Holiday Breakfast

The Thames Coromandel mayor has come out swinging at a group of unruly teens who ran rampant in Whangamatā last night, rioting and causing carnage in the streets. Twenty two people were arrested across Whangamatā as a result of the incident and other "hot spots" of disorder in the Coromandel town. Mayor Sandra Goudie said they were nothing but "self-indulgent brats" who had been drinking at home a...

This New Year’s Eve is being celebrated like no other in most of the world, with pandemic restrictions limiting crowds and many people bidding farewell to a year they’d prefer to forget with made-for-TV fireworks displays or packing it in early since they could not toast the end of 2020 in the presence of friends or carousing strangers. As the clock struck midnight across Asia and the South Pacifi...

Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi is calling for the Corrections Minister to step in immediately to resolve the ongoing stand-off with rioting inmates at Waikeria Prison. Waititi is this morning issuing an urgent plea to Kelvin Davis to sort out the situation for the safety of everyone involved. Waititi visited the prison yesterday evening to meet with the 16 remaining men who had taken control...

There is no doubt you would have heard it time after time by now, the declaration that 2020 has been the worst year, ever! While we can't prove that and nobody can, it is fair to say the long and tedious year dominated by Covid 19 has been a serious strain on people's mental health. So with 2021 hours away, how can Kiwis take a step forward into the new year while prioritising their mental well be...

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte says that one of the greatest pandemic concerns facing his government is the plight of workers once a moratorium on firings lifts in March. Conte defended his government’s actions to protect workers, citing 5 billion euros earmarked for social stabilizers that the Bank of Italy said had helped to prevent 600,000 people from losing their jobs during the COVID-19 emerg...

New Zealand are tentatively the number one test cricket nation in the world for the first time. The Black Caps have beaten Pakistan by 101 runs in the first test at Mt Maunganui. Their test championship final hopes also remain alive. The spectacle finished as all test matches should in an ideal world – fielders encroached around the bat in the final session on the final day desperately willing on...

Newstalk ZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast. This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about. On State Highway 2, about 50 kilometres south of Gisborne, you will find the Morere Hot Springs. Manager Lesley Rain Walker joins Tim Dower to talk about the attraction, and why you shou...

Much of the world is unravelling when Dame Anne Salmond picks up the phone at her eco-sanctuary outside Gisborne. Covid-19 is ravaging dozens of countries, including many of the world's wealthiest. Some are in their third wave of mass death and chaos this year. But the anthropologist, historian and TV host is upbeat as 2021 approaches. Along with Professor Emeritus Sir Mason Durie, Salmond has bee...

Songwriter Dave Dobbyn reckons he's at a loss for words. It's not glamour at Rhythm and Vines or the frantic rockstar lifestyle that has him stumped. He's just arrived from a motel by van, he's sober and, barely an hour before he's due to play, he chats on the phone from a house near the Gisborne festival stage. It's the impending knighthood that has him in something of a pickle. Will his arm be s...

Ian Taylor says he could have ended up a washed-up rock singer if it wasn't for a meeting in 1989, which led him down the path to found his business Animation Research 30 years ago. That meeting was with Otago University professor Geoff Wyvill who told Taylor the future was about going digital. "I had no idea what he was talking about." Wyvill gave Taylor his four top students and together they cr...

Corrections say it's a waiting game until prisoners rioting at Waikeria Prison, find a resolution. Rioting inmates have caused significant fire damage to a third of the top-jail's capacity over the past two days. Seventeen remain non-compliant. Corrections Association's Alan Whitley told Tim Dower it's too dangerous to send in any staff to defuse the situation. "The prisoners on the roof have acce...

Britain became the first country to authorize AstraZeneca’s inexpensive, easy-to-handle COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, gaining another weapon against the virus amid a resurgence so severe that the government extended lockdowns to three-quarters of England’s population. The country also changed course by deciding to dispense the first dose of its vaccines to as many people as possible right away, to g...

