Author: Press Room

In a wide-ranging interview with Euronews in Brussel, UNRWA Gaza director Scott Anderson drew a devastating picture of the situation in the Palestinian territory, underlining acute food shortages. Without swift action, a full-blown man-made famine could afflict life in Gaza, he claimed. ADVERTISEMENTFor the people in the Gaza strip, it’s a humanitarian disaster that could easily get worse, said Scott Anderson, Director of UNRWA in Gaza, in an interview with Euronews in Brussels.“We’re nowhere safe in Gaza,” he told Euronews political editor Stefan Grobe, “including the safe zones.”It’s now more than a year since that the war between Israel and Hamas began…

Dane Wall — owner of The Swan cafe, taproom and eatery in Bath St — is the new operator of the former Nova cafe space in the Octagon. Earlier this week, the Dunedin City Council, which owns the site which is shared with the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, confirmed a new tenant had been secured to lease the site. The popular Nova cafe closed in mid-March last year after owners Mark and Nick Fraser decided not to renew their lease. Mr Wall, who bought The Swan last year, had always wanted to grow his business into having several sites. He…

Kiwis are being asked to remain vigilant about job scams after a woman was swindled out of $25,000 by an “employer” who contacted her on LinkedIn.Financial Services Complaints (FSCL), an independent non-profit dispute resolution service, investigated the woman’s ordeal and released the details on its website today.It all started when Rika (not her real name) received a message on LinkedIn from a man named John, who claimed to be the owner of an American-based construction company.He told the woman that his company was in the process of finalising a tender to build a mall in Tokyo and asked if she…

An iwi is “devastated” after a monitored North Island brown kiwi was recently found dead, likely from a dog attack.Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers were tracking three tagged male kiwis when they discovered ‘Geyser’ dead in Rangataua Forest, southwest of Mount Ruapehu, last week.In the wake of the news, Ngāti Rangi and DOC are calling for hunters and dog owners to comply with their dog permits. “Ngāti Rangi sees kiwi as a taonga species — the iwi has strong cultural, spiritual and historic associations with kiwi,” Helen Leahy, Pou Ārahi of Ngā Waihua o Paerangi, said.She said just one kiwi…

Alcohol-free and low-alcohol beer production in the EU jumped by 13% from 2022 to 2023, while the share of traditional brews declined. How large is the gap now? ADVERTISEMENTAlthough the EU is producing more and more low-alcohol (less than 0.5% of alcohol content) or zero-alcohol beer, the vast majority of beer in the bloc remains alcoholic.In 2023, traditional beer accounted for around 95% of beer production across the bloc, at over 32bn litres. That’s against only 1.8bn litres of alcohol-free or low-alcohol beer.However, non-traditional beer is making huge leaps to bridge the gap, Eurostat numbers show.From 2022 to 2023, non-traditional…

A child has been critically injured after being struck by a vehicle in a West Auckland driveway this afternoon.Police said the crash occurred on Alan Ave in Henderson and was reported just before 3.30pm.”The child has been transported to Starship Hospital and is currently in a critical condition,” a spokesperson said.”Police are currently investigating the circumstances of how this incident occurred.”St John said it responded with one ambulance and one rapid response vehicle.The serious crash unit are conducting a scene examination as part of inquiries.

A joint operation between authorities in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom led to the arrest of a Turkish national in Amsterdam. ADVERTISEMENTA Turkish man suspected of being a major supplier of small boats to people smugglers who transport migrants across the English Channel has been arrested in Amsterdam following a joint operation by British, Dutch and Belgian authorities. The 44-year-old was detained at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on Wednesday and faces extradition to Belgium on human smuggling charges, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said. The Turkish national is suspected of supplying boats and engines to cross-Channel…

Whittaker’s has announced the price of its chocolate will increase from Monday as the global cocoa shortage continues to impact ingredient costs.In a post to its Facebook page, the chocolate company said the cost of its ingredients has risen “significantly”.Prices of its products would be raised as a result from November 18. This the second such rise this year after a cost increase in May.”We understand that any price increase is significant to Whittaker’s Chocolate Lovers and have tried to increase our price by as little as possible,” the Porirua-based company said on Facebook.””We sell our chocolate to individual retailers…

Ahead of the Irish general election, a manipulated video has been shared thousands of times on X, supposedly showing a migrant mocking a white woman over having obtained social housing. ADVERTISEMENTAs Ireland heads to the polls on 29 November, a manipulated video has been circulating on X, supposedly showing a Black woman, presented as an African migrant, mocking a white woman over having obtained social housing. The edited video tries to incite anti-minority sentiments by reversing the two women’s testimonies, so it looks like the woman who was granted housing is not showing compassion for the homeless woman.   The misleading clip…

Aucklanders are being warned to be on the lookout for people selling fake raffle tickets and expired fuel cards.Police said there have been “a handful” of incidents reported in Howick and Pukekohe this month of people falsely claiming to support local sports clubs.Inspector Rakana Cook said offenders were approaching people on the street and entering businesses.”The offenders claim to be from local rugby or rugby league clubs, but the raffles they are selling tickets for have already been drawn or are completely fake.”We have also had a report of an offender entering businesses in the Cockle Bay area selling discounted…