn't commented publicly on Mr Branson's upcoming flight.

But some at Blue Origin already are nitpicking the fact that their capsule surpasses the designated Karman line of space 100km up, while Virgin Galactic's peak altitude is 88km.

International aeronautic and astronautic federations in Europe recognise the Karman line as the official boundary between the upper atmosphere and space, while NASA, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and some astrophysicists accept a minimum altitude of 80km.

Blue Origin's flights last 10 minutes by the time the capsule parachutes onto the desert floor. Virgin Galactic's last about 14 to 17 minutes from the time the space plane drops from the mothership and fires its rocket motor for a steep climb until it glides to a runway landing.

SpaceX's Elon Musk doesn't do quick up-and-down hops to the edge of space. His capsules go all the way to orbit, and he's shooting for Mars.

"There is a big difference between reaching space and reaching orbit," he said last week on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1411229741298831360

Mr Musk already has carried 10 astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, and his company's first private spaceflight is coming up in September for another billionaire who's purchased a three-day, globe-circling ride.

Regardless of how high they fly, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin already are referring to their prospective clients as "astronauts".

More than 600 have reserved seats with Virgin Galactic at US$250,000 ($337,000). Blue Origin expects to announce prices and open ticket sales once Mr Bezos flies.

Phil McAlister, NASA's commercial spaceflight director, considers it a space renaissance, especially as the space station gets set to welcome a string of paying visitors, beginning with a Russian actress and movie producer in October, a pair of Japanese in December and a SpaceX-delivered crew of businessmen in January.

"This next year, it's going to really start moving pretty quickly, so we're really excited about it," NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough said from the space station last week.

This is precisely the future NASA wanted once the shuttles retired and private companies took over space station ferry flights. Atlantis blasted off on the last shuttle flight 10 years ago on Thursday.

"The way I see it is the more, the better, right?" Mr McAlister said.

Work to upgrade Middlemore Hospital’s baby unit was under way for a month with no building consent.Construction had to be urgently halted – and has remained that way – as the hospital battles to find beds for sick babies and children…