Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTEarlier this year, after nine years at the head of Croatian intelligence, Daniel Markić was appointed director of the European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN), the closest thing the 27-member bloc has to a European intelligence service.Reporting to the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, INTCEN monitors what happens inside and outside the EU and provides analyses and alerts to institutions, decision-makers, and member states regarding security, defence, and counterterrorism.While in Lisbon to take part in a conference celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Strategic Intelligence and Defence Service (SIED), Markić gave an exclusive interview to Nascer do…

Big changes are on the way for the KiwiSaver scheme as Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she wants to system to become “more fiscally sustainable” and better for those saving for retirement or a first home. The changes were revealed earlier today as a significant part of Budget 2025 and heavily speculated about before the announcement. Default employer and employee contribution rates will increase to 4% from April 2028. But rates will first rise to 3.5% from April next year in a “phased” approach.John Campbell and Nicola Willis clash over govt payments, pay equity – watch on TVNZ+Meanwhile, the value…

Kiwis will soon be able to get 12-month prescriptions for medicines, Health Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Health Minister David Seymour revealed as part of today’s Budget.Currently, doctors and prescribers can write scripts for most medicines only for a maximum of three months, meaning patients must pay their GP for a follow-up appointment or to issue a repeat.“This creates unnecessary barriers for patients on stable, long-term medications like asthma inhalers, insulin for diabetes, and blood pressure tablets. It means added costs for patients and more paperwork for health professionals, taking time away from patients with more urgent or complex needs,”…

Budget 2025 has delivered a $646 million boost for learning support.Increased support for students with conditions affecting their learning is the issue schools have called for greater government investment in year after year.Education Minister Erica Stanford said today that, across different initiatives, the Budget will provide funding for more than an additional 2 million teacher aide hours per year by 2028.Stand out investments in Budget 2025 include $266 million to extend the Early Intervention Service so Year 1 students can access a range of supports such as speech language therapists and psychologists. The service currently stops when a child turns…

Published on 23/05/2025 – 8:12 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTCommissioner for Brussels Alain Hutchinson, credited for building bridges between the EU and its capital, tells Radio Schuman how the once weak ties blossomed into a strong synergy that benefits both. He argued that Brussels, including its public administrations, is more open to accommodating expats, while Eurocrats have started to break out of their bubble.In this episode, we also look at a NATO Parliamentary Assembly in the US state of Ohio as the Trump administration casts doubt over US’ defence of NATO allies in Europe. And finally, which countries in Europe get harmed most by…

West Coast iwi are backing a plan to make resource consents less of a bureaucratic maze for alluvial goldminers.The West Coast Regional Council is aiming to speed up the consent application process by working with Poutini Ngāi Tahu and the industry to write standard conditions and clearer templates.Goldminers keen to capitalise on the current gold price have been queuing for consents in recent months and some have complained about the complexity of the process and the time it takes to gain council and iwi approval of conditions.Under the Resource Management Act, the council must work with mana whenua on environmental…

ADVERTISEMENTGermany was once a world market leader. Today, the industrialised nation is considered the “sick man of Europe”. The country is in recession for the third year in a row.Economic experts predict zero growth for this year. The decline is dramatic in the figures. Last year, almost 200,000 companies shut their doors, according to a study by Creditreform. This is the highest figure since 2011.The figures will continue to plummet in 2025. A new high in insolvencies was reported in April. According to the Leibniz Institute, 1626 company insolvencies were registered – 21% more than in April 2024. This even…

The Government’s sweeping changes to the pay equity scheme have provided a massive infusion into Budget 2025, to the tune of $12.8 billion over the next four years.Finance Minister Nicola Willis said “savings” had been made as a result and that the regime first launched under the previous government had become unwieldy.“Significant Budget savings have resulted from fixing Labour’s flawed pay-equity regime and removing an assumption that the Government would fully fund potential settlements involving non-Government employers,” she said.“Taken together, these changes have increased the funding available for Budget 2025 by $11 billion operating over the forecast period and an…

Queenstown’s Hine Taylor has been living couch-to-couch for more than five months while she sits tight on a lengthy social housing waiting list.She said she longs to have a place of her own — “a warm, safe home over my head”.Taylor estimated she knew about 10 other people sleeping in cars, on the street or couch-surfing in Queenstown, who hoped to find a place to call home before winter set in.She had been told there was no emergency housing available at all.”Emergency housing does not exist… it used to apparently in Queenstown. So what more do you do but carry…

Despite public outcry, it appears the RUNIT Championship League will return.After completing the second of its trials at Trusts Arena in West Auckland on Wednesday night, organisers posted on social media: “Thank you Auckland, we will be back.”An announcement was made confirming a third ‘Run It Straight’ event, pitting the winners from Monday and Wednesday’s trials head-to-head for a prize of $250,000.A date and venue was yet to be confirmed, though they said the final would be held indoors.Wednesday night’s trial took place on a 20m by 4m strip of astroturf, with competitors hovering around the 130kg mark. Two men…