Author: Press Room

Six Wellington City Council social housing complexes that are home to more than 300 people have been deemed earthquake prone.The council recently commissioned seismic and risk assessments for their council blocks which showed that parts of the properties are below the 34% of the New Building Standard.The complexes affected are the Berkeley Dallard apartments in Mount Cook, the Daniell Street apartments in Newtown, the Hanson Court apartments in Newtown, the Kōtuku apartments in Evans Bay, the Whare Ahuru Flats in Thorndon and the Pukehinau flats in Aro Valley.Te Toi Mahana, which managed the tenancies at the properties, had informed tenants…

From odd fingers to weird text, AI generated images always leave tell-tale traces. And as fake content floods social media, spotting it is more important than ever. ADVERTISEMENTFake images generated with artificial Intelligence (AI) are rapidly swarming social media, flooding feeds with a new type of spam: useless “AI slop” designed to farm clicks in the form of interactions. Although the first generative AI (GenAI) programmes were released in 2022, reports suggest that over 15 billion AI-generated images are already circulating online. OpenAI’s latest data shows that users create more than 2 million images daily with DALL-E 2, its image-generation…

A surgeon has apologised to a patient after removing the wrong part of the the man’s lung during surgery.A decision released by the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) today found that the doctor breached the man’s rights by failing to provide services with reasonable care and skill and failing to obtain the patient’s informed consent.The patient, a man in his 60s at the time, had a family history of cancer and arranged for a routine screening at a hospital for his own lung health in July 2020.He was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer that forms in the…

Brazil has been Oscar nominated for Best Picture this year. Could the country win the Berlinale’s top prize before the Academy dish out theirs? Early signs look mighty promising with the stunning ‘The Blue Trail’ in Competition. ADVERTISEMENTBrazilian cinema has been doing well of late, especially this year with the country’s first Best Picture Oscar nomination with Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival in Competition.Director Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull, Divine Love) does his fellow filmmaker and country proud by playing in Berlin’s Competition this year with O último azul (The Blue Trail).Taking place…

The 2025 BAFTA’s red carpet was a fashion feast, with stars like Ariana Grande channeling Wicked with a pink-inspired look, and Timothée Chalamet keeping it sleek in all black. ADVERTISEMENTThe crème de la crème of the film industry descended upon London’s Royal Festival Hall for the 2025 BAFTAs – the most anticipated night in British cinema – and, as always, the red carpet became a catwalk for celeb fashion moments. While there were no outrageously wild surprises like Kanye West and Bianca Censori head-turning stunt at the recent Grammys, there were still some seriously stunning looks. Here are all the…

Analysis: Jude MacArthur, of the University of Auckland, questions whether enough evidence has been provided about how charter schools performed when they were last in place in New Zealand.Seven new charter schools are opening their gates, and ACT leader and Associate Education Minister David Seymour – the politician responsible for their existence – has been singing their praises.He says some will deliver “new and innovative ways to help students who are struggling at school to succeed, especially neurodiverse students, where there is huge need”.Seymour also says charter schools will free teachers from “constant upheavals in education” policy and provide the…

“Conclave” dominated the 78th BAFTAs with four wins, including Best Picture, while “The Brutalist” matched its tally, earning Best Director for Brady Corbet and Best Actor for Adrien Brody. ADVERTISEMENTPapal thriller “Conclave”, starring Ralph Fiennes, was the big winner at the 78th British Academy Film Awards – the biggest night in British film – taking home four prizes, including Best Picture and Outstanding British film.Directed by Edward Berger, the film entered this year’s BAFTA ceremony with a leading twelve nominations, the highest of any contender and is poised for the Oscars next month. “We live in a time of a…

The infamous over-the-suit T-shirt worn by the PM at a Parliament barbecue has gone on sale to raise funds for children living in poverty, in a Trade Me auction.The black National Lamb Day T-shirt shirt raised eyebrows earlier this week when Christopher Luxon posted a video of himself wearing it pulled on over a dark blue suit with shirt collars sticking up.The video was spotted and called out in a tweet by Canadian fashion writer Derek Guy, known as “the menswear guy”.More than 1.5 million people saw the critique, with replies varying from support for the PM’s fashion flare -…

Around 30 adults and young children had to be barricaded into a room at a West Auckland library yesterday, when a group linked to Destiny Church tried to drown out a Pride Festival Event in Te Atatū.A woman who did not want to be named told RNZ a drag performer’s show was interrupted by men wearing “Man Up” tshirts.It was scary and doors had to be locked, the woman said.”In the room were toddlers, there was like a three-month-old baby, and halfway through the show we started to hear yelling and then this distant banging of the doors on the…

By Russell Palmer of RNZ  • The government announced $500,000 spend yesterday for an ad campaign targeting Australians during the ‘shoulder season’ • Labour and the Greens say there should be more spending on tourism infrastructure like walking tracks • Labour says the ‘Everyone Must Go’ slogan makes New Zealand sound like a clearance-sale item, the Greens say it could be applied to the long bathroom queues at local facilities Labour and the Greens say the government should focus spending on tourism infrastructure, after the announcement of $500,000 for an ad campaign in Australia. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Tourism…