Author: Press Room

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has set up a base in New Zealand to “strengthen and enhance” its cooperation with a “key Five Eyes partner in the southwestern Pacific region”.The director of the US domestic intelligence and security service, Kash Patel, travelled to Wellington yesterday. He met with key officials — including Defence Minister Judith Collins, Police Minster Mark Mitchell and Foreign Minister Winston Peters — this morning. He also met with Police Commissioner Richard Chambers; the Director-General of the Government Communications Security Bureau, Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Clark; and Director-General of the Security Intelligence Service, Andrew Hampton.Agency sets up…

A Southland dairy business and its owner — who have paid over $116,000 in arrears owed to three employees and were last year ordered to pay penalties of $215,000 by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) for minimum employment standards breaches relating to those arrears — have been penalised a further $15,000 for obstructing the ERA’s investigation. The company, Rural Practice Ltd (RPL) was ordered to pay a penalty of $10,000 and its owner Reza Abdul-Jabbar ordered to pay a penalty of $5000. Labour Inspectorate head of compliance and enforcement Joanne Hacking said the latest penalties imposed on RPL and its…

From the start of September, vintage light vehicles and private heavy motorhomes will only need to get a new Warrant of Fitness (WoF) or Certificate of Fitness (CoF) once a year, instead of every six months. The updated rules were proposed by the Government in February. Under the new regulations, warrant of fitness checks for light vehicles over 40 years old would change from every six months to every year. Certificate of fitness checks for privately-owned heavy motorhomes would also change from every six months to every year. Eligible “vintage” vehicles are cars and motorcycles over 40 years old. There…

Published on 31/07/2025 – 18:51 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Portugal’s government says it will consult the country’s main political parties and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa about potential recognition of a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said on Thursday. Portugal has diverged from neighbouring Spain, who recognised Palestinian statehood last year, saying it wanted to work on a common EU position first. Ireland and Norway chose to recognise a Palestinian state in 2024 around the same time as Spain. The announcement from Lisbon comes after a series of diplomatic switches regarding Palestine’s status. French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that his country…

A commuter lane on Christchurch’s northern corridor is causing confusion and needs to go, says Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey.Doocey has launched a petition calling on Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to remove the T2 vehicle status on the Christchurch Northern Motorway, south of the Waimakariri River bridge.There are two T2 lanes for buses, trucks and cars with passengers, which were introduced as part of the new motorway, which opened in December 2020 and was designed to speed up commuting times into the city.The first T2 lane is the left-hand lane from the Tram Rd on-ramp to just south of the…

Published on 31/07/2025 – 18:00 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Siberia for “spreading disinformation” about the Russian military, following the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was released in 2024 as part of a prisoner/spy swap negotiated by former US President Biden, former German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin.    In an interview with Euronews’ The Europe Conversation he laments how Western leaders bought into a “myth” in the early days of Putin’s first term in office as president, and before that as Prime Minister. Kara-Murza said Putin was never a modernising force who “believed…

Police have released a statement on behalf of the family of a man killed in Hamilton earlier this month.Tyreece Te Pairi, aged 20, was died in hospital after being critically injured during a fight between two groups of people on Alexandra St at about 12.10am on July 20.Three others were treated for moderate and serious injuries after the incident.Police earlier said Te Pairi was celebrating his upcoming 21st birthday. An 18-year-old was arrested in relation to the death last week, and a police investigation remained ongoing.The family said: “We have now laid our boy, Tyreece Te Pairi, to rest in…

Twenty-seven people have been arrested following a joint police-customs investigation involving the importation of significant quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine into New Zealand through unattended baggage.A major transnational organised crime syndicate was allegedly working with local gangs to smuggle the Class A drugs through unattended baggage on international flights — primarily through Auckland International Airport, Detective Inspector Tom Gollan said.The first phase of Operation Matata led to the arrests of 18 people on serious criminal and drug charges on June 24. It was followed by a second phase in which police and customs investigators searched 19 properties across the Auckland…

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has lashed out at councillors for not attending meetings in person.According to Auckland Council, two committee meetings in the past two months could not go ahead because they did not meet quorum. That is, they didn’t have enough members attend.The Revenue, Expenditure and Value Committee on June 17 and the Performance and Appointments Committee on July 29 both had to be lapsed.Councillors were required to be in person to count towards a quorum.At the start of today’s governing body meeting, the mayor pointed out that five of the city’s 20 councillors were joining the meeting remotely.”I’m…

Rotorua’s mayor has taken aim at the regional council as she joins a chorus of voices calling for an urgent fix for a corroded lake wall.Two community groups have raised alarm bells over the state of the Ōhau channel diversion wall, which was built in 2008 to stop more polluted waters from flowing into Lake Rotoiti.The groups presented an urgent letter of demand to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council over their concerns for the lake.But the regional council insisted it was not breaching consent over the wall, and says it remained structurally sound despite unforeseen microbial corrosion.The $11 million…