Author: Press Room
A Dunedin apprentice plumber has sealed the top spot at a nationwide plumbing award show. On Friday, 21-year-old Masterlink apprentice plumber Trent Toomey was named the overall winner of the Plumbing World Scholarship, presented by the 2025 New Zealand Plumbing Awards Ceremony held in Brisbane. He was awarded a $1000 credit at Plumbing World and a registration to the 2026 New Zealand Plumbing Conference, which includes flights, accommodation and a guest ticket for the New Zealand Plumbing Awards. His employers, Gas and Water owners Shelley and Sean Reynolds, said Mr Toomey turned up to work every day with a “smile…
A large fire which caused “significant damage” to a McDonald’s restaurant in east Auckland this afternoon is now being treated as suspicious.Emergency services were notified of the fire at around 3pm on Monday.Fire and Emergency NZ said the building was “totally involved” in flames by the time crews arrived.Six fire trucks from Howick, Ellerslie, Mt Wellington, Otara, and Papatoetoe were in attendance at the blaze. One was a ladder truck, a FENZ spokesperson said.”Everyone was out at the time and there are no reports of injuries.”FENZ said the fire was being treated as suspicious.”A fire investigator is attending to determine…
An Indonesian man has been denied entry to New Zealand after he attempted to smuggle five cartons of cigarettes through Wellington International Airport.The 35-year-old man — who arrived off a flight from Jakarta via Sydney — was a frequent traveller to New Zealand, having been employed by and working on New Zealand-flagged fishing vessels.Customs said the body-packing of the more than 1600 cigarettes was “an attempt to defraud Customs revenue”.The border agency posted a photo of the concealed cartons, highlighting the methods used in the failed smuggling attempt.”Collaboration between border agencies saw a total of 1620 cigarettes seized with revenue…
A piece of Second World War history has recently been uncovered during safety upgrades of State Highway 3 in Taranaki.Two Home Guard rifle pits were found to the north of the intersection of SH3 and De Havilland Dr in Bell Block on the outskirts of New Plymouth.The Transport Agency said they were likely to have been constructed between 1941 and 1942 as a defensive position to protect the Bell Block Aerodrome on Te Arei Rd, which was being used as a Royal New Zealand Air Force training base, from a potential invasion by Japanese forces.The Home Guard was formed in…
Dunedin’s newly launched emergency and after-hours veterinary clinic is going seven-days from May 12. Since opening in March, the clinic has been open from close of business on Friday until opening of business on Monday, except when clinics were open on Saturday. The clinic was the brainchild of Dunedin women Isobel Topham, Lucy Wilson and Ellen Andrews to help deal with the issue of after-hours calls in the profession. Dr Topham said the clinic had been very busy. There had been a lot more daytime cases than they had expected and fewer surgeries, but about what they had expected for…
President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the US.In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorised the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands”.”The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote, complaining that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw” filmmakers and studios away from the US. “This is a concerted effort by other…
A pōhutukawa tree has been planted in honour of Kyle Whorrall, the US PhD student slain during an attack at an Auckland bus stop last month. The 33-year-old was attacked at a bus stop on St Johns Rd in Meadowbank on April 19, and died from his injuries in hospital.More than 50 members of the community, friends and colleagues of Whorrall gathered for a vigil on April 24 at the bus stop where he was attacked.Today, Whorrall’s mother Carole was joined by members of the community and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei for the blessing and to plant a pōhutukawa tree in…
One of the best meteor showers in the Southern Hemisphere, the Eta Aquariids, will be visible in New Zealand this week.Here’s how you can catch a glimpse of it and what you need to know.Firstly, what is the Eta Aquariids?The Eta Aquariids is a meteor shower caused by the Earth passing through a trail of debris orbiting the Sun that’s left behind by Halley’s Comet.”Small bits of ice, dust, and rock fall into our atmosphere and high speeds, burning up and creating the meteors, commonly known as shooting stars,” says Stardome Observatory and Planetarium’s Josh Aoraki.The annual meteor shower takes…
A Flaxmere man tortured as a child at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital is taking the Crown to court, arguing its redress framework is unlawful.Malcolm Richards will file a claim in the High Court at Wellington later this morning, seeking a judicial review of Cabinet’s redress decision.Those tortured at the Manawatū psychiatric facility had until last week to choose a rapid payment of $150,000 or head to arbitration.The redress scheme only applies to survivors who are still alive that had been subjected to electric shocks and/or paraldehyde injections.Some have already welcomed the money, but Richards has refused the redress on…
Rotorua has hit its highest number of new build homes in 14 years, bucking the national trend.It comes as a new assessment finds the city has more than enough future housing capacity, a turnaround from shortage projections.More than 500 homes were built in the city last year, about half of them social housing or affordable rentals.Rotorua Lakes Council destination development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston told an April meeting many of the 522 houses were built in the central and western areas.Net new homes reached 483 after accounting for homes removed to make way for developments.It was the third year in…