Author: Press Room

Households hooked up to reticulated gas are facing average price increases of 10% to their energy bills, according to Consumer New Zealand.Residential users must pay a fixed daily charge for gas as well as electricity, which can make gas uneconomical if a household is not using it for heating, water and the stove.The Eady family from Wellington was paying about $30 a month for the daily line charge but just $5 on actual gas consumption because it was just their stove connected to gas.Ditching gas was a “no brainer”, said Jason Eady.“We were just giving the money for nothing to…

ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are among the latest voices to support the idea of a European army to ensure a credible and lasting peace in the continent. “It is time to create a European army, EU armed forces with troops from all 27 member countries, working under a single flag with the same objectives,” Sánchez said. “This is the only way that we become a true union.” On paper, the concept is attractive. It could boost the interoperability of military systems, weapons, and forces, and would also involve a joint command structure to improve coordination among…

ADVERTISEMENTFrom the moment Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Apple leader Tim Cook, and Google chief Sundar Pichai were seen taking prime seats at the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January it was clear that the relationship of US Big Tech with the White House would be tighter in Trump’s second term.Many of these executives had called Trump out during his first term on issues such as climate change and immigration.This time around they were clearly in the house, led by SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who spent nearly $300m helping the president’s campaign and has…

Tūranganui-a-Kiwa is one of two New Zealand locations selected to take part in a global climate adaptation initiative funded by the National Geographic Society.The Poverty Bay region and Tāhuna-Glenorchy, in the Queenstown Lakes District, join the three-year Preserving Legacies programme, alongside 10 other places and practices from across six continents.It is the first time projects from Aotearoa have been accepted.Led by National Geographic explorer Victoria Herrmann, the project encourages local communities and leaders to create climate action solutions for environmental protection and cultural preservation.Out of 150 applicants, Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust solidified Tūranganui-a-Kiwa’s place.According to its website, Rongowhakaata’s tribal rohe encompassed…

ADVERTISEMENTUkraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he has received information that China is supplying weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery.”We have received information that China is supplying weapons to the Russian Federation. And we are ready to talk about it in detail. Today, we have information from the security service, from intelligence, about gunpowder, artillery.”The Ukrainian leader did not expand in detail on the extent of Chinese support or the type of weapons being supplied, but says Kyiv will reveal its findings comprehensively next week.”I think we will be able to talk about this in great detail next week,…

An Australian company wanting to mine the South Taranaki seabed has asked New Zealand’s Government for a green light under its new Fast-track Approvals Act.Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR), now fully-owned by Australian gold and silver miners Manuka Resources, pulled out of an environmental hearing last year to instead seek permission to mine under the Government’s pro-development fast-track law.The company already had the go-ahead to suck up 50 million tonnes of sand every year from the South Taranaki seabed for 35 years, to extract valuable vanadium along with titanium and iron.It would vacuum up some 180,000 tonnes of sand a day during…

A fatal derailment could have occurred if thieves had succeeded in stealing railway sleepers from active track at Auckland’s Glenbrook Vintage Railway, according to the trust chairperson.Glenbrook Vintage Railway Charitable Trust chairperson Glenn Deed said a member of the public had alerted the team to bolts being removed from a section of track on Wednesday evening.”In the worst case scenario, if they had been successful and it hadn’t have been detected, quite honestly it would have led to a derailment and potentially death,” he said.He believed the thieves were after railway sleepers which were sought after for landscape gardening.”We urge…

New Zealand’s population has increased by roughly twice the size of Hamilton since 2018 — but our housing market appears to have digested the influx, commentators say.Stats NZ data showed the population was 5.31 million at the end of December, up from 4.94 million in December 2018.Natural increase — birth minus deaths — and net migration contribute to the increase, but arrivals from offshore have become a more significant part in recent years.’It is becoming less critical’Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said, population growth outpaced new housing supply and associated infrastructure development through the latter half of last decade.But there…

Hip hop superstar Drake is now complaining about rival rapper Kendrick Lamar’s performance of Not Like Us at this year’s Super Bowl, adding it to his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the diss track and its allegations of paedophilia against Drake.”The Recording was performed during the 2025 Super Bowl and broadcast to the largest audience for a Super Bowl halftime show ever, over 133 million people, including millions of children, and millions more who had never before heard the song or any of the songs that preceded it,” says the amended lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in…

When plumber Hera Eruera arrives at a plumbing job she gets a mix of reactions. Re: News spent a day on the job with Hera to hear how plumbing helped her escape a cycle of poverty. Watch the Re: News video on TVNZ+. One time a customer opened the door and immediately said: “No, not interested”. Hera replied, “Oh, did you not call for a plumber?” And the customer said “Oh you’re the plumber, I thought you were a sales rep trying to sell me something”. “I said ‘No, definitely the plumber, I heard you had a leak’. And so…