Author: Press Room

Massive offshore online department stores like Temu are disrupting New Zealanders shopping habits. New Zealand Post e-commerce data shows New Zealanders spent more than $6 billion online last year, a 5% bump on the year before. Overseas online transactions were growing at a faster rate than domestic, but the average offshore spend was falling. Online stores like Temu saw the single biggest increase in purchases with a 33% jump on 2023 figures. Managing director of First Retail Group Chris Wilkinson said the increase in online shopping was a significant worry. “Really, this is tapping into what remains of our discretionary…

Consultation has opened on reducing the frequency of safety inspections for vintage cars, vintage motorbikes and motorhomes.The proposal would see WoF checks for vintage and veteran vehicles over 40 years old change from every six months to every 12 months, and see CoF checks for privately owned heavy motorhomes also change by the same time period.Transport Minister Chris Bishop has said the change will strike the right balance between safety and over-compliance.Earlier this month, 1News reported the change would impact 128,000 vehicles and 39,000 motorhomes.In 2014, the law changed so people who owned cars made in 2000 or subsequent years…

Seven people were arrested but not charged amid a protest opposing a controversial pipeline at Lake Rotokākahi in Rotorua overnight after people allegedly refused to leave the worksite. Rotorua Lakes Council contractors resumed work last night to enable the last 1.3km of pipeline in the Tarawera Sewerage Scheme to resume being laid. The site is considered tapu by local mana whenua. Yesterday, protesters gathered, and an iwi group is making a last-minute legal bid to stop construction work.Police this morning said the “vast majority” of those who showed up to protest “engaged positively” with council and police staff and co-operated…

The government is making it easier for teachers coming to New Zealand to apply for residency faster, with Immigration Minister Erica Stanford saying they’re making New Zealand a “competitive destination for overseas talent.”From late next month, primary teachers with a job offer from an accredited employer in the country will be able to apply for residency without first working for two years.It comes after a warning from the Ministry of Education schools could be short 1250 teachers this year.Stanford said a “teacher shortage not only impacts students, but other staff as well”.”To attract skilled teachers from offshore to help address…

A new global study shows New Zealand is doing well in bringing down the number of breast cancer deaths, a health researcher says.The study – led by the International Agency for Research on Cancer – has found New Zealand and Australia have some of the highest rates of breast cancer diagnoses in the world, at about one in every 1000 women.But it also found Aotearoa’s rates of death from breast cancer were at the lower end of the scale, and reducing by 2.1% each year.Victoria University associate professor in epidemiology Mona Jeffreys said this was positive news.”I was really surprised…

Mercury Energy is warning residential customers are set for a near 10% rise in electricity bills this year, blaming it on a host of factors including higher lines charges and energy costs.It comes after the company revealed $418 million in half-year underlying profit, down 4% from a year ago, which Mercury put down to lower renewable generation and higher costs.It also slumped to a bottom line loss due to changes in the value of unhedged contracts.Mercury said from April, its residential customers faced an average 9.7% increase in their overall electricity bill, largely reflecting higher lines and transmission charges, and…

A two-storey home in western Christchurch has been badly damaged in a fire this morning.Fire and Emergency NZ received multiple calls about the fire in Clotilda Pl, Bishopdale at around 9.30am.Two fire trucks initially responded from Ilam and Redwood station, with three more being called once it was assessed. “It is not being treated as suspicious at this stage, but the fire investigator has been notified and will attend.”All people were accounted for following the fire, they added.”Police will work with FENZ fire investigators to conduct enquiries into the circumstances of the incident,” a police spokesperson said.Footage captured by 1News…

Human rights organisations say the bloc’s failure to reconsider its trade and political ties with Israel amounts to “complicity” in alleged war crimes and breaches of international law. ADVERTISEMENTEU foreign ministers met their Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar in Brussels on Monday in a closed-door meeting that was originally intended to scrutinise Israel’s compliance with its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.But protracted talks among EU capitals to strike a common position ahead of the meeting meant calls to reconsider the agreement, spearheaded by Spain and Ireland, had waned and were “more or less off the table”, according to…

Friedrich Merz, who led the Christian Democratic Union to victory at the polls, referred to a strong Europe independent of the United States as his “absolute priority”.  Many in Brussels now expect a more stable government in Berlin will mean a stronger German leadership ADVERTISEMENTThe night of Germany’s snap elections will be remembered as marking a seismic shift in the future course of the European Union.Friedrich Merz, who led the Christian Democratic Union to victory at the polls, referred to a strong Europe independent of the United States as his “absolute priority”.   “I would never have thought that I…

By Anan Zaki of RNZ Mercury Energy is warning residential customers are set for a near 10 percent rise in electricity bills this year, blaming it on a host of factors including higher lines charges and energy costs. It comes after the company revealed $418 million in half-year underlying profit, down four percent from a year ago, which Mercury put down to lower renewable generation and higher costs. It also slumped to a bottom line loss due to changes in the value of unhedged contracts. Mercury said from April, its residential customers faced an average 9.7 percent increase in their…