Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTFrench President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France plans to recognise Palestine as a state in June this year.Macron made the comments during an interview with a French television station while on a two-day trip to Egypt.”Our goal is, sometime in June, to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia where we could finalise the movement of reciprocal recognition by several ,” he said. “I will do it…because I think that at some point it will be fair and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in…

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she understands the 10% tariff remains and diplomats are working “at pace” to clarify the situation. “We have channels of communication between officials open”, which was allowing officials between the US and New Zealand to speak with each other and “clarify our position”, she said. United States President Donald Trump said this morning (NZ time) he would pause many of his new tariffs for 90 days, but raised them further on imports from China. The sudden reversal came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on imports from dozens of trading partners.…

A boil water notice has been issued for Greymouth and surrounding areas after possible contamination of the water supply was identified during routine sampling, leading one of the town’s high schools to close early.In a statement posted to Facebook, the Grey District Council said affected areas included Greymouth, Cobden, Blaketown, Boddytown, Karoro, South Beach, Paroa, Kaiata, Dobson Taylorville, Stillwater, Runanga, Dunollie, Coal Creek and Rapahoe.”Council has begun the required testing and monitoring process. To lift the notice, three consecutive days of clear test results are required,” the post read.In an update this afternoon, the council said follow-up testing “detected total…

ADVERTISEMENTFrom mountain gorillas on the border of Rwanda, via late cocaine baron Pablo Escobar’s escaped hippos in Colombia, to island reserves where endangered Australian bandicoots can flourish away from predators introduced by misguided humans, a new documentary brings visually stunning views of successful wildlife restoration projects to the big screen – but skirts some weighty political questions.“What is the cost of indifference, when is the point of no return,” begins the emotive narration by three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep. A whistle-stop tour of global environmental destruction, from cleared rainforest to bleached coral reefs answers the first question. The second is…

The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.5%.Today’s decision is the second of 2025 and is the first since Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr announced his resignation last month. The rate is the lowest it’s been since October 2022. It comes amid turbulent global market conditions, which followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping global tariffs last week. Despite that, economists widely expected the Reserve Bank to make another cut to the OCR.Inflation sits at 2.2%, within the central bank’s target band of 1 to 3%. Earlier this week Christian Hawkesby was…

ADVERTISEMENTThe EU needs to cut more red tape to enable its travel and tourism sector to continue to grow, the president of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) told Euronews today as the sector revealed projections of 5% growth on it its annual contribution to EU GDP.Figures from the WTTC, which represents the global private travel and tourism sector, suggested the sector will contribute nearly €1.9 trillion to the bloc’s GDP in 2025, accounting for 10.5% of the EU’s economy. In 2024, the sector’s contribution stood at €1.8 trillion. “Our sector created 24.6 million jobs. So, 11.5% of all the…

US President Donald Trump says he’ll temporarily lower new tariffs on many countries, but raised them further on imports from China, in a sudden reversal that sent US stocks sharply higher. Trump’s announcement on Wednesday (local time) came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on imports from dozens of trading partners. The new trade barriers have hammered markets, raised the odds of recession and prompted retaliatory responses from China and the European Union. Trump said he would raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level that took effect at midnight, further escalating a high-stakes confrontation between the…

Police have issued an appeal after a person injured in a single-vehicle crash north of Hamilton last month died of their injuries in hospital.The crash on Bankier Rd in Horsham Downs was reported just before 7.20pm on March 28.Police said they would like to hear from witnesses as the investigation into the cause of the crash continues.”In particular, we would like to speak with the driver of the pictured, maroon-coloured SUV towing a boat that was travelling on Bankier Rd at the time of the crash,” a spokesperson said.”We believe they may be able to provide information to assist with…

ADVERTISEMENTKing Charles III has become the first British monarch to address both houses of the Italian parliament. The king, who delivered part of his speech in Italian, told those gathered on Wednesday that he had come “to reaffirm the deep friendship between the United Kingdom and Italy”.Democracies like the UK and Italy need to stand together during this period of significant global uncertainty, he said. Charles also spoke of the long shared history between the two countries — mentioning the ancient Romans’ arrival on Britain’s “windswept shores” — and of his fondness for Italy. “Italy is, as I hope you…

Green MP Benjamin Doyle has broken their silence for the first time since coming under intense scrutiny for their social media history.The Green Party has called a media conference in Parliament’s themed Rainbow Room at 3.30pm today.It was Doyle’s first public appearance at Parliament since NZ First leader Winston Peters last week drew attention to “language and innuendo” on Doyle’s private Instagram account titled “Biblebeltbussy”.The word “bussy” is a slang word used by some members of the rainbow community, commonly understood to mean a male anus.Screenshots circulating online showed Doyle also used the phrase “bussy galore” to caption a slideshow…