Author: Press Room

Two houses remain evacuated with one being threatened by a large vegetation fire that broke out east of Whangārei this afternoon.Fire and Emergency said it was notified of a fire on Whangārei Heads Rd betwen Onerahi and Tamaterau shortly after midday.”Ten trucks and five helicopters are currently on scene,” a spokesperson said.Assistant Commander Denis Cooper said the fire covered approximately 20 hectares.”It started at around 12.30pm in a narrow gully and it’s gone up both sides. One was farmland on the west and the east side has gone up into heavy fuels, such as scrub land, totara and gorse.”The steep…

The founder and CEO of Space X and owner of the social media platform X is making waves and today stages an interview with the leader of Germany’s far-right Alternativ fur Deutschland party leader Alice Weidel. Will the EU respond? ADVERTISEMENTHow far can the European Commission handle Elon Musk if his companies violate EU laws? How could his social media X, formerly Twitter, affect upcoming elections in Germany?Today Radio Schuman answers these questions with Euronews reporter Cynthia Kroet. X owner Elon Musk will livestream an interview on X with Alice Weidel, leader of the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland. Musk…

The New Zealand Army has paid tribute to a soldier killed in a South Taranaki crash last week — saying he’d had a “bright future” ahead of him.Private Rohaan Thomas died in a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 3 near Mokoia on January 5.Thomas, who was from Palmerston North, volunteered to serve in February before joining the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment in June.”Our thoughts and aroha go out to Rohaan’s whānau, his friends and his community as they come to terms with such a sudden loss, and we continue to support them where we can.”The 20-year-old died in a…

Several EU member states have suspended asylum claims from Syrians following the collapse of the Assad regime. But what next? Euronews spoke with a Syrian refugee in Berlin, Amnesty International in Rome and the NGO Relive for Syrian Refugees in Paris. ADVERTISEMENTFadi Zaim loves Berlin and loves Germany. The co-owner of the Jasmin catering company based in Germany’s capital arrived as a Syrian refugee in Germany in 2013. Originally born in Damascus, Fadi feels at home in Berlin and has even catered for former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He has built a successful business over the past 12 years, and…

A search was launched this afternoon after reports a fisherman had fallen into water off rocks at the southern end of Auckland’s Piha Beach. In a statement, police said it was making inquiries about the whereabouts of a fisherman who was unaccounted for. “It has been reported the man was fishing off rocks on the southern end of Piha, when he fell into the water,” a police spokesperson said. Police, St John and surf livesavers responded to a report of a fisherman who had fallen into the water at Auckland’s Piha Beach. (Source: 1News)The police Eagle helicopter conducted an initial…

Auckland Council is urging beach-goers to exercise caution after swimmers report itching, rashes, or red spots after entering the water.The council’s environmental health technical specialist Darryl Thompson said it was seabather’s eruption, a rash caused by stings from the nematocysts – or stinging cells – of certain sea anemones and thimble jellyfishes.However, NIWA emeritus researcher Dr Dennis Gordon told RNZ the rash could be caused by sea lice, a completely different type of organism, instead.Gordon said the rashes — known as seabather’s eruption — in Auckland were likely to be caused by a siphonophorae.”Divers call it the long, stringy, stingy…

Lithuania’s government says it will boost security on its power grids with Poland ahead of planned decoupling from Russian energy system next month. ADVERTISEMENTLithuania says it’s ramping up security around the country’s electricity link with Poland ahead of their planned disconnection from the Baltic region’s power systems, a Soviet-era grid shared with Russia and Belarus.Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas says the government has asked police forces to protect the power link shared with Warsaw.After recent incidents and suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea, Vilnius believes it’s crucial to ensure security measures around the LitPol Link are intensified.Last month, the former…

Businesses in Northland’s Kaipara District say they’re frustrated by a 13-hour internet outage that forced many shops to close or switch to cash-only transactions for a day.Dargaville Community Development Board manager Sue Curtis said Wednesday’s fibre outage meant eftpos terminals and ATMs stopped working, and banks closed.As a result, anyone who didn’t have cash on hand before the 8am cable break could not spend money at the town’s businesses.Spark has confirmed the outage was caused when a culvert was being dug near Tangowahine, between Whangārei and Dargaville.The digger hit the main fibre-optic cable providing broadband internet to Dargaville, Maungaturoto, Paparoa…

The owners of a large carving that washed up on a Northland beach have been found — but how it ended up in the sea remains a mystery.The wheku, a carved representation of a human face, was discovered at Omakiwi Cove, at Te Rāwhiti in the Bay of Islands, last Friday.The finder alerted Arana Rewha, a kaitiaki [guardian] for the hapū Ngāti Kuta, who was mystified by how such a large, heavy carving came to be in the water.The wheku measures about 600mm long by 300mm wide and is almost 100mm thick.Its good condition showed it had not been in…

North Canterbury schools are continuing to back NCEA level 1, despite calls to scrap the certificate.Rangiora High School board of trustees presiding member Simon Green said the qualification is “robust” and provides a “benchmark” for student achievement.In November, Education Minister Erica Stanford said she was open to NCEA level 1 being scrapped, following an Education Review Office report.The report said NCEA level 1, which was overhauled last year, was not fair or reliable, it confused families, and more than a quarter of schools did not offer it.But Green and Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney defended the qualification.”There is zero…