Author: Press Room

After years of controversy and delays, three new potential sites for an Erebus memorial have been announced.All 257 people lost their lives in 1979 when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing tour.Families have been waiting for a permanent location in New Zealand to honour their lives ever since. In 2018, Auckland’s Parnell Rose Gardens was selected as the spot for it, but the land was damaged by poor weather in 2023. Then, on the 45th anniversary of the disaster in November last year, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture advised a…

Two people and a dog have been rescued from a houseboat after it began sinking near Kawau Island north of Auckland last night.Kawau Volunteer Coastguard said crews helped two people from a houseboat when the pontoons on one side took on water and the vessel began to sink.Skipper Thelma Wilson said the team maneuvered alongside the vessel, avoiding debris and sharp fittings in wind squalls of around 30 knots.”Our helmsman and the crew did a sterling job, enabling the crew to get both occupants and a wee dog safely across onto Kawau Rescue.”The vessel was already settling on the seabed…

Two Dunedin club rugby players have been suspended after both admitted to secretly filming and posting an intimate video of a female student.Green Island RFC division 2 player Thomas Ryan, 24, has pleaded guilty to two charges of making an intimate visual recording and posting the video without consent.Court documents revealed he covertly filmed himself and the woman during a sex act during the early hours of June 8.The pair had met up “after a few alcoholic drinks” before going back to Ryan’s home.He then shared the five-second video to more than 30 people on the Green Island club’s social…

Claimants in a class action law suit against the ANZ and ASB banks have offered to settle a four-year case for breaches of credit laws for more than $300 million.The offer has been disclosed at the finance and expenditure select committee hearing into proposed amendments to the credit contracts and consumer finance act (CCCFA), to close loopholes which might expose banks and other financial services companies to action for historic minor breaches of the laws.The law suit involved more than 150,000 customers of the two banks affected between 2015 and 2019 over breaches of the laws for not making proper…

Defence Minister Judith Collins has been taken to hospital after a “nasty bout of vertigo”.In a social media post this evening, Collins said she “found out the hard way” that taking several flights after the flu can lead to vertigo.”So don’t be alarmed if you see me with a little support,” Collins said.The minister described her symptoms as “like seasickness multiplied”.Symptoms of vertigo, a type of dizziness, include feeling sick (nausea) and throwing up (vomiting), tinnitus or ringing in the ears, loss in hearing, and ear pain, according to Health NZ.She said she was now “on the mend thanks to…

ADVERTISEMENTUrsula von der Leyen has unveiled her much-anticipated proposal for the new budget of the European Union, worth €2 trillion between 2028 and 2034, a sizable increase compared to the €1.21 trillion approved by leaders in the summer of 2020.”It’s a budget for a new era that matches Europe’s ambition,” the president of the European Commission said on Wednesday afternoon.”That addresses Europe’s challenges. That strengthens our independence.⁩”Her blueprint remodels the budget’s structure along three main pillars.€865 billion for agricultural, fisheries, cohesion and social policy.€410 billion for competitiveness, including research and innovation.€200 for external action, including €100 billion for Ukraine.While direct…

The Justice Minister is defending the amount of money spent on the Government’s retail crime advisory group in 100 days, saying the group has come up with ideas the Government will implement to better deal with retail crime.The Labour Party says the half-million dollar sum is hard to stomach, and that ideas the group came up had previously been dismissed as being too dangerous.But the group’s chairman says its budget is strictly managed and controlled, and he had robust checks and accountability measures in place.The Government has announced a suite of law-and-order reforms designed to crack down on retail crime,…

Councils have been blindsided by the Government’s call to halt planning work, which they say will have “unintended consequences”.Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister Chris Bishop has put a stop to councils working on District and Regional Plans until the new RMA legislation takes effect.”Rather than let these pricey, pointless planning and policy processes play out, we will be giving councils clarity on where to focus their efforts while they await the new planning system,” Bishop said at the Local Government NZ conference in Christchurch today.The shake-up of the RMA is expected to come into effect in 2027.Resource Management Act…

A Māngere family is faced with a difficult decision after learning that their home is considered an “intolerable risk to life”.After waiting two years for answers, the Taufoous are now forced to choose between staying uninsured or leaving the community they have built over decades.Auckland Council claimed that the buyout was fair and voluntary but local leaders, including Councillor Alf Filipaina, said families should have access to all relevant information before making their decision.Daisy Taufoou, who has lived on Hinau Rd for 42 years, was shocked to return to her flood-damaged home only to discover that it was categorised as…

Published on 16/07/2025 – 13:41 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTRussian forces launched a fresh wave of attacks on several Ukrainian cities overnight into Wednesday, with at least 15 people injured in one of the strikes.Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, through the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted north-eastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the south.”Russia does not change its strategy,” Zelenskyy said. “To effectively counter this terror, we need a systemic strengthening of defence: more air defence, more…