Author: Press Room

Nine years ago, Kevin and Esther Gilbert paid $85 for a 25kg block of butter for their Dunedin bakery business — last month, that same-size slab cost a whopping $395. The rising cost of ingredients is one of many factors behind the couple’s decision to close Gilbert’s Fine Food next month, which has both wholesale and retail operations. Other reasons include an “incessant” increase in difficulties in running a business, difficulty in finding staff, staff costs, margins being eroded, and their own tiredness. “Twenty years of our lives we’re having to walk away from,” Mr Gilbert, a former president of…

Wellington-based performance trio Laser Kiwi have successfully fooled magicians Penn & Teller during an appearance on their television show.Penn & Teller: Fool Us has contestants perform a magic trick, and then the duo try to guess how they did it.Only about 10-15% of contestants manage to fool Penn & Teller.Here’s Laser Kiwi on the show, which aired in the US this week:The trio, who have been working together for about 10 years and call themselves “the world’s only surreal sketch circus”, entertained the live studio audience as the cameras rolled, with a jar of olives, a martini, 162 dominoes and…

A “strong” 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the top of the South Island this morning.According to GeoNet, the quake struck 10km south of Seddon at a depth of 9km at around 8.24am.The quake, reported by 1306 people at the time of writing, was described as “strong”.”Wow, six floors up, and that was a good shake,” one user on X said.”Bit of a shake there,” another said.

The Warehouse Group has seen sales continue to fall but has posted a half-year profit in what it says is a sign of a “turnaround”.The company saw sales fall by $1.6 billion for the six months to January, down 1.6% on the same period last year. It recorded an after-tax profit of $11.8 million, an improvement on a $23.7 million loss the year before.Warehouse Group Chair Dame Joan Withers said the retail sector remains under “sustained pressure”, but it was taking action to strengthen its position.“Consumers are facing tough and uncertain economic conditions and demand remains subdued,” she said. “Against…

Some patients waiting for a heart scan to diagnose potentially life-threatening conditions have been given a death sentence as a result of huge delays.The situation is so grim a group of doctors wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon late last year begging for help to improve cardiac health care.According to The Heart of Aotearoa New Zealand Kia Manawanui Trust, at least 15,000 patients around the country are currently waiting for an echocardiogram – an ultrasound scan used to diagnose heart conditions – for cardiac and cancer treatment.Trust medical director Dr Sarah Fairley said Waikato and Wellington were…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ  Residents of Te Atatū Peninsula might be without a supermarket until next year – but data compiled by RNZ shows they’re in a better position than shoppers in many parts of the country. The West Auckland suburb’s Woolworths supermarket building and site has been bought by Foodstuffs and will be reopened as a New World. It was reported this week that the 15,000 residents of the peninsula would have to travel to Te Atatū South to find their closest supermarket, or to Pak’n Save in Lincoln Rd. RNZ set out to find whether it was…

A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled that Mariah Carey did not steal her perennial megahit All I Want for Christmas Is You from other songwriters.Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani granted Carey’s request for summary judgment on Wednesday (local time), giving her and co-writer and co-defendant Walter Afanasieff a victory without going to trial.In 2023, songwriters Andy Stone of Louisiana — who goes by the stage name Vince Vance — and Troy Powers of Tennessee filed the $20 million (NZ$34.7 million) lawsuit alleging that Carey’s 1994 song, which has since become a holiday standard and annual streaming sensation, infringed the…

Two south Auckland park benches, at the centre of anti-social and indecent behaviour complaints from residents, may stay put after plans to remove them fell through.Last October, the Manurewa Local Board, on advice from Auckland Transport (AT), agreed to remove two benches at Randwick Park, situated opposite Magic Way.However, the board’s decision to remove the benches faced criticism from the community, who complained about the lack of consultation.The benches were to be removed and relocated for use at a Russel Rd bus stop, costing between $300 to $400 per seat.At the local board meeting on Thursday, AT’s report said following…

Deborah Manning saw a use for the tonnes of unwanted food that would have otherwise gone to waste. She has now been recognised nationally for her salvaging efforts. The Dunedin lawyer turned social entrepreneur won the Genesis Energy sustainability award at the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards last night. Ms Manning, before the event, told the Otago Daily Times it was an honour to be a finalist. “I think it’s really important that I want people to know that this award is not just about me – it reflects the collective effort of so many people who believe in the…

Three men have been arrested after a man in his 80s was killed after his house was set on fire in Stokes Valley last year.Ian David Moller was critically injured in a fire at a block of flats in Hanson Grove last November.A homicide investigation was launched after the 82-year-old succumbed to his injuries several days later, on November 10.It was the third alleged arson at the property in the past month, with two other incidents on Thursday, November 10, and Monday, November 14.The trio — aged in their 20s and 30s — were arrested this morning after police carried…