Author: Press Room
The Government has announced a fresh wave of sanctions against individuals and entities helping Russia’s war efforts against Ukraine, including Russia’s “shadow fleet”. The latest round of sanctions, announced by Foreign Minister Winston Peters today, targeted actors involved in Russia’s military-industrial complex and its supporters from North Korea, Iran, and Belarus. The new sanctions targeted a further 18 individuals and entities. “New Zealand must continue to hold Russia and its enablers accountable. Military support from actors in North Korea, Iran, and Belarus has helped Russia sustain its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” Peters said.The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds…
By Alessio Dell’Anna & Mert Can Yilmaz Published on 19/06/2025 – 15:00 GMT+2•Updated 15:07ADVERTISEMENTThe era of nuclear disarmament appears to have come to an end, experts at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) warned this week.Amid widespread global tensions and regional conflicts, researchers say the number of nuclear weapons appears to have gone up in the past 12 months.The nuclear weapon stockpile is now estimated at 9,614 available warheads – 0.3% more compared to 2024. The total is 12,241, including retired warheads.”By the end of 2024 nuclear disarmament appeared more elusive than at any point since the end of the Cold War”,…
A man who worked with his public servant wife to fraudulently obtain $2.1 million from Oranga Tamariki has been given a sentence of home detention. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) filed charges of obtaining by deception and money laundering against Neha Sharma and her husband Amandeep Sharma in June 2023, while Neha also faced charges of using a forged document.Neha pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment in May. Amandeep Sharma also pleaded guilty, and was today sentenced in the Christchurch High Court to 12 months’ home detention. As well as charges of obtaining by deception for fraudulently…
By Euronews with AP Published on 19/06/2025 – 15:14 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTRussian President Vladimir Putin has said that he is open to meeting with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but only during a “final stage” of negotiations. “I am even ready to meet him [Zelenskyy] but only if it is some kind of final stage, o as not to sit there and divide something endlessly, but to put an end to it” Putin said on the sidelines of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Wednesday.Putin said that Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have agreed to hold another round of discussions after 22 June. Two rounds…
A coroner has taken aim at Runit competitions saying they should not be recognised as an official sport.Coroner Bruce Hesketh slated the competition as having “all the hallmarks of perilous activity that makes no attempt to mitigate head injury”.He made the comments in a finding into the death of 32-year-old Pāpāmoa man Tere Livingstone, who died from a severe head injury sustained in a tackle during a game of rugby league in June 2023.Livingstone suffered a concussion in an earlier, pre-season game on May 27 which he didn’t tell anyone in the team about. However, two days after he was…
Published on 19/06/2025 – 13:32 GMT+2•Updated 13:40ADVERTISEMENTThe European Parliament’s political leaders agreed on Thursday to form a working group within the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) to scrutinise how the European Commission funds non-governmental organisations.The group will include 13 MEPs chaired by German lawmaker Niclas Herbst with two co-rapporteurs, from the centre-right European People’s Party and the right wing European Conservatives and Reformists, Parliament sources told Euronews.The decision came after a spat over the financing of environmental NGOs by the European Commission, accused by the German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag of having secretly paid up to €700,000 to promote the bloc’s climate…
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has wrapped up his Shanghai visit, and said $871 million of commercial agreements were signed today between New Zealand businesses and their Chinese counterparts.He is now headed for Beijing, where he is set to meet with China’s president Xi Jinping, and other leaders from the country.Earlier today, it was announced New Zealand has paused nearly $20 million in development assistance to the Cook Islands over its recent dealings with China.Trade delegation bound Beijing for a meeting with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang (Source: 1News)But before departing Shanghai, the Prime Minister said New Zealand’s trade…
Published on 19/06/2025 – 12:27 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTAs Israel and Iran continue to exchange fire for the seventh consecutive day, a disinformation war is simultaneously escalating on social platforms.Euronews’ fact-checking team, Euroverify, has been analysing several viral videos emerging from Iran and Israel over recent days in order to verify their authenticity.Our team found a significant number of old videos, unrelated to the current conflict, being falsely linked to the ongoing exchange of fire.Many of them have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times and amplified across platforms, sowing confusion and misleading social media users. Video of Tehran tunnels is from 2023A…
A leading figure in wine sustainability says winegrowers and wineries need to use water more efficiently as climate change shrinks rivers and aquifers, which is already happening to Marlborough’s Wairau River.Marta Mendonca, head of viticulture sustainability organisation The Porto Protocol Foundation, spoke on the issue to winegrowers from around the world at Blenheim’s ASB Theatre on Tuesday, for the Organic and Biodynamic Winegrowing Conference.Mendonca said the wine industry needed to treat water less like a tool and more like a source of life. A more holistic view would help the industry navigate the effects of climate change, she said.“We know…
The Police Commissioner says he fully supports the Assistant Commissioner’s decision to sign off on exemptions from recruitment standards for two recruits.It comes after revelations Assistant Commissioner Jill Rogers personally signed off at least two exemptions from recruitment standards.On Wednesday, a police spokesperson confirmed in a statement that Rogers gave at least two approvals in the past year, and records were being checked to see if there were more.”As is already accepted, there had been a practice of discretion applied to some applicants to Police College in relation to the Physical Appraisal Test (PAT),” the statement said.”Assistant Commissioner Jill Rogers…