Author: Press Room
By Euronews with AP Published on 15/06/2025 – 15:40 GMT+2ADVERTISEMENTFrance’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy has been stripped of his Legion of Honour medal following his conviction last year of corruption and influence peddling while in office, it was announced on Sunday. The decision was made public via a decree released in the Journal Officiel that publishes the government’s major legal information. It aligns with the rules of the Legion of Honour. The conservative politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has been at the heart of a series of legal cases since leaving office. He was found guilty of corruption and influence…
A pedestrian has been critically injured in Rotorua this afternoon after being hit by a motorcyclist who then fled the scene.Emergency services were called to Edmund Rd in Mangakakahi at around 2.15pm after a report of a crash involving a motorbike and a male pedestrian.Senior Sergeant Roger Schreuder said the motorbike rider left the scene without stopping, travelling north towards Clayton Rd.St John said two ambulances, one rapid response unit, and one helicopter responded to the incident.”Our crews assessed and treated one patient who was airlifted to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition. The road remained closed while emergency services attended…
Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel has labelled the coalition “the most radically anti-environmental government” in his lifetime while reiterating his party’s calls to bring agriculture into the Emissions Trading Scheme.Speaking to Q+A, Abel criticised Labour’s decision to “review” its policy on agriculture’s inclusion in the Emissions Trading Scheme, saying it should “just do it”.”It’s been constantly delayed. This is credit to the dairy lobby. They’ve done a good job of convincing subsequent governments to just not do anything about it,” he said.Abel also criticised the Government’s recent legislation to restrict large-scale pine conversions on productive farmland, saying it had…
Two thousand giant snails are living in fridges on the West Coast as an insurance policy for the Department of Conservation, which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their care and restoring their environment-turned-coal mine.The Department of Conservation (DOC) has managed this captive population of Powelliphanta augusta since 2006, when the former state mining company Solid Energy took over their habitat on the Mt Augustus ridgeline on the western side of the Stockton Plateau, near Westport.Solid Energy collapsed in 2015, after falling coal prices left it unable to pay almost $400 million of debt.Bathurst Resources now owns the…
Published on 15/06/2025 – 13:15 GMT+2•Updated 13:18ADVERTISEMENTLocal Ukrainian media quoted Ukrainian authorities on Sunday morning reporting another massive aerial attack, involving drones, artillery and missiles, among them the hypersonic Khinzal, as well as Iskander and Kalibr cruise missiles.In the southern city of Kherson, one person was killed and another injured, Kherson Oblast administration reported. The main target was the city of Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast. There were no reported casualties but energy and agricultural facilities were hit by debris.Of the nearly 200 weapons, the Ukrainian air force reported 111 drones downed with a further 48 diverted, and two Kinzhal, three…
A humpback whale entangled in rope off the coast of Otago was freed this morning thanks to the efforts of the Department of Conservation, a local fishing crew and mana whenua.The juvenile to sub-adult humpback whale, around 8-9 metres long, was first sighted around 9am on Sunday.It was caught in 12mm braided cray pot line with a single float gear that did not appear to belong to a local company.Department of Conservation’s expert whale disentanglement team assessed the whale as being in “immediate danger” and made the call to work remotely with an experienced local fishing crew already on site…
The founder of a landmark study following more than a thousand babies born in the early 1970s has died.Dr Phil Silva, who started the Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study – commonly known as the ‘Dunedin Study’ – died on Thursday, aged 84. He began the study, which followed the lives of 1037 babies born at Queen Mary Maternity Hospital, Dunedin, in 1972.Current Dunedin Study director Professor Moana Theodore. (Source: Supplied)Current Dunedin Study director professor Moana Theodore said he was “an interesting academic”, who previously worked as a former primary school teacher and psychologist.Teaching rural children in the 1960s underpinned his…
New Zealand author Maurice Gee has died in Nelson aged 93.One of the country’s most prolific and well-known writers, Gee wrote more than 30 novels for both adults and children.His novel Under The Mountain was adapted for TV in 1981 and into a film in 2009.Nelson MP Rachel Boyack confirmed Gee’s passing as “such sad news” in a social media post.”Maurice Gee was a giant of New Zealand’s literary world, and his stories shaped the upbringings of many of us,” she noted.In a statement posted to X, poet Bill Manhire called Gee “one of the greats”.Gee was born in Whakatāne…
By Phil Pennington of RNZ The heads of a dozen of the largest retailers and telcos in the country have come out in strong support of using facial recognition technology in their stores. This follows the Privacy Commissioner giving a “cautious tick” to a trial in New World and Pak’nSave supermarkets. “The undersigned major New Zealand retailers strongly support the use of fair and accurate technology to protect our workers and customers,” said a statement at industry group Retail NZ’s website. Without saying when they might start using it, they stated they would work now to develop “best practice”. “We recognise…
Nearly 200 new affordable homes will be developed in Rotorua by mid-2027 under a community-led housing initiative backed by the Government, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka announced.Of the 189 homes, up to 150 would be social housing to be delivered by June 2027 by the Rotorua Lakes Council, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and community housing providers.A project consisting of 39 affordable rentals would be delivered in 12 months by Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau, which is partly funded by HUD’s Māori Housing programme.Rotorua was a “priority location” for housing, Potaka said, with disproportionate numbers of people in temporary and…