Author: Press Room

Spain and the UK are the top destinations, as over 360,000 undergraduate and master’s students from the EU took part in a mobility programme of at least three months, the latest Eurostat data shows. ADVERTISEMENTAlmost 364,000 of EU university students – 9% of the total – participated in a mobility programme abroad in 2022, reports Eurostat.11% of them went to Spain, while the UK was the second most preferred destination with 9.7%, followed by the US at 7.2%.In terms of master’s students, purely, the UK was the preferred destination with 23,467 students, closely followed by Spain with 23,457. The US…

TVNZ’s After the Party has taken home a record haul at the 2024 New Zealand Television Awards.The six-part drama series, produced by Lingo Pictures and Luminous Beast, claimed nine awards at this year’s ceremony, including NZ On Air Best Drama, Best Script: Drama, Best Editing: Drama and Comedy, and Best Actor and Actress wins for Peter Mullan and Robyn Malcolm.TVNZ’s 1News also took out the 2024 award for Best News Coverage for their reportage of Cyclone Gabrielle – One Year On, while TVNZ’s Q+A was named Best Current Affairs Programme with presenter Jack Tame being awarded Best Presenter: News and…

A homicide investigation has been launched after a woman died at a property in Otago’s Lake Hawea eight months ago.Otago Lakes Detective Senior Sergeant Regan Boucher said the investigation centres on the death of 60-year-old Invercargill woman Karen Gaylene White, who died at a Lake Hawea property in March.”This is an extremely traumatic time for a family who have lost a daughter, mother, grandmother, wife and friend and we wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the family at this difficult time,” Boucher said. The detective said a team of investigators was working “tirelessly” to establish the circumstances that have…

Gisborne residents who successfully petitioned for slower speeds on some local roads are pushing for those changes to remain.Councils have until July 2025 to reverse blanket speed limits that took effect on January 1, 2020, under a new rule by the Government.Gisborne District Council is still working out which roads will need higher speed limits under the Government directive.The changes also create variable speed limits around schools during pick-up and drop-off times.Following two years of consultation, Gisborne introduced lower speed limits on some roads earlier this year.Only months later, in September, Transport Minister Simeon Brown signed the new speed limit…

Earlier this week, the workers announced that they were willing to accept pay reductions so that the company could continue to keep plants open and avoid mass layoffs. ADVERTISEMENTA labour union at German carmaker Volkswagen has threatened to go on strike in December after negotiations with management over proposed drastic cost-cutting measures collapsed.The threat comes after parties held their third round of talks on Thursday without reaching an agreement, amid protests at the firm’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.“It [the strike] will be on a scale that will make it very clear to the company that we, as IG Metall and the…

Kendrick Lamar gave his fans an early holiday present this morning with the surprise drop of a new album.The Grammy winner’s 12-track GNX is the rapper’s first release since 2022’s Mr Morale and The Big Steppers and his sixth studio album overall. It comes just months after his rap battle with Drake.The rap megastar will also headline February’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans.Lamar, 37, has experienced massive success since his debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city in 2012. Since then, he’s accumulated 17 Grammy wins and became the first non-classical, non-jazz musician to win a Pulitzer…

Tourism businesses in Westland are relieved that a storm-damaged section of State Highway 6 is reopening after being closed for almost two weeks.The main highway along the West Coast closed between Haast and Lake Moeraki on November 9 when record-breaking rain pummelled the region, causing slips, rockfall and cracking in the highway.Westland mayor Helen Lash said the district’s economy had taken a massive hit — losing more than $1 million each day since the road closed.NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi central South Island system manager Mark Pinner said all safety-critical rock blasting and scaling work north of Haast at Epitaph…

Several gang members were arrested across the country yesterday, while others received court summons as the Government’s new gang patch ban came into effect. The Gangs Act 2024 came into effect yesterday, making it an offence to display gang insignia in public places.In a summary of the new law’s enforcement, police said six people were arrested, while five were summonsed to appear in court. Most relate to displaying gang insignia in public. Two arrests made in Auckland Yesterday at 7.40pm, while on a foot patrol at the night markets in Auckland’s Henderson, officers spotted a man wearing a sweatshirt with…

Moscow has lowered the bar for using nuclear weapons and fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead into Ukraine, heightening tensions with the West. ADVERTISEMENTRussia’s nuclear arsenal is under fresh scrutiny after an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying an atomic warhead was fired into Ukrainian territory.President Vladimir Putin says the unprecedented attack using the so-called “Oreshnik” missile is a direct response to Ukraine’s use of US and UK-made missiles to strike targets deep in Russian territory.He has also warned that the military facilities of Western countries allowing Ukraine to use their weapons to strike Russia could become…

He might be involved in the latest virtual reality technology but Rhys Gardner still likes to throw around some 2500-year-old wisdom. It was Chinese philosopher Confucius who said “what I hear I forget; what I see I remember; what I do I understand”, and that phrase has stuck with Mr Gardner. He is the chief executive of Gfactor, a Dunedin-based company which created a high-tech driving simulator to provide a virtual reality driving experience. Brought up on a South Otago farm, Mr Gardner was told never to drive a tractor down a steep hill in two-wheel-drive due to the risk…