Author: Press Room

Mainland Poultry has been granted Overseas Investment Office approval to buy 126ha of land near Ranfurly to establish another free-range egg farm. Decision summaries for February released yesterday by Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand showed Mainland Poultry — which is ultimately owned by global private equity firm Navis Capital Partners — acquired the freehold interest in the land at Barneys Lane and Creamery Rd for $1.52 million. The land, which is currently used for breeding ewes and producing wool, was sold by Kieran David O’Neill, Paul Stafford O’Neill and Richard James Farquhar, as trustees of the Springfield Trust.…

The Whale Trail will mark a “significant milestone” next week, as the cycle and walkway weaves its way down from Picton to Kaikōura.A celebration will be held in Ward, about 45km south of Blenheim, on April 11 to mark the completion of the 39km Flaxbourne section of the cycle trail.When completed, the Whale Trail was expected to cover about 200km and would take four to five days to ride. Around half of the trail had now been completed.Marlborough Kaikōura Trail Trust trustee Lynette Buurman, who was also Destination Kaikōura deputy chairperson, said the celebration of the latest section opening would…

Messages of support for the National Rally’s founder, along with attacks on the French judicial system, came from her political allies. ADVERTISEMENTLeaders from Marine Le Pen’s Patriots party across EU countries rallied to her support after the French court ruling on Monday found her guilty of misappropriation of public funds and barred her from running for the next presidential elections in France.No joint statement has been issued by Patriots.eu, the European political party to which Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) is affiliated. However, leaders from the Patriots’ parties have expressed solidarity with the RN’s founder.“Je suis Marine,” (I am Marine),…

Not everyone can say they love going to work every morning — but Dunedin pet store owner Judi Johnson says she sure has. The co-owner of Animal Attraction in Cumberland St, along with partner and fellow co-owner David George, is retiring almost 19 years after opening the “mini zoo”. It had been “incredibly enjoyable” running the pet store for nearly two decades, she said. “It’s just the fact that I love to go to work in the morning, and not everyone can say that. “And I still love to come to work every morning. “The whole thing has just been…

NZME’s directors have fired their own shots in the war for control of the media company, saying they have concerns about a board takeover bid including the risk of businessman Jim Grenon taking editorial control.In a statement to the NZX, the board said it was delaying its annual shareholders meeting until June and opening up nominations of other directors. Grenon, a New Zealand resident since 2012, bought a 9.3% stake in NZME for just over $9 million early in March. NZME is the publisher of a number of newspapers, including the New Zealand Herald, as well as operating radio stations…

Strikes are becoming increasingly more common across the country as Belgians express discontent with new coalition government. ADVERTISEMENTWorkers from both the public and private sector in Belgium have walked off the job for 24 hours in a national strike that has severely disrupted public services and transport and brought air traffic to a complete halt. The Christian and Socialist trade unions organised the strike in protest against budget cuts announced by the country’s coalition government, nicknamed “Arizona” because the coalition party colours match those of the Arizona state flag, led by Flemish nationalist Bart de Wever. The proposed changes would…

The Minister for Workplace Relations says she is looking to cut health and safety red tape for low-risk businesses and create a hotline to enable reporting of overzealous road cone use.Brooke van Velden spoke of the plan at this week’s post-Cabinet press conference with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.She said Cabinet had agreed to narrow the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks that could cause death, serious injury or illness in small enterprises.Van Velden said small, low-risk businesses were unsure of what risks to focus on and had been struggling to meets the costs of complying…

Meanwhile, Russia used two ballistic missiles and 131 drones in its aerial assault, Ukrainian authorities reported. ADVERTISEMENTUkraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the US and its partners to increase pressure on Russia to “break its capacity to wage war”. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said “Putin couldn’t care less about diplomacy”. “For several weeks now, there has been a US proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, and almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, artillery shelling, and ballistic strikes.””Russia deserves increased pressure – all the tough measures that can break its capacity to wage…

Marco Rojas’ second stint at the Wellington Phoenix has been cut short, after a season which has been limited to seven appearances, of which only two were starts.The Phoenix said Rojas and the club have agreed to cut his time short, with the remaining three months of his one-year contract terminated “by mutual consent”.The All White forward, who started his professional career in Wellington in 2009, went on to play 21 A-League matches for the Phoenix before heading to Melbourne in 2011, for the first of three successful spells at the Victory.Rojas was looking forward to rejoining the club after…

With the European Commission due to propose the EU’s next seven-year, trillion-euro budget in the summer, security analysts are calling for a focus on green energy alongside increased military spending. ADVERTISEMENTBolstering the resilience of Europe’s energy complex is as important as pouring money into armaments and troops, a group of political analysts warns in a letter to finance ministers as negotiations on the EU’s next trillion-euro budget ramp up.“Long-term stability relies not only on military strength but also on reducing our dependency on volatile energy supplies,” runs the letter signed by energy and security analysts from six leading think tanks…