Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTWith the proposal for the next EU budget after 2027 just around the corner, the political landscape is far from calm. The latest sign of unrest: fourteen member states have endorsed a non-paper opposing the European Commission’s plans to centralise the management and distribution of EU funds. “Only a distinct and robust budget and a region-based allocation methodology, reflecting the different development levels of regions, together with a stand-alone Cohesion Policy dedicated legislation, can ensure that the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) will deliver long-term unity, competitiveness and convergence across EU regions,” states the document. Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia,…

Foodstuffs North Island has been issued a warning for treatment of a supplier that likely breached the Grocery Industry Competition Act 2023. The Commerce Commission said it believed Foodstuffs North Island “likely breached a fundamental aspect of the Supply Code which is that retailers deal with suppliers in good faith at all times”. The company responded to the commission’s warning by stating it took its obligations to suppliers seriously and was committed to keeping fair and constructive relationships.New Zealand’s mandatory Grocery Supply Code was introduced under the Grocery Industry Competition Act, created to increase transparency and certainty for suppliers through…

A newborn baby’s body was found in a wheelie bin in Auckland’s Freemans Bay last night, sparking a homicide investigation.Police earlier announced they had discovered a body at around 10pm on Tuesday.Detective Inspector Scott Beard said a woman was in custody and police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the matter.”This is a tragedy for everyone concerned and there is a person’s wellbeing to consider here alongside the investigation, so we will ensure the woman gets the support she needs.”Police acknowledge this will understandably be quite confronting information for the community to grapple with.”A post-mortem was being…

ADVERTISEMENTEurope continues to struggle on Wednesday against extreme temperatures caused by an exceptional African anticyclone which is spreading across the continent, with authorities in several countries issuing new red alert warnings as emergency cases rise.Heat warnings were issued for parts of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and the UK, with new highs expected on Wednesday before forecast rain is expected to bring respite to some areas.ItalyIn the Italian capital Rome, people struggled to cope with the heat as temperatures rose above 40 degrees Celsius. Tourists dunked their hands, arms and faces into the city’s ubiquitous fountains and snacked on gelato as…

An Auckland church and its representative have been convicted and fined for numerous charges related to illegal building work.The Samoan Congregational Christian Church of New Zealand Māngere Trust and its representative, Sean Palala, were found guilty of 15 breaches of the Building Act 2004 and Resource Management Act at the Auckland District Court. The conviction, which followed two separate prosecutions, was described as “decisive” by Auckland Council. The case against the church trust and Palala revolved around unauthorised construction at their church and community centre on 59 McKenzie Rd — carried out without the necessary building and resource consents. Despite…

Taxpayer-funded climate satellite MethaneSAT has lost contact with the ground and “is likely not recoverable”.”While this is difficult news, it is not the end of the overall MethaneSAT effort, or of our work to slash methane emissions,” said a statement released by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the US group behind the satellite.MethaneSAT was given $29 million from the New Zealand government, with the aim of growing the space industry.The mission’s goal was to name and shame oil and gas producers that were allowing planet-heating methane to escape into the atmosphere.But it has been plagued by delays, first to its…

A port infrastructure upgrade in Picton to accommodate new ferries will include building a Dublin St overbridge, Rail Minister Winston Peters confirmed on Tuesday.He was in the port town to announce that Ferry Holdings has reached an agreement with CentrePort, Port Marlborough and KiwiRail on the core infrastructure scope for the new Interislander ferries, covering the physical work and equipment to be delivered by 2029.The Dublin St overbridge was a feature of the previous ferry project iReX, and work had already started on the site when the project was scrapped at the end of 2023. The intersection had to be…

A teenager who was critically injured during a serious crash in Kumeū last month has died in hospital from his injuries.An investigation has been underway since June 27, when a car that had earlier failed to stop for police crashed into a house on Coatesville-Riverhead Highway shortly after 8pm.Four teenagers were hospitalised at the time, with the conditions of three stabilising in recent days. One teenage had been in critical condition in Auckland City Hospital. Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan said “sadly, the teenage male succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday night and passed away in hospital”.”This is a…

ADVERTISEMENTSeveral European countries are set to see the mercury soar again on Wednesday as high-pressure zones persist across the continent. Experts are warning that sweltering temperatures are becoming the norm.“Extreme heat is no longer a rare event – it has become the new normal,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said earlier this week. The abnormally high temperatures gripping Europe are caused by a heat dome, a phenomenon where high pressure lingers over a large area, trapping hot air.But the extent to which human-induced global warming — driven by decades of fossil fuel pollution — is exacerbating such episodes of extreme heat…

The financially burdened Pūkaha Wildlife Centre will stay open after agreeing to a deal with iwi and creditors. The Wairarapa sanctuary and hatchery faced imminent closure amid a dispute over an unpaid bill of $245,000, which resulted in the engineering firm tasked with refurbishing the building stripping the aviary’s doors. In early June, the sanctuary stated that it needed to raise $600,000 within a week to avoid closure, as it had been unable to secure funding from its major partners, the Department of Conservation and Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā.Today, the Pūkaha Mount Bruce Board announced that it had reached a…