Author: Press Room

Dunedin-based cancer diagnostic firm Pacific Edge has been dealt a severe financial blow after its key testing procedure was excluded from coverage by the United States Medicare federal health insurance scheme. The firm has been battling for more than a year to overturn a draft decision by a regional manager of the Medicare scheme to cease paying for the bladder cancer tests. However, the new coverage regime has now come into force and excluded Pacific Edge’s test, which accounted for 60% of the company’s income. “We are obviously disappointed we have been unable to maintain coverage of our tests in…

ADVERTISEMENTBrazil is optimistic that the EU-Mercosur trade deal can be ratified despite some opposition, and believes the current US tariff situation will impel this, a leading Brazilian trade envoy has told Euronews. “We are very optimistic especially now that US has raised tariffs across the world,” Jorge Vian, head of ApexBrasil, Brazil’s Trade and Investment Promotion Agency, told Euronews, adding: “With the hostile environment that the world is facing right now we may collaborate to improve the implementation of the agreement.”In December, the European Commission concluded a political agreement with the Mercosur countries – Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – to…

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal brought by a rapist who claimed he had sex unknowingly with his victim while he was asleep.A jury found Damin Peter Cook was not asleep when he raped an unconscious woman in 2019, who he had put in his bed after she passed out from alcohol at his Christchurch flat.Cook did not deny having sex with the victim, but claimed it happened because of a condition known as sexsomnia, or sleep sex.He was convicted of sexually violating and raping the woman in 2022 and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. In July last year,…

Northland Civil Defence says a heavy rain watch was “certainly not what we were wishing for” after another wet weekend for the region.MetService issued the watch for the region north of Whangārei as a front associated with a subtropical low moves over Northland tomorrow.There was also a heavy rain watch issued for Christchurch and Canterbury north of Timaru from Wednesday morning to Friday morning.For Northland, periods of heavy rain with thunderstorms and possible localised downpours were forecast from 10am through until midnight on Tuesday.”Surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions possible,” the forecaster said.There was a high chance the watch…

There’s a sense of unease in Wairoa after two private properties were shot at by gangs in the past 10 days.Wairoa Business Association chairperson Sue Wilson told RNZ there was a big police presence in town, which was welcomed by business owners.”It gives us a sense of security and outlines the fact crime won’t be tolerated here in Wairoa. People have noticed dog handlers driving around town and other police cars, so that’s great we are seeing them on the street,” she said.The shootings have put people on edge.”It definitely does make people feel uneasy, especially when they’re shooting in…

A mammoth clean-up effort costing ratepayers $200,000 will soon be underway in South Wairarapa.Several years’ worth of illegal fly-tipping was discovered down a bank near Cape Palliser Rd early last year.A report to South Wairarapa District Council’s Strategy Working Committee said that, given the site’s challenging terrain, specialist contractors would be required to abseil down the cliff to remove the waste. The site is owned by the council.The estimated cost for this work, assuming no hazardous materials were present, would be $152,556 for a 10-day operation, plus an additional $43,572.08 contingency for wet weather or asbestos removal.The biggest individual cost…

ADVERTISEMENTThe Kremlin has announced a three-day full ceasefire in Ukraine between 8 and 10 May as Russia celebrates Victory Day and the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.The truce will start at midnight local time on 8 May (11 pm CEST on 7 May)The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a complete cessation of hostilities on “humanitarian grounds” for Victory Day, which is marked on 9 May.The announcement comes as US President Donald Trump has scaled up efforts to broker a peace deal in Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.Meanwhile, Putin…

Nearly 100 people have gathered today to remember the 14 people killed when a viewing platform collapsed on the South Island’s West Coast 30 years ago.Thirteen students and a Department of Conservation officer fell 40-metres to their deaths when the platform overlooking Cave Creek gave way on April 28, 1995. Four other students survived with serious injuries.An inquiry into the disaster highlighted 12 major problems with the platform which had been poorly designed and constructed by the Department of Conservation and “highly unsafe” with large numbers of people on it.Failures included qualified engineers not being involved in the design, approval,…

ADVERTISEMENTCDU leader and Germany’s incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz has officially announced which members of his party will hold ministerial posts. The following names were presented in the party’s headquarters, the Konrad Adenauer House, in Berlin.Thorsten Frei, Head of the Federal ChancelleryFrei is the CDU’s first Parliamentary Secretary. The 51-year-old from the constituency of Schwarzwald-Baar and Oberes Kinzigtal in Baden-Württemberg is considered a close confidant of Merz and has vehemently defended his policies in the past.Dr Johann Wadephul, Federal Minister for Foreign AffairsThe 62-year-old career politician has long been considered a possible Foreign Minister. Wadephul comes from Schleswig-Holstein and is the…

Nearly six years on from when work first started on the capital’s Golden Mile upgrade ground has broken, even though construction contracts are still not signed for the whole project.Earlier this year, Wellington City Council said construction would start in April on the $116 million plan to change Courtenay Place.It has now been confirmed that will start on May 4, with changes to the intersection of Cambridge and Kent Terraces, where work was expected to take eight months before moving to Courtenay Place.The project will see cars banned from 7am to 7pm on Courtenay Place, along with widened footpaths and…