Author: Press Room

Breaking up the major entities in the supermarket sector would be a quick way for the government to reintroduce competition and lower food prices. While waiting for an an international brand to establish itself in New Zealand could take years. By Lisa M. Katerina Asher, Catherine Sutton-Brady and Drew Franklin.New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector is back in the spotlight after Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was open to offering “VIP treatment” to a third international player willing to create competition.However, New Zealanders hoping for a foreign hero to break up the current supermarket concentration will be waiting a long…

By Craig McCulloch of RNZ  Travellers calling for non-stop flights between New Zealand and India now have a date on which to pin their hopes – but it is still more than three years away. The airline announcement was unveiled at a Tourism NZ reception attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the grand Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai early this morning (NZ time). Luxon also found time to meet with popular Bollywood stars Aamir Khan, Vidya Balan, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala and filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker. “The film scene brings money into our economy which creates…

In 2001, 91% of Southland’s population was Pākehā. Only 0.9% was Asian. Twenty years later, that’s grown to 7% Asian, with more than a third of those being Filipino.When Southland’s dairy farming sector had massive labour shortages in the early 2000s, Filipino dairy workers came to fill those gaps.Filipinos came with the hopes for a better life, not just for themselves, but also for their families.Guillermo Tolentino was 25 years old when he moved to Southland in 2003. He says he was the second Filipino dairy worker in the region — the first was his friend, who helped him get…

The appointment of Samuel Migaľ as the new minister of investments and regional development was a result of a deal agreed on by three parties in the governing coalition headed by Prime Minister Robert Fico. ADVERTISEMENTSlovakia’s president has sworn in a new minister of investments and regional development, completing a reshuffle that keeps a parliamentary majority for the government. The appointment of Samuel Migaľ was a result of a deal agreed on by three parties in governing coalition to increase the power of the Smer (Direction) party of Prime Minister Robert Fico.Under the agreement, the coalition’s two junior partners — the Hlas…

Rock legends ZZ Top have added a South Island date to their upcoming May tour of New Zealand. The band will play at Christchurch’s Wolfbrook Arena on Thursday, May 15. The Christchurch show will be followed by others at Auckland’s Spark Arena on May 17 and Wellington’s TSB Arena on May 18. Live Nation and ticket agent pre-sales for the Christchurch show go live at 12pm on Monday, March 24 until 12pm on Tuesday, March 25. General tickets go on sale at 1pm on Tuesday March 25 on Live Nation’s website. The group will be supported by George Thorogood and…

We’ve all been there. Unloading bone dry dishes from the dishwasher but finding the plastic items still wet. What the heck is going on? Kamil Zuber explains why it happens and what you can do to reduce it. It’s annoying to open your dishwasher after the cycle is finished only to find half of the dishes still wet. Instead of being able to stack them away, you end up with a full drying rack.And you’ve probably noticed it’s always plastic items that end up the most wet. What’s going on?The answer is a bit convoluted and requires some materials and…

One person has died following a serious crash in Browns Bay on Auckland’s North Shore last night.In a statement, a police spokesperson said the single vehicle crash on Beach Rd was reported shortly before 8pm.”Sadly, police can confirm that the sole male occupant of the vehicle has died,” the spokesperson said. The serious crash unit has carried out a scene examination. Police said inquiries would be made on behalf of the Coroner into the man’s death.Two killed in TaranakiEarlier yesterday, two people died in a two-vehicle crash on Main North Road Onaero (State Highway 3) near New Plymouth shortly before…

The European Commission wants to boost Europe’s economy by redirecting the savings of citizens across the EU towards investment to stay competitive on the global stage. ADVERTISEMENTThe European Commission unveiled on Monday a plan to better channel up to €10 trillion in bank deposits across the bloc into much-needed strategic investments.“Currently, too few European citizens make a decent return on their hard-earned savings, at least not in a simple and cost-efficient way,” EU Commissioner for Financial Services Maria Luis Albuquerque told reporters in Brussels. “This is regrettable and represents a loss to us all,” she added.Capital in the EU isn’t…

New Zealand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has fallen into Australian hands in a major shakeup of the local crypto market. Easy Crypto, with more than 350,000 users globally, has been acquired by Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx for an undisclosed sum. The parties said the merger would create the second-largest platform in Australasia by trading volume, combining with Swyftx’s 800,000 customers. Easy Crypto was founded by siblings Alan and Janine Grainger in 2018 and claimed to have more than $3.5 billion worth of transactions since starting operations. Co-founder and chief executive Janine Grainger said the move was “the right one” amid strong…

If you have bought butter recently you might have noticed something — it is a lot more expensive.Stats NZ said last week that the price of butter was up 60% in February compared to the same time last year.It recorded an average of $7.32 per 500g block, up from just under $4.50 at the start of last year and just under $5.20 four years ago.At supermarkets this week, Woolworths’ cheapest butter was $7.19, in New World’s North Island stores it was also $7.19, while in its South Island stores it was $7.79 and Pak n Save’s was $6.89.Infometrics chief forecaster…