Author: Press Room
Published on 03/12/2025 – 9:59 GMT+1 Belgian authorities released former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, European Commission official Stefano Sannino and a third suspect from custody after questioning them in a corruption probe. They have not been charged at this time. The three suspects were detained on Tuesday after the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched an investigation into fraud linked to an EU-funded training academy for junior diplomats. Mogherini was the EU’s top foreign policy official at the European External Action Service (EEAS) for five years, between 2014 and 2019, in the Juncker Commission and became the rector…
Severe thunderstorms are hammering the North Island today, bringing downpours, hail, strong winds and a tornado in Manawatū.Latest developments – follow 1News’ live updatesMetService said a severe thunderstorm watch was in place for Northland, Auckland, the Great Barrier Island until 5pm and the Coromandel Peninsula, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and Taupō until 6pm.Thunderstorms could become severe through of the afternoon, with localised downpours of 25 to 40mm/h before activity was expected to ease in the evening.Video from MetService showed a lightning strike hitting Auckland’s 328m tall Sky Tower at around 1pm.A reported tornado caused damage in the Manawatū region…
A Kiwi author included in a billion-dollar US settlement over the illegal downloading of books to build an AI chatbot says she hopes the case will be a warning to the artificial intelligence industry.But the Society of Authors said the authors of millions of titles used to build the tools will miss out on compensation as they are not registered for copyright in American territories.Anthropic AI has agreed to pay out up to $1.5 billion (NZ$2.6 billion) to settle claims it used millions of pirated books to train its large language models, in a class action in Californian courts.Victoria University…
By euronews Published on 03/12/2025 – 7:43 GMT+1 •Updated 7:49 The EU foreign affairs headquarters, the EEAS, and the College of Europe in Bruges were raided yesterday by Belgian police. Former EU foreign affairs chief and College of Europe Rector Federica Mogherini as well as other top officials are now in custody as part of a probe into alleged fraud. For more on this developing story that came as a big shock to many in Brussels, we will be joined by Euronews EU editor Maria Tadeo. Coming up, we will be joined by the 2025 Nobel Prize in economics winner, the…
New rules will make gift cards more generous – but not until next year, and shoppers are being warned to be wary this Christmas.From March next year, gift cards will be required to have an expiry date not less than three years from the date the card was sold.But the law change only takes effect for cards sold from that point so people are being warned to check the terms and conditions of any they buy this month.National MP Dan Bidois said during the final reading of the bill to enact the change that people in New Zealand could be…
Dairy prices are at near two-year low after the eighth consecutive fall in the global auction overnight.The average price at the auction fell 4.3% to US$3507 a tonne, following the 3% drop in the previous auction two weeks ago.The price of whole milk powder, which strongly influences the payout to farmers, fell 2.4% to US$3364 a tonne.The Global Dairy Trade Price Index fell to its lowest level since January 2024.NZX dairy analyst Rosalind Crickett said the latest auction saw weak bidding amid oversupply in the market.”Regional buying again was dominated by North Asia which accounted for 50% of total product…
The number of companies going broke has increased in recent months as creditors take a harsh view, but they are down on a year ago amid signs of economic recovery.The latest report from BWA Insolvency for the September quarter showed a 5% rise in the number of insolvencies to 777 on the previous quarter, but down 6% on the same period in 2024.BWA Insolvency principal Bryan Williams said the number of insolvencies reflected an economic “game of two halves”.”On one side, you’ve got irrepressible forward-looking indicators-share prices rising, real estate agents bouncing back, building permits up, and even ready-mix concrete…
Airbus engineers have found defects on a wider set of A320 fuselage panels as they prepare to inspect hundreds of jets for a flaw that the company’s chief executive says is hurting deliveries. A presentation to airlines seen by Reuters showed that the total number of planes needing inspections for recently discovered quality problems on metal panels at the front of some planes was 628, including 168 already in service. This figure also includes 245 in assembly lines, according to the presentation, of which industry sources said about 100 are earmarked for delivery this year. A further 215 are in an earlier stage…
Former police commissioner Andrew Coster has quit his new role at the Social Investment Agency in the wake of the Jevon McSkimming scandal.Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche confirmed the news this afternoon. “I respect Mr Coster’s decision. It was the right thing to do,” Sir Brian said.He resigned just 12 months into a five-year term.Read: Andrew Coster’s full statement on his resignationCoster has been under fire since the release of a damning IPCA report, in which the authority said it found “serious misconduct” among the upper echelons of police during the handling of former deputy police commissioner McSkimming.”I also…
The Kiwi iteration of IKEA’s app has gone live — featuring prices for many of the thousands of items available for purchase from tomorrow. The 34,000m2 store in Auckland’s Sylvia Park will open to customers on Thursday, selling around 7500 products from flatpack furniture sets to smaller, everyday household necessities. Its opening was expected to cause widespread traffic delays and “mayhem” around the already-busy shopping area. IKEA’s loyalty programme had previously been rolled out nationwide, offering members exclusive discounts and early updates ahead of opening day. First look inside finished Auckland IKEA, food on offer – Watch on TVNZ+In August,…