Author: Press Room

During his trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania, the pontiff also visited Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. ADVERTISEMENTPope Francis has landed in Singapore on Wednesday for the final leg of his trip through Southeast Asia and Oceania, the longest and farthest of his papal trips and one of the lengthiest trips of any head of the Catholic Church.  After a brief farewell ceremony in the overwhelmingly Catholic Southeast Asian country of Timor-Leste, the pope and his delegation departed aboard local carrier Aero Dili’s only aircraft, an Airbus A320. During his visit to Timor-Leste, the pontiff drew a crowd of 600,000 —…

Police are continuing to appeal for information into the death of a 43-year-old man near Raglan, who is believed to have been struck by a car while walking his dog. Steven Cranston, 43, was discovered dead on State Highway 23, near Nau Mai Rd, on Wednesday night last week. Cranston has not been formally named by police.Late this afternoon, Detective Senior Sergeant Kristine Clarke gave an update on the investigation into Cranston’s death.”We would like to thank those people who have already contacted police with information, as a result of an earlier appeal,” she said in a media release.”Police inquiries…

The EU defence market could face a supply crisis if member states do not align their defence spending and procurement plans, according to Draghi’s report on competitiveness. ADVERTISEMENTEurope’s defence industry faces structural weaknesses in innovation, governance, international dependency and public spending, former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi said in his report on EU competitiveness.   “Member states do not systematically exploit the benefits of coordination at EU level, standardisation and interoperability, joint procurement, acquisition and maintenance, or pooling and sharing of resources,” reads according to the report, published on Monday (9 September).   The result? Uncoordinated, inadequate and inefficient defence spending compared…

One person has died after a crash on State Highway 5 near Tīrau.Police said the crash, involving three-vehicles, was reported at 3.35pm.Three other people were seriously injured.”State Highway 5 remains closed while the serious crash unit conduct a scene examination.”Police said SH5 Tapapa is closed between Webster and Whites roads.Motorists have been advised to avoid the area and expect lengthy detours.St John Ambulance said it sent three ambulances, two helicopters, and one rapid response unit to the scene.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will announce the list of commissioner nominees during next week’s plenary session in Strasbourg. ADVERTISEMENTWhat are the real reasons underlying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen delaying announcing the portfolios for her executive? The official reason for the delay is that Slovenia has changed its nominee and the country’s parliament needs to ratify the new name. But the path to nominate commissioners is often turbulent, what else is afoot?Today Radio Schuman looks for answers with Euronews journalist Gerardo Fortuna.The German government’s decision to reintroduce border controls at all its borders raises important…

In the 1960s, development applications could be one page long, housing advocates say.Now, documents that run to reams of pages are spending months collecting dust on NSW bureaucrats’ desks, sending waiting times for much-needed homes skyrocketing.Premier Chris Minns has promised another tranche of planning reforms to help fix the housing crisis, particularly in Sydney – the nation’s most expensive property market.”(The reforms) will be designed to speed up approvals, cut red tape and, at the end of the day, build more homes,” he said at a Business Western Sydney Housing Now conference on Wednesday.The premier acknowledged it was often government…

Police are appealing for sightings of a missing Waikato woman. Cassandra Clarkin, 50, was last seen at her Hamilton property yesterday.The woman’s family and police are concerned for her welfare and would like her to return home safely.”It is possible she is travelling to Whangārei or the Rotorua/Taupō areas,” police said.People with information are urged to dial 111 and quote file number 240910/5497.

A Christchurch company aims to revolutionise how we travel around cities by offering a transport option that glides above the congested roads and queues of traffic. For the last five years, Whoosh has been working on its innovative transportation technology inside its Christchurch lab, and says its first installation will be in Queenstown, “very soon”. Whoosh chief executive Dr Chris Allington said the gondola-like cable cars combine the best of ride-hailing services with elements of the urban gondola industry to create a “unique and revolutionary elevated transportation system”. “Using the Whoosh App, riders can hail or pre-book an autonomous electric vehicle…

Laws must work better for nature and business, the federal government says, as the mining sector fires up against what it claims are investment-sapping interventions.”Hard decisions are part of the job and I won’t shy away from them,” Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek told a hostile industry audience at the Minerals Council of Australia’s annual gathering in Canberra on Wednesday.”But there’s more to do on approvals and that will be a focus of the next stage of our law reforms.”Tanya Plibersek has urged ‘co-operation, compromise and common sense’ from the resources sector. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)Ms Plibersek said projects were getting approved…

Privacy concerns are mounting over Inland Revenue’s data-sharing practices with social media platforms, as an expert says Kiwis should have more control over how their information is shared by government agencies.The personal details of hundreds of thousands of Kiwis has been handed to platforms such as Facebook and Google to help better target Inland Revenue Department (IRD) ads. The agency has long asserted that the practice involves anonymising personal information. But an IRD spokesperson said officials are now reviewing whether it’s “still safe” to use the process after warnings from US and European regulators that information could still be linked…