Author: Press Room

Published on 24/10/2025 – 21:30 GMT+2 •Updated 19:42 The European Union wants to play an active role in Middle East diplomacy following the Gaza ceasefire agreement, provided Hamas plays no role in the future of the territory. “Hamas is not an interlocutor for us, it’s a terrorist group,” the EU Commissioner for Crisis Management and Preparedness told Euronews in an exclusive interview in Brussels. “We need to see Hamas disarmed and not being part of a two-state solution,” she added. The 20-point peace plan brokered by US President Donald Trump has opened a window of hope, but the urgency now…

Josh Cairns has known Wisp Hill in the Owaka Valley all his life. As a local lad, he grew up nearby and hunted on the property. Six years ago, Mr Cairns and his family moved back to Owaka where his wife is deputy principal at Catlins Area School and their two young sons attend school. They live on the family sheep and beef farm and he is a full-time manager for Southern Forests and has been overseeing the Wisp development. Ingka Investments bought the 5500ha Wisp Hill in 2021 and undertook 330ha of planting radiata pines that year. Having an…

Thirty-five MEPs asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to push Hungary’s European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi to resign, Euronews has learned. The letter dated Thursday and seen by Euronews was signed by MEPs from four political groups: S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA and The Left. Várhelyi, in charge of the health and animal welfare portfolio, came to the spotlight after a joint investigation by several European outlets claimed that Hungary’s foreign intelligence service allegedly used Hungary’s permanent representation in Brussels between 2012 and 2018 as a platform to spy on EU institutions and recruit their officials. These operations were allegedly partly…

Ingka Investments – the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest retailer of IKEA home furnishings, recently bought 12,900ha of existing forestry in Northland taking the company’s investment in New Zealand’s forestland to nearly 30,000ha. Ingka recently invited business editor SallyRae to view its operations in South Otago, where its foray into forestry in New Zealand began.  He has seen forestry companies portrayed as evil, some removing identification stickers from their vehicles fearing repercussions in the aftermath of the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023. Ingka Investments’ operations manager Dylan Foster, described the division in the community as ‘‘just horrific’’. As the mud was literally slung, there were ‘‘horrible’’ examples of people apportioning blame…

Investors who take more risk in their KiwiSavers are generally being rewarded for it.Morningstar has released its latest KiwiSaver survey, which shows the September quarter was a positive one for KiwiSaver providers.The highest performance in the three months was Koura’s clean energy fund, which returned 33.6%.Over the year, Koura’s bitcoin fund was the top performer, with a near-100% return.At the bottom over three months was InvestNow’s Mint Australasian equities fund and over a year, OneAnswer’s international property fund.Over a year, conservative funds returned 6.1% on average, moderate funds 7.3%, balanced funds 10.7%, growth funds 11.2% and aggressive funds 15.2%.The report…

Published on 24/10/2025 – 16:56 GMT+2 European lawmakers will make the case for wildlife trafficking to be recognised as organised crime by 2030 at the upcoming United Nations gathering in Uzbekistan to discuss wildlife protection from over-exploitation due to international trade. Elephants, rhinoceros, wild birds and amphibians are among the creatures mentioned in the mandate agreed by lawmakers on Wednesday, which included reservations regarding China’s lack of transparency regarding its pangolin stockpiles. Lawmakers asked for increased protection for shark and ray species and proposed a legally binding instrument to stop ivory trafficking in the EU. “We’ve seen an increased demand…

A woman killed in Pahīatua was “devoted” to her family including taking care of her son who is now wanted in relation to her death, relatives say.Karen Gilbert-Palmer, 74, was found dead at a home in Arthur Street on October 15.Police have been searching for her son, Jeremy Robertson, for over a week in connection with her death.One of Gilbert-Palmer’s cousins, Andrea Randell Todd, told RNZ she was a “favourite cousin”.Randell Todd, who lives in the USA, is currently in New Zealand on holiday for her mother’s 100th. She said Gilbert-Palmer was invited to the celebrations but was unable to…

France’s former President Nicolas Sarkozy began his five-year prison sentence on 21 October, after being found guilty of conspiring to fund his 2007 presidential campaign with illicit funds from Libya’s former leader, the late Muammar Gaddafi. In one social media video analysed by Euronews’ verification team, The Cube, an inmate can be seen filming a video through the bars of his prison cell. Pointing across to the other side of a prison courtyard, he says, “Sarko [Sarkozy] is just there in the isolated section, all alone in his cell.” The inmate goes on to shout, “We know everything, we’re going…

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including the clean up begins after weather chaos, emergency surgery after a boy swallows tiny magnets, and the White Ferns’ ODI World Cup dream is over. There’s still plenty of disruption after yesterday’s wild storm. A Bay of Plenty boy needed emergency surgery after swallowing dozens of tiny magnets. Hundreds of Cook Strait ferry passengers may have been exposed to measles. The King and the Pope have prayed together at the Vatican for the first time. The White Ferns have been eliminated from the ODI World Cup by India.

Home loan interest rates continue to drop as the Reserve Bank pursues its path to a lower official cash rate, and wholesale markets fall.But with almost half of New Zealand’s home loans floating or due to refix within the next six months, many borrowers may be wondering just how much further rates could go.Is it possible that we could see them drop below 4%?Here are the arguments for and against.YesOn one hand, David Cunningham, chief executive of Squirrel, says yes.He said, if the official cash rate (OCR) dropped to 2.25% next month, as many expect it will, one-year home loan…