Author: Press Room

Buyer confidence is picking up in Dunedin’s steady property market on the back of lower interest rates, sales agents say. The market has typically been described as stable after the latest valuations were released by Quotable Value, showing little movement overall since 2022. Nidd Realty owner Joe Nidd said some buyers in Dunedin had been cautious in recent years, but confidence was returning. He had noticed much more competition among house buyers around the middle of the market, and more unconditional offers. “And the upper end of the market has shown a real invigoration in the past two to three…

Locations for six new average speed safety cameras have been confirmed by the New Zealand Transport Agency. The new cameras, which calculate a vehicle’s average speed along a length of road between them, will be set up at six locations in the South Island and the lower North Island. It means drivers will be ticketed if their average speed between the two cameras is over the limit. They will join 11 other sets previously announced by the agency to be installed in the upper North Island.The new locations announced today were: Southland – SH6 Kingston to SH97 Five RiversCanterbury -…

Published on 05/11/2025 – 18:15 GMT+1 •Updated 18:20 Albania is committed to joining the European Union by 2030, Prime Minister Edi Rama told Euronews, labelling his country as “the most Euro-optimistic nation in Europe”. “2030 is not a date that I saw in a dream, but it’s a deadline that is the result of a very simple calculation,” he said during his interview at Euronews’ EU Enlargement Summit on Tuesday. He expects to conclude talks in the next two years, giving national parliaments across the EU another two years to ratify the decision, he added. The timeline is considered assertive…

Whanganui District Council has admitted it made a mistake in setting up its first citizens’ assembly, conceding members were not told they would be thrust into the public spotlight.The admission follows an Ombudsman investigation into the council’s refusal to name 39 people appointed to the citizens’ assembly on outdoor pools in mid-2025.The council has acknowledged shortcomings and apologised for a procedural error after failing to tell participants their involvement would be public.Former chief executive David Langford told Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) the assembly was a new initiative and that while care was taken to support participants, “not all aspects were…

Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić has confirmed that his country is ready to sell ammunition to the EU, even if it ultimately ends up with Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russia. “We need to sell it to someone, and we’ll sell it to whomever we can in order to earn some money, but we’ll try to take care and not see that ammunition end up in a war zone. But it happens from time to time,” Vučić said on Euronews’ flagship interview show The Europe Conversation. “At the end [of the day], we’ll have to pay our workers,” he added.…

The unemployment rate has risen to a near nine-year high of 5.3%, according to new figures released by Stats NZ today.It was another nudge up from the previous figure of 5.2% in the June 2025 quarter and 5.1% in the March 2025 quarter.”The unemployment rate has been over 5% for the last four quarters. The last time that the unemployment rate was 5.3% was in the December 2016 quarter”, said Stats NZ labour market spokesperson Jason Attewell.Which group’s hit hardest as unemployment rate hits 9-year high – Watch on TVNZ+There were 160,000 unemployed people in the September 2025 quarter. In…

Published on 05/11/2025 – 17:07 GMT+1 The EU’s environment ministers agreed on Wednesday on the bloc’s domestic climate target to cut CO2 emissions by 2040, after intense political pressure to deliver on climate commitments and maintain Brussels’ role as a climate action leader at next week’s COP30 UN climate summit. The EU27 agreed on a range to set a 2035 climate target to reduce net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 66.25–72.5% below 1990 levels, covering all sectors of the economy and all GHGs, including methane. The range takes into account the 2040 climate target, setting the path to cut emissions…

Ownership of a South Dunedin pub is down to one, but questions remain as to whether its now sole shareholder is suitable to hold a liquor licence. Dunedin’s district licensing committee reconvened to hear on-licence and off-licence applications for the St Kilda Tavern yesterday. The applications by JV Bars Ltd were opposed by police, the medical officer of heath delegate and the city’s chief licensing inspector. Police questioned the suitability of the applicant as a 50% shareholder in the company, Jaspal Singh, had “failed to disclose convictions and previous involvement with the police”, a report to the committee said. But…

Police have released the name of a woman who was found dead in a central Auckland apartment last week. She was 38-year-old Luisa Qelesenikau Mate. Police were called to a property on Day St in the Auckland CBD around 7.35pm on Saturday, where officers discovered the woman dead shortly after arriving. A 38-year-old man, who police said was known to the victim, was charged with murder. He was remanded in custody and is set to appear in the High Court on November 18. Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said, “our thoughts are with Luisa’s family and her children, for the loss…

Italy’s top audit court recently rejected the government’s long-standing plan to build what would be the world’s longest suspension bridge connecting the island of Sicily to the region of Calabria across the Strait of Messina. The Italian Court of Auditors — which oversees public spending — said it would release the full reasoning behind its rejection within 30 days. During a hearing on 29 October, the judges questioned whether the 2005 tender for the project still held, citing a mismatch in projected costs and whether it complied with EU competition rules. The project has also been slammed by critics as…