Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTEU member states are hoping negotiations on a security pact with the UK will continue apace so that it can be the main deliverable when leaders gather for a summit on 19 May, multiple sources told Euronews on Wednesday.Striking a security pact would allow Britain to take part in joint procurement for military capabilities alongside EU member states, and enable the bloc’s countries to procure British-made military equipment through a new €150 billion European instrument to ramp up defence spending. An EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Euronews after a regular meeting of EU ambassadors on Wednesday in…

The final section of a new 15km watermain serving hundreds of thousands in Auckland has been installed today, with the $115m project finished after six years.Watercare completed the Huia 1 watermain this morning when crews lowered the final section of pipe into place in Blockhouse Bay. It marked the end of the project traversing seven suburbs. The new pipeline, 91cm in diameter, runs from Titirangi reservoirs to Gillies Ave in Epsom, replacing an old pipe, dating back to the 1940s, that was nearing the end of its operational life. The water main was expected to accommodate population growth and more…

ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was captured in the summer of 2023 near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Southern Ukraine. In April 2024, Russia officially admitted that Roshchyna was being held captive. Few months later, in October of the same year, Roshchyna’s family received a letter from Russian authorities informing them of her death but providing no details or circumstances about it. This is when Forbidden Stories journalism network launched an investigation into her death. This February, Moscow handed over the bodies of 757 Ukrainians to Kyiv. Roshchyna’s body was among them, but wrongly recorded in Russian documents as an “unidentified male” with…

The Reserve Bank may have to cut its benchmark cash rate even further to support the economy after the Government said it would slash the amount available for new policies to $1.3 billion, according to an economist.Finance Minister Nicola Willis in a pre-budget speech said the May 22 Budget would be no “lolly scramble” with any increase in spending going to targeted priorities in health, education, and defence, with some modest support for business growth.ASB Bank senior economist Mark Smith said the Government had a clear intention of getting its house in order, and in doing so would reduce its…

ADVERTISEMENTItalian cardinal Angelo Becciu’s decision to withdraw from the upcoming conclave to elect a successor to the late Pope Francis could spare the Catholic Church from embarrassment and scandal that threatened to overshadow the proceedings.The Vatican’s criminal court convicted Becciu in 2023 of embezzlement and other finance-related charges at the end of the so-called “trial of the century”.He is free while he appeals against the conviction and five-and-a-half-year prison sentence and had participated in the pre-conclave meetings, including on Monday.However, on Tuesday, the 76-year-old said he would not take part in the conclave for the “good of the church”, and…

Buller Mayor Jamie Cleine is calling for civility after a councillor saw red and stomped out of a council meeting last week.Councillor Colin Reidy thumped the table, told a staff member he was “not putting up with that shit”, packed his bag and walked out — after what he said was a disrespectful answer to question on council debt.Cleine said the councillor’s behaviour was unacceptable and he was hoping for an explanation or apology from Reidy at a council meeting this afternoon.No-one else had seemed to take offence at the staffer’s response to a question on debt levels by veteran…

ADVERTISEMENTIn an exclusive interview with Euronews, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković voiced strong support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to the European Union, while also expressing concern over ongoing political instability in the region.Plenković emphasized that EU enlargement should be a strategic priority, particularly when it comes to the Western Balkans. Highlighting Bosnia and Herzegovina’s importance, he said: “We as Croatia would very much like to see that Bosnia and Herzegovina as our immediate neighbour, a country where Croats are constituent and people with equal rights with Bosniaks and Serbs should towards the dynamics that other countries of the region…

Interislander’s sole rail-enabled ferry Aratere will be retired this year to make way for required Picton port re-development in preparation for the two brand-new Cook Strait ferries arriving in 2029.KiwiRail chief executive Peter Reidy said work to demolish Aratere’s decaying wharf in Picton could begin later this year or early next year.”Therefore, Aratere will be retired this year, and we will work through the detail of that decision.”The ferry, which had served the Cook Strait since 1999, required specific loading and unloading infrastructure so it could not use the other Interislander wharf in Picton. Reidy said building a temporary berth…

Documents obtained by 1News show the Chief Human Rights Commissioner Dr Stephen Rainbow raised concerns that rising Muslim immigration to New Zealand poses a threat to our Jewish communities.On February 24 this year, Dr Rainbow and Race Relations Commissioner Melissa Derby met with Alternative Jewish Voice’s Philippa Yasbek and discussed matters including social cohesion. After the meeting, Yasbek and The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand complained that Rainbow had expressed Islamophobic views and made racist comments about Muslims during the meeting. Rainbow acknowledged causing offence and said he would work to repair the relationship. “I have read the…

The Government will reinstate a total ban on prisoner voting, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said today.It would reverse the changes made under the Labour-led government in 2020, which allowed prisoners serving sentences of less than three years to vote.”Restoring prisoner voting was typical of the previous government’s soft-on-crime approach; we don’t agree with it,” Goldsmith said.”Citizenship brings rights and responsibilities. People who breach those responsibilities to the extent that they are sentenced to jail temporarily lose some of their rights, including the right to vote.”The proposed change will establish a consistent approach to prisoner voting, regardless of the length of…