Author: Press Room

A 4.3 magnitude earthquake has jolted Wellington this morning. The quake hit at 7.24am, and was centred 5km south-west of Wellington at a depth of 27km.At the time of writing, more than 10,000 had reported feeling the quake to GeoNet, described as “moderate” shaking level. One resident commented on a social media post that they “didn’t even need my alarm this morning”. Another said: “Noisy but really short and not too bad.” On Thursday, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit North Canterbury at 6.45am, centred 35km west of Culverden at a depth of 5km.An hour later, two earthquakes struck near Haast…

US President Donald Trump’s suspension of military support to Ukraine has sparked concern among the Ukrainian community in Italy, leading to protests urging the Italian premier to stand with Ukraine and support fair peace negotiations. ADVERTISEMENTUS President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend military support to Ukraine is making waves across Europe.The move, following his tense exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has sparked reactions from the Ukrainian community in Italy, with protests already taking place across the country.On Friday, Ukrainians renewed their appeal as they rallied in the Italian capital, demanding the US restore its support.Oles Horodetskyy, the president of…

ANALYSIS: New Zealand will be forced to take sides with either the US or Europe – and neither option comes without risk, writes Alexander Gillespie. The aftermath of one of the most undiplomatic – and notorious – White House meetings in recent history reveals a changed world.Having berated Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky for supposedly not wanting peace with Russia and failing to show sufficient gratitude to the United States, President Donald Trump has now paused all military aid to Ukraine.This equates to about 40% of the beleaguered nation’s military support. If the gap is not quickly covered by other countries,…

Multiple agencies are investigating after a student in a Gisborne school was burnt by a school lunch provided under the government’s revamped cut-price school lunch programme.The programme has come under fire after numerous problems were reported by schools recently, including plastic melted into the food.New Zealand Food Safety said it was notified late yesterday afternoon of the serious incident.”We immediately started an investigation and we will be onsite at the lunch heating facility [Friday],” said its deputy director general Vincent Arbuckle.He said the lunch was heated at an offsite facility, not the school.New Zealand Food Safety has also since confirmed…

Since being made a partner of law firm Gallaway Cook Allan, Emma Hunter-Hills has fielded questions about whether there was an increase in her workload. While the level of work remained the same for the commercial lawyer, the biggest change had been the feeling of responsibility and that was multi-faceted, she said – from the responsibility to clients to do good legal work, to the partnership to be a good business partner and to those who worked in the Vogel St office, through teaching and investing in them. There was also a responsibility to be part of the wider community…

Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown wants to crack down on abandoned road cones “littering” the district.The mayor said he was is fed up with road cones being left out by contractors when work is not being done or has been completed.“If they are not being used, it’s littering,” Brown told Local Democracy Reporting.“When they are put out and being used it’s fine, but if they are left for days, weeks, months when the work is finished, they should be fined.”When he suggested a road cone fee during the first council budget workshop at the start of February, some in the room…

As International Women’s Day is marked today, business editor Sally Rae talks to three determined Dunedin women who tackled a major issue in their profession by going into business with each other.  Imagine working all day treating people’s beloved pets only to then be called out after hours and spending the night at the clinic before turning up for work again the following day. Ask Isobel Topham how vets cope with such pressure and she quips: ‘‘coffee, lots of junk food and supportive colleagues.’’ But on a serious note, stress is a major problem in the veterinary industry and there is a high attrition rate because of that.…

An Auckland man has been found guilty of money laundering linked to a term deposit scam that saw nearly $2 million stolen from two Kiwi investors. A jury this week found 61-year-old Carel Johannes Viljoen guilty of two counts of money laundering. The crimes occurred in late 2022 when two unsuspecting Kiwis were approached by offshore fraudsters who advertised a fictitious investment company. Both ultimately invested nearly $2 million into the fake company, transferring funds into a New Zealand-based account. The account was set up by Viljoen after he was contacted separately by the offshore offenders. “Our investigation found Viljoen…

Councillor concerns have forced Nelson Mayor Nick Smith to pause and “have a cup of tea” after he attempted to reignite the conversation about merging the city with its southern neighbour.Smith had asked his council on Thursday to approve adding a Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce report to next week’s joint meeting of the region’s two councils.The report, authored by former Tasman council chief executive Janine Dowding, stated that the Nelson and Tasman councils needed to genuinely examine further shared services and amalgamation and added that “any reluctance to do so is not in the best interests of the region”.Smith,…

Economic security and international conflicts are becoming more important than climate change policies in five EU countries. Germans and Poles think adapting to climate change matters more than reducing its causes. ADVERTISEMENTPeople have become more concerned about security and the cost of living, and less concerned with climate change between 2020 and 2024.  That is according to the latest report from Brussels-based think tank Bruegel analysing the views of 7,819 people in France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.Outright climate change deniers are in a small minority in Europe.The number of people who say climate change “is not a big issue” rose from…