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Tuesday, 20 April 2021, 9:44 am
The land and building sustaining two ethnic fast food
outlets in the middle of busy suburban shopping precinct
have been placed on the market for sale.
The
property at 188 Kitchener Road in the Auckland suburb of
Milford sits directly opposite the Milford Shopping Centre
with 65 shops and 757 car parks, which is next to the
locale’s big New World supermarket.
Kitchener Road
is Milford’s main retail trading street – housing scores
of neighbourhood and community-focused shopping premises
ranging from men’s’ and women’s’ barbers and hair
salons, chemists, and real estate agencies, through to
bakeries, drycleaners, and fashion clothing

Rubbish truck on fire near Matata takes 6 hours to put out
19 Apr, 2021 10:11 PM
Quick Read
Fire fighters were called to the scene at 1.45am. Photo / File
Bay of Plenty Times
A rubbish truck engulfed in flames this morning needed to be taken apart in a six-hour effort to put the fire out.
Firefighters were called to a rubbish truck on fire on the side of the road at the intersection of State Highways 2 and 34 at 1.45am.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said the truck was "well-involved" when they arrived.
Crews from Matata, Edgecumbe, and Whakatāne were on the scene as well as a tanker.

Originally published on April 19, 2021 6:05 pm
On Monday, Australia and New Zealand launched their long-anticipated travel bubble that will allow residents of each country to visit the other without having to quarantine upon arrival.
Emotional videos capturing long-awaited reunions in arrival halls in various airports across Australia and New Zealand have been circulating online since the first passengers touched down. Thousands are reported to have made the journey across the Tasman Sea in the bubble's opening first day.
Traveler Mark Carrington told Australia's Seven Network that he felt "amazing" after landing in Sydney.
"It's been nearly two years and I haven't seen my partner for that period of time. So it's been very tough," he said.

Aussie bubble first step in travel industry rebuild
19 Apr, 2021 09:00 PM
6 minutes to read
House of Travel Rotorua director Pam Turner is excited about the Aussie bubble. Photo / Andrew Warner
House of Travel Rotorua director Pam Turner is excited about the Aussie bubble. Photo / Andrew Warner
Aussies are being welcomed with open arms as Kiwis look to bask in their sunshine. That is the word from Bay travel agents who say it is the first step in rebuilding an industry hammered
by Covid-19.
House of Travel Rotorua director Pam Turner said her team had experienced a "frenzy" of transtasman booking activity.

Productivity Commission’s latest report finds New Zealand’s frontier firms lag their overseas peers.
The Productivity Commission is urging the government to adopt an approach similar to funding elite sport when it comes to investing  to lift the country’s poor productivity record.
In its final report on frontier firms – those that are most productive in the country - the commission has signalled that firms should also adopt the longer-term intergenerational approach of Māori businesses and organisations to investment.
“Small countries can’t be world-class in everything. New Zealand needs to make some tough choices about where to prioritise investment on a few targeted innovation ecosystems, much like we do in sport,”

Angela Watson, Rob Campbell and Levi Slavin will lead Colenso into a new era for the agency.
Tue, 20 Apr 2021
From left: Levi Slavin, Angela Watson and Rob Campbell
Creative agency Colenso BBDO has announced the appointment of local candidate Angela Watson as managing director following an extensive global search. 
This follows the agency’s appointment of Rob Campbell, renowned ‘marketing supremo’, as chief strategy officer, who started this month.
“Colenso is a powerhouse of best-in-class creative and strategic talent,” Clemenger Group CEO Strahan Wallis said.
“A leader of Ang Watson’s pedigree, experience and drive marks the beginning of a new era for our award-winning agency that has a long and proud history in the New Zealand and global advertising landscape,” Wallis said.

Thunderstorms, mini tornadoes, downpours: North Island to get lashed by wild weather
19 Apr, 2021 08:33 PM
4 minutes to read
MetService Severe weather: April 20th
Heavy rain is set to swamp the North Island today, with the Bay of Plenty likely to bear the brunt of the downfalls.
Up to 120mm is expected to fall along the eastern coast from about 9pm tonight, while Mt Taranaki, Northland and Auckland all have heavy rain warnings in place from MetService.
Duty meteorologist Andrew James said the rain is the result of a low-pressure system swinging down from the north, which will bring warm temperatures but copious amounts of rain.

Letters to the editor: Council workshops are valuable
19 Apr, 2021 09:00 PM
2 minutes to read
Tauranga Council buildings. Photo / File
Bay of Plenty Times
Council workshops are valuable, because local government deals with complex issues.
No decisions can be made in a workshop, and that is a legal requirement, but workshops are an opportunity for staff and councillors to
understand the quite serious issues facing their ratepayers. After the workshops it gives staff the chance to then prepare their reports for committee deliberation, where debate in public takes place.
Workshops should not include the public, until all councillors are fully understanding of policy changing options, which they debate in public, and then open for consultation with their communities so everyone can be involved.

