Author: Press Room

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Andrew Coster’s future hanging in the balance, Lotto rolls over to its biggest ever draw, and is your passport ready for a summer trip?Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche says “all matters are on the table” in an employment process with Andrew Coster. Thousands more Epstein files have been released, including some naming Donald Trump. Lotto has rolled over to its biggest ever draw, after no one struck Powerball. People are being urged to check their passport’s expiry date ahead of summer travel.A solar storm has sent brightly coloured aurora into southern skies.

A group of migration hardliners led by Poland and Hungary say they are ready to challenge the EU over a plan to redistribute asylum seekers based on quotas. On Tuesday, the European Commission announced a new distribution plan to ease the burden of hotspot countries like Italy, Spain and Greece. That means some central and eastern European countries will have to offer assistance. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have said they will not participate in a quota system and are ready to challenge the Commission. According to the Pact on Migration and Asylum, all EU countries have to…

There are “serious concerns” for the wellbeing of a 61-year-old woman who was last seen in Upper Hutt yesterday. Anita Hart was last seen on CCTV at around 11.43am on Gillespies Road heading towards Akatarawa Road. Her vehicle was also found on Gillespies Road.She was seen wearing a blue beanie with a pompom, a blue jacket, and dark-coloured trousers. “Police Search and Rescue volunteers will be visible in the area of Gillespies Road and the Hutt River,” a police spokesperson said. “Police and her family have serious concerns for her wellbeing.” Anyone who has seen Hart or has information that…

The Culture Compass for Europe, a novel framework through which the European Union will take an integrated approach to culture for the first time, was adopted by the College of Commissioners on Wednesday. Developed by European Commissioner for Culture, Youth and Sports Glenn Micallef, it is a forward-looking mechanism to gather insight, promote best practices, and shape future legislative priorities in the sector. “It’s the strategy that’s long-awaited by the sector, by institutions, by the parliament, and by the council, but more importantly by artists,” Micallef tells Euronews in an exclusive interview following the approval of the text. “It’s a…

The Charter School Agency signed a charter school contract with a trust that did not exist.In October, Associate Education Minister David Seymour posted a notice in the New Zealand Gazette that the agency had entered a contract with the “NZPAA Charitable Trust” to set up the New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa as a charter school.But no such trust or trust with a variation of that name existed or exists in the Charities Register.The secondary school is to be established in Trentham next year, with a focus on young athletes in Years 11 and 13.It would be based at the New…

Rotorua supermarkets have ruled out adopting Kmart’s anti-theft, coin-release trolley system.One said a bylaw targeting abandoned trolleys had almost halved the number needing retrieval.Rotorua Kmart began charging customers a 50c trolley bond earlier this month in a bid to stop theft.Stolen and abandoned trolleys have blighted Rotorua in recent years.Kmart ran out of trolleys last Christmas Eve, according to an employee.Discarded supermarket trolleys in Rotorua. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)Rotorua Lakes Council introduced a waste bylaw in August aimed at curbing the issue.The council collects abandoned trollies and retailers are given 24 hours to recover them or face storage and delivery…

Hot and humid weather has long been a culprit for a bad night’s sleep, and may also be the cause of more vivid — or even scary — dreams. People dream most often during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, which starts about 90 minutes after you fall asleep and occurs in cycles throughout the night. As New Zealand rolls into the summer period, Auckland Sleep founder Sumit Samant told Breakfast the heat caused more disruptions to normal sleep cycles, which can in turn make dreams feel more vivid. “So people are waking up a lot more easily after the REM…

Analysis: Unethical decisions can easily become normalised by the people making them, writes Professor Michael Macaulay.The scandal over how police handled complaints against former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming has exposed serious failings at the organisation’s highest levels.It has also brought into sharp focus how poor judgement and processes can corrode public confidence in an institution that relies so heavily on integrity.This week, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a 135-page report outlining how senior officers failed to act on serious allegations against McSkimming.The IPCA’s investigation began after a non-sworn police employee, with whom McSkimming had an affair dating…

Forty years after its first visit sparked the revival of Māori ocean voyaging, the Hawaiian waka Hōkūleʻa is due back at Waitangi this Friday as part of an epic four-year voyage around the Pacific.Among those joining the crew for the last leg across the Bay of Islands will be Stan Conrad, the only Māori on board during the Hōkūleʻa’s historic 1985 journey.”It was a privilege, sailing on that maiden voyage of Hōkūleʻa, on the Voyage of Rediscovery from Rarotonga to Aotearoa. There were 14 crew members, but I was the only Māori boy from Aotearoa. The rest were all Hawaiian.…

The Department of Conservation is grappling with the environmental loss at Tongariro National Park after a devastating fire scorched nearly 3000ha of park land. The fire broke out on Saturday, November 8 and prompted some evacuations, and days of intense firefighting efforts from crews on the ground and in the sky. Rain forecast for the area significantly helped efforts to extinguish the blaze. A DOC spokesperson said it “will take weeks for us to understand the severity of the damage” from the fire. Large tracts of Tongariro National Park blackened with ash from a huge wildfire over the weekend. (Source:…