Author: Press Room
Flood-hit Tasman residents are frustrated with delays in getting telecommunications services back up and running.Their anger boiled over during a Civil Defence-coordinated community meeting in Wakefield on Wednesday afternoon, attended by dozens.Mayor Tim King described the situation as an “epic cock-up”.”We’ve been working furiously, but ultimately it is Chorus, Spark, Vodafone [One NZ], who are responsible for putting that back up,” he told upset locals.”We have tried every conceivable way of getting them to do it faster. I am beyond frustrated at the lack of communication. Cellphone coverage should have been back up and running, even if it’s on a…
ADVERTISEMENTThe new front door to the House of Lords in London does not function properly, despite having undergone a major £9.6 million (€11.13 million) security upgrade from 2023, sparking outrage inside the UK Parliament’s upper chamber.According to peers who debated the matter in the Lords on Wednesday, the works were initially forecast to cost roughly £6.1 million (€7 million), but in practice went far over budget. Despite the hefty costs incurred, the door must have a security officer manning it at all times, otherwise it does not work.Enforcing security provisions at the House of Lords’ entrance was one of a…
Michael Madsen, whose menacing characters in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill made him a standout in Quentin Tarantino’s films, has died. He was 66.Madsen was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, on Thursday morning (local time) and pronounced dead, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Watch Commander Christopher Jauregui said. He is believed to have died of natural causes and authorities do not suspect any foul play was involved. Madsen’s manager Ron Smith said cardiac arrest was the apparent cause.Michael Madsen attends the 2015 AMBI Gala benefiting The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation in 2015. (Source: Associated Press)Madsen’s…
Crowds of people have welcomed Bluebridge’s newest ferry, Livia, into Wellington’s Oriental Bay this morning. Livia would be a sister ship to the current Connemara vessel, and would replace the Strait Feronia later this year. The boat arrived in the capital this morning following its six-week journey from Denmark, and would provide a 10% increase to vehicle and passenger capacity.StraitNZ chief executive Shane McMahon said he was “very excited” about what the new vessel was capable of. “I think it will be a great asset for not just the Cook Strait, but also New Zealand.”He said the replacement had been…
ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will do “anything” to advance EU accession talks.”Nobody can stop Ukraine in this way. It depends on unity. From our side, we’ll do anything. We need support from all other leaders,” he said, speaking at the opening ceremony of the Danish EU Presidency in Aarhus. Zelenskyy spoke alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, President of the European Council António Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.Frederiksen vowed to support Ukraine’s accession process to join the European Union. Denmark aims to use its presidency of the EU Council to put “maximum…
Australian holidaymakers are about to swell numbers on the slopes to about 10,000 visitors daily across NZSki’s alpine trio of southern ski areas next week. The Australian influx combined with the school holidays and plentiful snow is set to lift the skier and snowboarder count at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables in Queenstown as well as Mt Hutt near Methven. Early snow allowed Mt Hutt to open on June 14 after a couple of false starts, while the southern mountains, boosted by snowmaking, opened the lifts on the same day. The 3000 visitors arriving daily at the twin peaks this…
Locals on a busy Tauranga street fear someone will die before anything substantial is done to improve safety on a bend notorious for crashes.Three times in the past year, a car has ploughed into the retaining wall of Mike’s home on Courtney Rd in Gate Pā.Courtney Rd linked two shopping centres on Cameron Rd and Fraser St, with Mike’s house on a hill between two corners.The street had a long history of crashes. Mike, who didn’t want his surname published, said he lived there for 16 years. In that time, he said, four crashes had done damage and there’d been…
By Gavin Blackburn with AP Published on 03/07/2025 – 18:50 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTA man on a long-distance train in southern Germany attacked and slightly injured four people with a hammer on Thursday before he was detained by police, authorities said.Police in Straubing said the attack happened on an ICE express train headed from the northern Germany city of Hamburg to the Austrian capital Vienna while it was between Straubing and Plattling in the southern state of Bavaria.About 500 people were on board when the attack happened, police said.About 150 police officers, firefighters and emergency personnel were deployed to the scene, police added. The railway line…
An application for a $100 million-plus project that includes a 10-person gondola and extending The Remarkables ski area into the Doolans backblocks should be completed by the end of the year. NZSki, which also owns Coronet Peak and Mt Hutt, is setting aside finance for the venture, which has been selected for the government’s new fast-track process. Once completed, its skiing and snowboarding terrain will likely more than double to about 900ha. The Fast-track Approvals Bill is expected to speed up the decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects considered to have strong regional or national benefits. NZSki chief executive…
A primary school in Wairoa that was ruined in Cyclone Gabrielle and has been operating out of a temporary site is furious and frustrated with the Education Review Office over the timing of its evaluation.Nuhaka School has flooded twice since February 2023, and while it waits for the entire school to be rebuilt, the more than 100 students have been taking their lessons at a nearby Mormon Church.Last week, as the school was packing up to move back to its new buildings, ERO conducted a review.The Education Review Office (ERO) has admitted to RNZ that it got it wrong, and…