10 things you need to know this morning in Australia
James Hennessy
1.
Australians over the age of 50 will have access to the coronavirus vaccine after National Cabinet agreed to bring forward the next stage of the country's COVID-19 roll out. "National Cabinet agreed in-principle to a series of changes to the Australian COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy that will be put forward for approval at the next meeting of National Cabinet including options to bring forward the commencement of vaccinations for over 50-year-olds under the Australian COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy priority group 2a," Scott Morrison said in a statement.
2.
The most likely result of Australia’s troubled vaccine rollout will be a program that concludes up to a year from now, says Michael Buckland, executive director of policy think tank the McKell Institute. With the end of JobKeeper, government support and the New Zealand travel bubble aren’t enough to enable economic growth, Buckland said. Modelling by the McKell Institute around the cost of Australia’s vaccine program delays found it could cost the economy up to $1.4 billion.

And then something curious happened. They found themselves. They may even have found the philosopher’s stone, a stone that Joel Glazer wouldn’t recognise if it hit him on the head. The Chiefs discovered that sport, like the novel, like most good things in life, is about people.
Listening to some of the players talk after they had just tipped over the Crusaders was a revelation. Anton Lienert-Brown talked about “sticking tight” and “not cracking”.
He said; “In all honesty when we were in that hole, we probably went away from what the Chiefs are good at. So Clayton’s [coach Clayton McMillan] given amongst this group about Chiefs’ footy, play what’s in front...It’s good to put some mana back in this jersey.”

NZIER report questions value to NZ of seasonal workers including those on the RSE programme.
There is no proof that a large influx of short-term migration to fill labour gaps, including those that come from the islands to pick fruit and vegetables each year, are contributing to increasing New Zealand’s productivity statistics – and some evidence that there are net negatives to such visa schemes. 
That is the topline of a report released this morning by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) called
Picking Cherries, which outlines the scant evidence available for the known impacts so far of seasonal, temporary migrant workers on the New Zealand economy, with a particular focus on horticulture. 

KUNC
Michael Diaz-Rivera has a social equity license and a transporter license from the state and city of Aurora. He will start a marijuana delivery business as soon as he receives the permit.
Marijuana is one of the fastest growing industries in Colorado. Since the state’s legal market started in January of 2014, medical and retail sales have topped $10 billion. Despite this huge revenue, many people of color have been unable to stake their claim within the industry and start a business. But recent state and local legislation aim to change that.
Michael Diaz-Rivera’s marijuana story begins about 16 years ago during an encounter with the police. It was nighttime and he was driving around Colorado Springs with some friends.

Ashley Westerman is a producer who occasionally directs the show. Since joining the staff in June 2015, she has produced a variety of stories including a coal mine closing near her hometown, the 2016 Republican National Convention, and the Rohingya refugee crisis in southern Bangladesh. She is also an occasional reporter for Morning Edition, and NPR.org, where she has contributed reports on both domestic and international news.

Watch: Labour MP Kiri Allan in good spirits as she undergoes chemotherapy treatment for cervical cancer
19 Apr, 2021 05:14 AM
2 minutes to read
Kiritapu Allan has entered week two of treatment. Video / Kiri Allan - Labour MP
NZ Herald
Labour MP and Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan has entered week two of treatment following her cervical cancer diagnosis earlier in the month.
The MP announced she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer in early April.
"So now the fight of my life begins," she said in a Facebook post.
In a video update posted online today, there were plenty of smiles, laughs and waiata as Allan received chemotherapy while being supported by fellow Labour MP Meka Whaitiri.

From the Ivory Tower: Horrid truths about our low productivity (Commission). 
Why do governments often fail to deliver the ‘best’ policies for a country? One reason is that politicians may have other goals, related to their own interests. Another reason, however, is less cynical. Maybe our political leaders are mostly decent, well-meaning folk but they just don’t know what to do. Why? They could be incompetent. Which cannot be ruled out. Alternatively, they could be receiving confusing and conflicting advice. This latter reason is the one most likely to explain why successive New Zealand governments have been unable to boost our exceptionally poor productivity performance. The truth is that no one

Rose Matafeo (Jane Barlow/PA)
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Rose Matafeo has said people should not regard “female comedy” as being its own genre.
The comedian, 29, who is from New Zealand, told the Radio Times there is “so much further to go” in making comedy more diverse.
She added there are still barriers to diversity within the industry.
Rose Matafeo (Euan Cherry/PA)
“People almost regard female comedy as a genre,” she told the magazine.

