Author: Press Room

A palatial 1920s building near Clyde is on the brink of a lavish new chapter, painstakingly restored from years of mould, rodents and neglect.When husbands Marco Creemers and Ryan Sanders put the finishing touches on their house – affectionately known as Earnscleugh Castle – later this year, it will boast an airy ballroom, a pool and sauna, a seven-foot entranceway chandelier, a library with a sliding ladder and even a special room for their beloved French bulldogs with heated floors.The pair said they were not only creating their dream home, but capturing its storied past for locals and visitors to…

Ben Leng considers himself lucky to be alive.Spread on his kitchen table in rural Taranaki are photos illustrating the impact of what he describes as “the worst day in his life”.They are photos so harrowing he does not want to share them, but just get on with his life.In one, he is lying in a hospital bed in an induced coma after being blindsided by “sort of a coward’s punch” thrown by New Plymouth bouncer Taylor Watkins in December last year.A coward punch, also known as a king hit, is a strike to the head or neck, often delivered from…

Food prices have increased 5% in the 12 months to July, led by higher costs for milk, butter, and cheese, according to the latest figures from Stats NZ.It followed a 4.6% increase in the 12 months to June 2025, and a 4.4% increase in the 12 months to May 2025.”All five food groups recorded higher prices when compared to this time last year,” Stats NZ prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said.Higher prices for the grocery food group contributed the most to the annual food price increase — up 5.1%.The price increase for this group was due to higher prices…

KiwiRail has reached a settlement agreement with South Korean shipyard Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) following the coalition Government’s cancellation of the iReX ferry project.Chief financial officer Jason Dale said the state-owned enterprise effected an agreement with Hyundai for a full and final settlement to exit the contracts for two rail-enabled ferries that were signed in 2021.”After constructive negotiations we have concluded a settlement agreement with HMD for a final amount of $144 million. Including previous payments, this brings the total paid to HMD to $222 million and the final cost for the entire iReX project to $671 million.”Project iReX was…

Kaipara District Council has spent an unplanned $52,000 producing a document which attempts to spell out what legal obligations the local authority has to Māori.Mayor Craig Jepson claimed the document would serve as a guide for staff, councillors and the public, clarifying obligations and potentially saving the council money in the future.But one councillor has described the paper as “actively anti-Māori” while another deemed it “bull****”.The unbudgeted 127-page document was produced by Wellington law firm Franks Ogilvie and formally adopted in late July by a narrow 5:4 vote. Legal advice around local government law change that the firm gave to…

Napier City Council contractors did not follow its code of practice when excavating a drain, and eels likely died as a result.A witness, who didn’t want to be named, said on August 4 a digger with an earth bucket designed for shingle and earth, removed material from the base of a drain alongside Cato Rd — near Wharerangi Lawn Cemetery — which included plants, mud and eels.”The material was then trucked directly to an earth landfill, where the eels were buried alive,” the witness claimed.Napier City Council says it’s impossible to know how many eels died during the incident, but…

A man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter over an unprovoked attack outside a rugby clubroom in Taranaki.Daytona Thompson fatally punched Daniel Nganeko last month.A big crowd gathered outside the High Court at New Plymouth for Friday’s hearing, many wearing white t-shirts bearing the image of Nganeko and the slogan “March for Daniel, March for Change”.About 200 people attended a rally earlier calling for the introduction of new coward punch law to be fast tracked.Te Uraura Nganeko, who is the father of Daniel Nganeko, spoke to the crowd who gathered at the Tukapa Rugby Club, where his son was fatally assaulted.He…

The owner of a bakery in the Bay of Plenty town of Murupara and his company have been convicted, fined and ordered to make emotional harm payments for breaching immigration and employment law in relation to migrant workers. Ratha Ny, the owner and director of R.S.X Limited – which traded as Bakehouse Café – pleaded guilty and was convicted in March 2025 of four charges of providing false or misleading information to Immigration New Zealand.The company also pleaded guilty and was convicted of six exploitation charges for serious breaches of employment law, including knowingly underpaying employees below the minimum wage,…

Three of the country’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters no longer have to reveal how much planet-heating gas they produce.For the first time, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)’s company-level emissions data doesn’t include agriculture, after the government ended compulsory reporting for the farming sector.The change means companies responsible for around half the countries’ greenhouse gases no longer have to supply information to the EPA every year giving a rough total of their methane emissions, unless they happen to be captured by other disclosure rules (for example climate disclosure rules covering stockmarket-listed companies).Meat processors Affco and Alliance no longer have to supply…

Christchurch company MARS Bioimaging has opened the door for more investors to reach a capital raise target of $10 million for getting its colour CT scanners into medical clinics. Last year $7.6m was raised, with the remaining $2.4m to go towards scaling up commercial sales of the spectral molecular imaging scanners. The compact scanners produce three-dimensional colour X-rays for initially diagnosing hand to shoulder complaints. Among the 10 existing shareholders are father and son co-founders Philip and Anthony Butler, Pacific Channel and the Hospital for Special Surgery based in New York. MARS was the first in the world to produce…