Author: Press Room

A Queenstown hotel has been fined $22,000 for illegally selling recreationally caught crayfish as part of a luxury guest experience and failing to keep records.The Rees Management Limited, trading as The Rees Hotel, was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court yesterday following a prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). The charges were laid under the Fisheries Act 1996 and the Fisheries (Recordkeeping) Regulations 1990.At the centre of the case was the hotel’s luxury package, known as The Rees Ultimate Heli Crayfish Dining Experience.This included a helicopter flight over the Southern Alps to a remote West Coast beach where…

ADVERTISEMENTRussian forces launched drone attacks across several regions in Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, bringing the death toll since Sunday to five, according to regional authorities.In Dnipro, an apartment building, six houses and a school were damaged by drone debris, but no injuries were reported.Several districts in the surrounding Dnipropetrovsk region were also hit by Shahed-type and FPV drones, injuring a 63-year-old woman in the Nikopol district, according to regional governor Serhii Lysak.In Zaporizhzhia, a 60-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man were injured during Russian attacks against the Polohy district, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov.A hangar and an administrative building were…

Three people have died after a car left the road and rolled into a nearby body of water on the eastern outskirts of Waiuku in rural Auckland this afternoon.Emergency services responded to the single-vehicle crash on Masters Rd at around 3.30pm on Tuesday.Police confirmed the triple fatal crash in a statement shortly after 6pm.”Sadly, all three occupants of the vehicle have died at the scene,” a police spokesperson said.”We acknowledge that this is tragic news for the tight-knit community in Waiuku.”Next of kin have now been contacted and police will be ensuring support is put in place for them.”Fire and…

Nineteen Hells Angels members and their associates have been arrested and nearly $2.5 million in assets have been seized in a “huge blow” to the motorcycle club’s Whanganui chapter, police say.The arrests were made after police – with assistance from the armed offenders squad and the special tactics group – carried out 30 searches on properties and vehicles across Whanganui, Auckland, Palmerston North and Hastings this morning. Seventeen men and two women have been charged – including the president, vice-president, and sergeant at arms, Detective Inspector Craig Sheridan said.”During the warrants across the North Island, items seized included five firearms,…

Published on 15/07/2025 – 11:54 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTFollowing US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to take control of the Panama Canal, arguing that the US-built trade passage is key to national security, a memorandum has allowed Washington to carry out a series of military exercises with the Panamanian police. Three helicopters arrived in the area on Sunday to train for a possible scenario to protect the canal.Amid concerns over a possible US takeover, Panama has defended the security agreement reached with Washington and denied that sovereignty has been ceded. “There will be no permanent presence of foreign forces in our territory. This…

Train services between Petone and Upper Hutt have been suspended this afternoon due to an “emergency services incident” on railway lines in the Hutt Valley.Police were called to an “incident” on the lines near Cambridge Tce in Waterloo on Tuesday afternoon.”Hutt Valley train services are affected, and police are asking the public to avoid the area.”Wellington Free Ambulance confirmed it had responded to the incident.Metlink said in a statement that all rail services on the Hutt Valley Line were suspended and replaced by buses until further notice.”As a sufficient number of buses may be difficult to source at short notice,…

KiwiRail has banned approximately 2500 of its workers from using melatonin and Zopiclone, citing safety concerns.Melatonin will soon be sold over the counter without requiring a prescription.Rail and Maritime Union health and safety organiser Karen Fletcher said in a recent memo to staff, KiwiRail said workers in safety sensitive roles taking melatonin or Zopiclone would be stood down temporarily.She said the union was not consulted on the decision.”We first heard about it when the staff got in touch with us and said, ‘What’s this all about?’ They’ve been taking melatonin and Zopiclone for years and even decades, prescribed by a…

Published on 15/07/2025 – 6:30 GMT+2•Updated 8:58ADVERTISEMENTThe €13 billion set aside for security and defence in the EU’s current long-term budget (2021–2027) is a drop in the ocean when it comes to protecting Europe from serious threats, the bloc’s defence, security, and space industry has warned. The next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) should feature dedicated investment envelopes that “match the scale of the ambition and the urgency of the challenge,” according to a position paper by the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), released on the eve of the European Commission’s proposal. Industry leaders say that means allocating around…

“We trusted the system to support Caleb,” says Justine Lauese of the death of her son in Mt Eden Prison. Cushla Norman reports on the inquest, and talks to Lauese about the loss of her “funny, caring” son and why she believes he should never have been in Mt Eden Prison. It’s been three years. Although Justine Lauese knows that no one person can be held accountable for her son Caleb Moefa’auo’s death, she is demanding justice. “He was a person. He was someone that had a future.” Watch this story and the full interview with Justine Lauese on TVNZ+.…

Published on 15/07/2025 – 7:45 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTClaims are circulating widely on social media stating that Italy has followed in the footsteps of the United States by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, which was signed in 2015 and aims to limit the rise in global warming to below 2C.A post by an account posing as a legitimate news outlet, in which these assertions were made, has received thousands of views, likes and shares.It features a picture of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but otherwise provides no extra information or evidence for the claim.Italy was an original signatory to the agreement, and the…