Author: Press Room

Emilia Wickstead hopes Air New Zealand staff feel “the empowerment and the prestige” when they start wearing their new uniform.  Emma Gleeson talks to the Kiwi designer. Wickstead is emotional. It’s a big deal, outfitting your home country’s flag-carrying airline – and it’s been a long time coming. “It’s been like quite a long journey,” she says standing by the new uniforms at Air New Zealand’s Fanshawe St headquarters. “I’m even crying now.” Seventeen months after the company announced its collaboration with the London-based Kiwi designer to much fanfare, it’s finally unveiled the new staff wardrobe. Wickstead is home for the occasion.…

The union for supermarket staff say some workers feel like they are “being stabbed in the back” as Woolworths moves ahead with a restructure.The supermarket chain had been consulting on changes to its operating model across the country.It will see their Blockhouse Bay and Māngere Mall stores shut, with some senior staff roles changed.Woolworths said the key difference under the new model was that staff would “collaborate together on tasks” rather than working separately in departments.It said this should mean more people on the shop floor to help customers.”We’ll continue to learn and adjust as we pilot the new operating…

StudyLink has processed more student loan and allowance applications than last year, but thousands remain uncompleted, figures leaked to RNZ show.RNZ understands StudyLink has struggled to deal with a 12% jump in applications that universities warned would be coming as their enrolments rose.A source told RNZ the situation was avoidable, chaotic, and a crisis.Students said delays created financial problems for many people.RNZ understands there were delays of as much as two months between students providing documentation and staff processing the information.RNZ was told StudyLink staff were offered overtime to help get through the backlog and staff from other parts of…

ADVERTISEMENTDavid Bendels, editor-in-chief of the Alternative for Germany (AfD)-affiliated Deutschland Kurier, has been sentenced to a seven-month suspended prison sentence for spreading a fake meme featuring German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on social networks.Bendels must also apologise in writing to Faeser.Der Spiegel reported that the photo in question was posted by Deutschland-Kurier’s David Bendels on the outlet’s X account (formerly known as Twitter) at the end of February. The manipulated photo showed Faeser holding a sign reading, “I hate freedom of speech,” and was widely shared and viewed. The original image reportedly came from another official post by the Ministry…

What would you do if you got a $566,000 internet bill for just two months usage?That was the predicament for Tim Howe, owner of car park company Central Park Ltd.Howe changed his data plans with internet provider One New Zealand about a year ago from unlimited to limited in an attempt to save costs on his company’s devices.He received a $256,000 bill in January and then a $310,000 bill in February.“Sending a $566,000 bill for two months of internet across a small business is an absolute joke,” said Howe.Howe said he had been trying since January to get One NZ…

Kiwi fashion designer Emilia Wickstead has unveiled her new uniform design for Air New Zealand – over a decade on from the national carrier’s last uniform update.The new kit for the airline is woven with references to New Zealand, from the Matariki constellation on the sleeves to a huia feather to represent management.The deep purple dress features a kōwhai print and the shirt, which has been designed to be worn by cabin crew and ground staff employees, has purapura whetū patterns.The outfit for pilots includes a pinstripe suit with a kiwi feather print lining. An ie faitaga, a more formal…

ADVERTISEMENTAllies at NATO meet in Brussels on Thursday but are questioning the level of commitment this US administration has for the transatlantic alliance set up to counter the threat of the Soviet empire, despite protestations to the contrary by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte.  Western defence ministers co-hosted by France and the UK from the so-called ‘Coalition of the Willing’ are meeting at NATO HQ to discuss the potential for military engagement and logistical support for a multi-national “reassurance force” to be used as a safeguard should a ceasefire or peace agreement be brokered…

ADVERTISEMENTChina has dismissed remarks made by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which he claimed officials in Beijing are aware that Chinese citizens are fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine.At a press conference in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian slammed the claims as “irresponsible remarks”.”We advise the relevant parties to recognise China’s role correctly and clear-headedly,” Lin told reporters, without directly naming either Zelenskyy or Ukraine.Lin said Beijing always advises its nationals to avoid any foreign conflict and in particular discourages Chinese citizens from joining foreign military operations.The rebuke came after Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that Ukraine had evidence of at…

The Ministry of Health isn’t tracking how many New Zealanders are living with Parkinson’s disease, despite it being the fastest growing neurological condition in the world.The estimated 13,000 Kiwis live with Parkinson’s, a number that has increased by about 40% in the past decade, according to neuroscientist Toni Pitcher.“We’ve developed a method whereby we can estimate the number of people with Parkinson’s… based on the medication used,” she told 1News.Health NZ told 1News it doesn’t collate the data as there isn’t a definitive test for Parkinson’s. GPs and neurologists diagnose the condition and don’t report what they say is “nationally…

ADVERTISEMENTSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in Beijing, his second stop on a two-country tour of Asia which comes against a backdrop of serious geopolitical tensions due to Donald Trump’s tariff war.During his visit to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Wednesday, Sánchez praised the tariff pause as “a gateway to negotiation and agreement between countries,” after Trump suspended levies on most countries, with the exception of China, for 90 days.Ahead of his visit, the White House warned the Spanish government against cosying up to Beijing.In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that…