Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTFrench President Emmanuel Macron allegedly claimed that African countries would be unable to “thrive without French involvement”, according to a series of posts circulating on social media.”Africa remains the least developed continent, and history shows we have a role to play in supporting its growth. A complete withdrawal could halt progress”, states a post supposedly quoting Macron, which has been viewed almost 700k times. A number of the posts which relay the claim feature the same press shot of Macron.By conducting a reverse image search and checking that results matched with the picture shared on social media, EuroVerify was able…

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Telecommunications infrastructure company Chorus said this morning’s massive internet outage across the lower North Island was caused by human error.DownDetector showed a large spike in outages across telecommunications companies Spark, One NZ, Skinny and 2Degrees from around 10.45am this morning.The outage lasted more than an hour and was fixed by 12.30pm. One telecommunications company said around 90% of connections in the region were offline.In a statement to 1News, Chorus said the outage was “the result of human error during planned works, which resulted in one of our core ethernet routers for the Wellington region being isolated from our network”.”The error…

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An Auckland-based foreign exchange and money remittance company has been convicted and fined $1.125 million for failing to report suspicious activities and to submit prescribed transaction reports.An investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) found that Qian DuoDuo Limited, which traded under the name Lidong Foreign Exchange, found it failed to report 197 international transactions to China between June 2018 and September 2019.The transactions, which totalled over $19.14 million, included 26 “objectively suspicious” activities with a value of $4.72 million and 171 involved prescribed transactions with a value of $14.42 million. The value of the nearly 200 transactions represented…

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A man has been charged with murder after a woman was struck by a vehicle in Hamilton last month.Hamilton woman Jayde Gilbert was critically injured after she was hit by a ute on the corner of Ohaupo Rd and Kahikatea Dr on May 15.Police at the time said the 30-year-old was injured after a vehicle drove into a power pole she was standing next to.Gilbert was taken to Waikato Hospital, where she died of her injuries.A 38-year-old man was arrested today, Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Neilson said.He will appear in the Hamilton District Court this afternoon charged with her murder.…

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Published on 06/06/2025 – 12:28 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTGlobal police organisation Interpol says that 20 people have been arrested as part of a major international operation against the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. The arrests were made between March and May in an operation that spanned 12 countries. It was led by the Spanish National Police in collaboration with Interpol and Europol.”The operation was initiated by Spain in late 2024, when specialised officers carried out online patrols and identified instant messaging groups dedicated to the circulation of child sexual exploitation images,” Interpol said in a statement.Through Interpol and Europol, Spanish…

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A Napier man is in disbelief after winning $1 million on a Lotto ticket he almost forgot to buy.The man, who wished to remain anonymous, was out on Wednesday when he saw an advertisement for the Lotto jackpot and logged in to his MyLotto account to purchase a ticket.”If I hadn’t seen the sign, I would have forgotten to get my ticket that night – I got it just before MyLotto closed,” he said.Later that night, the man checked his ticket as he would normally. This time, he saw the numbers all line up on his ticket.”You never think you’ll…

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Motorists heading over the Kaimai Ranges have been urged to drive with caution after beef tallow spilled onto State Highway 29 this afternoon.NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi said the spill hazard was located on the Waikato side of SH29.”Beef tallow has spilled from a truck onto the road 3km from the intersection of State Highway 28 and SH29, making the surface very slippery,” NZTA said. “A traffic management crew and sucker truck are en route to clean up the area.”Truck driver Mark Kelsey told 1News some vehicles were struggling as the beef tallow was “slippery as”.”It was mainly affecting empty…

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A 12-year-old has been arrested and charged with arson after a blaze that destroyed the McDonald’s restaurant in Pakuranga last month.Police had been investigating the suspicious fire which occurred on Pakuranga Rd on May 5.Detective Senior Sergeant Dean Batey said the young person appeared in the Manukau Youth Court and was currently on court bail conditions.”Police appreciate the fire has been of high interest to the local community.”We are not able to comment further around the circumstances of the alleged offending, however police cannot rule out any further arrests in relation to the matter.”Police were notified of the blaze on…

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Another “run it straight” event took place in a backyard last night, taking a more scaled-down approach to the controversial craze. After having its event at Barfoot & Thompson Stadium in Kohimarama cancelled last month, Up the Guts NZ decided to go ahead in a nondescript backyard, believed to be in Auckland, and livestream it over social media. The craze involves two people running at and crashing into each other at speed.Last week, 19-year-old Ryan Satterthwaite died after he received a serious head injury while playing a game based on the dangerous trend with friends in Palmerston North.Similar events have…

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By&nbspEmma De Ruiter&nbspwith&nbspAP Published on 06/06/2025 – 8:09 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTAn overnight Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv has killed at least four people and injured 20 others, city mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as air raid sirens rang out during a wider combined attack across Ukraine.Klitschko said search and rescue operations were underway at several locations.Multiple explosions were heard in the capital, Kyiv, where falling debris sparked fires across several districts as air defence systems attempted to intercept incoming targets, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Administration.“Our air defence crews are doing everything possible. But we must protect one…

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