Author: Press Room
A failed asylum seeker first issued a deportation order in 1999 has today been sentenced to eight years in prison for sex crimes. Amir Mohebbi was found guilty in February of five charges, including rape, unlawful sexual connection and threatening to kill.He appeared in the Auckland District Court today where the woman he assaulted read a victim impact statement about the effect the offences, committed in June 2021, have had on her life.”The trauma you caused had such a profoundly severe impact that I felt no way out. I wanted to take my own life. You made my everyday a…
ADVERTISEMENTThe EU is planning to borrow €150 billion on the financial markets for its new lending instrument Security Action for Europe (SAFE). It is one of the pillars of the Readiness 2030 plan, which aims to mobilise €800 billion for defence investment by the end of the decade. “Russia’s war in Ukraine and the EU’s attempt to support Kyiv really highlighted the dependencies and shortcomings of the EU’s defence industrial base and how ill-prepared we were in the event of being forced into a conventional war,” said Alice Tidey, a Euronews reporter who covered the announcement. “SAFE is about firing up European weapons manufacturing…
A woman raped by a failed asylum seeker who was first issued a deportation order in 1999 has spoken out in the hope of bringing comfort to others in a similar situation – and has told the man he has not ruined her life.The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told 1News she has decided to share her story as she doesn’t “want people to live in a country where this sort of thing is allowed”.She added: “I hope that it brings a level of comfort to others who were potentially hurt by this man, or didn’t get…
A passenger has been charged with assaulting a crew member on a flight to Sydney from the Pacific after being told she couldn’t drink wine she had taken on board. The 64-year-old was flying from Noumea, New Caledonia to Sydney on June 3 when she was told she could not consume the bottle she had brought on board. According to the Australian Federal Police she allegedly became verbally abusive and disruptive and refused to take her seat when the plane began to descend.Airline crew attempted to restrain her, but the AFP allege she kicked an airline crew member in the…
Published on 10/06/2025 – 19:27 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTGerman Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday condemned what he described as Russian “terror against the civilian population” of Ukraine and urged the European Union to swiftly impose new sanctions on Moscow. Speaking alongside the Netherlands’ caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Berlin, Merz accused Russia of deliberately targeting non-military sites in its latest waves of strikes. The two met to discuss topics related to bilateral and European cooperation as well as international politics. Merz described recent attacks on Ukrainian residential areas as “the most serious war crimes” which were “anything but a proportionate response to the very precise…
They live together, go to school together and now they are in business together — naturally. St Hilda’s Collegiate boarders Ellie Templeton, Meg Miller, Greer Egan and Emi Martin, all 17, are taking part in the Young Enterprise Scheme. The business studies students have developed a 100% natural leather restoring balm which they are selling under the brand Nature’s Prime. With three from farming backgrounds, the group was passionate about promoting primary industries and finding an alternative use for products. They researched what leather conditioners were on the market and, while some had similar ingredients, none were made with all…
Two of the charges against a soldier accused of taking sexual videos without consent have been dropped.Corporal Manu Smith was facing a Court Martial on three counts of making intimate visual recordings under the Armed Forces Discipline Act.In a Court Martial, a military panel made a decision on the accused’s guilt or innocence.This morning, Justice Tom Gilbert, who was presiding over the court, advised the military panel that he had granted the defence’s request to drop two of the charges.The judge said the two charges were dismissed for legal reasons because, in light of the evidence, he ruled that a…
Another traffic calming chicane has been removed by vandals from a Tamahere road, near Hamilton, after residents complained it was an accident waiting to happen.Waikato District Council installed four chicanes to slow speed on Birchwood Lane, a once country road, but the backlash from residents was immediate and two were taken out anonymously just four days later.At a public meeting last week called by the council in response to the uproar, service delivery general manager Megan May admitted the reflector hipsticks that forced traffic into one-way points along the road were installed without community consultation based on six formal complaints…
By Oman Al Yahyai with AP Published on 10/06/2025 – 16:43 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTA 14-year-old pupil fatally stabbed a school staff member during a routine bag check on Tuesday at a middle school in eastern France, officials said. The teenager was arrested at the scene.The incident occurred at Françoise Dolto School in Nogent, near Dijon. A police officer assisting with the bag checks sustained minor injuries while apprehending the suspect, who used the same knife in both attacks, according to the National Gendarmerie.President Emmanuel Macron condemned the act as “senseless violence,” writing in a post on X: “While she was looking after our children in Nogent,…
Nearly 400 tips on excessive cones have been received on the Government’s new road cone “hotline” in its first week of operation.The initiative, via a form on the Worksafe website, launched last Tuesday to invite reported cases of overcompliance in temporary traffic management.”The hotline is part of a 12-month pilot, brought about by work health and safety reforms announced by the Government, to tackle over-compliance in temporary traffic management,” the health and safety regulator said.”The initiative aims to get those deploying cones to be more proportionate and balanced while maintaining worker and public safety.”On its first day, WorkSafe said it…