The rise of the
Airtasker Ltd(ASX: ART) share price took the ASX by storm, surging from a listing price of 65 cents to a high of $1.965 in only two days. 
The company is currently valued at more than $500 million despite achieving FY20 revenues of just $19.3 million. Its rich valuation comes with a promise of international expansion to leverage its scalable technology and perhaps bring the company closer to a reasonable valuation. 
Airtasker’s Australian marketplace currently represents approximately 99% of its revenue, with the remaining 1% derived from the United Kingdom. In 2020, it established marketplaces in New Zealand, Singapore and Ireland. It also intends to commence operations in the United States in 2021. 

Has your mobile phone company's global roaming fees increased or decreased during COVID-19?
To avoid a potential horror bill while in Aussie, check out the current roaming rates below, accurate at the time of publishing according to each company's website.
2degrees
Until the end of July, it's free to roam in Australia with 2degrees - customers can simply use their New Zealand phone plan's calls, texts and data at no extra cost.
From August onwards, it'll cost $7 per day for 2degrees customers to roam in Aussie using their usual Kiwi plan's calls, texts and data.
Spark
There are two seven day roaming packs available from Spark - 1GB data only for $15 or a $20 option that offers 1GB data, 200 texts, 200 minutes inbound calls and 200 minutes outbound calls.

Blue Barn founder/CEO Phil Bull plans to grow his firm by 150% in 10 years.
Phil Bull followed in his father’s footsteps to become an engineer, and was climbing the corporate ladder when, in his mid-30s, he realised he was unhappy, and struck out on his own.
His first business, a small engineering consultancy, was wildly successful; his second, a restaurant, flopped. He returned to what he knew with the co-founding of Blue Barn Consulting in 2006, which today employs about 40 staff in Auckland and works across structural, transportation and land development engineering (co-founder Matt Lilly left in 2016 to become a pastor).

Article content
As India’s capital went into a serious lockdown, extended its curfew, closed schools and tried to recover from a record 23,000 new cases — many of them the result of a double-mutant variant — we welcomed more flights from Delhi to Canada. Yes, travel inside of Canada may be restricted but outside the country, it is not.
Want to hop over from Ottawa, Ont., to Gatineau, Que., for some cheap beer? You can’t do that but you can hop on a flight to Delhi for some cheap whiskey with a side of double-mutant variant COVID.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

US investor in Robinhood adds NZ company to its portfolio.
Online share trading company Sharesies has raised $25 million and brought in new investors including US venture capitalist Sheel Tyle and Xero backer Craig Winkler.
Documents filed to the Companies Office show the capital raising was approved by directors this month at $50.93 a share, valuing Sharesies at $146.7m.
Sheel Tyle’s Texas-based investment firm Amplo bought $4m of stock in the capital raise, adding to holdings that include US online share trader Robinhood.
Winkler’s Australian company Givia invested $3.4m.
An investor whose identity was shielded by a Wellington law firm Gibson Sheat nominee company put in $2m.

MMA Fighting
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Peace was never going to be an option this weekend.
With Jake Paul and his legion of social media sycophants bearing down on our precious MMA bubble, much of the hardcore fanbase was up in arms over the possibility that Paul’s freakshow fight with Ben Askren would overshadow a compelling UFC Vegas 24 main event featuring top middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum, and a strong Bellator card headlined by a pair of light heavyweight grand prix bouts.
The Triller Fight Club event undoubtedly drew broad interest from a variety of demographics, but for fight fans who were judicious with their time and chose not to indulge in all three events, here’s a quick rundown of the storylines that played out on Friday and Saturday.

Australia-New Zealand travel bubble launches with lopsided demand
Reuters
2 hrs ago
By Jamie Freed
© Reuters/Loren Elliott
FILE PHOTO: Passengers arrive from New Zealand after the Trans-Tasman travel bubble opened overnight, at Sydney Airport
By Jamie Freed
SYDNEY (Reuters) - A testing and quarantine free travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand launched with lopsided demand, according to airlines and data firms, with an unusually high number of the travellers departing from Australia.
The initial results from Asia's first restriction-free travel bubble since the pandemic hit, which opened on Monday, showed that travel patterns can depart from their norms after such a long closure and may take time to return to normal.

* Carry trade may thrive in low vol environment - ING
* MSCI EM FX index hits 1-month high
* Bitcoin trades near $57k after weekend plunge
LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - The dollar slumped to a six-week low against major peers on Monday, with Treasury yields near their lowest in five weeks, after the U.S. Federal Reserve reiterated its view that any spike in inflation was likely to be temporary.
The dollar was also held down by improved risk sentiment amid a rally in global stocks to record highs.
Bitcoin stabilized after losses from Sunday, when it plunged as much as 14% to $51,541, which a report attributed to news of a power outage in China.