Author: Press Room

European countries are insisting there can be no discussions about peace in Ukraine without the direct involvement of Ukraine and Europe as talks between Washington and Moscow have started. ADVERTISEMENTEuropean leaders clamouring for a seat at the negotiation table with Ukraine, Russia and the US have not started to discuss who could represent them, diplomatic sources have told Euronews.An EU source has however confirmed to Euronews that European Council President Antonio Costa “has begun a process of bilateral consultations” with the leaders of the 27 member states to work out what they are willing to do in terms of aid…

New Zealand First MPs Winston Peters and Shane Jones have once again attacked Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March for being a migrant — this time because he referred to the country’s name as Aotearoa during Question Time.Rather than apologise, Peters has indicated he will seek to update Parliament’s standing orders.The Greens have criticised the Prime Minister for a lack of accountability, and said he was still yet to respond to a letter they wrote him the last time Menéndez March was attacked three weeks ago.In a question to Immigration Minister Erica Stanford regarding the case of Daman Kumar, Menéndez March…

A growing number of young Europeans are turning to social media as their primary news source, with platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube surpassing traditional media outlets such as TV and print. ADVERTISEMENTIt’s official: social media is now the number one news source for young people in the EU, surpassing television and both print and digital media.According to the latest European Parliament Youth Survey, 42% of Europeans aged 16 to 30 rely mainly on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to access news about politics and social issues. This shift reflects changing attitudes toward news consumption – speeding toward…

The multimillion-dollar house once owned by former Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne is for sale.Polkinghorne was found not guilty last year of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna, after she was found dead in their Remuera home in 2021.The trial lasted eight weeks and heard from 80 witnesses before the verdict was delivered.Crown prosecutors said Polkinghorne murdered Hanna and staged the scene as a suicide due to a combination of financial problems, infidelity and drug use.The defence argued Hanna took her own life after struggling with depression for many years.Polkinghorne was found not guilty, however, he was sentenced to 150 hours…

A suspected sighting of fugitive father Tom Phillips and his children has today been confirmed by police as a case of mistaken identity.Police on Sunday responded to a report Phillips and his children – Jayda, Maverick and Ember – had been seen dressed in camouflage sitting in a layby on State Highway 4, south of Te Kuiti, at around 8.30am.The sighting was around 100m south of the Tikitiki Rd intersection with Aramatai Rd.Police on Sunday said the group was comprised of an adult, believed to be a man, and three other people, two of which were described as children.”Following the…

A new study suggests scams are becoming one of the most prevalent types of crime in New Zealand, with hundreds of thousands of Kiwis affected.Researcher Jarrod Gilbert believes the Government and private companies are not moving quickly enough to address the issue, leaving us a “soft target”.”Because the scammers are international, they don’t care where they get their money from,” he says.”They will look for countries with weaknesses.”The report was informed by the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey, which shows 10.3% of Kiwis were affected by fraud or deception in the last year.In all, there were 541,000 instances of…

A whistleblower inside the Electoral Commission claims the agency would not currently be able to run an election or byelection because of a lack of capable IT staff.A significant restructure of staff has taken place at the commission and another media outlet has said 12 of the company’s 23 staff have departed in the months before and since a restructure.The commission says there are 14 IT staffers and 14 vacancies, but two are leaving shortly while three staffers are on short term contracts.It means there will be just six members left in IT who worked in the last election once…

“I actually thought, this might be it for me”.That’s what was going through Lisa Young’s mind as she was chased up her West Auckland driveway by a digger.She says, since October, she’s watched and filmed from her fence in the suburb of Swanson as trees have been cleared and trucks arrived at her neighbour’s house to dump all sorts of items — timber, corrugated iron, plastic.Auckland Council officials are looking into what’s been going on at the property and halt or “abatement” orders have been issued.In a statement, Auckland Council’s compliance investigations team leader David Pawson told 1News: “No resource…

Pour and Twist in central Wellington is selling so much matcha the owners’ wrists ache from the vigourous stirring.The cute bamboo whisks used to hand-make every single potent green tea latte are broken. For every coffee that is sold, café owner Elaine Woon reckons they are clocking up to 10 matcha on some days.Elaine and her husband Zuyi have been serving matcha since they opened the specialty coffee and matcha bar in 2017. Prices range from $8 to $12 for their high-grade blend, and despite the price, they get regulars returning every morning for a matcha fix.”I’m like super sore,”…

= By Susan Edmunds of RNZ All the major banks have moved to cut interest rates, after the Reserve Bank delivered a 50 basis point cut to the official cash rate. But one economist has warned the bank may be about to “overshoot” with its rate reductions, and cut too far. Kiwibank said it was passing on the full OCR cut to its floating home loan rates from Monday for new lending and March 10 for existing lending. That takes its variable home loan rate to 6.75%. ASB also passed on the full reduction to floating borrowing, taking its variable…