Author: Press Room

Poland says it acquired a rare manuscript of a ballad by Frédéric Chopin from private owners after confidential and lengthy negotiations. ADVERTISEMENTThe manuscript for Ballade No. 4 in F minor is now being displayed at the Chopin Museum in the Polish capital, Warsaw.Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin National Institute has bought the four-paged manuscript using state funds but said the price could not be disclosed due to a clause in the contract.The manuscript was in the possession of private owners, who handed it over to Polish hands after a deal was finalised last year following what was described as lengthy and confidential…

More than 100 lambs have been killed by three roaming dogs, and more injured, in two separate incidents at a regional working farm in south Auckland.Warning: An image in this story may be upsettingThe attacks occurred on two days — on January 16 and January 19 — at Puhinui Reserve in Manukau.A total of 142 lambs were killed and another 86 were injured in the two attacks.Council’s regional parks farming business manager, Mozz Trueman, in a statement, said the incident was “grisly”.The council-run sheep and cattle farm is open to the public and has walking tracks.Staff took swift action to…

Police have opened an investigation into the use of its intelligence database to access documentation in relation to the death of police officer Lyn Fleming.The use of the National Intelligence Application was governed by strict rules.Police said the rules were in place to “protect privacy” and “prevent the disclosure of sensitive information”.”A process is now underway to determine the rationale for and legitimacy of each of those checks.”Unauthorised use of NIA will not be tolerated and final decisions on any sanctions for staff will be decided by a dedicated team.”Last week, Fleming was farewelled in Nelson by family and colleagues.…

The storm that brought heavy rain across parts of Northland early this week has done little to ease dry conditions facing the region’s west. More than 100mm of rain fell on parts of Northland’s east coast in the storm.But Northland’s west coast received half that or less, with Kaipara missing out and places including its Pouto Peninsula, getting barely a few sprinkles.Northland Regional Council natural resources monitoring manager Jason Donaghy said the storm’s rainfall had been variable.”The recent rain has provided some relief to the east coast with rainfall exceeding 100mm in some places. The west coast did not receive…

A Māori clothing designer in Australia has launched a range of clothes to raise money for a New Zealand woman who was allegedly set on fire in her own home.Destiny Otton-Rakuraku is in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital after an attack on Saturday morning. The 36-year-old accused appeared in court earlier this week charged with attempted murder. Police in Brisbane said the man had also been charged with one count each of common assault and breach of domestic violence, with police opposed to the man’s bail.Friends and family packed the courtroom, 9News reported.Defence solicitors did not make an application…

“Rain and hot, muggy nights” are in store this weekend says Metservice, but there’s hope for sunny weather back on Monday. People heading away for Auckland Anniversary weekend might get unlucky with widespread rain and strong northerly winds expected for central and northern parts of the country on Saturday, continuing into Sunday. “Monday is the day to be out and about for regions observing Auckland Anniversary Day, as the low moves away and skies clear,” said MetService meteorologist Ngaire Wotherspoon. “A strong southerly flow keeps a lid on temperatures to start, but winds weaken as the day progresses.”Rain would spread…

A Rangiora developer is frustrated by the slow speed of long term planning for the region’s housing needs.Bellgrove Rangiora project manager Paul McGowan says there is a good supply of land for housing for now, but he feels the Waimakariri District Council is not moving fast enough to make land available for future development.The council has delayed its proposed District Plan process, with the new planning document not expected to become operational until later this year.Meanwhile three proposed housing developments have been included in the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Act.McGowan said the council needed to be a bit more proactive.‘‘If people…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ If you have ever felt as though you end up worse off when you work more, a new Treasury paper indicates you might be right. The analytical note, released this week, shows that 6 percent of all New Zealanders, and 30 percent of single parents, face effective tax rates of more than 50 percent. And some taxpayers could even have effective marginal tax rates of more than 100 percent. Effective marginal tax rates reflect how much of each extra dollar a person earns is lost due to higher rates of tax or the clawback of…

The visual effects team from Wētā FX in Wellington have secured the most individual nominations for Oscars in the company’s history today.At 2.30am, Daniel Macarin, Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Erik Winquist, Paul Story, and Stephen Unterfranz received the news they’d been nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Visual Effects category.”This has been an exceptional year for the artists at Wētā FX, producing groundbreaking work of the highest quality,” Wētā FX’s head of VFX, Matt Aitken said.Luke Millar, who worked on Better Man as the VFX Supervisor, said he’s been working on the project for the last…

A project to 3D map New Zealand’s coastline in “remarkable detail” has been launched to help communities mitigate the impacts of climate change and understand the country’s coastline. Stuart Caie, who is leading the Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) project, said it would use light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to create maps of vulnerable and populated parts of the country’s coastline. LiDAR is used to determine the shape of the coast and seafloor by sending pulses of light fitted to an aircraft that measures the distance to the earth below and builds a 3D picture of…