Author: Press Room

Published on 21/11/2025 – 17:11 GMT+1 The centrist majority in the European Parliament is once again divided over an environmental issue. The Parliament is set to vote next Wednesday on the revision of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products, which prohibits the importation of commodities such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood if their production has caused deforestation or forest degradation. The European People’s Party (EPP) is pushing for Parliament to align itself with member states, who have asked that the application of the regulation be postponed for one year and that due diligence obligations for…

Three publicly funded institutions in Otago have paid out more than $1.2 million in compensation to employees in the past five years, official records show. The figures were disclosed as part of an Otago Daily Times investigation into the rise of secret end-of-employment payouts. Confidential non-disclosure agreements (NDA) often form part of a “record of settlement”. But for some employees with hard-nosed employers they can turn into a nightmare in which they are not given time to consult before signing, the investigation found. Such an agreement can muzzle them from sharing the details of any payout and threaten legal action against them,…

Police have reunited a German tourist with his stolen belongings as he waited at Auckland Airport for his flight out of New Zealand.The man’s rental car was broken into earlier this week on Crummer Rd in Grey Lynn, Auckland Central area commander Inspector Grae Anderson said.“His backpack was taken, which contained various valuable electronics, his passport, and German bank cards,” he said.The man reported the theft on November 19.Police found he had an Apple AirTag with his property, and enquiries led to an address in Wiri.A search of the address recovered almost all of the tourist’s property, as well as…

Published on 21/11/2025 – 15:00 GMT+1 Based in Budapest, Shapr3D has developed a software that allows fast, easy, interactive 3D modelling of manufactured products, from robotic arms to bikes or shavers, from wheels to coffee machines. It was founded by software engineer and young entrepreneur István Csanády, who claims they have developed “a game-changing technology”. The company currently boasts hundreds of thousands of monthly active users, who are able to turn complex ideas into tailor-made 3D models in a matter of hours or days, instead of weeks or months. Tens of thousands of those users are paying customers, including big…

Progress on recycling materials across the European Union hasn’t been outstanding in the past decade. Between 2015 and 2024, the rate of recycling across the bloc increased by only one percentage point: From 11.2% to 12.2%, according to the latest Eurostat data. When it comes to avoiding the extraction of new raw materials, one country, the Netherlands, stands out among all others, with a rate of nearly 33%. Neighbouring Belgium comes in second place with 22.7%, followed by Italy in third place with almost 22%. At the bottom of the table, with the lowest recycling rate, is Romania, with just…

A teacher who snorted a line of white powder off a classroom desk during a staff Christmas function admitted to his deputy principal it was “the most stupid thing” he had ever done.The incident, outlined in a recently released NZ Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal decision, took place following an end-of-year function at a tavern with colleagues.The name of the teacher and school was under permanent name suppression, and a second teacher also faced a disciplinary charge in relation to the same incident.The group of 16 school staff members left the tavern in the afternoon and went to a classroom at the…

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including stalking bill passes through parliament, phone ban in class working, and Metallica deliver a Kiwi classic.A tough new law on stalking has passed its third reading in Parliament. Banning phones in class appears to be improving learning and reducing bullying. The UK and Russia are squaring off over a ship which has been accused of spying. Metallica performed a Six60 hit during their Auckland show last night. ADVERTISEMENT

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić is optimistic that his country will conclude the vetting process for EU membership in 2026. “We are gunning for closing all the chapters by the end of next year,” Spajić said in an exclusive interview with Euronews in Brussels. “And we have a really, really great chance to have a new member state” during the term of the current European Commission which expires in 2029. Montenegro is the smallest of the nine EU candidate countries, with just over 620,000 nationals. It is currently the most advanced in implementing the constitutional, judicial and economic reforms required…

Ashburton will be among the councils keeping a close eye on a rubber road trial in neighbouring Selwyn District.Selwyn’s council is planning a rubber road surface trial at Glentunnel in January.It’s understood Selwyn District Council’s roading contractor HEB will undertake the trial, using recycled rubber granules from Treadlite NZ.HEB is the roading contractor in Ashburton but its $30 million, five-year contract ends on November 30, with Fulton Hogan awarded a five-year, $40.7 million operations and maintenance contract from December 1.Infrastructure general manager Neil McCann said there had been no discussion with HEB on any similar trial in the Ashburton District.”We…

Published on 21/11/2025 – 11:22 GMT+1 •Updated 11:55 What do COP30, Shein’s Paris protests, and a possible rewrite of Europe’s privacy rules all have in common? They are all up for discussion this week in Brussels and they are conversations points on this week’s episode of our podcast, “Brussels, My Love?”. For the third episode, we are joined by Belgian climate activist Chloé Mikolajczak, the Finnish EU-watcher Tomi Huhtanen, who directs the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, and Dutch Renew Europe MEP Brigitte van den Berg, who joins us from Brazil. Send us your feedback to [email protected] Listen to…