Author: Press Room
Published on 30/08/2025 – 7:00 GMT+2 •Updated 01/09/2025 – 10:05 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Summer of 2025 has brought the worst wildfire season in decades for the EU. More than one million hectares have burned since January — with Spain and Portugal alone accounting for over two-thirds of the devastation. Yet the number of firefighters across Europe remains “woefully low”, European trade unions warn. Fresh data from Eurostat shows that in 2024, the EU had 390,600 professional firefighters, up nearly 8% compared to 2023. Germany, France, Poland, Italy, and Spain employ the largest forces, each with between 42,100 and 61,700 firefighters. By…
What happens when you pay for something like a couch or a stove, and the business goes under before you get the goods?The recent demise of some big retail chains has raised some questions about consumer rights.Smiths City, the well-known furniture and electronics retailer, went into voluntary administration on Tuesday.When customers made their way to the store, they found all nine stores closed and the online one too, while the company’s finances are reviewed.One Christchurch woman, who paid nearly $4500 for a lounge suite from Smiths City, is upset and angry about how she’s been treated by the company.Lynette bought…
By Euronews Published on 01/09/2025 – 10:59 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT A new report claims that disinformation websites in the Czech Republic publish around 120 articles a day, outpacing the country’s main reliable news outlets. Czech news outlet Voxpot teamed up with an IT association called Druit to analyse 360,000 publications across 16 platforms over the past 25 years. The investigation revealed that disinformation servers in the country churn out more articles every day than the largest Czech media houses, often doing so covertly with Russian money or funding from entities close to Russia. According to the report, some of the largest disseminators…
A body has been found in the search for a man missing for more than a week in the Thames area.Jared, 35, was last seen leaving his home on Waiomu Valley Rd in Waiomu on the morning of Sunday, August 24.He was heading towards the Coromandel but failed to return home, police said on Saturday.A body was found yesterday evening following a search near Coromandel Peninsula.”While formal identification is yet to take place, it is believed to be that of the missing 35-year-old,” police said this evening.”Police’s thoughts and sympathies go out to his family during this difficult time.”The matter…
ADVERTISEMENT Minimalism has not yet won – at least, not everywhere. A new study by storage specialists has revealed which European homes are likely to be the most cluttered, analysing the money spent on items that take up the most space. Sweden takes the top spot with a 98.65 Clutter Score. That is largely driven by high spending on furniture (5.5%) and clothing. Second-placed Netherlands devotes the highest share to clutter-related items (17.2%), particularly furniture(6.5%) and recreational goods (1.1%). Third- and fourth-placed Germany and Austria are obsessed with furniture and household maintenance, with spending scores of 6.4% and 5%, respectively. On…
If you’re feeling sore from a run or gym session, you might wonder whether it’s better to push through or give your body a rest, writes Hunter Bennett.This achy or stiff feeling in your muscles after exercise is known as “delayed onset muscle soreness” (DOMS). Soreness usually sets in within the first 12–24 hours after your exercise session, and often peaks 24–72 hours after.In most instances, DOMS will disappear completely in three to five days. But what should you do in the meantime? Is it OK to exercise if you’re still sore? Here’s what the evidence says.Why do muscles get…
Published on 01/09/2025 – 17:24 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Uncertainty is hanging over the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a joint project between France, Germany and Spain, that aims to develop a sixth-generation fighter aircraft supported by interconnected drones within a combat cloud. The idea, launched in 2017 and costing at least €100 billion, aims to strengthen European defence. Last week, Reuters reported that the German Defence Ministry accused French fighter jet manufacturer Dassault of blocking the project after its CEO, Eric Trappier, called for greater decision making powers in the project’s next phase. Jacob Ross, a researcher at the German Council…
New Zealand’s average property values have dropped for the fifth month in a row – according to fresh data from Cotality NZ, formerly known as CoreLogic.In August, property values across the country were down -0.2% overall, according to its latest hedonic Home Value Index.In total, this means nationwide property values have dropped -0.6% so far in 2025.The modest gains seen in late 2024 and early 2025 have now been negated, Cotality NZ said.The median nationwide is now $809,113 – down -17.2% from the peak in January 2022, and the lowest level since August 2023.The value of properties in Auckland (-0.5%),…
Published on 02/09/2025 – 7:45 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT A so-called news report is circulating online alleging that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the owner of a $1.2 billion (€1 billion) real estate empire. The video alleges that a former investigator at Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), known as “Olena K”, defected to “Europe” with thousands of pages of internal files that supposedly show systemic corruption at the highest echelons of the government in Kyiv. She allegedly oversaw a task force tracking offshore wealth transfers and shell companies tied to Zelenskyy and his allies, which were used to buy more than 100…
Five people were injured in a multiple-vehicle crash south of Wānaka yesterday afternoon. Emergency services were called to Cardrona Valley Road at around 4pm. According to a St John spokesperson, a total of five people were injured in the crash. One was airlifted to Christchurch Hospital in a critical condition, two people were airlifted to Dunedin Hospital in a serious condition, and one in a serious condition and one in a moderate condition were transported to Dunstan Hospital. “Inquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing,” police said. The road was closed as a result of the crash, but…