Author: Press Room
Officials are turning to assess the damage across the West Coast from Saturday’s heavy rain.A state of emergency was declared and Franz Josef experienced its wettest 24 hours in more than four decades.State Highway 6 from Fox Glacier to Haast has been damaged and is closed until at least Monday, leaving some communities isolated.Civil Defence controller Kevin Hague said officials will be making contact with communities around the district today to assess the damage.Some homes in Hannah’s Clearing on the West Coast have suffered flood damage after heavy rain battered the region.While the rain eased last night, it left behind…
EU High Representative Josep Borrell visited Kyiv in an attempt to reassure Ukraine of the bloc’s continued support in its fight against Russia. ADVERTISEMENT“This support remains unwavering. This support is absolutely needed, for you to continue defending yourself against Russian aggression,” Borrell said in a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha.Borrell also urged “faster deliveries and fewer self imposed red lines” in getting Western weapons to Ukraine, echoing echoing his previous calls to allies to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied long-range to strike Russian military targets.The European Union has already delivered €122 billion in military…
Opinion: Audrey is a cheeky, darkly humorous film about domesticity and family life, writes Rachel Williamson for The Conversation.Following the global success of down-under comedies What We Do in the Shadows and Flight of the Conchords, Antipodean humour has quickly become associated with the deadpan and self-deprecating. Natalie Bailey’s 2024 directorial debut Audrey is a welcome – albeit more barbed and prickly – addition to the genre.Tightly paced, with an excellent script by Lou Sanz, Audrey is clearly influenced by PJ Hogan’s 1994 hit Muriel’s Wedding. Like that Australian classic, Audrey revels in the absurd. It pokes fun at domesticity…
Thousands of mourners have begun to arrive in Rotorua to farewell Sir Robert “Bom” Gilles, the last surviving member of the 28th Māori Battalion. Among them were the Māori Queen Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō and Willie Apiata VC as a chapter closes for one of the world’s most celebrated infantry units. Gillies was carried by his descendants into the heart of Ngāti Whakaue as his tangi started today. Kingi Biddle (Ngāti Whakaue) said it was a “loss for all of us”. “Not only was he the last of 28 Māori battalion, but he was the last link. And…
Fire fighters are asking people to hold back on lighting fireworks this weekend, as conditions are just too dangerous.While conditions were wet in some areas — including a state of emergency declared in South Westland due to flooding and slips — in many other parts of the country, it was warm and very dry, which meant fires could take hold and spread quickly, Fire and Emergency said.Crews had already been over-run with fireworks-related calls, responding to more than 80 requests for help since 2 November – double the number from the same period last year.FENZ community education manager Tom Ronaldson…
New Zealanders are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the 105 service, new data shows, but police are optimistic this will improve.The service, established in 2019, can take reports over the phone or online 24/7, but it is for events that do not need an immediate callout, like stolen cars, scams or damaged property.NZ Police’s newly published annual report states that in the first year, 87% of users said they were satisfied with the service. That’s fallen every year since – now just 63%. The police standard is just over 75%.A year ago police started a call-back option to reduce…
This article was originally published in Greek The leader of Greece’s main SYRIZA opposition party has stepped down and launched a new party, without even giving it a name. ADVERTISEMENTAfter many turbulent months, which led the leader of the left wing SYRIZA party to step down after being voted out by its central committee, Stefanos Kasselakis has announced the launch of a new one. The party is so new it hasn’t yet been given a name, but Kasselakis said it is “the continuation of the democratic SYRIZA party, not the one that is now blocking people from taking part in the…
Two players from Pōkeno and Tauranga have each won $5.25 million in tonight’s Powerball draw.The winning tickets were sold at Pōkeno Superette in Pōkeno and Park Mini Mart in Tauranga.Their winnings include $5 million from Powerball First Division and $250,000 from Lotto First Division.They are the eighteenth and nineteenth multi-million dollar winners of Powerball in 2024, coming just weeks after $30.2 million was won by an Auckland player.Two other players have also won $250,000 from Lotto First Division. These tickets were sold to a player from Auckland at Shopping Fresh in Kaikohe and on MyLotto.Two Strike players have also won…
Test your kupu knowledge with our weekly te reo Māori quiz – this week’s theme is bedroom.Helpful hint: Many of the words in this quiz are loan words or transliterated, that is, they’ve been converted from English into a te reo Māori alphabet to replicate the sound(s) of the word rather than the meaning.
Analysis: A year of protests against Government policy is ending with the kind of demonstration a former PM warned of a decade ago, writes 1News reporter Te Aniwa Hurihanginui.It’s been 10 years since former prime minister Sir John Key warned that abolishing the Māori seats in Parliament would trigger “hīkoi from hell”. The seats were never removed, and the “hellish” hīkoi he envisaged were averted.He couldn’t have known, of course, that a policy with the potential to have even greater constitutional implications for the country would one day land on his successor’s desk, and set in motion a wave of…