Author: Press Room

A proposal to restore a speed limit on State Highway 1, south of Woodend, back to 100kmh has received a mixed response.The Government is consulting on several speed limits after introducing new rules to reverse blanket speed limit reductions.The speed limit on the 3.17km stretch of SH1 between Cam River, near Kaiapoi, and Woodend was lowered to 80kph in December 2020, with safety concerns cited at the time.Waimakariri Deputy Mayor Neville Atkinson and councillor Philip Redmond, the council’s roading portfolio holder, questioned the timing of the speed review, with work about to get under way on the Woodend Bypass.”There’s an…

A smell described as like rotting fish or a dead animal has been haunting Ōpōtiki over the past two months and Bay of Plenty Regional Council is investigating.The regional council says it has identified one source of odour complaints but is not revealing what it is until it has completed its investigations.Compliance team leader Trudy Richards said the regional council had received seven odour complaints to its Pollution Hotline for the Ōpōtiki area since December 18.However, community Facebook administrator Maude Maxwell says she has heard from closer to 60-to-80 people complaining about the smell, through Facebook comments, private messages or…

Authorities in the Belgian capital are trying to combat drug-related violence. ADVERTISEMENTA shooting incident in Brussels — the fourth in the Belgian capital this week — killed one person, authorities told local media, with the spike in violence linked to rival drug gangs.The latest outbreak of violence in the city happened in the early hours of Friday in the Peterbos neighbourhood in Anderlecht, the Brussels prosecutor’s office told the media.The victim was a man who has yet to be identified, police spokesperson Sarah Frederickx said. “It is probably linked to rival drug gangs,” said a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor’s…

Police are preparing to request the extradition of two Vietnamese officials accused of sexually assaulting a pair of young female servers at a Wellington restaurant last year.One of the women told the Associated Press they were assaulted in a private karaoke room at the Vietnamese restaurant where they worked in March 2024.She accused the two officials of pulling the two servers into their laps and groping them. The women were also allegedly forced to drink alcohol, and the then 19-year-old believed she was also drugged.The woman sustained an injury following the incident, which was reported to police the following day.Police…

The executive order signed by Donald Trump targets ICC officials who work in investigations related to the US and its allies, such as Israel. ADVERTISEMENTDonald Trump’s decision to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) risks endangering the search for justice in Ukraine, the European Commission was warned, expressing full support for the tribunal’s independence and impartiality.Since March 2022, the ICC has been investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine and issued arrest warrants against six high-ranking officials of the Kremlin, including President Vladimir Putin, who stands accused of ordering the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.Placing ICC…

One of New Zealand’s oldest boarding schools, Tipene St Stephens, re-opened its doors to students this week.The school was closed in 2000, following performance and financial issues and alleged entrenched bullying – but this week, staff and students were off to a fresh start.At a ceremony yesterday, past students performed a haka in front of their beloved kura, standing proudly as a new generation of students arrived.“He tōmina nui, he moehewa roa, kia whakatūwhera anō ki a tatou nei kura (It’s been a great struggle, a long perseverance to reopen our school once again),” Taiaha Hawke, a former student said.Forty…

A dozen wineries failed to meet wastewater compliance rules during harvest 2024, with high staff turnover partly to blame, a new report shows.It’s led a Marlborough councillor to question whether council staff are being tough enough, with multiple wineries failing to submit reports on time, and others discharging wastewater incorrectly.Every harvest, the Marlborough District Council monitored wineries that discharged winery waste and grape marc to land, either with a resource consent or as a permitted activity under the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan.During last year’s vintage, 39 wineries were monitored, and deemed either fully compliant, technically non-compliant or non-compliant.There were 22…

The country is witnessing protests against the Prime Minister Robert Fico. ADVERTISEMENTToday Radio Schuman speaks about opposition protests in Slovakia with vice-president of the European Parliament, the Slovak liberal Martin Hojsik.Mass protests are expected in towns and cities across Slovakia today, sparked by outrage over Prime Minister Robert Fico’s handshake with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a December visit to Moscow. Since reclaiming power in 2023, Fico’s eurosceptic agenda has raised alarm in Brussels over his stance on Ukraine and potential challenges to EU sanctions against Russia. His ongoing disputes with both the EU and Kyiv—especially over Ukraine’s move to…

People in the upper South Island and lower North Island were jolted by a 4.5 magnitude earthquake this afternoon. The quake, which occurred at 4.33pm, was at a depth of 16km, 10km south of Seddon near Blenheim, Geonet reported. More than 850 people posted on GeoNet’s website that they had felt the shake, many described it as “moderate”. “Just had earthquake! Was decent old jolt,” one user on X said.

A man faces additional charges after police found two guns and shotgun ammunition in follow-up inquires after a traffic stop in Porirua earlier this week. Officers stopped the vehicle in Cannons Creek at around 4pm on Tuesday, February 4, after noticing “a person of interest” in the passenger seat. The 34-year-old man was arrested in relation to a warrant to arrest. The next day, police searched his home nearby and found two guns, shotgun ammunition, and gang insignia — which had allegedly been displayed during an incident in January. The man was due to reappear in the Porirua District Court…