Author: Press Room

Key negotiations on the EU-Mercosur trade agreement are set to begin today in Uruguay. Meanwhile, France remains staunchly opposed to the deal and is actively working to rally a blocking minority to derail the agreement. ADVERTISEMENTWill France manage to kill off the Mercosur agreement? Today and tomorrow, 5 and 6 December, crucial negotiations to finalise the EU-Mercosur agreement take place in Uruguay. If approved, the trade deal involving the EU and the South American bloc, comprising Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia, would become the EU’s largest trade agreement in terms of population and trade volume. But France continues to…

Almost 1100 properties have been removed from Nelson City Council’s slope hazard mapping after an error was discovered.Some residents and developers previously challenged the accuracy of the maps, but experts representing the council had defended them as “robust”.A slope hazard map identifies areas which are potentially susceptible to slope instability and may be used in building and resource consent processes.The error relates to the “smoothing out” of the slope angle data, rather than the underlying dataset itself which was derived from LiDAR (laser measuring) readings from 2008-2015.The mistake was admitted in a joint witness statement dated November 6 between experts…

It comes as demonstrators took to the streets for the seventh consecutive night to protest the government’s decision to halt EU accession talks. ADVERTISEMENTUkraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Georgian Dream (GD) of pushing the country towards dependence on Russia, and said he is working with European and other partners to prepare sanctions against the Georgian government. “This situation in Georgia, of course, is not just the problem of one nation and not just the problem of our region – how the current government in Georgia is pushing the country into clear dependence on Russia. It is truly shameful what actions they are…

LGBTQI+ New Zealanders have been experiencing severe housing deprivation at higher rates than non-LGBTQI+ — according to world-first Census data out today.The numbers collected in the 2023 Census show at that time, 261 per 10,000 LGBTQI+ people aged 15 and over (4413) were estimated to be living in severe housing deprivation.The rate was 212 per 10,000 who are not LGBTQI+. The LGBTQI+ population had higher proportions of people affected across all categories of homelessness — those without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing someone else’s private dwelling, and those in uninhabitable housing.The highest deprivation rates were among Pacific peoples.University of Otago…

Allegations of police violence have emerged as citizens protest the recently re-elected Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend EU accession talks. ADVERTISEMENTOver 300 people have been detained in Georgia since protests erupted six nights ago over the ruling Georgian Dream’s decision to halt the country’s negotiations to join the EU.Images widely circulated on social media show injured Georgians in the streets and violent clashes between protesters and police officers using tear gas.One photo shows a woman holding a Georgian flag being hit by a stream of water from a water cannon. Others show protesters firing pyrotechnics towards the Georgian parliament…

Police say it remains “unlikely” the search for three men missing on Aoraki Mount Cook will resume today. The search for Kurt Blair, 56, and Carlos Romero, 50, from the United States, and a Canadian national was launched on Monday morning after they were reported overdue.But the operation has been on hold since later on Monday due to the weather, and the search was now considered unlikely to resume until at least tomorrow. Aoraki Area Commander Vicki Walker said police were not in a position to release the name of the Canadian man due to family wishes.Highly technical alpine conditionsEarlier…

Although NATO leaders have declared Ukraine’s path to membership “irreversible”, Secretary-General Mark Rutte avoided questions about the specifics of its potential accession. ADVERTISEMENTHungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, announced on Wednesday that a NATO meeting in Brussels had reached “no consensus” on Ukraine’s potential accession to the alliance, a step that Kyiv considers critical to ending Russia’s invasion.Szijjártó, a critic of Ukraine and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned that welcoming Ukraine into NATO “would be tantamount to initiating World War III”. “We believe that Ukraine would not be able to add to European security in its present situation, but…

A woman has been charged with child neglect after an infant died at a North Canterbury home in what police called “unexplained” circumstances in August.The 37-year-old will appear before the Christchurch District Court today, charged with ill-treatment of a child under 18 and possessing methamphetamine utensils.Officers were called to an Oxford home on August 5 after being advised about the death of a baby, police said. “A scene examination and a post-mortem examination has since been completed, and subsequent inquiries have led police to laying charges of ill-treatment of a child under 18.”The baby’s death remains unexplained and enquiries are…

A money laundering probe into the former European Commissioner could drag on for weeks or months – and it’s unclear whether he benefits from legal immunity. ADVERTISEMENTNews that the Belgian police have raided addresses linked to Didier Reynders has sent a shockwave through Brussels.  Reynders was, until Sunday, responsible for the European Commission’s justice department, which deals with the rule of law, judicial cooperation and the European Public Prosecutor’s office.Media including Follow the Money and Belgian newspaper Le Soir said police waited for the end of his five-year term to prevent their inquiries getting gummed up by his status as an EU commissioner…

A precautionary restricted place notice has been placed on a small-free range farm in Dunedin today after a number of bird deaths.The property has around 6000 birds, Biosecurity NZ deputy director-general Stuart Anderson confirmed.In a statement, he said testing was underway at the farm, and it had not yet been determined whether the illness and deaths were related to the H7N6 avian influenza found at a Mainland Poultry Otago farm earlier this week.”As is normal in biosecurity responses, we always investigate where illness is identified. The property has around 6000 birds, with a number of deaths, and testing is underway.”Anderson…