Author: Press Room

Work to lay the final kilometre of pipeline in a controversial sewerage scheme near Rotorua will restart on Monday.It is the last section of the Rotorua Lakes Council’s Tarawera Sewerage Scheme, with 23km of pipeline already completed for Stage 1.The second stage will connect some 450 homes to the pipeline which will replace the use of septic tanks, which is aimed to improve lake health.Progress was fragmented by protests and various court action and was most recently paused after several days of works restarting in February following applications to the Environment Court by groups protesting the works at Lake Rotokākahi.The…

ADVERTISEMENTThe EU is ready to put pressure on the US by threatening to tariff its services, where it has a trade surplus with the EU, if negotiations in the ongoing trade war break down, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.US big tech is also in von der Leyen’s sights, she told the Financial Times in an interview, signalling readiness to introduce a tax on digital advertising revenues that would hit tech groups such as Meta, Google and Facebook. The EU will use the anti-coercion tool if necessary, she says, explaining that there were “a wide range of…

An Auckland doctor says she will not be silenced by the Indian government after being warned she faces a ban on returning to her homeland because of her political activities and online criticisms.Dr Sapna Samant, a GP and filmmaker, was told her Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status was being revoked due to her social media accounts, a radio interview and being on the Green Party website.The OCI is a card given to Indians who become New Zealand citizens, allowing them to keep certain birthrights – including travelling to India.Samant said the move did not bode well for free speech…

ADVERTISEMENTLast year, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius declared that Germans “must be ready for war by 2029”. The government is ramping up defence spending, and car manufacturers are considering repurposing factories to produce military supplies as the country faces the possibility that Europe could soon face a full-on conflict.As part of the transition to a war footing, one company has identified a niche market: a nuclear shelter estate agent service.German Bunker Makler’s managing owner, Peter Aurnhammer, told Euronews that demand for blast-proof facilities has been increasing “very significantly”. His company’s customers are spread across the whole of Germany, and more…

ADVERTISEMENTEU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will travel on Monday to Washington to hold meetings with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said on Friday.The Commission is hoping to advance negotiations on tariffs, after weeks of deadlock.“The EU is willing to find win-win outcomes, mutual beneficially deals with our American counterparts to avoid tariffs and to avoid any harmful escalation that would be damaging on both sides of the Atlantic,” Gill said.The EU has offered to level US and EU tariffs to 0% on industrial goods. The US currently imposes 25% tariffs on…

New Zealand glaciers have lost the equivalent of over a third of Lake Taupō in volume since 2005, updated official statistics show.Stats NZ said total glacier ice volumes in Aotearoa New Zealand shrank by 42% between 2005 and 2023.That was a 22 km3 decrease, equal to 37% of the volume of Lake Taupō.The World Meteorological Organization has said that at current rates of melting, many glaciers in western Canada and the United States, Scandinavia, central Europe, the Caucasus and New Zealand “will not survive the 21st century”.”Changes in glacier volumes are important indicators of climate change,” Stats NZ environment statistics…

ADVERTISEMENTChemicals that pose risks to children’s health and development will now be banned from toys sold in the EU, introducing stricter safety requirements for manufacturers and sellers, including those operating on online platforms, EU institutions agreed on Thursday. The new rules update the bloc’s 2009 Toy Safety Directive with further restrictions on the use of hazardous substances.  “We have also future-proofed the regulation, the Commission will be able to react more quickly to new scientific findings on chemical substances,” said MEP Marion Walsmann (Germany/EPP), negotiator from the European Parliament.  The regulation introduces essential safety standard to ensure a high level of health…

Trains in Auckland will not run for 16 days over the Easter holidays, as work persists ahead of the City Rail Link opening next year.KiwiRail says no passenger rail will operate from 12 April to 27 April, allowing crews to build critical upgrades and complete major infrastructure on the Auckland underground.A small number of freight trains will be working at times, it said.Chief of capital planning and asset development officer David Gordon said the shutdown was part of a concerted push to prepare for the City Rail Link.”We get a huge amount done when there are fewer people needing to…

ADVERTISEMENTA bomb planted near the offices of Hellenic Train, Greece’s main railway company, has in a busy district of central Athens, authorities have said.There were no immediate reports of injuries.Local media said a newspaper and a news website had received an anonymous call shortly before Friday evening’s blast, with the caller warning that a bomb had been planted outside the railway company offices and would explode within about 40 minutes.Police cordoned off the site along a major avenue in the Greek capital, keeping residents and tourists away from the building in an area with several bars and restaurants.Officers at the…

ADVERTISEMENTAfter a renewed demand by Donald Trump for the EU to buy more US oil and gas, Energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen has signalled the bloc is ready to increase imports, but not if it means abandoning climate and environmental goals – and that is a big if.Presumably referring to the trade in goods, Trump said on Monday as he rejected a ‘zero-to-zero’ tariff offer from Brussels that the US had a $350 deficit with the EU.“One of the ways that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re gonna have to buy our energy from us, because they need it…We can…