Author: Press Room
A former charitable trust employee who stole more than $1 million intended for social services for children in Porirua has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison.Iesha Warren pleaded guilty to one representative charge of obtaining by deception and one charge of failing to appear in March 2025 and was sentenced in the Wellington District Court.The case was brought by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).The failing to appear charge related to Warren not appearing in court when required to do so in August 2023.Warren was employed between 2019 and June 2021 by Te Roopu Awhina Ki Porirua…
ADVERTISEMENT Members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG), chaired by the UK and Germany, are meeting Monday to discuss US President Donald Trump’s plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons. The UDCG — also known as the Ramstein format — comes after Trump said that arms deliveries, including the Patriot air defence systems, could arrive in Ukraine within days. Trump last week said he sealed a deal with NATO allies that would lead to large-scale arms deliveries to Ukraine, including Patriot systems — regarded as one of the world’s best for detecting and intercepting a wide range…
Regional airline Sounds Air will sell five aircraft and cut two routes from September, blaming rising costs and a “deadlock” over provincial air services. The carrier confirmed it would axe its Blenheim to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wānaka services from September 28, reverting to what it calls a “back to the future” model squarely focused on Cook Strait crossings.The airline will expand its Cessna Caravan fleet for shorter sectors while seeking buyers for five larger Pilatus aircraft, in order to help “rebuild the viability of the business”.Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said the airline’s hand had been forced.”We are…
Published on 21/07/2025 – 9:31 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Russian overnight strikes pounded Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, killing one person and injuring at least six, according to authorities. The large-scale drone and missile attack caused several fires to break out across the city, including in residential buildings, a children’s daycare, outdoor kiosks and a metro station, local officials said. Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko stated that the entrance to the Lukianivska metro station was damaged, but no casualties were reported. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that the daycare caught fire as a result of the attack. Other Ukrainian cities…
A 21-year-old who stabbed a homeless man to death as a 14-year-old has been located and arrested after he escaped custody at a Hastings medical centre over the weekend.Haami Hanara was arrested shortly before 1.30pm on Monday, nearly 48 hours after he fled Corrections staff during a visit to the Hastings Health Centre on Saint Aubyn St West.Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison general manager George Massingham said a remand prisoner fled from Corrections staff while on a visit to a medical centre at around 1.40pm on Saturday.A review into the incident would be carried out. Hanara was 14 in 2018 when…
Julia DeLuney’s defence says there’s no evidence of a breakdown in the relationship between her and her mother, Helen Gregory, that would explain a murder.DeLuney is on trial at the High Court in Wellington charged with murdering the 79-year-old at her Khandallah home in January 2024, which she denies.The Crown finished its closing argument on Friday, arguing DeLuney had been stealing cash from her mother and then violently attacked her, leaving her dead or dying, perhaps following a confrontation about money.But defence lawyer Quentin Duff said there was no evidence of a breakdown in the relationship between DeLuney and her…
Inflation has increased to a 12-month high of 2.7%, according to official figures out from Stats NZ today.The increase in the 12 months to the June quarter followed a 2.5% increase in the 12 months to the March 2025 quarter. “Although the annual inflation rate increased from the March 2025 quarter, it remains within the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s target band of 1 to 3% – the fourth consecutive quarter it has done so,” Stats NZ prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said.The largest contributor to annual inflation was local authority rates and payments, up 12.2%.Growden said rates contributed…
The incredibly popular Kaiteriteri Beach in Tasman has had its water quality downgraded to “poor” after exceeding faecal bacteria standards too many times during the last swimming season.The downgrade is unrelated to recent flooding in the area, with the faecal indicator bacteria – enterococci – being traced to a stormwater pipe which drains onto the beach.Between November 2024 and February 2025, 22 water samples were taken from the sea about 60 metres south of the pipe. Of the samples, 18 were within the guidelines set by the Ministries for the Environment and of Health.The downgrade is unrelated to recent flooding…
An Auckland supermarket owner is in disbelief after his business was broken into twice overnight by what appeared to be the same person.The burglar allegedly gained access to the Mount Wellington store by cutting a hole in the roof and crawling on the floor with a headlamp to avoid setting off fog cannons.Security footage provided to 1News showed the man heading straight to the office where he allegedly broke into the safe and stole thousands of dollars in cash and coins.The shop owner, who lived nearby, said he was alerted by his alarm company shortly before 1am and checked his…
It has been 10 years since residents in the small Far North town of Kāeo were placed under a boil-water notice – but it is not a milestone anyone is celebrating.Chef and cooking teacher Anna Valentine, who lives on Kāeo’s main street, is among those affected.She said she had never been able to drink from the tap, and at times she could not even use the water for laundry.”I wasn’t able to do my washing without it turning brown, basically. And every now and then it would just be super-brown, and then it would get clearer, and sometimes it would…