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Loan wars Gifts galore
Finance Minister Bill English yesterday warned higher interest rates were expected late this year or early next. Photo / APN Flat-screen televisions, cash for groceries and even iPads - banks are competing to offer more attractive prizes to sweeten home loan deals as higher interest rates are forecast. But commentators warn the prizes should be viewed only as a bonus once a loan has been ...
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Loan war Gifts galore
Finance Minister Bill English yesterday warned higher interest rates were expected late this year or early next. Photo / APN Flat-screen televisions, cash for groceries and even iPads - banks are competing to offer more attractive prizes to sweeten home loan deals as higher interest rates are forecast. But commentators warn the prizes should be viewed only as a bonus once a loan has ...
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Engine discovery triggers 91-year-old ex-pilots memories of fatal crash
Aubrey Bills, who survived a plane crash in 1953, holds a photograph of himself at age 20. Photo / Christine Cornege Images of a wrecked engine from a Royal New Zealand Airforce Harvard brought memories flooding back to pilot Aubrey Bills, 60 years after he survived the crash that killed his mate. The 91-year-old Cambridge resident has spent years coming to terms with the crash that killed ...
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Stop the spin and listen residents tell council
A public meeting of about 500 people has told the Auckland Council to rethink its intensification plans for the city, start listening to communities and stop spinning. The biggest display of opposition to the council's plans saw hundreds of people fill the Takapuna Grammar School hall yesterday calling for a rethink on a new planning rulebook for the city - or Unitary Plan. They ...
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Judge rules in luxury high-rise spat
A resident of New Zealand's tallest apartment tower has lost his defamation action against a group of high-profile people running the block's body corporate. John Chung Ching Chen, who has a level-34 apartment, engaged defamation specialist Julian Miles, QC, for his case in the High Court at Auckland against multimillionaire Peter Francis, Pumpkin Patch founder Sally Synnott, CBD retail ...
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All Blacks Tuning up for France
Prop Owen Franks works out in the gym during the first day of the All Blacks' training camp in Mt Maunganui. The three-day camp is preparation for the test series against France in June. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said while the bulk of the test squad would come from the 38 players at the camps, players' form would be continually monitored up until the announcement of the squad on June ...
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Show director injured in fall
The director of Ashburton's production of Miss Saigon was seriously injuries when he fell from the stage during a rehearsal days before out from the first show. Ashburton Variety Theatre president Bridget Danielson said professional director David Williams, was in Christchurch Hospital with fractured ribs and vertebrae, a broken shoulder and a gash to the head after a "devastating" fall from the ...
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NZ ready to aid Middle East deal
Foreign Minister Murray McCully will tomorrow offer the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, New Zealand's assistance in the event that he can broker a breakthrough agreement between Israel and Palestine on a two-state solution. Mr Kerry has had an intense focus on the region with three visits there since taking over from Hillary Clinton in February. Mr McCully is scheduled to have his first ...
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Pair honoured for rescue of man from sinking car
Out on an early morning run, Jane Patterson was first on the scene when a car plunged into Auckland's Waitemata Harbour on March 13. The 44-year-old events manager and another member of the public, Nagel Staff, dived in and helped drag the driver from his sinking vehicle to safety. On Friday the pair were awarded a District Commander Certificate of Appreciation for their ...
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Editorial Push needed to hold mass appeal events
The staging of a Volvo Ocean Race stopover, a world triathlon championship and the V8 Supercars at Pukekohe have made Auckland a more vibrant city. Photo / Greg BowkerSometimes it takes an outside eye to reveal the full extent of a change in circumstance. So it was with the report by Britain's SportBusiness Group which showed Auckland had overtaken Sydney as a host of premier sporting events in ...
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Alliance changes affect 40 jobs
About 40 jobs will be affected when Alliance Group completes the consolidation of its southern rendering operations this year. The company expects to have shifted its Makarewa, Mataura and old Lorneville rendering operations to a new $25 million rendering plant at Lorneville, near Invercargill, by November. Alliance Group chief executive Grant Cuff said the changes would improve ...
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Warder bashed at Waikeria Prison
A Waikeria Prison officer has reportedly escaped serious injury after allegedly being bashed with a phone by an inmate. But last night management would only confirm an "incident" took place. Waikeria Prison manager Kevin Smith said two corrections officers were involved in an incident with a prisoner yesterday but did not require hospital treatment. Smith said the matter ...
