Author: Press Room
Police are appealing to the public for help to find a 14-year-old girl reported missing from central Christchurch.Cobra, 14, was last seen leaving her school on Monday, November 17 and was reported missing the following day. “Police have been following lines of inquiry to locate her, but have had no luck and are now asking for help from the community,” a police spokesperson said. Officers and Cobra’s family hold “great concerns for her welfare, and would like to find her as soon as possible”.”It is believed that she is still in the Christchurch Central area.” Anyone with information of her…
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell has defended the city’s transition out of the controversial contracted emergency housing motels scheme.Last week, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka announced there were no more households living in contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua.The Government began placing homeless people in Rotorua motels in 2020 to address the immediate need to house people at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic self-isolation and lockdown requirements.The scheme grew to include 13 contracted motels at its peak, and became a national flashpoint as issues arose with people staying long term, their living conditions, central city crime, and damage to the…
Europe must keep the pressure on Russia because the country remains intent on “permanently redrawing maps” and bringing back its lost “spheres of influence”, Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, as fast-paced peace talks led by the United States raise the prospect of economic relief for Moscow despite its continued assault on Ukraine. “From the start, Russia has always believed that they can outlast Ukraine, Europe and all of its allies,” the European Commission president told the European Parliament in Strasbourg in a speech on Wednesday morning. “And it is why every time there is serious progress towards negotiations…
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a second blaze at a Waiuku business park, more arrests over the Louvre heist, and how to avoid Black Friday regret. The fire at a Waiuku business park started again last night, but was put out after a couple of hours. The country’s biggest reggae festival has been cancelled. Four more people have been arrested over the Louvre heist. Airlines are being warned to avoid the skies around an erupting Ethiopian volcano. Experts say Black Friday sales are structured to override your rational decision making, and have given some tips to avoid getting…
Published on 26/11/2025 – 9:10 GMT+1 In October, Nicolas Sarkozy became the first former French president to serve jail time post-World War II. He was convicted of criminal conspiracy over a scheme to fund his 2007 presidential race. But as we recently switched our clocks to winter time, Sarkozy switched a five-year sentence into just 20 days behind bars. So, what was our writer-in-residence up to inside? Well, we can’t be sure, but we can guess his daily routine. Morning: reading time. Sakrozy brought two symbolic books: The Count of the Monte Cristo, a tale of unjust imprisonment and revenge,…
The two climbers killed during a summit attempt on Aoraki Mount Cook were a guide from New Zealand and a client from the United States, police confirmed today.They were part of a group of four, consisting of two guides and their clients. At around 10.45pm on Monday, the group were attempting the summit from Empress Hut when two members fell from a ridge onto the west side of the mountain. Their bodies were found at around 7am yesterday, and were recovered at about midday. “We can now begin the process of returning these men to their families,” Inspector Vicki Walker…
Published on 26/11/2025 – 9:26 GMT+1 “It is time that we stop discussing different options and move forward”, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity Valdis Dombrovskis told Euronews’ Europe Today. Dombrovskis spoke with Euronews on Wednesday about how the EU should finance Ukraine’s €135 billion budget hole, as the country faces one of the most challenging moments in its history amid the nearly four-year-long Russian war. The Latvian Commissioner believes that a reparation loan guaranteed by Russian frozen assets in Europe is “what can provide sizable support for Ukraine without putting additional and substantial fiscal burden on the EU or…
Falling interest rates are driving savers to look for other ways to get a better return on their money — but there’s a warning that they should understand the risks they are taking.The Reserve Bank is expected to cut the official cash rate on Wednesday, which is good news for home loan borrowers but not so good for savers.Households have $80.5 billion in savings accounts and $144b in term deposits. But from interest rate peaks, one-year term deposits have fallen from offering more than 6% to 3.5%.Two-year rates have fallen from 5.75% to about 3.5%. Savings account rates have fallen…
Hakyung Lee, the mother guilty of killing her two children and hiding their bodies in suitcases, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years in court today.She was also ordered to be treated as a special patient under the Criminal Procedure Mentally Impaired Persons Act.While sentencing Lee, Justice Geoffrey Venning said: “Even though you were suffering from a serious depression, the steps you took immediately prior to killing the children on 27 June, the method of killing them, and the steps you took immediately after showed a clearly measured approach to killing the…
Published on 26/11/2025 – 7:30 GMT+1 EU lawmakers are in Strasbourg until Thursday, discussing some of the most pressing geopolitical challenges Europeans face today: from the war in Ukraine to the future of European defence. On today’s agenda is defining a European solution for peace in Ukraine. Meanwhile, defence is also a hot theme this week. On Tuesday, MEPs adopted the first-ever European defence industry programme, aiming at strengthening the bloc’s defence capabilities. They also voted in favour of deepening cooperation between the EU and Ukraine’s defence industries, by setting up a Ukraine Support Instrument to help modernise the Ukrainian…