Author: Press Room
One person has died and another was seriously injured after a car crashed into a river in the Bay of Plenty yesterday. Emergency services responded after the vehicle crashed into a river on White Pine Bush Rd near Tāneatua just after 6pm.”One person died at the scene, and a second person was seriously injured,” a police spokesperson said. The road was closed overnight, and has since re-opened.Inquiries to determine the circumstances of the crash were ongoing.One person was also critically injured in a separate crash in Auckland’s Māngere overnight.The two-vehicle crash, involving a car and a truck, was reported on…
Published on 03/12/2025 – 11:44 GMT+1 •Updated 11:51 European ministers called on Wednesday for increased pressure on Moscow following US-Russia talks in which Vladimir Putin appeared to have made no concession to end the conflict in Ukraine. “Until I see anything different, then I’m going to continue to draw the conclusion that Russia does not want peace,” Sweden’s Maria Malmer Stenegard told reporters upon arriving at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. “That is why we need to stick to the two-point plan – increase the support to Ukraine and increase the pressure on Russia – and we need to…
The parents of a 13-year-old Christchurch girl who died after hitting her head while ice skating are angry the coroner will not open an inquiry into her death, saying they fear the same thing could happen again unless legislation changes to make helmets compulsory at rinks.Kymani Hiley-Hetaraka was not wearing a helmet when she fell at Alpine Ice in July last year. She died in hospital two days’ later.Kymani was a Haeata Community Campus student on a supervised outing with a group of other young people as part of a programme run by Crossroads Youth with a Future.In findings released…
Published on 03/12/2025 – 9:35 GMT+1 •Updated 9:38 Nobel Prize winner in economics Philippe Aghion has urged the European Union to lower internal barriers and establish “a true single market” in an interview on Euronews. The French economist said a fully integrated internal market for EU goods and services will boost competition and innovation in the bloc, which he argued is lagging behind the United States and China amid rising geopolitical tensions. “We don’t have a true single market and it is absolutely necessary,” he told Europe Today, Euronews’ flagship morning show. “Each member state has its own regulation, which…
A new mayor who dresses up as the Grinch for Christmas says his cutback-council may revive New Plymouth’s cancelled winter Festival of Lights.Mayor Max Brough campaigned on cost-cutting and a rates cap, to reign in council spending and debt.Brough dressed as the Grinch in New Plymouth’s Christmas Parade on the weekend and has a light-up likeness of the Dr Suess character at his desk.But as the Government announces new rules to cap rates, the mayor said the winter festival may be back in 2027.The previous council, which Brough slammed for loose spending, ‘paused’ the winter festival in February’s annual plan…
Published on 03/12/2025 – 9:59 GMT+1 Belgian authorities released former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, European Commission official Stefano Sannino and a third suspect from custody after questioning them in a corruption probe. They have not been charged at this time. The three suspects were detained on Tuesday after the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched an investigation into fraud linked to an EU-funded training academy for junior diplomats. Mogherini was the EU’s top foreign policy official at the European External Action Service (EEAS) for five years, between 2014 and 2019, in the Juncker Commission and became the rector…
Severe thunderstorms are hammering the North Island today, bringing downpours, hail, strong winds and a tornado in Manawatū.Latest developments – follow 1News’ live updatesMetService said a severe thunderstorm watch was in place for Northland, Auckland, the Great Barrier Island until 5pm and the Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and Taupō until 6pm.Thunderstorms could become severe through of the afternoon, with localised downpours of 25 to 40mm/h before activity was expected to ease in the evening.Video from MetService showed a lightning strike hitting Auckland’s 328m tall Sky Tower at around 1pm.A reported tornado caused damage in the Manawatū region…
A Kiwi author included in a billion-dollar US settlement over the illegal downloading of books to build an AI chatbot says she hopes the case will be a warning to the artificial intelligence industry.But the Society of Authors said the authors of millions of titles used to build the tools will miss out on compensation as they are not registered for copyright in American territories.Anthropic AI has agreed to pay out up to $1.5 billion (NZ$2.6 billion) to settle claims it used millions of pirated books to train its large language models, in a class action in Californian courts.Victoria University…
By euronews Published on 03/12/2025 – 7:43 GMT+1 •Updated 7:49 The EU foreign affairs headquarters, the EEAS, and the College of Europe in Bruges were raided yesterday by Belgian police. Former EU foreign affairs chief and College of Europe Rector Federica Mogherini as well as other top officials are now in custody as part of a probe into alleged fraud. For more on this developing story that came as a big shock to many in Brussels, we will be joined by Euronews EU editor Maria Tadeo. Coming up, we will be joined by the 2025 Nobel Prize in economics winner, the…
New rules will make gift cards more generous – but not until next year, and shoppers are being warned to be wary this Christmas.From March next year, gift cards will be required to have an expiry date not less than three years from the date the card was sold.But the law change only takes effect for cards sold from that point so people are being warned to check the terms and conditions of any they buy this month.National MP Dan Bidois said during the final reading of the bill to enact the change that people in New Zealand could be…