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The 2026 Wellington club rugby season kicks off this coming Saturday. The season starts with the opening round of the Premier Swindale Shield, Premier 2 Harper Lock Shield and Colts competitions. A mix of historical and recent stats and updated records is collated below.  97 – The number of Jubilee Cups contested. First won in 1929...

Volatus Aerospace is sharpening its strategic edge with the appointment of Major General (Retired) Gary Deakin CBE to its advisory board—a move that underscores the company’s growing ambitions in the aerospace and defence sectors. A veteran of NATO with a distinguished military career, Deakin brings decades of operational and strategic experience to the role. His background reflects a deep understanding of defence planning and execution, positioning him to support Volatus as it continues to expand its capabilities and influence across both domestic and international markets. The appointment signals a deliberate step by Volatus to integrate high-level military expertise into its leadership framework. As the company advances its work in government and defence-related projects, Deakin’s insights are expected to strengthen advisory services and open new pathways for collaboration—particularly in areas aligned with evolving national and allied security priorities. Volatus has steadily b...

Canada is doubling down on one of the most critical—and increasingly contested—domains in modern defence: cybersecurity. With a $3.6 million investment from Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED), the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) is set to become a key node in strengthening the resilience of Canada’s defence supply chains. Announced on March 24, 2026, the non-repayable contribution—delivered under the Regional Defence Investment Initiative (RDII) for Quebec—signals a targeted push to bolster regional innovation capacity while reinforcing national security priorities. The funding will support UQO in expanding its ability to develop and transfer cybersecurity technologies, directly addressing the growing threat landscape facing defence-related industries. At the core of the initiative is the creation of a defence-standard cybersecurity laboratory. Designed as a secure and immersive environment, the lab will allow businesses to test their systems against realis...

The Office of the Procurement Ombud (OPO) has found significant compliance gaps in the federal program for directing contracts to Indigenous businesses. Since 2022, federal departments have been required to ensure that at least 5% of the total value of their annual contracts are awarded to Indigenous businesses. The OPO’s review of four departments and 27 set-aside contracts found the program lacks the centralized policy, enforcement mechanisms, and accountability structures to reliably meet that commitment. Key findings include the absence of a centralized Indigenous procurement policy, inconsistent departmental practices including skipped pre-award audits and failure to verify supplier eligibility, no recourse mechanism for Indigenous suppliers challenging contract awards, and a reporting methodology that overstates actual economic benefit by including work performed by non-Indigenous subcontractors. The Ombud made three recommendations: develop a government-wide Indigenous Procur...

Guillaume Cerutti, the former CEO of Christie’s auction house, has left his position at the Pinault Collection after just 13 months, the French investigative news outlet Glitz reported earlier this week. In February 2025, Cerutti became president of the collection owned by French billionaire François Pinault. In addition to the 10,000 works in its holdings, the Pinault Collection also maintains several private museums: the Bourse de Commerce in Paris and the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice, which regularly stage exhibitions. The Paris location opened in 2021, while the Venice outposts opened in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Pinault also owns Venice’s Teatrino, a 225-seat auditorium that reopened in 2013 after a renovation by Tadao Ando, who also worked on the other two Venice spaces. Neither Cerutti nor the Pinault Collection has commented on his departure, with a spokesperson telling the Art Newspaper there are no plans to appoint a new president or an interim....

Hong Kong may be halfway through Mega 8, the city’s new name for its months-long lineup of major arts, culture, and sporting events, but the undoubted highlight is this week’s Art Basel Hong Kong. The fair has become a must-attend for locals and a major draw for international visitors, with attendance reaching 80,400 in 2024 and 86,500 last year. As such, it is no surprise that the city has signed a new agreement with Art Basel to ensure it remains the region’s sole host for another five years. Rosanna Law, the special administrative region’s culture secretary, announced the deal on Wednesday, which calls for Art Basel to expand the fair in both scale and impact. “We will actively complement the Art Basel fair with top-tier cultural performances and Hong Kong’s mega events, so that attending collectors and art appreciators can experience our city’s unique cultural atmosphere and its charms,” she said , according to Radio Television Hong Kong. While Law confirmed that the fair will ...