Author: Press Room

Five people linked to a violent protest at an Auckland Pride event have pleaded not guilty to charges today.Two men, aged 44 and 47, and three women, aged 50, 28 and 19, appeared in the Waitakere District Court this morning to enter their pleas.The defendants are facing a range of assault charges, including injuring with intent, and cannot be named at this stage. A group of 20 supporters, some wearing Man Up t-shirts, were also present in the public gallery.The accused were arrested after people linked to Destiny Church and Man Up stormed a children’s event at the Te Atatū…

Tom Cruise opened his highly anticipated CinemaCon appearance this morning with a moving tribute to his Top Gun co-star, Val Kilmer, who died Wednesday in Los Angeles.”He loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us with his performances and his films,” Cruise said to a room full of movie theatre owners. “I really can’t tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human being, and how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and then came back for Top Gun: Maverick.”Cruise called for a moment of…

An Auckland man who used hidden cameras to secretly film his female friends, colleagues, children and teenagers in vulnerable positions has been sentenced to four years in prison.Micah Te Ahu Fala, who had never previously appeared in court, now has an extensive rap sheet.The agreed court Statement of Facts makes for unsettling reading and reveals the extensive scale of the offending.Police found 236 videos and 1119 screenshots or images and there were known to be 22 victims of his crimes.The 41-year-old pleaded guilty earlier this year to 42 charges, including possessing objectionable material, making objectionable publications, making an intimate visual…

ADVERTISEMENTNorth Macedonia has made a clear warning of growing Russian influence in the Western Balkans if the EU does not commit quickly and clearly to enlargement.”We changed our flag, we changed our currency, we changed the constitution several times, we even changed the name of our country. All with the promise of a window of opportunity that we’ve been told existed if we do these changes for our path towards the European Union,” Foreign Minister Timcho Mucunski told Euronews.Mucunski warned that the EU’s credibility is at stake, and that enlargement is necessary to prevent weaponising Russian propaganda.”There are malign actors out…

The boat that capsized off the coast of Kaikōura in 2022, killing five people had hit a whale, and those who died were trapped in the petrol-contaminated hull, the transport watchdog has found.It also found the “disorganised” emergency response was hampered with communication problems – but, even if emergency services arrived earlier, it would not have changed the outcome of the accident.Two hours into the i-Catcher excursion in September 2022, it capsized off Goose Bay, killing five of the 11 people on board when they became trapped under the flipped vessel and were exposed to petrol fumes.The Transport Accident Investigation…

ADVERTISEMENTThe EU and Uzbekistan will sign an enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement later this year, the European Council president has said.”I hope to welcome you to Brussels later this year to sign our enhanced partnership and cooperation agreement as a fruitful result of our talks during these days,” António Costa said at the opening of a trilateral meeting in Samarkand with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Euronews understands that the agreement’s text has been concluded, and it must now be translated and undergo a legal review. However, it could be signed as early…

Bruce Springsteen knows what Bruce Springsteen fans want. And that’s more Bruce Springsteen.The Boss will release seven new studio albums, titled Tracks II: The Lost Albums, on June 27. It will contain material written and re-recorded between 1983 and 2018.The news arrived Thursday morning via Instagram. The 83-song collection is mostly previously unreleased tracks, 74 of them never-before-heard songs, in a box set that includes a 100-page hardcover book.In a short video clip posted to the social media platform, Springsteen explains that during the Covid-19 pandemic, he began completing “everything I had in my vault,” he said. “The Lost Albums…

Around 2.5 tonnes of heroin and hashish, worth around $181 million, has been seized by the Indian Navy as part of a New Zealand-led task force.It was the fourth bust this year for Combined Maritime Task Force 150, an operational task force currently aimed at disrupting drug smuggling operations in the Middle East. Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) Captain Dave Barr was leading the task force.INS Tarkash made the seizures while patrolling the western Indian Ocean on Monday.Crew from INS Tarkash conducts a boarding of the suspicious dhow. (Source: Supplied / NZDF)In total, 121kg of heroin and 2386kg of hashish…

ADVERTISEMENTBulgaria’s government has survived a parliamentary vote of no-confidence brought by a pro-Russia opposition party over a supposed failure in the country’s foreign policy.The motion brought by the Vazrazhdane party and backed by two small nationalist groups criticised the government’s pro-Western stance, its support for Ukraine and ongoing sanctions on Moscow.The move was defeated in the 240-seat parliament with 150 votes against and 54 in favour.Before the vote, analysts predicted the outcome, citing that the majority of Buglaria’s lawmakers support the country’s pro-European orientation.Bulgaria has been a member of the EU since 2007.”For Vazrazhdane, the vote is a tool to…

Huntly has crafted its own starring role in a Hollywood blockbuster.The Waikato town has stacked up some screen time in the highly anticipated A Minecraft Movie which hits theatres this week.Based on the best-selling video game of all time, the film — shot in New Zealand — stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, and a couple of our own in Rachel House and Jemaine Clement.Most of the movie was shot in front of green screens at an Auckland studio but some scenes set in the fictional town of Chuglass, Idaho, will be unmistakable to Kiwi audiences as the north Waikato town.Bringing…