Author: Press Room

The new owner of the country’s oldest tattoo studio is working to honour the legacy of the shop’s founder, the late Roger Ingerton.Roger Ingerton opened Roger’s Tatooart in Wellington’s Cuba Street in 1977 – and worked from the premises until he retired in 2009.The studio had received a dramatic facelift, but its legendary founder’s designs, photographs and paintings still fill nearly every spare inch of wallspace.Cuba Street studio a ‘mecca’ for tattoo fansAndre Röck – known in the tattoo industry as Dre – said Ingerton’s shop was “a tattoo mecca” and had drawn people dedicated to skin art from all…

A massive steel stage is standing ready at Melbourne’s biggest stadium ahead of the long-awaited Australian leg of AC/DC’s Power Up tour.It’s been a decade since AC/DC have played in Australia, and the tour has seen record-breaking ticket sales and fans camping out to get their hands on a chance to see the rock legends live in concert.A massive stage has been built from black steel at the MCG, crammed with banks of lights and speakers. At the top hangs a giant black bell with the AC/DC logo.The band has played to about four million people on the tour internationally,…

A remand prisoner from Mt Eden Prison has been on the run for four days after escaping during a hospital escort.Mt Eden Corrections Facility acting general manager Edith Pattinson said the man was able to slip away just before 9am on Friday, prompting a police search that remained ongoing.”Police were informed immediately and are actively searching for them. We encourage anyone with information about the prisoner’s location to contact police on 111.”The escapee was a 42-year-old man, according to police.A review was being carried out into the incident, Pattinson said. The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Trump threatens to…

After years of anticipation, the wait is nearly over. IKEA is set to open in New Zealand on December 4, marking the Swedish retailer’s official arrival in Aotearoa. For those familiar with the furniture giant from overseas, the Auckland store will have the same walk-through format that has made IKEA a global staple, but with several home turf twists.The 34,000m2 store will offer roughly 7500 products, from its popular flatpack furniture sets to smaller, everyday household necessities. The building will span three floors – two levels of retail and a bottom-level car park, as well as a restaurant and bistro…

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has waved away New Zealand First’s criticism of National’s economic plan, saying Winston Peters has many entrenched views.In an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report on Tuesday, the NZ First leader said Luxon’s interest in asset sales was based on a “tawdry, silly argument”. Peters said National wanted to “flog those [assets] off” having “failed to run the economy properly”.Responding on his way into a caucus meeting at Parliament, Luxon said he was not bothered by his coalition partner’s comments.”Winston Peters has been around for half a century in this place. He has a lot of entrenched…

When the New Zealand Transport Agency signed off on an integrated national ticketing system in 2009, John Key was prime minister, Avatar ruled at the box office and a pound of butter cost about $3.60.After more than 16 years, the first stage of the $1.4 billion National Ticketing Solution’s (NTS) latest iteration, known as Motu Move, was launched yesterday morning in Christchurch, rolling out contactless payment options on bus and ferry services across Greater Christchurch.The option to pay with contactless debit or credit cards and digital payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay on phones or smart watches on buses…

The BBC’s top leader and head of its news division resigned over criticism of how the broadcaster edited US President Donald Trump’s speech before some of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.The scandal leading to Monday’s resignations is hardly the first controversy to hit Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster — or to topple one of its leaders.The editorially independent British Broadcasting Corporation was founded in 1922 to be impartial, act in the public interest and be open, transparent and accountable. While it is widely respected for its global news operation and the entertainment and sports programmes it…

Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has today revealed her shake-up of New Zealand’s gun laws. McKee said today Cabinet had agreed to repeal and replace the current Arms Act 1983, a rewrite being part of National’s coalition agreement with ACT. She said the changes to New Zealand’s gun laws were aimed at being “fairer, fit for purpose, and improve the safety of New Zealanders”. Among the changes was the establishment of a specialist firearms regulatory agency, to oversee all aspects of regulation, including licensing firearms users and registering firearms. Police will no longer carry out those tasks. The current Firearms…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ A lack of understanding from consumers and a lack of enforcement from regulators could be combining to give shoppers a raw deal, Consumer NZ says. It has released the results of its latest “Yeah Nah” awards, which are designed to highlight consumer problems such as confusing messaging or products that don’t do the job they are meant to. To be eligible, products had to either fail a legal standard, include hidden charges, make false claims, be an “absolute rip off” or have unclear messaging or design so that consumers were confused. Pams plasters Among its…

US President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC over the way a speech he made was edited in a documentary aired by Britain’s national broadcaster.BBC chairman Samir Shah overnight apologised for the “error of judgment”, which triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.Director-General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness quit Monday over accusations of bias and misleading editing of a speech Trump delivered on January 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington.Trump threatens BBC with $1.7B lawsuit over edited speech – Watch on TVNZ+The…