Author: Press Room

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola met with Pope Francis on Friday to discuss key issues on the European agenda and emphasised the shared commitment to reconciliation and peace. ADVERTISEMENTThe President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola met with Pope Francis during a private audience on Friday to discuss the main topics on the European agenda. Metsola praised the pontiff for his leadership in promoting reconciliation and peace.She emphasised that “humanity and the quest for peace” are similarly at the heart of the European Parliament’s work, and reiterated the European Union’s commitment to its role as a peace project. On Ukraine,…

Police investigating the murder of Baby Ru have recovered “deliberately concealed” items it calls “highly relevant” to the homicide inquiry during a “targeted search” in semi-rural land north of Wellington.Just days before his second birthday, Ruthless-Empire died in Hutt Hospital in Lower Hutt from severe head injuries on October 22, 2023.Police described the boy’s death as “violent”, and said his injuries could have come from a weapon, or through physical force such as slamming his head on a hard floor or table.Police earlier said evidence — including a CCTV hard drive — had been taken from the home where Baby…

Guterres’ trip to the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan drew criticism from Kyiv after the UN chief refused to participate in the Ukrainian president’s Peace Formula summit. ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the UN secretary general’s visit to the country because of his trip to Russia, AFP news agency reported on Friday, citing a source in Zelenskyy’s office. Antonio Guterres’ trip drew fire from Kyiv because the UN chief refused to participate in Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula summit only to accept the Kremlin’s invitation to Kazan earlier this week to attend BRICS.Following his meeting with Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit,…

Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao told a friend a month before she disappeared that she was being chased by a man she rejected, a court has heard.Tingjun Cao, 53, a Chinese national, is charged with murdering Bao on 19 July 2023, the day she went missing.Bao was last seen heading to show a house to a prospective client on Trevor Street in Hornby, where the Crown alleged she was stabbed to death by Cao.On Friday the trial heard from Bao’s friend Qi QI who said the pair were like “sisters” and described her personality as very outgoing and friendly.When…

Beijing has warned the European Parliament to “act prudently” on the issue of Taiwan, saying “it is a red line that must not be crossed.” ADVERTISEMENTChina has slammed the European Parliament for adopting a symbolic but strongly worded resolution that denounced Beijing for its “attempts to distort history and international rules” to justify its territorial claims over Taiwan.In a text adopted on Thursday with 432 votes in favour and 60 against, lawmakers also urged China to immediately cease its “continued military operations,” “economic coercion” and “hostile disinformation” campaign against the self-ruling democratic island.Beijing reacted with expected fury, warning that “the…

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has turned up the heat on the Health Ministry for failing to tell minister Casey Costello that one of its staffers working on tobacco reform was related to Labour’s Ayesha Verrall.Luxon has also congratulated his deputy, Winston Peters, for uncovering the conflict, while refusing to say whether Peters’ personal attack on the public servant was appropriate.Labour said it was “reprehensible” Peters was attacking a public servant who had “done nothing wrong” and could not defend herself.But Peters said he had “no regrets at all”.On Thursday, Peters told Parliament that one of Costello’s officials was the sister-in-law…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Belgrade as part of her Balkan tour, where she reaffirmed Europe’s commitment to Serbia’s progress toward EU membership. ADVERTISEMENTEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade on Friday to discuss Serbia’s path toward the European Union.“Europe remains strongly committed to the European future of Serbia,” von der Leyen said after meeting with Vučić.”In times of conflicts and wars and turmoil, being a member of the European Union is a promise of peace and prosperity, and it is a promise that we can deliver together,” she…

The Waimate Event Centre will be closed over the long weekend after a fire in the complex which has been extinguished.The council-owned complex, which houses the library, gym and squash courts will be closed for the weekend.Waimate District Council chief executive Stuart Duncan said the extent of the damage was still unknown.”We do not yet know the extent of the damage. “Everyone inside was safely evacuated, and the complex will be closed for the weekend.”FENZ said it responded to an alarm activation at the event centre at about 2.25pm.Two crews from Waimate responded and confirmed there was smoke coming from…

French brandy is at the heart of a commercial dispute between Beijing and Brussels over Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). ADVERTISEMENTThe wine-growing town of Cognac, in southwestern France, is at the epicentre of a trade war between China and the EU. Since mid-October, Beijing has imposed temporary anti-dumping measures for imports of European brandy. This comes after the EU Commission said it wants to impose heavy tariffs on electric vehicles coming from China. Anxiety and frustration against the French government are brewing among the makers of the eponymous cognac. ‘We’re being completely sacrificed'”We’re being held hostage in a dispute between the…

Josh Wiegman was 12 when he emigrated from the Netherlands to New Zealand. Although he came from a rural town, it was a big move from a country of 18million people where the density of population meant it was hard to stand out. What he had noticed through his startup journey in his new country was the support available and that “everyone is here to help”. The entrepreneurial 19-year-old University of Otago student is the co-founder of Cue-Go , a Dunedin-based event technology business which was one of nine startups recently accepted into Startup Dunedin’s Distiller Incubator. Cue-Go won the…