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Visitors the Upper Hutt Rams came screeching back over the final 15 minutes to beat Tawa 24-19 at  windy Lyndhurst Park on Saturday. Tawa were left ruing a number of missed opportunities and a pair of second half yellow cards which cost them the game. They had earlier sprung to life midway through the first...

Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, known for his optical and kinetic artworks, has died at 98. The news was reported by outlets including the Times of Israel , Haaretz , and the Jerusalem Post . The son of an Orthodox rabbi, Agam was born Yaacov Gipstein in Rishon LeZion, Palestine (now Israel), in 1928. After studying art in Jerusalem, he traveled to Zurich in 1949 to study with artist Johannes Itten, who introduced him to Bauhaus ideas on color and abstraction; he was also influenced by Vasily Kandinsky’s 1911 treatise, On the Spiritual in Art: And Painting in Particular . In 1951, he moved to Paris, where he was still living at the time of his death. Agam’s first solo exhibition was at 1953 at Galerie Craven in Paris, where he presented two series of works. One series displayed different images depending on the viewer’s position relative to the piece. Such artworks would become something of a signature for the artist, who dubbed them “Agamographs.” He also sh...

Madonna collects her. Her work sets auction records for women artists. Netflix is developing a series about her. She’s the subject of an opera . Now, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo has another claim to fame. “Frida: The Making of an Icon,” opening this month at London’s Tate Modern, has pre-sold 41,000 tickets, a record for the institution, reports the Guardian . That beats the 32,000 advance sales for the museum’s 2017 David Hockney exhibition. “We’re pretty blown away by it,” Catherine Wood, Tate Modern’s interim director, told the publication. The museum is billing the show as the first major exhibition to explore how Kahlo became a “global icon” and a major influence on a generation of artists. Co-organized with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the show will include more than 30 works by the artist alongside documentary photographs, personal effects, and works by a host of artists reflecting her profound influence.  ...

Pacific Strongest 2026 flyer featuring champs from 2025’s event. Photo: Provided by Misa Peter Anae. Ann-Tauilo Motuga | Reporter/Videographer “Pacific Strongest is about more than lifting weights. It’s about honouring our culture, strengthening our people, and bringing the Pacific together – united in strength.”– Misa Peter Anae, Co-founder, Pacific Strongest. An insane battle of pure grit, power and island pride will take over Apia this weekend as the Pacific Strongest 2026 kicks off in beautiful Samoa. The two-day competition will take place behind the Central Bank of Samoa on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th June. Spearheaded by co-founder and President of Strongman Samoa Misa Peter Anae, the free family-friendly event will unite some of the Pacific’s strongest male and female athletes. Photo: Provided by Misa Pete...

Xavier Numia and Billy Proctor running freely during the Super Rugby Final. They won a College First XV Premiership final together in 2015 for St Pat’s Town and have now won the Super Rugby title together for the Hurricanes. Photo: Caroline Lewis. Monday morning edition – updates expected later today. It’s the last week of...

A new BDC study finds established suppliers running near capacity while a larger pipeline of prospective entrants faces financing and compliance barriers. Canada’s defence ramp-up is reaching small and medium businesses at very different speeds. A new study from BDC, produced with The Icebreaker, sorts them into three groups: defence-focused firms trying to scale now, companies moving cautiously between civilian and military work, and prospective suppliers still working out how to get in. Demand is rising across all three. The firms best placed to meet it have the least room to grow, and the firms with room to grow are the least ready. The study surveyed 268 companies active in defence and 374 interested in entering. The sample was non-probabilistic and skews to Ontario, so it describes the firms surveyed rather than all Canadian SMEs. Three speeds Defence-heavy SMEs earn most of their revenue from the sector. They have customers and demand but no slack: 2...