Author: Press Room

Survivors of abuse in care feel let down amid concerns over the number of people who can attend the upcoming national apology at Parliament and a ballot being held if it’s oversubscribed. On November 12, the Government will make a national apology to New Zealanders who were abused while in state and faith-based care. It comes after the release of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in July, which found almost a third of people in state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 2019 were abused. It described it as a “disgrace” and a “stain” on the…

Turkey wants döner kebabs registered so that it has the same protected EU status as Serrano ham from Spain and Neapolitan pizza. ADVERTISEMENTBeef and chicken glisten as they rotate slowly on vertical spits before they are carved off in razor-thin strips. Two cooks slide from a sizzling griddle to a warm toaster in a practiced dance. Mounds of fresh tomatoes, cabbage and red onions shine in a colourful tableau.The scene at Kebap With Attitude in Berlin’s trendy Mitte neighbourhood is typical of any street-side stand or restaurant where cooks pile the ingredients into pitta bread to create the city’s beloved…

The Bluebridge ferry Connemara needed to be towed back to Wellington this morning after it lost power and started drifting in the Cook Strait overnight. The port was notified by the Harbour Master at around 10.45pm.Bluebridge spokesperson Will Dady said there was “no immediate threat” to those onboard the vessel or to the vessel itself while it drifted.”Tugs were quickly dispatched to assist the ship safely back to Wellington, while the ship’s engineers worked to understand and resolve the issue.”He said there were 24 passengers, 13 freight drivers and crew onboard.The Bluebridge ferry Connemara is on Friday night still docked…

ECB President Christine Lagarde praised the “remarkable” unwinding of inflation with minimal job losses, projecting inflation to hit target by 2025. However, she warned that significant uncertainties remain. ADVERTISEMENTEuropean Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has hailed the “remarkable” unwinding of price pressures that have gripped the global economy over the past three years, emphasising its minimal impact on employment and predicting that European inflation will return to target by mid-2025. “It is rare to avoid a major deterioration in unemployment when central banks rise interest rates in response to high energy prices,” Lagarde said.However, Lagarde cautioned that “uncertainty ahead is…

An officer used the police database like a “social media application” to snoop on his partner, family members, friends, neighbours, people he saw on social media, other police officers and gang members he had no reason to be investigating. A police investigation overseen by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found that the officer had made more than 39,850 database searches over 21 months, including around 7000 while he was off duty. It identified a “pattern of behaviour” in which the officer scrolled through the database for long periods of time. The IPCA said he used the database “as if…

This edition of State of the Union focuses on the catastrophic floods in central Europe, the presentation of the EU commissioners-designate and the economic power of the European Green Deal. Central Europe was battered by so much torrential rain and deadly flooding that it pushed everything else to the back burner this week.At least 21 people were killed in four countries when Storm Boris dumped up to five times the average September rainfall on parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia in just four days, turning entire regions into disaster zones.Towns and villages were devastated, hundred of…

After being made redundant during the Covid-19 pandemic, a Dunedin car groomer decided to get his hands dirty and is now the owner of his own business. Felix Kyle, the 25-year-old owner of car grooming and detailing business The Detailers Garage, says he never thought he would own a business himself. “It’s pretty nuts to think about. “When you consider most people my age are not doing this, they’ll be out partying or studying or just working a regular job I suppose.” Mr Kyle said he was made redundant at his old job at Armstrong Prestige after the first Covid-19…

Ōtarawairere Village resident Brent Sheather is fed up with the destruction of native trees on council reserve land.Sheather said he had spent a lot of effort over many years into maintaining the steep bush-clad hillsides around his home near Whakatāne.Ranging approximately two-and-a-half kilometres along the cliffside above Ōtarawairere Bay and West End, he has planted native trees and shrubs while keeping the area clear of pest plants such as asparagus weed, tradescantia and wild ginger.Over the past two to three years, he has noticed the destruction of some parts of the bush near neighbouring properties.One of several stumps showing where…

The Kremlin is said to have tasked its army with pushing Ukrainian forces out of Russia’s Kursk region in less than a month. But how doable is it, especially given Ukraine’s next move in its incursion? ADVERTISEMENTRussian forces have reportedly been assigned with pushing the Ukrainian army out of the Kursk region by mid-October — or in less than a month. They have also been told to establish a “buffer zone” into Ukrainian border areas in northeastern Ukraine by the end of October.How doable is it? According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Russian military is…

Fifty judges who will have the hard task of selecting the next top kapa haka in the country for Te Matatini o Te Kāhui Maunga, Kāhui Tipua, Kāhui Wairua have been announced.Judges will consider groups on 16 aggregate and non-aggregate categories – four judges to each aggregate item, two to every non-aggregate.Te Matatini executive Maui Tangohau said it was a careful and thorough process selecting judges, “with 13 regions nominating candidates who are highly qualified, impartial, experienced in performing and in the intricacies of the respective kapa haka disciplines”.Scroll down to the end of this article for the full list…