News stories by Duncan Tolmie

President Biden swears at reporter

US President Joe Biden has been caught swearing at a reporter.
During a press conference, a Fox News journalist asked whether the 40-year-high inflation
is hurting the President’s public approval.
Biden, unaware his mic was on, responded sarcastically, then swore.

Quarter of New Zealand warned to prepare for unplanned power cuts

People living in Northland and northern Auckland are being warned to prepare for
unplanned power cuts.
Transpower has identified a signified slip, 10 kilometres south-west of Wellsford near two
towers carrying high voltage electricity lines feeding the north.
While the slip’s being delt with the entire area from Warkworth north is being supplied
exclusively through a double circuit line.
This will increase the risk of outages in the region should a fault or another severe weather
event occur.
Transpower says while the risk of a fault or further slip is small, it wants to ensure people
are taking steps to prepare for any unplanned outages.
Crews are now working to create access to the area to bring in necessary equipment but
this is challenging work that will take some time.
The first stage of the bypass is expected to be complete by the end of next week.

Auckland flood recovery

Access to hundreds of Auckland homes has been prohibited following the floods and
rainfall over the past week.
More than 250 Auckland homes have red stickers, that’s in addition to more than 1,380
that have access restricted.
More than 3 thousand households have requested some sort of assistance, with close to
900 seeking information about emergency accommodation.
Almost 2 thousand flood impacted vehicles have been collected by the council.
Three civil defence centres remain open.
Recovery time improved for concussed children who return to school
Keeping concussed kids home from school is more likely to prolong symptoms and be
detrimental to their recovery.
A study found children who return to school within two days of a concussion are likely to
experience fewer symptoms within two weeks.
Researchers monitored the concussions severity and persistence of symptoms in a group
of more than 1,600 children.
Attending school earlier was associated with fewer symptoms, which might be due to the
benefits of socialisation and having a stable sleep schedule.

Paul Bailey denied parole

The man who raped and murdered South-Otago teenager Kylie Smith has been denied
parole and will remain in prison for at least two more years.
In 1991, 15-year-old Smith was horse riding when Paul Bailey forced her into his car, and
drove to a forest, rifle in hand.
The murdering rapist is trying to get deported back to the UK rather than serve any time on
parole in New Zealand.
While in prison Bailie didn’t graduate from a child sex offenders’ program, and in January
he was caught with a vape and sharpened object.
A psychologist assessment last month says he’s still at high risk of violent and sexual
offending.

ANZ lifting interest rates

New Zealand’s largest bank, ANZ, has announced it’s lifting interest rates following
Wednesday’s OCR adjustment.
The Reserve Bank increased the Official Cash Rate 50 basis points to sit at 3.5 percent.
ANZ’s floating and flexible home loan and blue print to build interest rates will go up 0.5
percent.
Business floating and overdraft rates will also increase by 0.5 percent.
Interest for customers with cash in ANZ’s serious saver will go up by 0.4 percent.
Around 90 percent of ANZ’s home loans are on fixed rates, which will see no change.
Consumer spending
In store buying is up and online spending is down compared to last year’s pandemic blip.
NZ Post research shows New Zealander’s spent $1.3 billion online in the quarter ending
September 30.
That’s down 14 percent on the 2021 quarter.
The research shows in store spending went up 19 percent over the same time.
But NZ Post’s Chris Wong says context is important.
There was a spike in online spending in the matching quarter last year because of
lockdowns.
Wong says compared to pre-pandemic 2019, online spending is up 39 percent.