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Partygoers turn on cop after noise complaint
Four people were arrested after an alleged assault on a police officer attending a noise complaint at a Gisborne house party. Both bottles and kicking were believed to have been involved in an incident about 11.30pm on Saturday, which a Police Association spokesman says illustrates a "continuing problem" faced by officers on the beat. While police and the union were scant on ...
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SkyCity snaps up casino as part of Queenstown expansion
The SkyCity Entertainment Group has bought the operating licence for Queenstown's waterfront Wharf Casino for $5 million, but is waiting for clearance from the Commerce Commission and Gambling Commission before taking over. The SkyCity group bought the licence from Otago Casinos Ltd on Friday. SkyCity chief executive Nigel Morrison said the group was very pleased to acquire the ...
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Heat on husbands to learn how to broaden culinary capabilities
Meat and three veg is no longer cutting it in the kitchen for a group of Southland women who have sent their husbands to cooking lessons. A dozen men have donned aprons to improve their culinary skills under the tuition of chef and Southland Boys' High School catering and hospitality teacher Scott Richardson. The classes were the brainchild of Nicola Smith, the managing director ...
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Sir Mark Todd comes home for fathers funeral
PRINCELY HONOUR: Mark Todd after receiving his Knighthood for services to Equestrian Sport from the Prince of Wales following an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham ...
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Farmer aims to fight for title again
Otago-Southland ANZ Young Farmer of the Year Dean Rabbidge is "naturally disappointed" to have missed out on the national title but plans to give it "another good crack" next year. The 27-year-old, who farms 180 dairy cows in Glenham, near Wyndham, won the regional competition in March and headed to Auckland to compete for the champion title at the weekend. He placed ...
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Over-40s deterred from rebuild
Slashing student allowances for over-40s could discourage older Cantabrians keen to retrain for the post-earthquake rebuild, Labour says. From January, allowance eligibility for those aged 40 and over will be reduced from 200 weeks to 120 weeks. The three years would be cumulative, meaning any past allowances paid would be deducted from the weeks available. Labour tertiary ...
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School trustees to receive $14.5m training boost
Boards of trustees at the most isolated schools will finally be given training after a much-needed $14.5 million increase over four years in funding. The advocate of about 18,000 trustees has welcomed the 2013 Budget's inclusion of an extra $3.6 million to be invested in supporting school boards each year. It comes after a book released last year claimed boards spent a "mucky ...
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Early flyers can kip at airport
Tourists awaiting connecting flights wait in a smokers' shelter at Christchurch Airport after being kicked out of the international ...
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Female specialists put pressure on system
HEART STRAIN: Waikato Hospital cardiologist Raewyn Fisher said female medical specialists are naturally inclined to choose general practice and specialist areas that are more suited to working part-time and allow breaks for having ...
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Teens exit programme with new lease on life
A life-changing programme for 10 to 13-year-olds in Invercargill has been deemed a success with some children emerging with heightened positivity and a new lease on life. The pilot programme, Taitamariki Oranga programme, is in its third year at Nga Kete Matauranga Pounamu Charitable Trust, and has helped 62 adolescents as well as their families. The programme is funded by the Ministry ...
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City couple celebrate 60 years of marriage
Nearly 60 friends, one for each year of the marriage they were celebrating, sat down to a diamond wedding anniversary lunch with city couple Peter and Wilma Muller on Saturday. Mr Muller, former editor of The Southland Times and author of several local histories including Rotary International, the Southland-based SBS, and the Anderson Park Art Gallery, shared that love of the written, ...
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Recidivist robber avoids spending life in prison
A man with more than 100 convictions - and described as a danger to the public - has escaped being locked up for life after he committed an armed robbery of a Kapiti supermarket. Crown lawyers argued for David Rawiri Lawson to be sentenced to preventive detention, saying he should be given the open-ended prison term - which can potentially be a life sentence - because he was a danger to the ...
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Recognise asthma symptoms - bereft mother
BALLOON TEST: Brothers Oskar, 10, left and Oli Temel, 7, are asthmatics and lost a brother, Charlie, to asthma. According to the Asthma foundation one in four children can't blow up a balloon due to ...
New Zealand Featured
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New Zealand stepping up for regional fisheries
New Zealand is regional power in the Pacific and this is reflected in our ongoing involvement in the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, which is the mechanism by which the region manages one of its greatest natural resources.
New Zealand has long been a regional power in the South Pacific, and in this capacity the country has lead a number of major initiatives undertaken alone or in conjunction with other Pacific Island nations, the most important of these have been policies aimed at environmental protection and sustainability, as well as monitoring and rehabilitation of important environmental resources, such as the Pacific fisheries. Read more
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