Author: Press Room

Immigration New Zealand is “assessing” the visit of YouTube star IShowSpeed after confirming he does not have the visa required to work in the country.IShowSpeed or Speed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr, has been touring New Zealand, filming a series of livestreams for a broadcast to YouTube and his audience of 33 million subscribers.In a statement to 1News, Immigration New Zealand general manager risk and border Richard Owen confirmed Speed was on a visitor visa to New Zealand, after travelling to the country as a visa-waiver traveller.”A person cannot work in New Zealand while holding a visitor…

An Auckland landlord who failed to maintain his property and comply with an improvement notice has been ordered to pay more than $4000 for multiple breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act.The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT) opened a proactive assessment to investigate Leng Minn Kit’s practices as a landlord in 2022.In November 2022, TCIT conducted a visit to a converted garage unit in Auckland’s Beach Haven which the landlord had rented to a single tenant for the past 15 years. A range of issues were observed, all resulting from Kit’s neglect of…

The new Commission is set to be approved by the European Parliament with a large majority, but how this majority is shaped will be worth watching. ADVERTISEMENTA positive outcome is all but guaranteed when the European Parliament votes on whether to approve President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen’s new team of commissioners in its entirety, but there are good reasons to monitor Wednesday’s vote in the Strasbourg closely.Parliament will vote to approve the incoming Commission, having previously endorsed all 26 commissioners through a backroom deal among centrist groups: the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats…

More than 3000 people in Southland are on jobseeker benefits but the Minister for Social Development and Employment believes the situation is fixable. Louise Upston visited Invercargill yesterday as one of the speakers at a Murihiku Regeneration wānanga, where she spoke about human capital. Talking to the Otago Daily Times after the event, she said it was exciting to be part of such an event as Southland was a region which had been focusing on a “plan B” or the long-term future of the region and as part of this it was important to ensure employment opportunities for people locally. She said…

Police investigating an alleged serious assault in Napier are appealing to the public for help, after someone driving a white sedan allegedly “drove into the victim”.At about 3.10pm yesterday, officers were called to the intersection of Latham St and Bedford Rd “where a person was seriously injured”.A police spokesperson said: “The victim was working on a vehicle outside an address, when two vehicles arrived on scene. “The two vehicles are described as a white Japanese-manufactured sedan, and a silver Ford Mondeo. Multiple people got out of the vehicles and approached the victim.”An altercation took place, before the white vehicle drove…

KiwiSaver withdrawals for hardship reasons are happening at record levels, and there are warnings more may be to come as a Christmas crunch hits.The 4000 people who withdrew $38.4 million from KiwiSaver in October set a record for the retirement savings scheme.Supervisor Public Trust said its data for the past two years showed there could be more to come, because there was usually a seasonal spike in hardship withdrawals nearing Christmas.”Already November is on track to be one of the year’s busiest months in terms of volumes of hardship applications, and we’re anticipating the trend will continue in December. They’ll…

Can the goods we buy and the services we use affect the survival of the rainforest? The EU thinks so and this episode explores its new law on deforestation, which is provoking a backlash from companies and countries who are negotiating over how to delay the application of the new rules. ADVERTISEMENTThe new law on deforestation, passed in June last year, will require companies to prove that manufacturing processes and supply chains are not responsible for the destruction of forests, especially tropical forests that are essential for the stability of the climate.Cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, timber, rubber, coal…

Pacific Edge has reported a flat financial result for the six months to September 30 (1H25) but has highlighted the outcome of several events that have the potential to renew growth in Cxbladder test volume and revenue. That included Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) Novitas making a favourable policy decision on the draft genetic testing for oncology Local Coverage Determination, the American Urological Association’s ongoing review of microhematuria standards of care leading to language favourable to Cxbladder in its new guidelines, and the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalising pricing recommendations for the company’s next generation test, Cxbladder Triage…

Serious questions need to be asked about NCEA Level 1 which has created an unfair two-tier system, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.She said serious variability issues have been exposed for schools around the country and it was trying to be “everything to everyone”.Stanford was speaking to Morning Report after the Education Review Office called for a rethink of NCEA Level 1 that could include ditching the qualification.In a report released this morning, the review office said it was critically important that Level 1 was changed because an overhaul introduced this year was not working.The report said the qualification was not…

Foreign-controlled businesses account for 15% of jobs in the EU with Luxembourg, Poland, and Slovakia having the highest share of employment. ADVERTISEMENTForeign-controlled companies have a significant impact on the EU economy, even though they make up just 1% of all market producers.Despite their small numbers, in 2022 foreign-controlled businesses contributed a substantial 24% of the total value added in the EU’s business sector.  According to the latest data on Eurostat, foreign-controlled enterprises had the highest value-added contributions in Ireland with 71%, followed by Luxembourg with 55% and Slovakia with 52%.   In contrast, France, Germany, and Italy saw much lower contributions, ranging from…