Author: Press Room

The Government has put out a multi-billion dollar plan for rebuilding hospitals it says are so run down patient care is being affected.The long-delayed plan was released on Wednesday, five years after the first national stocktake of health facilities found they needed over $20 billion of investment — a figure repeated by the Government on Wednesday. Health Minister Simeon Brown said the system was “under significant pressure from ageing infrastructure”.”This is a first for New Zealand — a single, long-term plan that lays out a clear pipeline for health infrastructure,” he said in a statement.Simeon Brown says new facilities will…

ADVERTISEMENTTwo bodies have been retrieved by authorities from the Bug River on Poland’s border with Belarus. They are believed to be migrant men who had attempted to cross the border into Poland.Investigators are conducting an autopsy to determine the identities and cause of death of the bodies, which were significantly decomposed when they were found, according to Katarzyna Gągolińska of the Biała Podlaska police.The Polish Border Guard says that almost 300 attempts have been made to cross the Polish-Belarusian border in the Lublin province since the start of this year. Dariusz Sienicki, captain of the Bug River Border Guard Unit,…

A large weather system is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to the upper North Island from today. Already, winds gusting more than 50 knots (90 km/h plus) have been recorded off the coasts of Auckland, Northland and the Coromandel.Electricity network provider Northpower was reporting about 150 customers were without power as nightfall approached on Wednesday.MetService  issued heavy rain and strong wind warnings across parts of the North Island and some areas of the South.  (Source: 1News)Authorities were warning of coastal inundation when predicted 5m-6m east coast swells were to be combined with severe gale winds and a 10pm…

ADVERTISEMENTThe European Commission presented its first list of ‘safe’ countries of origin on Wednesday for the purposes of asylum, providing a list of states from which those applying for asylum will be subject to expedited processing within a three-month deadline.The Commission considers that all candidate countries meet the criteria to be designated as safe countries of origin, with the temporary exception of Ukraine due to the ongoing war in its territory. That means Albania, Bosnia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkiye are all on the list. Seven others join them: Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia. Migrants…

Wellington’s regional council has placed the winning bid on more than 1000 hectares of land, featuring unique wetlands and bordering on existing regional park in Eastbourne.The 1366-hectare block is part farmland, part native bush, contains wetlands teeming with biodiversity and has access to the coast — plus, it borders two separate sections of East Harbour Regional Park, effectively connecting the two.The sale listing put its capital value at $7.43 million — the regional council bought it for $9 million, including $1m gifted from the estate of a local conservationist.The land had been held by the same owners for the past…

ADVERTISEMENTThere is a major city in Eastern Germany that many Europeans have never heard of: Chemnitz. Now Chemnitz is a European Capital of Culture. This has surprised many people. Loss of industry, emigration, an ageing population, right-wing extremism… Chemnitz has many problems. As a Capital of Culture, the city is now looking for its strengths. Under the GDR regime, Chemnitz was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt. Today, the city with a long industrial history has its old name back. The Chemnitz Capital of Culture theme: “C the unseen!“ What is a “Capital of Culture”? 40 years ago an idea originated in Greece: Each year, a…

Funding for the Reserve Bank will be reduced, the Finance Minister says. Both the government and the central bank board agreed to the reduced budgeted operating expenses, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said. “The bank initially sought funding of $1.03 billion for the coming five years, but the Treasury advised me that that amount did not represent good value for money.“The new agreement allocates the bank operating expenses of $750 million and capital expenditure of $25.6 million for the period.Reserve Bank (Source: 1News)“That equates to average operating expenditure of $150 million a year, 25% less than the bank’s $200 million operating…

If you’ve logged on to TikTok in recent days, you’ve probably seen the videos. People claiming to be from China are hitting back at US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and say they’re revealing which factories make “luxury” goods – and where shoppers can get them cheaper.Brands “exposed” include Lululemon, Hermes and Dior. At the other end of the scale, some videos offer laundry pods for 5c each.China has been targeted by the US with tariffs of 145%, to which China has responded with 125%.But New Zealand consumers are being told to be wary about some of the claims made on…

New figures have revealed the areas growing their populations the fastest in New Zealand as well as those who have seen very low growth or decreases in population. Stats NZ data shows Selwyn District, near Christchurch, topped the growth charts with a 5.1% annual population increase between 2018 and 2024.Queenstown-Lakes District was the second-fastest growing, at 3.7% a year. Data also showed little growth or population decreases in Dunedin and Wellington City.The agency’s population data spokesperson Victoria Treliving said the new data was the best possible estimate available with figures going back to 2018 revised for accuracy.”Census data and the…

ADVERTISEMENT”The West as we knew it no longer exists,” Ursula von der Leyen has declared amid rapidly deteriorating relations with the United States under Donald Trump’s administration, which has forced Europe to look elsewhere for allies and partners.In the aftermath of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which Brussels has decried as “neither credible nor justified”, the president of the European Commission has been working the phones with representatives from Norway, Iceland, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Von der Leyen has also spoken with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, fuelling speculation of an imminent thaw in EU-China ties after years…