Author: Press Room
ADVERTISEMENTFrance’s strong resistance to the Mercosur agreement is beginning to crack in response to concerns over potential restrictions on EU exports to the US.“Existing and future trade agreements between the EU and other economies (JEFTA [the free trade agreement with Japan], CETA [the free trade agreement with Canada], the free trade agreement Mercosur‑UE) could further cushion tariff shocks linked to US trade policy,” Bank of France’s Governor, François Villeroy de Galhau, said in his annual letter to French President Emmanuel Macron on 9 April.In December the European Commission concluded a political agreement with the Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and…
Thousands of senior medical doctors have voted to go on strike for 24 hours over pay at the beginning of next month in a move the Health Minister has called “deeply disappointing” and “failing patients”.The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists union said its 5500 members would go on strike on May 1.Executive director Sarah Dalton said the planned 24-hour strike was “huge”.In the last round of pay negotiations in 2023, members took took two strikes – one for two hours, one for four hours.”A 24 hour strike is unprecedented, but we’re really stuck,” she said.Dalton said the union’s collective agreement…
Kiwibank has joined ANZ this week in cutting its interest rates ahead of quarterly inflation statistics being released on Thursday.The change — due in effect tomorrow — comes after the Reserve Bank reduced the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points last week.Kiwibank’s standard six-month fixed rate would drop 16 basis points to 6.39%. Its special six-month fixed rate would also drop by 16 basis points to 5.49%.The bank’s one-year standard fixed rate would go down 20 basis points to 5.89%. The special one-year fixed rate would also drop 20 basis points to 4.99%.The rest of Kiwibank’s fixed home loan…
Creditor claims totalling nearly $300,000 have been received for a former Dunedin restaurant which went into liquidation last year. Mexican eatery Alley Cantina, which operated in a lane off George St, closed last June and liquidators Trevor and Emma Laing, of Laing Insolvency Specialists, were appointed in August. The business was then marketed as an opportunity for a new operator, but no offers had been received that would cover the costs of sale, the liquidators said. Potential purchasers cited the costs of a refit as a main barrier to making an offer. An initial appraisal for a sale price had…
When Allan Smith’s lawnmower from The Warehouse packed up, he was relieved to see he simply needed a new fuel line fitted. But it took a long battle, and an intervention from Fair Go, to finally get it fixed.’I thought, oh well that’s an easy fix’: Watch more on this story on TVNZ+It was less than two years ago that Wellington man Allan Smith made a trip to The Warehouse to invest in a brand new lawnmower. He chose a brand called KiwiGarden, feeling he’d like to support New Zealand business. For months, he used the mower to give him…
A 77-year-old man who went missing from Auckland’s Mt Roskill yesterday has been located this morning. Police earlier asked for the public’s help in finding the man. “The 77-year-old man reported missing in the Mt Roskill area has been located safe and well,” a spokesperson said in an update. “Police thank the public for the information provided.”
If you want to get some shopping done this long weekend, it might pay to plan ahead. Some stores will be forced to close on certain days, but not all of them – and which are and aren’t open could depend on what part of the country you’re in. And if that wasn’t enough, the law also restricts what kind of items can be purchased over Easter. And not all of them are actually public holidays, even if the shops can’t open. Confused? Let’s try and fix that. What’s open? There are just three and a-half days a year which…
The coalition has directed Health New Zealand to say “women” instead of “pregnant people” in its communications about health issues.Associate Health Minister Casey Costello wrote to interim chief executive Dr Dale Bramley on March 27, telling the agency to use “clear language”.”Recent documents that have reached my office from the Ministry of Health have referred to women as ‘pregnant people’, ‘people with a cervix’ or ‘individuals capable of childbearing’,” she said in the letter.”Only women and people of the female sex can get pregnant and birth a child no matter how they identify.”Costello pointed to inequities and bias in the…
Wait times for GP appointments to get medical certificates signed off is costing ACC millions of dollars a year in needless compensation payouts, according to Physiotherapy NZ.The organisation is calling on the government to amend ACC legislation to allow physios to certify work capacity (both off work and to return to work), claiming it would get injured people back to work safely and quickly, and cut ACC’s weekly compensation bill.Gisborne nurse Robyn* is one ACC client who found herself in a legislative limbo.Six weeks after breaking her foot, she was keen to return to work, starting with light admin duties…
An advocate for storm-affected Aucklanders says abandoned homes are still a magnet for looters, even two years on.Auckland Council has approved a plan guiding its use of storm-affected land bought from homeowners following the 2023 storms.That included maintenance for houses which had been empty since their owners were forced to leave two years ago.West Auckland is Flooding chair Lyall Carter, who had now moved to Maraetai since the storms, said it was great news for those remaining in flood-affected areas.”The council said they would maintain the vacated land, that will be music to so many people’s ears in flood-impacted neighbourhoods…