Author: Press Room

Rotorua police are planning a crackdown on illegal dirt bike riders, with a senior officer warning it could be only a matter of time before someone is killed in the city.Acting Rotorua area commander Inspector Phil Gillbanks said police had received “numerous reports” in recent weeks about dirt bikers doing significant damage to parks and recreational facilities.He highlighted two recent incidents. On Tuesday night, an elderly person was assaulted after confronting riders on Harris St, and earlier this month a rider hit a lamppost.”If this activity continues, more people are likely to be injured or, worse, killed.”He said the police…

ADVERTISEMENTEuropean Union leaders have agreed to send a new diplomatic delegation to Libya after the military leader Khalifa Haftar asked the previous representatives to leave the country.Speaking on the sidelines of On the sidelines of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Prime Minister of Malta Robert Abella said it was important to re-engage with Libya.The four leaders agreed on the need to reactivate the Team Europe initiative, with a delegation from the European Commission, as well as ministers from…

The owner of a decades-old Dunedin tavern pulled up for a lack of food says he got slack and it has come back to “kick [him] in the butt”. An on-licence and off-licence renewal application for Mackies Hotel, in Port Chalmers, was heard by Dunedin’s district licensing committee yesterday. It was opposed by Dunedin City Council chief licensing inspector Tanya Morrison and medical officer of health delegate Aaron Whipp. During a site inspection in mid-April, the pair observed a lack of food and the absence of a duty manager during trading hours — breaches of liquor laws Mr Whipp previously…

A pre-emptive state of emergency has been declared in Nelson-Tasman after orange heavy rain warnings were issued for the upper North Island and upper South Island as a strong, moist front barrels towards New Zealand.Nelson-Tasman Emergency Management said it is a “pre-emptive step, due to existing conditions in the region”, following the recent severe weather.”Nelson Tasman Emergency Management has been activated and will be monitoring the incoming weather,” it said.”The weather front is expected to reach the Nelson Tasman region tomorrow from 9am, with the worst of the weather expected around midday. This includes heavy rainfall and potentially strong winds.”MetService…

ADVERTISEMENTA new Eurobarometer report shows that, across the EU, 40% of citizens identify a lack of affordable housing as an immediate and urgent problem in the place where they live. In the first quarter of 2025, house prices in the EU rose by 5.7%, while rents increased by 3.2% compared with the same quarter of 2024, according to the latest Eurostat figures.This is followed by a lack of quality public services, such as healthcare and childcare, which 32% of respondents identified as a major issue, followed by unemployment or a lack of job opportunities at 31%. However, significant differences are…

News feature: On the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, key members of the investigation team reflect to Police Ten One Magazine on their roles in the landmark events. Late on Wednesday July 10, 1985, two explosions sank the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace flagship moored at Marsden Wharf, Auckland.Most of the crew escaped, but photographer Fernando Pereira drowned while trying to retrieve equipment from his cabin.What was then the New Zealand police’s biggest investigation exposed a complex sabotage plot sanctioned by the French Government in the hope of scuppering Greenpeace’s high-profile campaign against its nuclear testing in…

Crytocurrency ATMs will be banned under proposed legislation due to their vulnerability to criminal activity — but one of the country’s largest providers says the move is a “step back” for the digital economy.Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced on Wednesday that the Government would ban crypto ATMs as it worked to reform its anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing programme (AML/CFT).She told 1News the machines were a “sound form of money laundering” and were used for criminal purposes.”In fact, we caught a guy overseas who used crypto to buy meth to send here and it was over 100 kilograms…

The New Zealander who warned about the Titan OceanGate disaster where five people died aboard a submersible en route to the wreck of the Titanic in 2023 says it was something he had long predicted.On June 18, 2023, five people died aboard a submersible that was en route to the wreck of the Titanic — 3800m beneath the waves in the North Atlantic Ocean.The Titan submersible, operated by the American tourism company OceanGate, imploded 90 minutes into the journey — killing all passengers.New Zealander Rob McCallum himself runs expeditions to remote places through his company EYOS Expeditions.Rob McCallum (Source: NZ…

ADVERTISEMENTThe European Parliament approved this Wednesday one of the strongest-worded documents in the history of enlargement: the progress report on Georgia’s accession process.With 490 votes in favour and 147 against, EU lawmakers deplored “the backsliding of the rule of law as well as the growing Russian influence on the ruling party, Georgian Dream, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.” This is the first report on Georgia as an EU candidate country, based on the European Commission’s technical and political assessments from 2023 and 2024.The document adopted in the Strasbourg hemicycle stressed the lack of legitimacy of what it calls “the self-proclaimed authorities established by the…

The reward for information leading to a conviction for the killing of a sea lion pup and its mother has been extended to include a third killing.It has been revealed a third sea lion killed in The Catlins last November was likely stabbed by a human.Now the reward for information leading to the killers convictions of either incident sits at $12,000, thanks to donations.A baby female sea lion was shot and left to die in The Catlins Estuary in the lower South Island in September last year.The following month the pup’s mum, Jade, who was well known in region, was…