Author: Press Room

The Whangārei District Council has lost its bid for a legal injunction that would have allowed it to stop adding fluoride to the city’s water supply.The High Court’s decision was critical of the council, which Justice Karen Grau said was trying to protect itself from the consequences of not following the law.Justice Grau said it wasn’t appropriate for the court to “grant orders facilitating unlawful conduct”.She said the council hadn’t helped its own case by applying for the injunction at the last minute, and by accepting funding for fluoridation equipment it said it didn’t want to use.Whangārei District Council was…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ Changes planned for the Resource Management Act (RMA) should reduce house prices and improve supply – provided they are able to be enacted, economists say. The government announced on Monday that it plans to introduce two new pieces of legislation to replace the Act by the end of this year. It will streamline planning systems between councils, lift the number of “permitted activities” and set environmental limits. It said this should reduce administrative and compliance costs by 45%. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Undersecretary Simon Court said replacing the RMA with law based on property rights…

Ekrem Imamoglu, who was set to be Erdogan’s main rival in the 2028 election, was formally arrested and charged with corruption. ADVERTISEMENTTens of thousands of Turkish opposition protesters staged a rally outside Istanbul City Hall on Monday evening in support of the jailed Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, a key rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.The demonstrators waved flags and placards and chanted slogans while clashes between protesters and the police occurred. Several protestors were detained, and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Imamoglu was formally arrested by a court on Sunday and jailed pending trial on corruption…

A major health scare has prompted a Hamilton man to shed more than 100kg.At his heaviest, Neum Muli’aumaseali’i weighed in at 293kg.In January 2024, the 39-year-old was taken to hospital with sepsis in his blood.Neum Muli’aumaseali’i says he hasn’t set himself a weight goal – he’s focussed on the non-scale victories like being about to “move and groove” again, or fitting in a seat on a plane. (Source: Breakfast)”I had been massive my whole life,” he told Breakfast, “but this was a massive wake-up call.”He threw himself into a strict regime of diet, exercise and increased water intake, but said…

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer supports a campaign for TV series ‘Adolescence’ to be shown in schools to combat an alarming rise in toxic masculinity and violence. ADVERTISEMENTThe four-part British drama ‘Adolescence’ debuted last week on Netflix to wide-spread acclaim. It follows the events after a 13-year-old boy murders a girl in his school year. Each episode is a one-take insight into different aspects of the murder’s fall-out: from the initial arrest, to the investigation at a school, a psychological assessment of the boy, and his parents’ response. Hanging over the drama is the question of how a culture…

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is one. Chief ombudsman Peter Boshier was another, until a rule forced him to resign.Data shows significant numbers of New Zealanders are working past age 70 – and even in the industries traditionally seen as physically taxing and potentially requiring an earlier exit.Data from Stats NZ shows there are almost 200,000 New Zealanders aged 65 or older reporting they are still in the workforce.Almost 90,000 are aged over 70.Over-65s made up 10.3% of machinery operators and drivers, 8% of labourers, 7% of professionals and 9.1% of managers.Over 70, the numbers roughly halved. They were 4%…

This marks the fourth wave of detentions since Mohamed Amra, who was on the run as a fugitive for nine months, was arrested in Romania last month. ADVERTISEMENTTwenty-four individuals suspected of helping French drug dealer Mohamed Amra escape from police custody in May 2024 were detained on Monday, according to reports by French broadcaster FranceInfo. This latest development marks the fourth wave of detentions since Amra, who became France’s most wanted fugitive during his nine months on the run, was arrested in Romania last month. Since his arrest, Amra has been held at the ultra-high security Condé-sur-Sarthe prison, which is…

Police are alarmed at the number of “very visible” gun crimes after a spate of incidents involving firearms over the weekend, including one that left a man dead. There were five reported serious incidents involving firearms in public spaces over the weekend – in Wairarapa, Wellington, Gisborne, Palmerston North and Warkworth, north of Auckland. The first took place in Gisborne on Saturday morning when shots were fired at a house, followed a few hours later in Wairarapa when a man died in a drive-by shooting. On Sunday, a vehicle was stolen at gunpoint in Wellington’s Strathmore, and then in Palmerston…

Currently, the UK is impacted by Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminium into the US. Washington has also implemented tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China. ADVERTISEMENTUK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes on large tech companies could potentially be changed in an attempt to avoid upcoming US tariffs. Although talks are still being held, changes may be applied to the Digital Services Tax (DST), which could impact major tech companies such as Meta and Amazon. Currently, the DST is set at 2% and rakes in around £800 million (€957.3m) annually for the UK. However,…

Wellington is set to lose an electorate as a result of boundary changes proposed by the independent Representation Commission.The Ōhāriu, Mana and Ōtaki seats are set to be removed with two new electorates named Kenepuru and Kapiti created instead.This affects Labour’s Greg O’Connor who is the MP for Ōhāriu, Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds, MP for Mana, and National MP for Ōtaki Tim Costley.The proposed changes come as a result of the commission’s review into the electorate boundary changes, which are assessed after each census.“Our review is driven by population numbers and the need to ensure each electorate has about…