Author: Press Room
An “elusive” mudfish that is unusual for never leaving its wetlands environment has staged an expected comeback in a muddy pocket of Auckland.Adults and juveniles of the regionally endangered species, also known as Waikaka, were recently found in a Helensville wetland during a joint Auckland Council/Watercare survey.Auckland Council freshwater senior regional advisor Matt Bloxham said the council was “cautiously optimistic” about the discovery as the wetland was choked with invasive vegetation, reducing the area the fish could live in.“But discovering nine fish, including juveniles, hiding in isolated, shaded, water-filled depressions show these fish are making a go of things and…
Only a small minority of European Union countries are on track to meet the bloc’s recycling goals for municipal waste, including reuse and recycling for packaging waste such as plastics, metals and paper, according to a report published on Wednesday by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovenia are leading the recycling race, all poised to reach the 55% reduction target for municipal waste and the 65% target for packaging waste by 2025, as set out in EU law. Despite EU waste policy rules being in place for the past…
A Dunedin-founded wine fermentation tracking company has been put into liquidation, with total liabilities of more than $2.2 million. Winely, founded by Jacob Manning and Abbe Hyde, was incorporated in 2018 to develop and manufacture technology to provide real-time fermentation analysis to the wine industry. In their first report, liquidators Andrew McKay and Rees Logan, of BDO Auckland, said the business operations were financed through external private equity investment, together with secured debt, grant funding and loans from Callaghan Innovation Funds. Repayment of investment funds failed to occur in accordance with undertakings and earlier this year the primary funder sought…
By Euronews Published on 26/11/2025 – 16:38 GMT+1 A municipal worker in the German town of Kempten has been arrested on suspicion of stealing more than €1 million from parking meters over hundreds of incidents. The 40-year-old man, whose job involved collecting cash from parking meters, and his 38-year-old wife were both remanded in custody after an investigation by police and prosecutors. The case came to light after a bank reported suspicious activity involving unusually frequent cash deposits into several accounts held by the couple. He faces charges of aggravated theft, while his wife has been charged with aiding and abetting…
As debate grows over National’s plan to lift KiwiSaver contributions to 12%, finance professor Aaron Gilbert warns the policy risks worsening structural inequities already baked into the scheme — and why reform, not tinkering, is urgently needed.On the face of it, the National Party’s proposal to lift KiwiSaver contributions to 12% over the next six years sounds reasonable.There’s broad agreement that contributions are too low, and even the planned increase to 4% in 2028 won’t get most people close to the widely cited “70% of retirement income” benchmark.So yes, employee and employer contributions do need to rise. And the argument…
The European Parliament approved a revision of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products on Wednesday, softening due diligence obligations for businesses and delaying the measure’s entry into force by one year. The vote split the centrist majority, another example of the increasingly frequent convergence between the European People’s Party (EPP), the Conservatives (ECR), and the far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) on environmental issues. The deforestation regulation prohibits imports of commodities such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood if their extraction has contributed to deforestation or forest degradation. It was initially set to enter into force on…
The woman found guilty of murdering her two children and hiding their bodies in suitcases inside a storage locker will be sentenced at the Auckland High Court today. Hakyung Lee – also known as Ji Eun ‘Jasmine’ Lee – was convicted in September on two murder charges over the deaths of her children, Yuna, 8, and Minu Jo, 6. Today’s sentencing caps off a years-long legal proceeding. A previous trial in 2024 was adjourned for fair trial reasons. The murder investigation into the children’s deaths was launched four years after the children died in 2018. Their bodies were discovered compacted…
An Auckland couple who had to kayak from their home in Huapai to escape flash flooding are taking the city council to court over its refusal to buyout their property after the devastating storms almost three years ago.Brendon and Stephanie Deacon’s home near Kumeu River’s main channel has been hit by flooding multiple times and many of the neighbouring houses have been bought out and removed as part of the $1.2 billion scheme offered jointly by Auckland Council and government.Two homes either side of theirs are among the nine gone on their street.But according to council, the Deacons’ house is…
Police are appealing to the public for help to find a 14-year-old girl reported missing from central Christchurch.Cobra, 14, was last seen leaving her school on Monday, November 17 and was reported missing the following day. “Police have been following lines of inquiry to locate her, but have had no luck and are now asking for help from the community,” a police spokesperson said. Officers and Cobra’s family hold “great concerns for her welfare, and would like to find her as soon as possible”.”It is believed that she is still in the Christchurch Central area.” Anyone with information of her…
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell has defended the city’s transition out of the controversial contracted emergency housing motels scheme.Last week, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka announced there were no more households living in contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua.The Government began placing homeless people in Rotorua motels in 2020 to address the immediate need to house people at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic self-isolation and lockdown requirements.The scheme grew to include 13 contracted motels at its peak, and became a national flashpoint as issues arose with people staying long term, their living conditions, central city crime, and damage to the…