Author: Press Room

American rapper Childish Gambino has cancelled the Australia and New Zealand leg of his upcoming tour. According to Ticketmaster’s website, the musician’s sole New Zealand show at Spark Arena in Auckland on 28 January has been cancelled.His Australia dates have also been cancelled. In a statement to ticket holders, Gambino (whose real name is Donald Glover) said his recovery from a recent surgery was “taking longer than expected”, triple j reports.”The upcoming concerts in Australia and New Zealand are cancelled. One of the last things I’d ever want to do is disappoint my fans,” he said. “I really appreciate the…

Opinion: The end of a local newspaper has concerning ramifications for a community, writes Greg Treadwell.When media company NZME proposed the closure of 14 community newspapers last week, the so-called “news desert” encroached a little further into the local information landscape.The term refers to those many regions in both town and country where newspapers that for generations have kept their citizens informed – and local politicians and planners (mostly) honest – have been shut down.As a metaphor, the desert evokes a sense of arid emptiness and silence. But it also suggests a featureless place where we lose a sense of…

The volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula Lying had been dormant for around 800 years before the geological systems suddenly sprang back into life in 2021. ADVERTISEMENTA volcano in Iceland has erupted for the seventh time in a year, spewing lava from a fissure on the southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula.The country’s meteorological office that monitors seismic activity said the latest eruption happened late on Wednesday night, creating a fissure around three kilometres long.Officials say the latest eruption is considerably smaller than the previous one in August and indicates that the eruption has reached its peak.While the eruption poses no threat to aviation,…

This year’s edition of an annual survey has shed light on the current state of New Zealand’s drug landscape — revealing long-term trends in drug availability, price, and use.The findings showed “signs of a saturated methamphetamine market”, with prices dropping, while cocaine use and availability were increasing.The 2024 New Zealand Drugs Trends Survey (NZDTS) also found that psychedelics were increasingly available in Aotearoa, while illegal cannabis was declining in price and was highly available.”Another notable finding from the 2024 NZDTS is that the use of nicotine vapes has surpassed tobacco smoking for the first time among respondents.”The NZDTS has been…

Approval of Commissioners and recent votes in the European Parliament signal new power balance, as the centre-right European People’s Party teams up with right wing forces, giving itself more choices for finding majorities. ADVERTISEMENTThe coalition agreement signed by the three centre parties of the European Parliament – the European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew – paving the way to approving the commissioners has sealed the EPP’s ability to switch its allegiance and team up with the parties on the right wing.The so-called “Platform Cooperation statement” did not outline exclusive partnership among signatories, leaving the door open to…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ Anna Hall says, when she’s looking to make a big purchase, she’ll often wait for sales events like Black Friday, to see if she can get a better discount. So she was surprised to see that an oven she had been looking at, at Smith City, which had previously been for sale at $2399, is now being promoted as on $2719.20 with an alleged recommended retail price of more than $3000. “I was pretty horrified to see they’d put the price up for Black Friday, which seemed bizarre.” She says if she had just gone in…

Your hard-earned savings will grow faster if they’re in the right type of account. By Frances Cook. One of the tricks of the money world is that the same $20 can achieve much more for you, if you know where to put it. The same effort, but a better result? Sign me up. So when it comes to your savings account, there are a few tricks to make sure you’re both able to stick with the savings habit, and get the most out of it. You can feed the same amount of money into two accounts and get different results.…

The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned actor Jussie Smollett’s conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and lying to Chicago police, saying he should not have been charged a second time after reaching a deal with prosecutors.The ruling, which did not address Smollett’s continued claims of innocence, marked a stunning reversal in a case that became part of a polarised political landscape.Smollett, who is Black and gay, told police in January 2019 that two men assaulted him in his downtown Chicago neighbourhood, spouting slurs, tossing a noose around his neck, and yelling that…

Firefighters battled a large grass fire on the side of Māngere Mountain in Auckland this morning. A Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) spokesperson told 1News it received calls of a fire in Māngere Bridge at around 2am and sent crews from Māngere, Onehunga, Mount Roskill, Ōtāhuhu, Ōtara and Papatoetoe. FENZ said the fire on the side of the mountain had only damaged grass. (Source: 1News)At the height of the fire, a total of 36 firefighters and nine trucks were at the scene. FENZ said the fire on the side of the mountain had only damaged grass.At its peak, 36…

Proponents of the EU-Mercosur deal argue it would boost economic ties between Europe and South America by removing tariffs on exports, notably for machinery, chemicals and cars. However, the deal is widely seen as not beneficial for the agricultural sector. ADVERTISEMENTFarmers in France continued protesting on Thursday, the fourth day of mobilisation against a free trade agreement with Mercosur countries, while calling for a decent income.Dozens of farmers mounted a procession of tractors from the Coordination Rurale du Lot-et-Garonne to block the Bordeaux commercial port at Bassens (Gironde).Many also dumped tyres to block access to the large seaport where cereals…