You have probably heard about the world’s financial crisis which has unveiled over the last 24 hours - but investment news can be confusing to understand at the best of times. Do you know what is going on?

The Situation

The New York Stock Market saw the worst sell-off day in years yesterday, as Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest Wall Street investment bank, went under - filing for bankruptcy. Another financial management company, Merrill Lynch, then agreed to a takeover by the Bank of America, which sparked a global sell-off the stock market.

The firms plunged because of their enormous exposure to the US subprime mortgage market. This collapse is the cause for the global credit crunch, which will have worldwide effects. Economists are predicting more firms to fall into the same situation (insurance giant AIG has just been rescued by the US Government with an $85 billion emergency loan), particularly for companies with debt linked to mortgages.

How does this affect you?

While The Reserve Bank says NZ does not have much direct exposure to Lehman Brothers, AIG has 45,000 NZ customers, including some of our biggest companies. New Zealand banks are also largely owned by Australian parents, many of whom have reported direct exposure to the affected US firms.

The impact of the world financial crisis may mean New Zealand’s expected economy recovery may slow down or even not happen at all over the next year. The fall of the US firms will flow through to NZ shares and the NZ dollar, and may have significant effects on New Zealand savings schemes such as pensions, Kiwisaver and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Savings rates may also plunge, and mortgage rates could stay higher for longer.

Keep up to date with the financial crisis by keeping tabs on the business news headlines on NZS.com.

The next twelve months of NZ Design will be showcased for the next four days in New Zealand’s premiere fashion event, Air NZ Fashion Week.

The extravaganza kicked off with the launch party last night (amongst copious bottles of Moet champagne) as all of the usual Kiwi celebrities and fashion-philes came out in anticipation of the most exciting week in Auckland’s social calendar.

World kicked off at the tents at 11am this morning with the first show, which as promised was extravagantly theatrical with faux-fur mini skirts, sequined shirts and even male models carrying pink handbags! Dunedin designers Nom*D are getting ready as we speak for the headline show tonight, and the much talked about Trelise Cooper will take their place tomorrow as the one to watch for the day.

If you can’t get to Fashion Week, and are looking for a little designer something, check out endemicworld.com. Stocking not just designer fashion but giftware, homeware and a range of other pieces of NZ Design, they are your online source of fashion accessories and streetwear today - a great fix when you can’t be front row at a New Zealand designer show!

Image from Flickr.

The Election Date for New Zealand was set just minutes ago, as Saturday November 8, 2008. Kiwis countrywide have been waiting for the announcement of this date for some time, so it’s a relief to all to finally put a day to the event.

And so the Election 08 race begins! Expect to see the Clark versus Key showdown come into full force in the coming eight weeks…

The real estate sales game, alongside property management in New Zealand, often gets a bad wrap from tabloid-style news shows in New Zealand. We’re constantly hearing about families who have been ripped off or mislead by those within the real estate industry, and the media create a flurry in reporting these cases because until now, there has been nothing those families could do.

This is all set to change next year when anyone who has had a grievance with somebody within the property industry can go to a crown agency with their complaint, and will be able to receive up to $100,000 in compensation if a complaint is upheld.

Currently, there are no provisions for compensation, and real estate professionals are only liable for a maximum fine of $750 for individuals, and $5000 for companies. Offences that will draw these fines include: practicing without a license, giving false or misleading information, failing to disclose conflicts of interest and rendering false accounts, among other breaches.

Due to be implemented in late 2009 or early 2010, this approach aims to reinstall faith in the real estate industry. The system will ideally make sure that reliable property management and property sales companies get the credit and respect they loose by the few cases of sour experiences with others from their profession.

In the next bid to Googlise the online world, Google launched the BETA version of its new browser Chrome just hours ago. Contrary to many New Zealand reports, the new browser is now available for download - many New Zealand news stories have claimed it wasnt to be released until Thursday the 4^th.

So what is new and different about the new Google browser? The NZS.com team’s first impression is that pages are loading faster than on other browsers, and the interface, while decidedly simple, is cohesive and easy to adapt to.

All of our settings were imported, and we love the fact that each individual tab runs itself with ‘crash control’ - so if one site causes problems the entire browser won’t need to close, just that tab.

Every time you open a new tab, you also get a ‘most visited’ page with screenshots of your most frequently visited sites and searches. A great novelty feature is the ‘incognito view’, meaning ‘what comes into this browser, stays in this browser’ - it’s stealth surfing made easy.

