Author: Press Room

Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical Emilia Pérez — about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirming surgery — led nominations to the 82nd Golden Globes, scoring 10 nods to lead it over other contenders such as the musical smash Wicked, the papal thriller Conclave and the postwar epic The Brutalist.The embattled Globes, which are no longer presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are still in comeback mode after years of scandal and organisational upheaval. Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Denzel Washington, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Glen Powell and Selena Gomez all scored nominations.The young Donald Trump drama…

Four people have died after a two-car crash near Rotorua last night.Emergency services were alerted to the crash on State Highway 5 near Whakarewarewa at about 7.50pm yesterday.The collision involved two cars carrying seven people, a police spokesperson said this morning.”Police can now advise that four people have died,” the spokesperson said.”Three people died at the scene of the crash, one died in hospital after having been transported in a critical condition.”Two people remain in hospital, one in a critical condition and one in a serious condition.”Investigations into the circumstances of the crash were ongoing, the spokesperson added.A Hato Hone…

Air New Zealand is facing another two to three years of disruption waiting for new aircraft and maintenance, its chief executive says.It was “terrible” to contemplate but, for some time, Greg Foran had suspected this would be the case, he told RNZ’s Checkpoint.The disruption is also ready costing the airline as much as $150 million annually.It has been a turbulent year for Air New Zealand with the national carrier dealing with ongoing engine maintenance issues, a backlash over prices, cuts to some regional routes and falling profits.Chief executive Greg Foran says the airline can still be the best in the…

The agreement reached by the European Commission contains new provisions which seek to respond to the opponents of the agreement. But the process that must follow the political agreement reached on Friday is far from a done deal for the European executive. ADVERTISEMENTJust three days after the announcement of the conclusion of the Mercosur agreement, farmers’ tractors were already making themselves heard, Monday, outside the building of the Council of the European Union, where the 27 European ministers for agriculture were gathering.Organised by the farmers European lobby, COPA-COGECA, and Belgian farmer unions, the demonstration denounced the unfair competition that European…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ Your bank might have stopped offering an ATM in your neighbourhood – but there’s a good chance it has been replaced by a private provider. As the number of bank-run ATMs shrinks – hundreds have closed around the country in recent years – they have been replaced in many areas by those from providers such as Next or Allpoint. Reserve Bank data shows that in 2011 there were 2489 bank-owned ATMs, but that had dropped to 1440 last year. But while most banks no longer charge a fee for withdrawing cash at another bank’s ATMs,…

The Prime Minister says the Government has made “tremendous progress” on law and order, in the wake of new poll results on the coalition’s policies, but says there is still more work to be done.A new 1News Verian poll released yesterday revealed that 26% of Kiwis feel more safe under the coalition’s law and order policies, while 56% reported no change in their sense of security and 13% reported feeling less safe under the Government’s policies.People were asked: “Do you feel more or less safe as a result of the Government’s law and order policies, or do they make no…

With Trump’s arrival in the US White House, a new EU Commission and the ongoing war in Ukraine, security in all its possible dimensions will be the main priority of the next rotating EU presidency, said Poland’s Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol. ADVERTISEMENTEnergy, defence and economic security will top the EU’s agenda during the upcoming six-month rotating presidency of the Council, representing member states, which starts in January 2025, Poland’s Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol said on Monday.   Bartol presented a “very ambitious” agenda to bring some stability in times of great change and challenges, with Trump’s arrival in the US White House, a…

An Air New Zealand flight en route to French Polynesia was struck by lightning last night.The airline’s chief operating officer Alex Marren said the plane was on its way to Papeete, Tahiti.”On the way to Papeete last night, NZ902 experienced a lightning strike about 20 minutes after take-off,” she said.”The aircraft returned to Auckland, where our maintenance teams can complete inspections so it can return to service. “Lightning strike is not uncommon and our pilots are trained for this scenario.” All affected customers were rebooked to travel to Papeete today, Marren said.

After a lengthy search for victims in the rubble of an apartment building hit by an explosion on Saturday, emergency authorities said no further people are confirmed missing. ADVERTISEMENTEmergency authorities officially concluded their search for victims on Monday at the site of a devastating explosion that occurred in The Hague over the weekend.The final death toll rose to six, with the last victim found in the building’s basement on Sunday. Authorities have confirmed that no further people are missing.With the search for victims complete, police are continuing to search to rubble for clues about exactly what happened, as the cause…

The Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden has announced plans to reintroduce pay deductions for partial strikes. A partial strike is where the employee is still doing some form of their work. Employers have been banned from reducing the worker’s pay since the previous Labour-led government removed that power in 2018. ACT’s van Velden said she recognised the entitlement of employees to strike, but the disruption caused “should not continue without consequence”. “Restoring employers’ ability to make pay deductions for partial strikes could help incentivise both parties to return to the bargaining table and reach agreement sooner, while also minimising…