Author: Press Room

Germany’s boisterous New Year’s Eve celebrations saw five people killed across Germany and 400 arrested in Berlin alone, with officials questioning how they can reign in the chaos. ADVERTISEMENTGerman officials have called for restrictions on illegal fireworks as well as harsher sentences for rioters attacking emergency workers after five people were killed, and dozens of civilians and police officers were injured across Germany on New Year’s Eve. Officials have pointed particularly to the use of “kugelbomben” or bullet bombs — explosives that are legally restricted to professional firework displays — for the multiple injuries from fireworks across the country, including…

A new bar blending Kiwi pub culture with sophisticated wine drinking, neighbouring an authentic artisan gelato shop, are the latest offerings coming soon to St Clair. The two new hospitality outlets, opening soon on the ground floor at 246 Forbury Rd, are part of a three-storey apartment and retail complex due to be completed within the first quarter of this year. No 7 Balmac and The Esplanade owner Katrina Toovey said she was “really excited” to develop the Esplanade precinct as a destination, with the addition of her two new businesses. Piccolo, a wine bar with a “relaxed bar feel”,…

Four members of the prison’s medical team and one guard were taken hostage by a prisoner on Friday, according to preliminary reports. ADVERTISEMENTFour medical staff members and a prison guard are held hostage at the prison in Arles, in France’s department of Bouches-du-Rhône, local media reported. The five staff members were taken hostage on Friday morning. The perpetrator is believed to be a prisoner armed with a makeshift bladed weapon. A special police unit was reportedly dispatched to the prison. France’s Minister of Justice Gérald Darmanin wrote on social media platform X that all available recourses have been mobilised and…

A huge crowd has shown up for the vigil for Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming in Nelson this evening, with the local community coming together to grieve and support each other.The vigil for the slain police officer has taken place on the steps of the Christ Church Cathedral in Trafalgar Square tonight, with thousands of people crowding the streets, and a large group of police officers paying tribute to their fallen colleague.Fleming was killed after she and another officer, Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsey, were struck by a vehicle in Buxton Square in the early hours of New Year’s Day.Ramsey remains in…

Ties between Warsaw and Budapest soured further last month after Polish fugitive lawmaker Marcin Romanowski was granted asylum in Hungary. ADVERTISEMENTPoland has uninvited Hungary’s ambassador to Friday’s inauguration gala of Warsaw’s EU presidency following a diplomatic spat over political asylum, a Polish minister said.Budapest last month granted political asylum to Poland’s former Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski, provoking the wrath of Warsaw — which called it a “hostile act”.Romanowski, a lawmaker with the nationalist opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, is facing 11 charges by Polish prosecutors for misuse of public funds and a Warsaw court last month issued a…

Police are appealing for sightings of a man who has been missing from Hamilton for almost two weeks. Jarrad Ormsby, 45, was reported missing in the city on December 19.He was originally from the Tauranga suburb of Welcome Bay, but has recently been staying with his partner in Hamilton. In a statement, police said officers have spoken with several of his friends and family, and no one has reported having contact with him since he went missing.”Jarrad’s family and police have serious concerns for his welfare and would like to see him return home safely,” a police spokesperson said. Anyone…

The Government is working to address a rural health workforce shortage amid a sector under strain nationwide. 1News reporter Nicole Bremner visited Hāwera Hospital to find out what healthcare delivery is like for affected staff and patients.It costs a lot of money and time to affect change in a health system that has long been under pressure.Recent reforms, increasing costs, and a global shortage of medical skills are all factors contributing to ongoing problems in the health sector in Aotearoa New Zealand.Over the past year, the provision of health services in rural communities have been in the spotlight.Rural patients in…

France’s new Health Minister Yannick Neuder is said to be the first minister to publicly back the campaign, which has never received support from Paris. ADVERTISEMENTFrance’s new health minister has risked souring his relationship with wine-loving President Emmanuel Macron by saying that he would be participating in Dry January.Yannick Neuder, who took up his post a fortnight ago, told French media that he would abstain from drinking this January — which he said he does every year — and extolled the benefits of going without alcohol for the month.Dry January (“Défi de Janvier” in French) is a way “of encouraging…

A biosecurity operation is underway in Auckland’s Papatoetoe after a single male Oriental fruit fly was discovered in a surveillance trap in a suburban backyard. Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner Mike Inglis said the fruit fly poses no human health risk, but there would be an economic cost to the horticulture industry if it were allowed to establish here.”Checks of the other 187 traps in the Papatoetoe/Māngere area did not find any fruit flies in them,” he said. “However, our previous experience with the successful eradication of several different types of fruit fly is that we might find other insects, so…

The smallest partner of a prospective three-party coalition, the liberal Neos party, decided not to continue the discussions to form a new government. ADVERTISEMENTTalks to form a new government in Austria have collapsed after the smallest of the prospective partners, the liberal Neos party, pulled out of negotiations. Neos, alongside Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s Austrian People’s Party and the centre left Social Democrats had been trying to forge a three-party ruling coalition after far-right Freedom Party won national elections in September. Neos head, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, said that it had not been possible to make progress or agree on “fundamental reforms”…