Creating, dragging and moving tabs and shortcuts is easy, and there’s no doubt that we’ll discover many more customisable beauties throughout Google Chrome’s first day of use.

Olympics fans across the world were stunned and amazed by the quality of the Olympics opening ceremony on Saturday morning over the weekend - with many noting their favourite segment to be the 28 fireworks footprints leading to Olympic Stadium, signifying the previous 28 modern Olympic Games.

Breaking news this morning just revealed that those fireworks were faked - at least those which millions of viewers saw from home in the televised version. While the Beijing opening ceremony organisers did let off 28 fireworks footprints into the sky leading to the Bird’s Nest, this was not filmed, as they believed it was going to be too dangerous and difficult to have a helicopter following them so low down in the skies.

Instead, a 55-second computer generated sequence was made, taking over a year to compete, which featured camera shake and even Beijing smog to create a realistic and stunning fireworks display.

With some promising efforts from Mahe Drysdale, Emma Twigg and Moss Burmester last night, New Zealand can hope to see its first Olympic Medal in finals over the coming days.

Image from Flickr.

It’s been a dark and stormy few days in New Zealand weather this week, and we’re only just starting to see the end of Mother Nature’s turmoil this afternoon. Nationwide flooding has caused evacuations, road closures, rolling ships, power cuts and landslides over the last two days, threatening the homes and lives of New Zealanders in several different parts of the country.

Civil defense emergencies have been declared in several difference provinces. The Marlborough region of the South Island saw the storm carve a 1100 metre swathe down the country, destroying almost everything in its path. Wellington has seen 120 kilometre per hour winds which have toppled trees and cut electricity, and a small tornedo has ripped roofs off houses in Mt Maunganui. The cruise liner Pacific Sun was hit by seven metre swells and 50 knot winds at sea, rolling the ship and injuring 42 people on board 600kms off Auckland. Kaikoura has seen a bus flushed out to sea, and a woman in the Bay of Islands was swept to her death while trying to cross a swollen creek in the Bay of Islands. These are just some of the horrifying events New Zealand has seen over the last 48 hours.

Weather forecasts are showing the storm easing this evening over most parts of the country, with heavy rain becoming occasional, and gusts lessening. People are being allowed to return to their homes in the North Island, however many North Canterbury residents will be forced to brave the night elsewhere tonight.

If you’re able to help out anybody in distress, make sure you’re true to our Kiwi ideal of sticking your neck out for others, and lend a hand to those in need. If you or anyone you know is in need of any emergency services, staff and volunteers are working overtime countrywide to assist wherever they can. Stay safe and rest assured that the worst is over New Zealand!

Did you know that searches for Maori tattoos are quite a popular directory query on NZS.com? While many may want a Maori design on their arm, how many Kiwis actually speak the language? The last census revealed it is just 4% of the country - so what can you do to learn a little Te Reo Maori?

It’s Maori Language Week in New Zealand, and NZS.com has an extensive directory of Maori related listings to keep you culturally informed.

Maori culture is an important part of New Zealand’s history - we are a nation very proud of our indigenous culture and national support is actively increasing through promotional festivals and arts funding every the year.

Are you interested in learning some phrases from the Maori language this week? Many resources are available online via NZS.com which strive to make learning Te Reo fun, easy and accessible for all.

Image from Flickr.

We love launching new sections here on NZS.com, and this week we’ve just launched a piping hot New Zealand News section!

In true NZS.com style, we’re offering categorised news headlines content in a short, sharp format to get you the information you want, faster. From the latest national stories to breaking international news, NZS.com is the only news headlines source you need.

Too often internet users are made to filter through various pages trying to find one short news story. The NZS.com News section is dedicated to providing you with snappy, to-the-point headlines which keep you informed and up to date with New Zealand and the world.

Just like in our directory, we’re also categorising by region to give you the stories most relevant to you and your city. Alongside the rest of the news categories, keeping tabs on the Regional News page will mean not only will you be up-to-the-minute with the wider world around you, but also what is going on in your local area.

Police are advising motorists in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and other major cities to get to work before 7.30am tomorrow or face delays of up to 90 minutes owing to the planned trunk blockade by diesel drivers.

Organisers of the blockade are protesting against the unexpectedly sudden diesel road-user charges which will come into effect tomorrow morning. 2000 trucks will make their way to city centres between 7.30am and 10am tomorrow morning aiming to congest traffic and converge on the CBDs’ streets.

Primary routes leading to city centres are expected to be gridlocked and take considerable time to clear up - particularly in Auckland where half of the 2000-odd trucks will stand their ground against the charges.