Author: Press Room

The Commerce Commission has filed charges under the Fair Trading Act against New Zealand’s largest gym chain CityFitness for alleged misleading membership price advertising.The Commission alleges an advertised membership price did not include a compulsory 3% fee, which it says was inaccurately labelled as a “transaction fee”.Businesses should not exclude compulsory fees from their advertised prices as it goes against consumers’ right to accurate pricing, said general manager of competition, fair trading and credit Vanessa Horne.”It shouldn’t be a difficult exercise to work out how much your gym costs.”The charge period for the alleged misleading claims was between December 21,…

Two state schools are in contract negotiations to become charter schools as early as next year – but their identities remain under wraps.The Charter School Agency said the schools applied last year to convert and had consulted with their communities.”When the schools open depends on the outcome of these negotiations. Information will become publicly available after contracts have been signed. Until then, information is commercially sensitive,” the agency’s chief executive Jane Lee said.The agency said, in total, six state and six state integrated schools, including the two that had been approved, had expressed interest or applied to become charter schools.They…

By Nona Pelletier of RNZ There are signs the worst of the economic downturn may be over for New Zealand retailers, but the outlook remains far from optimistic. Retail NZ said latest Stats NZ data indicate a small uptick in consumer spending, but the bigger picture remained bleak, pointing to the recent closures of large retail chains, Smiths City and Kitchen Things, as well as smaller well-established shops in many centres. A retail sector report by brokerage Forsyth Barr expects three-out-of-four of listed retail companies, which included The Warehouse Group, Briscoe Group and Hallensteins Glassons, to underperform, while the fourth,…

Tom Phillips left his campsite in the early hours of Monday morning with one of his children intending to carry out another burglary. The day would end with Phillips dead and his children’s 1358 days in the bush coming to an end. RNZ’s National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood reports.It all began with an early morning call from a member of the public.About 2.30 on Monday morning police received a call from a Piopio resident to say they believed they were witnessing a burglary in action at PGG Wrightson.PGG Wrightson in Piopio (Source: 1News)There was more. The burglary involved two people…

A prominent sportsman has been found not guilty of breaking a baby’s ribs and collarbone.It took the jury about four hours to unanimously find the man, whose name is suppressed, not guilty of injuring with reckless disregard and an alternative charge of assault following a three-week trial in the Dunedin District Court.The prosecution claimed the man lost patience with the unsettled baby on July 16, 2023 while the infant’s mother was at the gym, squeezing him after a “brain explosion” and breaking more than a dozen of his ribs and his collarbone.But defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC called it a…

Smiths City liquidation sales across the South over the weekend left shelves stripped of their stock in just one day, as staff are left in the dark about what comes next. The future of Smiths City remains up in the air with more advice likely by the end of the week. The 107-year-old retailer went into voluntary administration on Tuesday last week and on Friday announced a nationwide liquidation sale over the weekend. Seven of the eight stores — Auckland, Christchurch, Greymouth, Oamaru, Alexandra, Gore and Invercargill — reopened to sell remaining stock. The exception was the Dunedin store, which…

A wildlife advocacy group is urging Wairarapa councils to go harder on cat regulations in a proposed set of bylaws.Carterton District Council would be the first council to adopt the revised Wairarapa Consolidated Bylaw at its meeting on Wednesday.Despite several changes being consulted on, the final proposed set of bylaws was largely similar to the current version.At a recent Wairarapa bylaw hearing, Forest and Bird presented detailed examples of cat-related nuisance from Masterton, Carterton, and South Wairarapa, and advocated for proactive regulation, including desexing and identification of owned cats.This stance was also supported by SPCA and Companion Animals New Zealand.Despite…

Two people have been sentenced following the severe neglect of two dogs in Auckland, leaving one so emaciated he had to be euthanised. The SPCA was first alerted to the situation in March 2022, after receiving reports of concern about a dog named Tyson at an Auckland property. Inspectors found the white crossbreed in poor condition. The condition of another dog at the property, Sarge, was unknown. Both were aggressive and Tyson appeared underweight, with visible ribs and spine. The SPCA said both dogs retained some muscle mass. The female owner claimed the dogs had recently been treated for worms…

The mother of Marokopa fugitive Tom Phillips’ children says there was a “wave of complex emotions for our whānau” in the wake of today’s dramatic incident.A police officer was wounded before Phillips was fatally shot in western Waikato, after Phillips and one of the children tried to break into a store in Piopio. Phillips had been evading police since December 2021 and along with his three young children Ember, Maverick and Jayda was spending a fourth winter on the run. Follow 1News’ live updates hereHe was shot after firing at and critically injuring a police officer during a burglary response…

Published on 08/09/2025 – 16:18 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Now, you may think about Donald Trump whatever you like, just like Americans: one half hates him, the other half adores him. But you have to concede: Trump has guts. The last time he went to Flushing Meadows (in Queens, his birthplace) in 2015 to see the US Open he was brutally booed upon arriving at the VIP entrance at Arthur Ashe Stadium and booed again when he was shown on the big screen. At the time, Trump was a New York celebrity who had just announced a run for the presidency. That booing…