Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTRules and institutions established under US leadership in the aftermath of World War II are up in the air and up for negotiation, Irish Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe has told Euronews in an interview.With the United States threatening to withdraw defence support from Europe, the continent has been looking to strengthen its military resources. But according to Donohoe, this is not the only challenge that Europe has to face after Donald Trump’s arrival at the White House.“A theme of what is now happening is the rules, the institutions that were set up in the aftermath of World…

An Ashburton primary school teacher who swore at pupils, gave them the middle finger, ripped up their work, and mocked children with learning disabilities will no longer be able to teach.Wendy Hopwood called one child a “crybaby”, told another he did not “have the balls” to look at her after losing his pencil, and was seen calling pupils “dummies” or “thick” on multiple occasions.Her conduct between 2019 and 2021 was scrutinised by the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal which today released its decision to cancel her teaching registration.Hopwood had worked at Tinwald School since 2013, resigning in December 2021 and then returning…

ADVERTISEMENTGermany has suggested that it could boost defence spending to 5% of GDP, putting the country in line with US President Donald Trump’s demands. Trump has long urged NATO partners to increase their military expenditure. Initially, he wanted to see each country spend 2% of GDP on defence, but the figure late rose to 5%. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul spoke about the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Turkey, where talks between Russia and Ukraine are due to take place. Wadephul said for the first time that Germany would follow the US President’s plea to increase…

We meet Maher Abu-Shamala in a small gallery in Ponsonby, Auckland, at an exhibition of Palestinian art and photographs from Gaza.The exhibition is called Unerased.Abu-Shamala’s family in Gaza is also, for now, unerased.”Cousins, aunties, uncles from my mother’s side and my father’s side. Thousands of them sitting there, ” he says.But he adds: “We lost many of them in this war.” A cousin of his in Gaza says around 300 have died so far.Israeli air strikes, he says, have cost lives. “In one strike, we lost 13 members of our family.”He says, even for those who have escaped injury, the…

ADVERTISEMENTSpain’s investigation into the blackout that affected the Iberian Peninsula in late April revealed initial power generation failures in three Spanish provinces — Granada, Badajoz, and Seville, Minister for Ecological Transition Sara Aagesen told the Spanish Congress of Deputies on Wednesday.The substation in Granada was ground zero, and the power failure caused a loss of 2.2 gigawatts of electricity, causing a chain of grid disconnections. The cause of the substations’ failures remains unknown at this time.During her speech at the plenary session, Aagesen said that the ongoing investigation has ruled out several hypotheses, including that the massive outage that started…

A British tech tycoon’s superyacht that capsized in Sicily last year was overturned by an “extreme” wind gust that made recovery impossible, an interim report finds.The yacht, named Bayesian, sank in August, with the deaths of seven people. Fifteen survived.The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch report, released yesterday, said the Bayesian’s towering 72m mast and rigging contributed to a fatal vulnerability, with winds reaching more than 120km/h forcing the vessel onto its side in a matter of minutes.The Bayesian was being captained by New Zealander James Cutfield when it sank. Another Kiwi, lawyer Ayla Ronald, was also on board. Both…

ADVERTISEMENTMore than half of the Eurovision winners between 1956 and 2024 were women, and all of them were between 25 and 27 years old, according to MyBettingSites.co.uk.The UK-based betting agency analysed 71 past winners and their characteristics to find out who might become this year’s winner based on historical stats.   Slightly over 45% of the past winners sang a pop song, and 49.3% did so in English.  The most shared music topic amongst previous winners is love, romance, and relationships at 59.7%.  Past winners’ songs also share similarities in the titles: 18.4% of their songs started with the letters “D” or “T”.  In this…

The Serious Fraud Office has today launched a national campaign targeting foreign bribery.The office said the campaign aimed to raise awareness and encourage reporting with the introduction of a new online platform for anonymous reporting of suspected foreign bribery.Reports would be received by specifically trained staff through a fully encrypted platform.One of the most effective ways to detect these fraud cases is by whistleblowers according to the Serious Fraud Office.  (Source: 1News)All interactions between reporters and case handlers would remain encrypted, with data being stored and safeguarded in European-based data centres.One of the most effective ways to detect these fraud…

The recycling centre that burnt down on Auckland’s North Shore last month has found a new site to accommodate staff.The Abilities Recycling plant caught fire, burning to the ground and destroying critical equipment.The organisation employs almost 120 employees with disabilities.A smaller site has been found in Wairau Valley, which would continue the organisation’s recycling work, but not E-waste.Abilities managing director Peter Fraher said it was likely to take two years before they were fully operational once again.”To replicate what Abilities had before, which was a totally integrated site, is, in the short term, almost impossible,” he said.”So we’re looking at…

Two people have been arrested after a police car and several other vehicles were rammed during an alleged fleeing driver incident which ended on Auckland’s Southern Motorway in rush hour this afternoon.Police received information about a stolen vehicle travelling north near Pukekohe at around 4.30pm.Inspector Peter Raynes said it was then seen travelling on Porchester Rd in Papakura at 5.08pm.The vehicle entered The Warehouse Takanini carpark and picked up a female passenger.Raynes said a police car approached the vehicle, but was rammed along with several other vehicles as the stolen car exited the carpark “erratically”.”Shortly after, the woman was observed…