By Gyles Beckford of RNZ Bank profits have come through the recession and edged to a record high despite rising costs, flat margins, and regulatory pressures. Collective profits for the sector rose 0.25 percent, about $18 million, to a record $7.22 billion in 2024, with increased net-interest income, static margins,…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ The Auckland-based, Canada-born billionaire making a bid for NZME’s board says editorial content is a “side issue” and journalists should be “optimistic” about the future. Private equity tycoon Jim Grenon, a New Zealand resident since 2012, bought a 9.3 percent stake in NZME for just…

Whanganui district councillors have voted at an extraordinary meeting to dump unpopular plans for a rates-funded kerbside food scrap collection.The decision will wipe away a 1.5% targeted rate increase for 18,000 households.But the council will be saddled with sunk costs and thousands of small kitchen bins made to collect household…

New Zealand scientists studying the brains of rugby players have made a significant breakthrough that could allow Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) to be diagnosed in living players.Until now, the disease linked to repeated head knocks could only be confirmed after someone had died.But new patterns of inflammation in affected people…

An East Coast school is feeding leftovers from the Government’s free school lunches to their pig amid complaints the meals being delivered are inedible.Many students at Nūhaka School line up to dispose of the meals, which staff, who make sure the kids try them before throwing them away, say are…

If a person spends more than 13 weeks in hospital, their benefit is automatically cut to $55 a week. Some patients and advocates say that’s not enough to survive on and the automatic process further punishes people who are too unwell to fight it, Zoe Madden-Smith reports.Rhiannon Purves has been…

Police have released the name of a 39-year-old man who died in Mairehau, Christchurch over the weekend. A homicide investigation was launched after emergency services were called to an address on Innes Rd around 9.15pm, where a man was found with critical injuries and later died at the scene. He…

A dozen jobs have been lost in an East Otago town as a sawmill closes after nearly 40 years. At its peak, Palmerston’s privately owned sawmill and timber merchant Hewvan Timber employed 25 people. Proprietor John Millar said he made the difficult decision to wind down the business, with the…

Foreign companies are set to dominate New Zealand’s internet gambling market as the government auctions online casino licences for the first time.Documents obtained by RNZ show local operators fear the large offshore firms will eat up their market share – and siphon money away from the community grants they distribute…

Wānaka-based Mons Royale is celebrating two category wins in the International Sports Business Network (ISPO) global awards for innovation and design in the sports industry. The two garments — the Diversion merino trail pants and the Diversion merino wind jacket — were part of a new clothing line, the Diversion…