Author: Press Room

Commissioners have declined to grant consent for a McDonald’s restaurant to open in Wānaka.Consent was being sought to open a 455-square metre restaurant with a drive-thru at the Wānaka-Luggate Highway, below Mt Iron.Queenstown Lakes District Council opened the proposal up for public submissions and, of the 367 made, the majority were against it.Residents were concerned about the visual and aesthetic impact on the town, as well as the area’s values about protecting the natural environment.Wao Aotearoa Charitable Trust was one group that strongly opposed the idea due to the impact it would have on the town.”The proposed mitigation measures, including…

The new US Secretary of Defence has categorically ruled out granting NATO membership to Ukraine as a security guarantee to end Russia’s war. ADVERTISEMENTUkraine’s desired return to its pre-2014 borders and membership of NATO are “unrealistic” goals that should be excluded from any future peace settlement, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth told allies on Wednesday as he stressed President Donald Trump’s intent to end Russia’s war “by diplomacy”.Hegseth’s remarks came at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels. More than 40 nations were represented.”We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start…

Residents living in and around the Whakatāne suburb of Awatapu are fed up with being plagued by motorbikes day and night, but police say it is near impossible to catch the culprits.One resident, who does not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, says the problem of motorbikes on Awatapu Reserve, the surrounding walking and cycling paths and stopbanks has become so bad recently, he feels as if he is living in the middle of a motocross track.”It has been a problem on and off for years, but over the past five or six months it has been every…

Brussels wants to simplify and reduce the administrative burden for businesses in order to improve European competitiveness. ADVERTISEMENTBrussels is proposing a formula for improving European competitiveness: simplifying and reducing the administrative burden on companies.According to a working plan by the European Commission, the first areas that will be impacted include important pieces of legislation such as sustainability due diligence, which ensures companies address human rights and the environmental impact of their actions.Another affected area is taxonomy, which defines the criteria for economic activities to be aligned with a net zero trajectory.”There is much at stake. Without simpler and more cost-effective…

A Hawke’s Bay free diver has captured footage of abundant sea life off the Ahuriri coast, just 30 metres from shore.Harry Machiela said the Bay’s marine life is the healthiest he has ever seen it and, “I hope it will get even better”.The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council was currently preparing its state of the environment report, due to be released later this year.Machiela’s video was put together from four clips he took off Hardinge Rd in Ahuriri. It included blue moki, hiwihiwi (kelp fish), wrasse, leatherjacket, trevally, and paketi (the spotty one).The businessman, who is also a lifeguard for Pacific…

Ukraine’s air force says it intercepted six missiles and 71 drones, while it successfully jammed the signal of 40 drones. ADVERTISEMENTRussia fired seven ballistic missiles and 127 Shahed and other decoy drones at 11 Ukrainian regions overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.Ukraine’s Emergency Service said at least three districts in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv were struck, with one person killed and four injured in the Obolonskyi district. Two office buildings were reported to have been severely damaged.“There was an alarm and then after the alarm started ringing the explosions started, said Hryhorii Danylovych, who works at a dry-cleaning…

Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris deliberately misled the House last year for denying he called other MPs “liars”, Parliament’s Privileges Committee has found.The committee recommended Ferris be required to apologise to the House, and said his actions amounted to contempt.During general debate on September 18, Ferris, who is MP for Te Tai Tonga, said “a knowledge gap is a dangerous thing. It allows lies to be presented as truths. Politicians call this obfuscation — the art of making something unclear, intentionally vague, ambiguous, to conceal or obscure the truth, to confuse others. Lies, in other words. Many in this…

Many middle managers are actively looking for another job amid stress and burnout reasons. The majority of them feel ignored by their boss and lament didn’t receive enough training on key issues before starting out. ADVERTISEMENTMiddle management is currently among the most under-pressure positions in the workplace.A survey conducted in the UK by Capterrra found that 75% of them feel overwhelmed, stressed or burned out.Having to deal with individual and administrative duties at the same time means 61% of them do not have enough time in an average week to accomplish all their tasks.The survey found 44% of their time…

A witness who called the police after a man was hit by multiple vehicles on Auckland’s South Western motorway last week says the fact no one stopped is disgusting.Police were appealing for any dash camera footage and asking anyone travelling on State Highway 20 between 1.30am and 2am to come forward.The man died on a section of State Highway 20 near Mt Roskill, after walking onto the motorway from the north-bound Dominion Road onramp in the early hours of last Friday.Detective Senior Sergeant Kathy Bostock said he was hit by at least three cars, none of which stopped.Genevieve was on…

NATO allies are currently negotiating an upward revision to the defence spending target, despite several countries failing to reach the current 2% of GDP threshold. ADVERTISEMENTDefence spending from Canada and European NATO allies jumped by 20% year-on-year in 2024, but “considerably” more money is needed before the end of the decade to deter a Russian attack, Mark Rutte said on Wednesday.”In 2024, NATO allies in Europe and Canada invested $485 billion (€467.5 billion) in defence, a nearly 20% increase compared with 2023,” the NATO Secretary General told reporters.”With a full two-thirds of allies spending at least 2% of their GDP…