Author: Press Room

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke from New Zealand’s first IKEA store on it’s opening day. Up to 20,000 shoppers are predicted to visit on the first day. In September, Luxon was given a tour of the store and said he thought “Kiwis are going to love it”. “It’s a great company, and I’ve actually studied it just from a company point of view and it’s just got an awesome culture, great management team, outstanding supply chain and it’s just a business model that enables to get the balance between design and value for money really well, so it’s just an…

A handful of eager shoppers have begun to gather outside the new IKEA store at Mt Wellington in Auckland. Drivers are being warned to expect 40-minute queues today, with traffic analysts expecting crowds of up to 20,000 a day to visit the store – IKEA’s first in New Zealand. They’re predicting a 40-minute crawl on the nearby motorway and another 40 minutes to find a car park. The store opens at 11am, while the carpark was opened to shoppers at 8.30am. An RNZ reporter at the store estimated around 200 people to have gathered outside. “We chose to open at 11am so that…

Australian TV and radio personality Andy Lee says his “cheeks are hurting from smiling too much” after hitting a hole in one at Tara Iti golf course in Mangawhai.Lee, who is one half of Australia’s famous Hamish and Andy duo, shot the hole in one on the 272m par-four 13th hole and shared his accomplishment to Instagram.The 44-year-old said his partner Rebecca Harding “even pretended to be excited for me when I called her”.This is not the first time the comedian has pulled off an impressive sporting achievement in New Zealand.In 2020, Lee made a miraculous catch in the Black…

The man accused of murdering Dunedin’s Gurjit Singh lied to police and left DNA evidence at the scene, the Crown has alleged.The man, known only as Rajinder, is on trial at the High Court for murdering Singh, who was found dead on the lawn of his home in January last year after being stabbed more than 40 times.Rajinder’s defence lawyer maintained his client had no reason to kill Singh and there was no animosity between the men.In closing arguments, prosecutor Richard Smith said the jury could not be left with any uncertainty about his guilt.He said a forensic expert had…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ Finally, some good news for butter lovers: global prices are falling. But there remains some bad news: any fall in the price you see at the supermarket is not likely to be as fast, or as large, as the increase you experienced when prices were on the way up. The price of butter has been one of the big consumer issues of this year. In July, the price of butter was up about 50 percent over a year. In October, Stats NZ said the average price of a 500g block of butter was $8.50, up from $6.67…

In Auckland, businesses near the new IKEA store are steeling themselves for a stampede to the homeware giant’s opening on Thursday.Traffic experts have run their numbers and expect crowds of up to 20,000 a day, with a 40-minute crawl on the nearby motorway and another 40 to find a car park.IKEA’s three-storey blue box consumes a whole block at Mt Wellington, with 544 car parks, close to 37 bike racks and 28 motorbike bays – for those not taking home the flat packs.Just a few doors down, Cloud 777 Cafe manager Vicky John is expecting local roads to be a…

Shoppers tightened budgets appear to have led to a drop in spending on Black Friday, a payment company says. Still, the highest spending day of the year so far – but Black Friday 2025 fell short of the previous year. Worldline linked EFPOS machines with bank accounts and card holders and was formerly known as Paymark. The company said payments for non-food goods across it’s network reached $55.6 million during the pre-Christmas sale day. That was a jump from this year’s previous high of $49.1 million on Easter Sunday. The drop was 6.2% from the day last year and down…

Advanced tracking technology from the Netherlands to trace hornets back to their nests is set to be introduced by Biosecurity New Zealand in the next phase of the eradication project.More than half of the 30 queen hornets found by Biosecurity New Zealand on Auckland’s North Shore showed evidence of having a nest.But the Ministry of Primary Industries will soon be able to turn the pests’ insatiable desire to build nests against them.North commissioner Mike Inglis said high tech tracking technology from the Netherlands has arrived after advice from international and domestic experts.In the latest update on Tuesday, 19 of the…

Canterbury Regional Council staff are bracing themselves for “Crate Day” on Saturday.Participants of Crate Day, which is held on the first Saturday in December, get out in their four-wheel-drives and spend the day drinking with friends on local riverbeds and beaches.Canterbury’s braided rivers are also home to some of the world’s rarest birds and nesting season is well under way.Environment Canterbury parks team leader Karen Elliott said nests of species such as the wrybill, black-fronted tern (tarapiroe) and the black-billed gull (tarapuka) are camouflaged and almost invisible to the human eye.”We want people to enjoy summer and enjoy their rivers,…

Published on 03/12/2025 – 16:59 GMT+1 •Updated 17:18 The European Union is considering whether to classify ethanol, a disinfectant widely used in hospitals, as a dangerous product, with the decision currently on hold due to a lack of consensus among scientific groups at the EU’s chemical agency. The decision was discussed today between European lawmakers and the European Commission, but the debate has been overshadowed by the decision’s potential implications for healthcare facilities. Klaus Berend, director of food safety at the Commission’s department for health and food safety, told lawmakers in the European Parliament that unless there are proven risks…