Author: Press Room
An Ōpōtiki couple were sleepless for two nights after discovering they’d won $12.5 million in Saturday’s Powerball draw. The couple, who did not want to be named, bought their ticket on the MyLotto app, picking a few lines “based on the numbers that stand out to us at that time” and autofilling the rest. While lying in bed after the draw, about to go to sleep, the man said he “suddenly had this feeling” that he had to check his ticket. “I didn’t log in to MyLotto straight away, but looked online and saw Powerball had been won in the…
ADVERTISEMENT If launched, the digital euro will be “profit-making” for payment service providers, Piero Cipollone, a member of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) executive board, reassured MEPs on Thursday. “We do not have the impression that this project will be loss-making. I think this is an assumption that needs to be proved,” Cipollone told members of the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee in Brussels. “For what we know, the taking up of the digital euro will not be so huge that it puts in danger the financial stability, but will be enough to provide a signal to the central bank…
Candidates promising a zero rate rises are ”living in la la land”, says Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon.Speaking at a mayoral debate run by GreyPower North Canterbury on Tuesday, Gordon took aim at his opponent, councillor Paul Williams, who promised zero percent rate rises from the 2027/28 financial year.”Zero rating is just a fallacy unless you cut services,” Gordon said. ”Will libraries close? Will hours be reduced? Will swimming pools have lifeguards cut?”Debt allows us to spread the cost out over 25 years and we are told we are one of the best councils in the country for managing our debt.”We…
Published on 03/09/2025 – 14:49 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT A 2023 data transfer agreement between the EU and the US remains valid, the EU General Court has found, dismissing a French MEP’s complaint that it allows for disproportionate data collection, lacks transparency and adequate safeguards for Europeans’ personal information, and offers insufficient legal redress. The case brought by French MEP Philippe Latombe was the first such challenge to an international agreement. He needed to convince judges that the deal affected him directly as an individual – but he failed to do so. Over 2,800 US companies rely on the agreement to conduct…
A Victoria University academic has apologised after making public comments suggesting dairy industry leaders should be hanged.Dr Mike Joy, a senior research fellow at the Wellington university and freshwater advocate, took to LinkedIn last month suggesting the dairy industry was putting babies and adults at risk with nitrate contamination of drinking and groundwater.He then said, “How about we bring back hanging for industry CEOs?”The post referred to an article about Minnie Dean, who was hanged for killing a child in 1895.Federated Farmers dairy chair Karl Dean said the comments were extreme, violent and dangerous and he had written to the…
Published on 03/09/2025 – 15:00 GMT+2 •Updated 15:39 ADVERTISEMENT Last year was catastrophic for Giannis´ olive trees. Olives were so small that they were referred to the oil market, much less lucrative, he says. This year seems only slightly better. By the day we film, not a single rain drop has fallen here in two months. “Due to the climate crisis, this olive variety has faced many serious issues. Mainly due to lack of water, but also due to increased winter temperatures, which don´t provide trees with the hours of cold they need to become fruitful. This results in too…
West Coasters will soon be able to find out online if their property or one they’re thinking of buying is at risk from liquefaction – or a host of other damaging events.However, a regional councillor has warned, “you can’t stop stupid” as developments happen in risky areas.Under new government rules, regional councils must now share all the information they gather on natural hazards, and district councils must list the risks in plain language, on every property’s LIM report (Land Information Memorandum).At the West Coast Regional Council’s Resource Management meeting this week, staff reported they were aiming to have a hazards…
ADVERTISEMENT More than 6% of people in the EU aged 16 or older reported being unable to access dental care in 2024, according to the latest Eurostat figures. The highest rates of unmet dental care needs were reported in Greece at 27.1%, Latvia at 16.5%, and Romania at 16.2%. By contrast, the lowest shares were observed in Malta at 0.4%, Germany at 0.9%, and Croatia at 1.1%. The share of people at risk of poverty who reported unmet dental care needs in 2024 was substantially higher, at 13.7%, than that of those not at risk of poverty, at 5.1%. This…
A Christchurch high school student has been admitted to hospital with meningococcal meningitis after attending a rugby tournament in Dunedin.In a letter to parents, Shirley Boys’ High School headmaster Tim Grocott said the student was now well, “alert, moving and talking” after being taken to hospital on Tuesday.”Our thoughts are with the student and his family as he recovers from the infection,” he said.”The student had been in Dunedin at a school rugby tournament and had stayed and travelled with other students from Shirley Boys’ High School. We have alerted the tournament organisers and the accommodation.”Yesterday afternoon we held a…
By Julian GOMEZ & Damaso JAIVENOIS Published on 03/09/2025 – 17:28 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT The highest share of users was recorded in the Netherlands (94.8%), followed by Ireland (90.6%) and Denmark (87.0%), according to Eurostat. By contrast, the lowest shares were in Poland (46.1%), Bulgaria (50.8%) and Romania (56.6%). Internet-connected TVs were by far the most used IoT devices in 2024, as reported by 57.9% of individuals. This was followed by smart wearables, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers (29.9%). One-fifth of people reported using games consoles and internet-connected home audio systems. 16.0% of people reported using a virtual assistant in the form of…