Author: Press Room

The public are being given a rare opportunity to witness moko kanohi, or traditional Māori facial tattooing – usually performed in private.Over three days, Wellington’s Te Papa is hosting a celebration of the history and living art of moko kanohi, led by national tā moko collective Te Uhi a Mataora.On the opening day, 21-year-old Fernleigh Rangihaeata received his moko surrounded by whānau and friends.”What my moko means to me is the way that I was raised, who I was raised by, which is my kuia. She is the one who gave me these taonga,” he said.He’s one of 10 people…

Like thousands of actors, Tilly Norwood is looking for a Hollywood agent.But unlike most young performers aspiring to make it in the film industry, Tilly Norwood is an entirely artificial intelligence-made character. Norwood, dubbed Hollywood’s first “AI actor”, is the product of a company named Xicoia, which bills itself as the world’s first artificial intelligence talent studio.Since the Dutch producer and comedian Eline Van der Velden launched the digital character’s prospective career, Tilly Norwood has been all the talk in Hollywood.But not in a good way. Guilds, actors and filmmakers have met the Xicoia product with an immediate wave of…

The family of the man Wellington’s abandoned Gordon Wilson flats are named after want the building to be redeveloped, rather than demolished.The 1950s-era apartment complex has sat unlived in on Wellington’s hills just below Victoria University since 2012 after they stopped being used for social housing because they were deemed to be too unsafe to live in.They were so dangerous, signs on fences blocking access to it say: “There is a risk of the concrete falling from the building at any time.”The Government has carved out a section of the law so the earthquake-prone abandoned heritage building can be demolished…

Aged care facilities say they’re under pressure with the workload and cost of taking in young disabled Kiwis, who have nowhere else to turn. More than 800 disabled New Zealanders aged under 65 live in rest homes.Advocates have told 1News it’s because there’re very few accommodation options for those with more complex care needs, culminating in a housing crisis for the disabled community, who also struggle to find homes that are physically accessible. Maygrove Care, north of Auckland, is one of around 170 providers registered as having young residents with disabilities.Manager Gail Bradley said: “At the moment we’ve got two,…

Renowned broadcaster and clinical psychologist Nigel Latta has died after a battle with cancer. He was 58.In a post to Facebook, Latta’s family said he died yesterday.”Nigel passed away with the same dignity and positivity that he carried through life.” In 2024, Latta was diagnosed with an “incurable stomach cancer”.”You were never dying, just living until the moment you weren’t. You fought cancer with enormous bravery. You’ve spent your life helping others in need. And now it’s your turn to rest,” the post read.”He will be dearly missed by his wife Natalie, daughter Rina, son Kieran, and three stepchildren Elijah,…

ASB has forecast aggressive action from the Reserve Bank to “jumpstart” the economic recovery, predicting successive rate cuts to bring the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 2.25% by Christmas.Released today, the bank’s latest Economic Forecast Update highlighted that while the recovery was taking longer than hoped, resilient export performance and improving consumer spending were providing a “strong foundation for cautious optimism”.Chief economist Nick Tuffley said the economy hit a “pothole” with a sharper than expected 0.9% downturn in GDP in the June quarter and was now struggling to regain momentum, adding that monetary policy must take the lead.”The economy feels…

Work to fix the damaged beam on the Tinwald Viaduct is yet to start, 10 weeks after the road was closed.The wooden overhead impact beam on the viaduct – the country’s most hit rail bridge – was damaged after being hit by an excavator being towed on a trailer on June 30 and was temporarily closed to traffic on July 29.The viaduct, located under the main south railway line, has a clearance height of just 2.39 metres.It gets struck at least 13 times a year, according to KiwiRail.The closure, requested by KiwiRail, was to avoid further damage to the structure…

A person was found dead following a house fire in Hastings yesterday afternoon. Emergency services were called to Tamatea Street in Mahora at around 2.40pm yesterday.Two fire trucks were called to the blaze, which was subsequently extinguished. One person was found dead. “The formal identification process is ongoing, as is the investigation into the circumstances of the fire,” police said last night. Cordons were in place on Tamatea Street between Duke Street and Tamatea Place while emergency services remained at the scene. The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a big bank’s prediction for interest rates coming down, Trump’s warning…

“You get what you put in.” That has been the philosophy of Dunedin business leader Neil Finn-House, who leaves the city this week for a new role in Wellington as chief commercial and operating officer at Business Central NZ/Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Mr Finn-House has spent nearly 12 years as chief executive of the Mitre 10 Mega Dunedin business, alongside a strong involvement in the business community since moving south from Tauranga in 2003. “It’s been very, very good to me, this city,” he said. The Englishman started in the retail industry as an 18-year-old and moved to New Zealand…

In a case of double vision that nobody can explain, shoppers in Napier can buy their groceries from one of two Woolworths in the central city that are diagonally opposite each other.The two stores – Woolworths Carlyle, or until recently Countdown Carlyle, and Woolworths Napier, formerly Countdown Napier, are separated only by a street.They’ve both in recent days rebranded to Woolworths, but their continued existence has raised plenty of questions.Is this an example of landbanking? No, says Woolworths. Or is it some mistake?Author of the Napier in Frame blog Andrew Frame is an expert on the supermarkets’ histories.”Carlyle was a…