Author: Press Room

One of the 10 participants in the Government’s “military-style” youth offender boot camp pilot has died “as a result of an accident”. The person involved is understood to have died in a crash on State Highway 1 near Tīrau last Wednesday, the NZ Herald reports.”We can sadly confirm that a participant in the military style academy pilot has passed away as a result of an accident,” Oranga Tamariki deputy chief executive for youth justice services and residential care, Tusha Penny, confirmed to 1News in a statement. “Our thoughts are with this young man’s family at this tragic time, and we…

French civil servants had planned a strike over budget cuts, with the protest coming just a day after the government collapsed due to a no-confidence vote. ADVERTISEMENTTens of thousands of protesters gathered across France on Thursday as part of a strike over tough working conditions and budget cuts to public service.The strike came a day after French lawmakers approved a no-confidence motion in response to the government ramming a social security budget through parliament without a vote.French Prime Minister Michel Barnier proposed cutting tens of billions of euros from the budget including unpopular measures such as increasing unpaid sick leave…

A homicide investigation has been lauched after a man arrived at a South Auckland medical centre this afternoon with what appeared to be gunshot wounds. According to Detective Senior Sergeant Malcolm Hassall, the man arrived at a Clendon Park medical centre in a critical condition.”At this point, we believe he has sustained gunshot injuries at another location,” he said.The man was taken to Middlemore Hospital, where he later died of his injuries. Hassall said police were making inquiries at a nearby Wattle Downs address as part of the investigation. A tarpaulin was put up outside a medical centre in the…

The EU executive has set up an advisory body aiming to maintain open dialogue among agri-food stakeholders, avoiding the polarisation seen in the last mandate. ADVERTISEMENTThe European Commission has launched  a consultative body bringing together diverse stakeholders in the agri-food sector as a first policy initiative of the new administration.The so-called European Board on Agriculture and Food (EBAF) will build on the Strategic Dialogue for the future of agriculture initiated earlier this year by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which sought to address rising tensions in the agri-food policy debate.“The European Board on Agri-food is to tackle the full…

Firefighters will continue to monitor a large vegetation fire which led to the evacuation of houses in Canterbury’s Castle Hill Village overnight. “Air operations were stood down just before dusk, but ground crews remain on site through to monitor and fight the fire where it is safe to do so,” Fire and Emergency New Zealand said in a 9.40pm update.Eleven homes in Castle Hill Village remain occupied after residents were told earlier today to prepare to evacuate.Fire and Emergency New Zealand incident commander Brian Keown said earlier today that it is possible, but not probable, the large vegetation fire at…

Andrius Kubilius is expected to draw up a White Paper on European Defence within his first three months in office, including ways to finance what he has described as a “big bang” in military spending. ADVERTISEMENTThe new European Commissioner for defence on Thursday reiterated his support for issuing common bonds to arm the continent, arguing that repaying the debt would be cheap for member states if part of their national defence budgets is pooled.Andrius Kubilius, in his first appearance in front of the Security and Defence (SEDE) subcommittee since taking office on Sunday, said that “for the time being, we are…

The future of the Green Investment Fund is being questioned by the Government over its stake in the collapsed company SolarZero.The fund, set up by the previous government to invest in sustainable projects, had put in more than $100 million of taxpayer funds into the solar energy equipment supplier.SolarZero was placed into surprise liquidation last week with its owner, multinational investment firm BlackRock, blaming “unsustainable losses”. Close to 200 workers are owed millions in holiday and redundancy packages.The fund’s chairwoman Cecilia Tarrant was today called in for a “please explain” meeting with Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Climate Change Minister…

Social media users have falsely claimed Keir Starmer’s net favourability score makes him the least-popular prime minister in British history. ADVERTISEMENTSir Keir Starmer’s approval rating has not plunged to the lowest of any UK prime minister on record, as social media users have falsely claimed.The misinformation was shared last week by a Reform UK candidate in a TikTok post, first spotted by fact-checkers at PA Media, which garnered over 25,000 likes.It includes a screenshot of another post published on social media platform X on 24 October, claiming that Starmer’s approval score of -38 is a “new record in British politics,”…

The Director-General of Health says she’s looking at the legal options for councils if they refuse to add fluoride to their drinking water. Fourteen councils around the country have been given a directive by Dr Diana Sarfati and health officials are actively looking at further areas to be added. Last week Whangārei District Council, which has a deadline of March next year to add fluoride, voted against doing so. That’s despite having the equipment — paid for by the Ministry of Health — already in place.Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo said there was a range of reasons councillors chose to vote…

Outgoing Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová told The Europe Conversation its “shocking” how some EU countries are replicating illiberal laws of others. ADVERTISEMENTJourová – a lawyer by trade – was EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency from 2019 until November 2024. During that time, rule of law issues in some member states have deteriorated, she said, speaking just before the end of her mandate. The EU has initiated infringement proceedings against several countries targeting freedom of the press, as well as LGBT communities which the Commission point out are in breach of EU values, as well as Article 2 of the Treaty…