Bug expert and Newstalk ZB contributor Ruud Kleinpaste joins Bruce Russell to explain what exactly the 'Mount Mauler' might be and why it keeps biting Mount Maunganui holidaymakers every summer. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you thought 2020 was a chance for Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck to slow down, you’d be wrong. His latest project is to try detect signs of life out there in the universe. Beck's planning to launch a rocket to Venus in 2023 after assembling the world’s best planetary scientists to help. He's also spent much of last year launching satellites off the east coast, including the first student build o...

NewstalkZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast. This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about. Today, the road trip takes us to Gisborne, where we find Eastwoodhill, the national arboretum of New Zealand. Curator Martin Weaver joined Tim Dower to discuss what you can find there.  L...

If you're looking for a new challenge for 2021, this one might give you some inspiration. Frances Cook is the host of the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books personal finance podcast. And this year, she set herself a challenge to go for a whole year without buying new clothes - only secondhand. Cook told Tim Dower that normally people are told that the easiest places to save money is on food, transport...

Questions are being raised around why not a single case of wage subsidy fraud has been referred for prosecution. This is despite the Government receiving close to five thousand complaints related to the system being gamed. Of the complaints - 942 were referred for investigation, with 387 of those so far resolved. Tax researcher Michael Goussmet told Tim Dower it's unclear what "resolved" means. "O...

Police are horrified the holiday road toll is already at eight only halfway through the toll period. It began at 4pm on Christmas Eve and doesn't end for another week - 6am on Tuesday. Tamaki Makaurau Road Policing Manager Inspector Scott Webb says the messaging can sound like a broken record. But he told Tim Dower it really does come down to the basics. "People not wearing their restraints. There...

Two churches in Wollongong are among the latest venues added to the NSW COVID-19 alert list. Health authorities said on Tuesday a number of venues in the city of Wollongong, its inner western suburb of Figtree and Sydney’s Mona Vale have been visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases. Sydney remains on alert with three new cases of COVID-19 revealed on Tuesday, all linked to the growing northern beaches...

Far North Mayor John Carter says the fire in Ahipara, which forced the evacuation of about 100 houses last night, is a warning about just how dry Northland is. "This is a warning to us. Fortunately we've got away without loss of life, loss of property or injury, but every resident and every visitor to Northland has a responsibility to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again. It's a massi...

French fashion designer Pierre Cardin possessed a wildly inventive artistic sensibility tempered by a stiff dose of business sense. He had no problem acknowledging that he earned more from a pair of stockings than from a haute-couture gown with a six-figure price tag. Cardin, who died Tuesday at age 98, was the ultimate entrepreneurial designer. He understood the importance his exclusive haute cou...

If you've ever seen an animal make an appearance in a New Zealand ad, chances are that they were trained by Mark Vette. For years, Vette has been one of the country's top animal behaviouralists, working on projects as small as local ads to ones as massive as the Lord of the Rings series. Lockdown put a dampener on some of his projects, but Vette pivoted, launching a virtual puppy school to help do...

NewstalkZB is back with another edition of Hidden Spots on Summer Breakfast. This is where we take you on a bit of a virtual road trip around the country - and give you tips on attractions you may not know about. Today, the road trip has taken us to Tauranga where we find Blue Ocean Charters, which offers a range of activities. That includes trips to the beautiful Mayor Island. Owner of Blue Ocean...

The UK has become the latest country to leave us in their dust when it comes to tackling junk food and obesity. Supermarkets in England are to be barred from displaying unhealthy food and drinks at checkouts, or using them in buy one, get one free offers, as part of a proposed government crackdown on obesity. It won't take effect until 2022, and will be subject to a consultation process first. Auc...

It's a case of too little, too late for organisers of Rhythm and Vines when it comes to drug testing. The Government passed legislation earlier this month allowing people to test what's in their pills at a festival, without being prosecuted. But it won't be in place at Rhythm and Vines this year. Event director Hamish Pinkham told Tim Dower they want to get the systems right as it will become an i...