Author: Press Room

ADVERTISEMENTThe Catalan Prosecutor’s Office has announced its plans to appeal the acquittal of former Dani Alves, the Brazilian football star who was cleared of rape charges last week.In a landmark moment on Friday, a Spanish court of appeal stated there was “insufficient evidence” to rule out Alves’ presumption of innocence.The decision came more than a year after a February 2024 ruling found the Barcelona defender guilty of having raped a woman in a nightclub toilet back in December 2022.“Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been proven,” his defence lawyer Inés Guardiola told Catalan radio RAC1. “Justice has finally been served.”Although…

ADVERTISEMENTAfter a vote during a fractious meeting of the European Parliament’s environment committee, the row over the funding of non-governmental organisations in the EU policy bubble is rolling on, with a statement from the EU executive provoking criticism that it was bending to pressure from the political right.The conservative European People’s Party (EPP) and allies further to the right lost by one vote on Monday evening a motion objecting to the EU executive’s decision on funding NGOs through the LIFE Programme for the period 2025 to 2027.In a subsequent statement, the Commission noted that funding for NGOs was “explicitly provided for…

More than half of New Zealand workers — 54% — regret their choice of career and would choose differently if they had their time over, according to a survey by employment website Seek.The survey of more than 1000 workers found not earning enough was the top reason for regret, followed by changing interests and passions, unfulfilling work, and a poor work/life balance.Seek NZ manager Rob Clark said a standout finding of the report was that money weighed heavily on the minds of workers.”Amid persistent cost-of-living pressures, this could be why almost half of workers are feeling pessimistic about their future…

ADVERTISEMENTFrench far-right politician Marine Le Pen and eight other former members of the European Parliament from her party were found guilty of embezzling EU funds. But they were not alone and misuse of money earmarked to pay MEP’s assistants is quite common in the Parliament, multiple sources familiar with the Parliament’s internal working have told Euronews.Each MEP is entitled to a monthly sum earmarked for paying their assistants, which amounts to €30,769 in the current legislature (2024-2029), a slight rise from the previous one.At least 40% of this allowance is for accredited assistants (APA), those working in the Parliament’s premises in Brussels,…

With her new book out today, journalist Ali Mau talks about letting go of dark secrets, the incredibleness of her girlfriend and how she used to think she was fat.In her incendiary memoir Ali Mau shatters forever the glossy image of TV blonde perfection she struck back in the early aughts when she read the news with then husband Simon Dallow. Of course, Mau had already seriously cracked that mold, separating from Dallow in 2009 and having her new same-sex relationship roughly “outed” by some of our finest mags and rags the following year.Simon Dallow and Alison Mau in 2007.…

ADVERTISEMENTA fresh corruption probe linked to Chinese tech company Huawei, the findings of the French court debarring Marine Le Pen for embezzlement, and a Hungarian proposal to subject MEPs to disclosure obligations akin to their domestic counterparts. This string of recent headlines has put transparency and ethics affecting MEPs under the spotlight. But here’s the twist: MEPs must follow a Code of Conduct packed with rules on transparency and lobbying ethics. So, what’s in it? And how does it compare to the norm in other EU countries?Think of the Code of Conduct as the Parliament’s rulebook. First introduced in 2012 and refreshed…

A legal bid to stop a sewerage pipe being installed in a wāhi tapu area near Rotorua has failed in the Environment Court.Works on the Tarawera Sewerage Scheme paused about a month ago following applications to the Environment Court by groups protesting the works at Lake Rotokākahi.Construction had restarted, with police present, only days earlier after protests and injunction proceedings halted progress for months.The scheme would connect about 440 Lake Tarawera properties to the public wastewater network, aiming to reduce pollution of the lake from septic tanks.About 23km of pipeline was built, with the remaining 1.4km to run along Tarawera…

ADVERTISEMENTReal Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti’s tax evasion trial has opened at a Spanish court, with prosecutors accusing the 65-year old legendary Italian coach of defrauding the state of €1 million in 2014 and 2015.The prosecution is seeking a prison sentence of up to four years and nine months on two counts of tax fraud.Ancelotti, who maintains his innocence, is accused of using shell companies to hide his true earnings, allegedly using one company based in the Virgin Islands which did not engage in any bona fide business.As Ancelotti entered the courtroom on Wednesday, journalists questioned whether he had faith in…

The clock is ticking for Sudhir Wadhwa. He owns Idiya, Aotearoa’s largest parallel importer of IKEA products, and he has about 2000 bits of flat-packed Scandinavian goods worth $5 million at his facility in Pōkeno.”We probably won’t be able to sell it once IKEA is here, so we’ll be putting up a large sale to basically clear our stuff,” he said. Wadhwa was prepared for the impending arrival of the Swedish furniture giant, which is due to cut the ribbon at its first New Zealand store in Auckland’s Sylvia Park before Christmas.Despite the floor-to-ceiling flatpacks, Wadhwa wasn’t losing sleep over…

ADVERTISEMENTItaly’s largest trade union confederation has said it is joining the prosecution of a farm owner charged with murdering an Indian migrant worker who bled to death in June last year.The Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL) will be joining the case as civil complainants, according to Secretary-General Maurizio Landini.Satnam Singh, 31, was fatally injured while working with heavy machinery in a vegetable field in Latina, an agricultural province south of Rome. The farm’s owner, 39-year-old Antonello Lovato, failed to call an ambulance after Singh’s arm was cut off.Lovato stands accused of abandoning Singh while he was injured and bleeding. Prosecutors originally…