Author: Press Room

Ashburton is “turtle town” no more as the council ends permanent 30km/h school speed zones.Drivers will only need to slow down near Ashburton schools for the hour around drop-off and pick-up times under the changes.Resident Grant McFaul said he was pleased the permanent lower speed limit around schools was ending, which followed a Government speed rule change last year.In 2022, the Labour-Government aimed to improve road safety by lowering speed limits around schools.During the consultation at the time, McFaul described the permanent 30km/h school zones as “preposterous” and pleaded with the Ashburton District Council not to “turn Ashburton into turtle…

Child sexual abuse is a growing problem and crimes committed via the Internet make it much more difficult to combat. The EU is revising its the rules in an attempt to criminalise behaviour online as well as in the real world. ADVERTISEMENTOne in five children are estimated to be victims of sexual crimes on- and offline and EU member states made some progress with rules designed to criminalise the abuse at the end of 2024. But they failed to agree to controls over online image sharing since these could impact data privacy rights.MEPs and member states are working on two sets of…

Residents in a suburban Auckland street say they have been terrorised for months by someone throwing rocks through the windows of houses along the road.A number of houses on Sackville Street in Grey Lynn had their windows smashed by rocks on Monday, the latest in a series of attacks dating back to February last year.A long time Sackville Street resident — who RNZ has agreed not to name — said residents have spent thousands of dollars to repair damage and install security cameras.”We just really want this to stop,” they said.”It’s a really nice street with mixed housing, so there’s…

Over two-thirds of large companies struggle to fill their IT roles. What are the highest-paid jobs? Which countries are most in need? ADVERTISEMENTAs the IT sector continues to grow, thousands of European companies are having trouble filling the many positions available.According to 2024 Eurostat data, 57.5% of EU businesses can’t recruit all the necessary ICT specialists.The gap between labour demand and actual employment has grown by 20% in the past ten years.Large businesses are facing the biggest challenges. Sixty-eight per cent of them are unable to fill all their ICT specialist positions, followed by medium (59.2%) and small-sized enterprises (53.4%).Germany,…

Fire crews are monitoring the scene of a vegetation fire in the Waitākere Ranges, west of Auckland, which broke out early yesterday evening.Fire and Emergency NZ told 1News it was called to a fire on the northern side of Te Aute Ridge Rd, east of Bethells Beach – it sent ground crews and three helicopters.RNZ reported is was contained later in the evening.In an update this morning, FENZ said two crews had returned to monitor the scene and dampen hotspots.

‘If there is an option to build a coalition with EPP and with the Patriots of Europe we can do so,’ former Polish Prime Minister told journalists. ADVERTISEMENTFormer Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was elected as President of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party on Tuesday in Brussels, replacing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. ECR, includes right-wing Brothers of Italy, Polish Law and Justice, and Romanian AUR among its 12 European member parties, and the US Republican Party and Israel’s Likud among its seven “global partners”.The party congress also elected the Italian Carlo Fidanza (Brothers of Italy), France’s Marion…

With just over a month left until the start of Otago Polytechnic’s year, the new director for the Central campus is looking forward to his new role. John Christie said he was excited to take up the role, as he found the opportunity to work in the education sector appealing. Part of the appeal of the job is his passion for providing people of all ages with good opportunities to learn. Split between Cromwell and Wanaka, he said Otago Polytech’s Central campus provided for anyone who wanted to learn about things that were practical in nature. As an example Mr…

Marta Kos, the EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement has said any expansion of the Union will be based on merit rather than geopolitics, and must serve existing Member States as well as future ones. ADVERTISEMENTSpeaking on the issue at a hearing of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels on Tuesday, she stressed that the process must benefit both current Member States and potential new ones.“There will be no geopolitical discount. The enlargement process remains merit-based,” Kos stated. “As I told you on November 7th, I will walk the talk about European values. The rule of law and fundamental…

A once-in-160,000 years comet could be visible in the skies over New Zealand in the coming days.NASA said the brightness of a comet is “notoriously hard” to predict, but Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) could remain bright enough to be seen by the naked eye.On Monday, the comet was at perihelion — the point of its path closest to the Sun — which influenced how bright it appeared.Stardome astronomer Josh Aoraki said Atlas C/2024 G3 was known as a “long period” comet.These originated from a region of the outer Solar System called the Oort Cloud and took thousands, or in some…

After getting the nod in December, Bayrou became France’s fourth prime minister in just one year. He now faces a major challenge to pass the long-overdue 2025 budget plan. ADVERTISEMENTFrench Prime Minister François Bayrou delivered a much-awaited key policy speech on Tuesday in Paris, setting the tone for his government’s roadmap. After days of negotiations with various political forces, Bayrou hopes to strike a delicate balance between obtaining the left’s goodwill and antagonising his allies on the right.To win over some left-wing MPs, Bayrou announced he is open to renegotiating some aspects of French President Emmanuel Macron’s highly unpopular pension reform…