Author: Press Room

The stars have aligned to drive petrol costs down, says a fuel price tracker. Crude oil prices have plummeted in the wake of US president Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariff policies. “They started to rise at the beginning of April but now we’re seeing the beginnings of what looks like quite a sharp drop off,” said Mike Newton, director of Gaspy, a website that compares prices between fuel stations. “Of course a lot of the impacts of what’s going on with the US is still to be seen, because a lot of it is speculative.” He said several factors had come…

Last night’s Good Sort is a 6-year-old boy who raised more than $7000 for charity by selling his felt-tip masterpieces, muffins and running raffles.Riley Crook from Wellington began selling his drawings after a health scare several years ago left his family confronting the possibility of cancer.”I kind of had a lump on my neck,” he said.The young artist’s mums, Jo and Lee, feared the worst when their doctor searched for a list of causes of the lump.”The top of the list was absolutely nothing and the very bottom thing was it was a lymphoma,” said Jo.While it ended up being…

Fergusson Intermediate School staff are calling for next month’s Budget to increase staff funding, as the school prepares to hold a fundraiser to cover learning support costs.“It’s not my job, like that frustrates me. I’m not in this job to make money or to go out and look for money but the bottom line is that our kids deserve a better care, a better standard of support, so that’s where we’re spending a lot of our time,” principal Simon Kenny said.The Government is set to deliver its ‘Growth Budget’ on May 22, which reveals spending plans in all areas the…

Vanessa Hendry and Tim Lockerbie have finally booked their “one-way ticket” to Australia after selling their beloved Vanessa’s Cottage Cafe. The couple have owned and run the popular Hampden eatery, on State Highway 1, for over a decade. The business had been on the market for over two years, before the sale went through last month. Vanessa’s has been well-loved by locals and travellers alike for its friendly service and home-made food, including the now famous “Vanessa’s pies” and cheese puffs. New Vanessa’s Cottage Cafe owners Zoe and Alkun Xu are originally from southeast China and moved to New Zealand…

A sea of yoga mats filled Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin as 623 people moved through downward dog in unison today, setting a new national record for the largest yoga gathering, according to event organisers.The one-hour mass yoga session launched the NatureDome celebration, part of the Wild Dunedin Festival of Nature.Instructors Jo Woolley, Wayne Everson, and Jenna McLaughlin led the one-hour session, which drew participants from across Otago and as far away as Christchurch, said Wild Dunedin marketing manager Charlie Buchan.Buchan claimed the turnout more than doubled the previous national record of 300, set at Auckland’s Domain.The yoga session was…

ADVERTISEMENTEuropean leaders took to social media on Sunday to condemn Russia’s latest deadly attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote that “Russian cruelty struck again,” calling the attack “barbaric” in a post on X.More than 30 people were killed in the missile strike as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, according to officials. Images from the scene showed lines of black body bags lying on the side of the road, while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris. Video footage also showed fire crews as they fought to extinguish…

Three men have been rescued after their boat capsized amid 20-knot winds and strong swells in Christchurch’s Banks Peninsula this afternoon.At 1.09pm, police received a distress call from one of three men stating they had reached Little Akaloa Heads when their engine failed, a Coastguard spokesperson told 1News.The vessel was abandoned after swells of up to 2 metres pushed the boat onto the rocks.After abandoning their vessel, the group split up as two tried to make their way around the cliff, while one stayed closer to the boat.Volunteers from Coastguard Sumner and Coastguard Canterbury, and a Westpac Rescue Helicopter based…

ADVERTISEMENTA human trafficking organisation that smuggled Moroccan migrants into Spain and other EU countries was dismantled in southern Spain, government officials announced Sunday.Spanish authorities claim the organisation contacted Moroccan nationals wanting to migrate to Spain and flew them into Romania.Once in Romania, they travelled by land to Spain through other EU countries inside trucks or vans.The Spanish Civil Guard law enforcement agency said in a statement that the organisation made more than 50 trips to Spain during a two-year period, with groups between 20 and 50 migrants, who paid €3,000 per person.Four people were detained in the city of Cartagena…

The Government is proposing the biggest shake-up of the driver’s licence system in more than a decade. The raft of proposed changes include dropping one of the two practical tests required to get a full driver’s licence.Transport Minister Chris Bishop said getting a driver’s licence was an important part of participating in society but that data showed many drivers on their restricted were holding off on getting their full.”We’ve heard for a while now as a government that the system just hasn’t been working as efficiently as people would like, and that there are particularly young people out there who…

Police have thanked members of the public who came to the aid of a police officer caught up in an altercation in Feilding yesterday afternoon. Shortly after 2pm yesterday, a road policing officer was responding to a report of a group of people fighting on Lethbridge St.The situation began to calm down following the officer’s intervention when the arrival of another aggressive person “saw the incident flare up again, putting the officer in a potentially dangerous position”, Manawatū Area Commander Inspector Ross Grantham said.Other police staff were en route to the scene but were still minutes away.Grantham said several members…