Author: Press Room

New Zealanders are in for a chilly start to the week, with snow, showers and gusty winds sweeping across the country before things begin to settle down later in the week.Snow was forecast to fall as low as 200 metres in the south and 600 metres in the north today, dropping to 200 metres across many areas on Tuesday.In the North Island, a narrow band of rain was moving west to east today, followed by showery conditions. Western regions including Auckland, Taranaki, Waikato, and Northland faced a prospect of thunderstorms and hail tonight and Tuesday, with gusts of 80–100km/h possible.“This…

Although Alice Taylor has always wanted to share her cooking on social media, for a long time, she felt like her kitchen wasn’t beautiful enough, her appearance too much like she’d “just finished work”, and her budget too “strict”.But when the 2022 MasterChef NZ finalist posted her first Instagram video, “clumsiness” was what people loved about it, she says, so now any mishaps are left in.In a “very exciting” development for Taylor, creating recipes and content for Instagram has become her full-time job in the last few months.Alice Taylor shares recipes for both ‘cheap’ and ‘expensive’ tiramisu. (Source: rnz.co.nz)”It’s just…

A toddler went into multi-organ failure and died of sepsis despite being seen by multiple doctors and discharged from hospital.The toddler, who was discharged with a viral illness, died shortly after his mother drove him back to Gisborne Hospital as his situation deteriorated.The care provided to the 23-month-old boy has been criticised by the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) who found a locum GP and Health New Zealand Tairāwhiti breached of the patient’s rights.In a report released on Monday, the HDC also made adverse comment against another GP and a primary health organisation (PHO) for the multiple failures and lack…

Talley’s Group-owned Open Country — New Zealand’s second-largest milk processor — has entered into a conditional agreement with the shareholders of Mataura Valley Milk to buy the business. Mataura Valley Milk (MVM), which has a plant at McNab on the outskirts of Gore, is majority-owned by The a2 Milk Company alongside minority partner China Animal Husbandry Group. Announcing its full-year results to the NZX yesterday, a2 Milk said it was divesting its 75% stake for about $100 million, while it expected to recognise a loss on sale of about $130m. MVM was an advanced nutritional powder-drying facility that continued to…

A high-profile Dunedin sportsman is on trial in the High Court at Dunedin accused of serious family violence, crushing the ribs of an infant in July 2023.Crown lawyer Richard Smith today argued the injuries were not intentional, but were reckless, and a squeezing movement around the torso of the victim was an unreasonable risk, requiring “significant force”.The Crown evidence says there were no adult witnesses at home when the injuries were allegedly inflicted on the infant.X-rays when the victim was taken to Dunedin Hospital showed at least a dozen rib fractures and a broken clavicle.The sportsman’s charge of injury with…

The latest round of Government reforms of the building consent process is expected to dominate proceedings at Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s weekly briefing to media.The changes to construction regulations come two weeks after ministers announced an easing of planning restrictions around sheds and garages.In other developments in politics since the last post-Cabinet briefing:The latest 1News/Verian poll showed Labour surging and Luxon’s popularity hitting a two-year low.Chlöe Swarbrick was kicked out of Parliament during a debate on Palestine.ADVERTISEMENTFormer PM Jacinda Ardern and Labour leader Chris Hipkins were among high profile figures from the party who declined to appear at the Covid…

New changes to speed up a “sluggish” consenting system means councils will no longer be left “footing the bill” for major building defects, the Building Minister says.The “joint and several liability” framework for managing building defects will be scrapped in what ministers call the biggest reform to the consenting system in “decades”.Construction Minister says each party involved in a build will be responsible for the work they carried out. (Source: 1News)Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk officially revealed two “major” changes alongside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at today’s post-Cabinet media conference.Penk said the overhaul would “ease the cost burden on…

ADVERTISEMENT Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says a further 500 soldiers will be deployed to battle wildfires that have torn through parched woodland amid a record-setting European heatwave. The decision to add to the more than 1,400 troops already on wildfire duty came as authorities struggle to contain forest blazes, particularly in the north-western Galicia region and await the arrival of promised aircraft reinforcements from other European countries. Firefighters are tackling 12 major wildfires in the province, all of them near the city of Ourense, according to the head of the Galician regional government Alfonso Rueda, who delivered the update…

A soldier with links to far-right groups has admitted handing over and attempting to hand over sensitive military information to a person he thought was a foreign agent.But the soldier was actually caught in an undercover sting.He also possessed a video of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attacks and the mosque attacker’s manifesto, The Great Replacement.At a court martial at Linton Military Camp near Palmerston North today, the soldier, whose name is suppressed on a temporary basis, admitted one charge each of attempted espionage, dishonestly accessing a computer system and possessing an objectionable publication.The name of the foreign country the undercover…

Wairarapa’s regional councillor has likened issues on the Wairarapa Line to British sitcom Fawlty Towers. The Wairarapa Line has been plagued with reliability and punctuality issues due to insufficient staffing and maintenance work, but commuters have been told there is hope on the horizon.It comes as a satisfaction survey showed less than 60% of commuters were satisfied with the Wairarapa Line. Staffing on the Wairarapa Line was now meeting the required levels for service and four train managers were currently progressing through training. Of these one would finish in late August, two in early September, and one in mid-October. Recruitment…