Author: Press Room

The Palmerston North City Council has gone flat on a proposal to ban fizzy drinks and voted it out today — disappointing the Dental Association who wants restrictions nationwide.Today, council members met set to decide whether to spread a restriction on sugary sweetened drinks further to council-owned facilities and events.One councillor pulled out his own bottle of cola at the council meeting while venting frustration with the policy.”We risk turning Palmerston North into a nana city,” one councillor said.”Can’t have a slushie but can have a full sugar RTD,” another added.The proposal would have restricted the sale of sugar sweetened…

ADVERTISEMENTThe European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union for not complying with EU laws on migrant smuggling on Wednesday, claiming in a statement that Hungary violated its obligations to impose effective sanctions for people smuggling offences.The European Commission recalled that in April 2023 Hungary adopted a government decree that converted prison sentences related to migrant smuggling into “reintegration detention”. As a consequence, more than two thousand foreign nationals left Hungarian prisons early and quit the country.”This Government Decree undermines the objective to effectively tackle migrant smuggling, the deterrent factor of the EU Facilitators legislation…

The “mastermind” of a drug importation and syndication ring has been jailed for more than 11 years after supplying and sourcing about $11 million worth of drugs into Christchurch from an overseas supplier codenamed “Pinnokkio”.Elliot James Mitchell, 29, and another man, Patrick James Moore, 30, were sentenced in the Christchurch District Court today by Judge Tony Zohrab after earlier pleading guilty.Mitchell’s offending related to importing cocaine, LSD, MDMA and ketamine into New Zealand as well as supplying the drugs. Moore’s offending related to supplying MDMA, cocaine and ketamine. The pair were also charged with participating in an organised criminal group.The…

ADVERTISEMENTUrsula von der Leyen has ruled out, in no uncertain terms, the possibility of resuming purchases of Russian fossil fuels after the conclusion of the war in Ukraine, warning that doing so would represent a “mistake of historic dimensions” for Europe.”To be very clear: the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe is coming to an end,” the president of the European Commission said on Wednesday morning as she addressed lawmakers in Strasbourg.Her categorical refusal comes amid Donald Trump’s push to strike a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, an effort that has seen the White House embrace many of…

ADVERTISEMENTThe European Parliament has warned the Commission it could take it to court over its plan to bypass elected lawmakers to create a €150 billion loan programme to boost defence spending across the bloc.Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, issued her warning on Tuesday in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, her counterpart at the EU’s executive, in which she urges the Commission to change the legal basis to set up the SAFE programme.The Commission has invoked Article 122 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to set up SAFE which allows member…

A law student at Victoria University of Wellington said students had been “left in the lurch” after an announcement on Monday that said next month’s exams for two law subjects would have to be handwritten.The student, who did not wish to be named, also said a timetable had still not been provided.In an announcement from the Dean, Professor Geoff McLay, he said he had become “increasingly worried that the embedding of artificial intelligence (AI) in many students’ laptops makes ensuring that students’ work is their own very difficult”.He had hoped the university would have a technical solution, but said it…

ADVERTISEMENTRussia has launched a dawn missile and drone barrage on the Ukrainian capital, killing at least two people, Ukrainian officials have said.Eight people were also wounded in the attack, including four children, the Kyiv City Military Administration said in a post on Telegram.At least one ballistic missile and 28 Russian drones were recorded in Kyiv’s airspace, the administration said.Air Defence forces shot down the missile and 11 of the drones.A five-storey residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district was hit by drone debris, sparking a fire in several apartments where the victims were found, local officials said.Four people, including three children,…

The sole survivor of a deadly mushroom meal has for the first time publicly revealed what happened after taking a seat at Erin Patterson’s lunch table.Ian Wilkinson’s evidence started today at Patterson’s triple-murder trial, where he said she’d rejected an offer by two of her guests to help her serve up a beef Wellington.Patterson’s former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s 66-year-old sister Heather – Wilkinson’s wife – died from death cap mushroom poisoning in hospital after consuming the meal.”Both Heather and Gail were offering to help plate up the food … the offer was rejected and Erin…

More than 25kg of cocaine has been seized and four men arrested following an joint investigation into the importation of the drug into Christchurch.Police and Customs received information about a “significant importation” of cocaine that had come through Lyttelton Port on March 29.Search warrants were then executed across the country by specialist teams to support investigators with evidence gathering.Four men, aged between 30-36, have been arrested in Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga and Auckland as a result of the six-week investigation.They will face multiple charges, including possession of cocaine for supply and burglary, and will appear in various district courts across a…

Hawke’s Bay iwi Ngāti Kahungunu has been unsuccessful in its bid to buy back the mountain Kahurānaki, but the iwi says its connection to the land will always remain.Kahurānaki Station – a 1156 hectare sheep and beef farm south of Havelock North which includes the peak of the mountain – came up for sale earlier this year and the iwi launched a fundraising campaign to buy it.The campaign to bring the Kahurānaki back into Māori ownership was called He Maunga Ka Taea, and included a 10-day hīkoi from Māhia to Kahurānaki. It raised more than $95,000 on crowd funding platform…