Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTRomanians will go to the polls on Sunday to choose between hard-right candidate George Simion and pro-European independent Nicușor Dan, in a presidential election redo expected to shape the country’s future.After coming fourth in last year’s cancelled race, Simion, the 38-year-old leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR) party, has been backed by surprise winner, ultranationalist Calin Georgescu, who was banned in March from standing in the repeat. Simion then surged to become the frontrunner in the 4 May first round, winning 40.5% of the vote, including a massive 61% of the Romanian diaspora’s ballots.Simion says he…

The Commerce Commission has identified seven more children’s products it considers unsafe as part of its ongoing investigation into bargain store Panda Mart.The items — a baby walker, doll, smartphone toy, fairy cake toy, sunscreen product and two car toys — have been added to a list of 40 children’s goods the commission declared to be unsafe in December.Recall notices have been issued for the 47 items sold in Panda Mart’s stores in Auckland and Christchurch.The commission has made “legally binding commitments” with Panda Mart for the first time, meaning the outlet needed to halt sales of the products identified…

ADVERTISEMENTPolitics is everywhere, including musicNew research on the past nine editions of the Eurovision Song Contest has revealed interesting voting patterns that reflect cultural and geographical proximity, with some notable surprises.The tightest bonds are among Mediterranean countries.Cyprus and Greece have had the strongest bilateral relationship, exchanging a whopping 267 points since 2016. Italy and Albania also showed steadfast mutual support, with 187 points, followed by the Malta-Italy relationship at 172 points.Balkans in ‘turmoil’, southern Europe in ‘love’, Caucasus ‘resilient’The report also breaks down the most common themes in Eurovision lyrics by region since 1956, revealing a diverse emotional map of…

Fourteen people have been rescued when their boat sank off Mōtītī Island, in Bay of Plenty. Coastguard were alerted at 1.40pm to a 18.2m vessel taking on water with 14 people on board. Volunteers from Maketū, Tauranga and Whakatāne responded, and all passengers were accounted for and transported to shore in Tauranga. A nearby boat and Customs vessel assisted with the rescue, a Coastguard spokesperson said. “The vessel is currently submerged. There are no serious injuries.”

The Waitangi Tribunal has recommended the Crown immediately halt the advancement of the Regulatory Standards Bill to allow for meaningful consultation with Māori.The recommendation comes from the Tribunal’s interim report into the bill, which follows a one-day urgent hearing earlier this week.Māori rights group Toitū te Tiriti have warned the introduction of the bill into law would diminish the Crown’s obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi.Around 18,000 people signed their online petition.The bill is part of the National and ACT party’s coalition agreement to pass a Regulatory Standards Act to ‘improve the quality of regulation’ and introduce principles of ‘good…

Hundreds of close contacts of the measles case in Auckland have been contacted by Health New Zealand over the past week, in an attempt to contain the risk of the virus spreading in the city.On May 11, Health NZ announced that it had identified a measles case in Auckland which was linked to overseas travel. The case was first confirmed on May 10.Measles is highly contagious and up to 90% of non-immune people (those who have not been vaccinated or have not already had it) will be infected if they are exposed to the virus.About 80% of New Zealanders are…

Violence is becoming “normalised” in understaffed emergency departments, forcing more experienced staff to quit, warn doctors.About 85% of emergency department leaders in a new survey had at least one incident of violence in the past week, but many are not officially reported.The survey by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine showed:Eleven out of 13 (85%) responding Directors of Emergency Medicine reported that there had been an incident (or multiple incidents) of violence within the past week.More than three-quarters (77%) reported that verbal violence occurred daily or frequently (one or more times a week) in their ED.More than one-third (38%) reported…

ADVERTISEMENTUkraine and Russia began their meeting in Turkey on Friday in the first attempt at a ceasefire negotiation and a format that also includes representatives of US and Turkey. Attending the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Antalya, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington does not have high expectations for the Friday meeting outcome. “Frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President (Donald) Trump and President (Vladimir) Putin,” Rubio said.But until that point is reached, this is how the Friday agenda looks: Rubio has…

Re: News asked recent school leavers and a high school teacher what they think about the proposed changes to sex education, which could mean students no longer learn about gender identity in their health classes. Watch the full video on TVNZ+ In 2020, Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) guidelines were introduced for teachers. They were an optional resource and included detailed information about gender identity and sexual orientation. One school leaver Re: News spoke to said some of the topics included in those guidelines “could definitely be seen as inappropriate, especially at a young age”. Another said the topics should…

ADVERTISEMENTAmbassadors from India and Pakistan to the EU have told Euronews how the bloc can support their two countries to overcome the current tensions between them, although the emphasis differs in both cases.At the end of April 26 civilians – mainly Hindu tourists – were killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, in India’s Jammu and Kashmir province, in the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. India accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, expelled Pakistani diplomats and closed borders. Pakistan rejected the claims and retaliated by suspending the Simla Agreement, restricting trade, and closing airspace.Both…