Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Prime minister says she and Trump discussed her country’s reforms on sidelines of UN general assembly
Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand prime minister, has said Donald Trump expressed “interest” in her country’s gun buyback program, as the US president faces calls for dramatic changes to the nation’s firearms laws.
After the two leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ardern told reporters that she “sensed an interest” from the US president in the sweeping gun reforms her government passed after the Christchurch mosque shootings in March.
Glorious scenes in Edinburgh as thousands of children, parents, students and musicians gather at the Meadows for the Climate Strike.
“This is our Earth and our Future. We need to take care of it ,” said 11-year-old Leila Koita, pictures here with friends Eilidh Tedesco, Norah Turner, Tilly Torrie, Megan Berger and NaN Zhang.
Norah’s mum, Jo Spencely says she hasn’t been on a demo for decades but she is here to show support. “I’m massively concerned about their future. I almost can’t bear to read about the climate. It’s so scary.”
The march sets off at 11:30am and will pass through Edinburgh city centre and end with a rally in front of the Scottish Parliament. As in London, police have imposed restrictions, in this case by refusing permission for the marchers to walk down Princes Street.
As elsewhere, this is just the start of a week of climate action. On Saturday, activists will stage a “die in”, Monday will be a “day of disruption”, musicians will join a “Love the Planet Festival” on Wednesday, and there’ll be another rally outside parliament the following day.
Even Emmeline Pankhurst has joined in the protests in Manchester. A statue of the suffragette hero has donned a bright orange lifejacket and a placard that asks: “Ready for rising sea levels to reach this height?”
The stunt was the idea of Katie Bradshaw and Ryan Griffiths, both 31, who described themselves as first-protestors who felt the need to act today.
“Emmeline still carries that Mancunian spirit of standing up for what she believes in and great causes,” said Griffiths. “Climate change is so important and we think it’s something herself would be an issue she would be at the forefront of if she were around today.”
Bradshaw added: “We’ve got to do our bit and even if it’s just putting some signs up and making people realise we need to look after our planet. If she was around today she’d be supporting it.”
Intelligence officer Cameron Ortis had access to classified information from Five Eyes allies, including Australia
Canada is seeking to reassure its Five Eyes intelligence allies in the wake of a massive alleged spying leak that may be linked to an Australian drug-smuggling criminal syndicate.
Cameron Ortis, the director general of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s intelligence unit, has been charged over allegations he was trying to sell secrets to a foreign agent or terrorist group. He had access to classified information from Canada’s Five Eyes global allies, including Australia.
Auckland beats Scotland to NZ$1.3bn contract for what is expected to be the most expensive TV series ever made
New Zealand will reprise its starring role as Middle Earth with confirmation Amazon Studios will film its new Lord of the Rings television series on its shores.
The country – where Sir Peter Jackson filmed the original Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies – beat rival Scotland to be named the production location for the series, set to be the most expensive TV show ever made.
Family of five, including two children, found dead in the highlands in August, with no visible injuries
Police have charged a New Zealand man with five counts of murder following the mysterious “witchcraft” deaths of a Fijian family last month.
Husband and wife Nirmal Kumar, 63, and Usha Devi, 54, their daughter Nileshni Kajal, 34, and Kajal’s daughters Sana, 11, and Samara, eight, were all found dead in the Nausori Highlands in August.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s credentials at home and abroad as a new kind of leader all hang on her next move
It’s just shy of a year ago that Jacinda Ardern stood in the UN general assembly and spoke in support of the #MeToo movement. There was spontaneous applause from the floor for that small part of a much longer speech – it felt like a significant moment.
The New Zealand leader’s trip to New York attracted the usual grumbles here at home – those who could not quite get their head around the very idea of a 38-year-old unmarried woman as prime minister carped about her decision to take her three-month-old daughter along – but the result was the blossoming of an international media love affair. Baby Neve’s appearance at the back of the UN chamber was just the icing on the cake.
Firefighters in New Zealand have paid tribute to the first responders to the September 11 attacks in New York by performing the haka, a ceremonial Māori dance, in honour of the victims. The video was shared on social media by the US ambassador to New Zealand, Scott Brown, who wrote: 'An appropriate and uniquely Kiwi way to remember the bravery and sacrifice of 9/11 first responders'
New Zealand prime minister facing questions as to when she first found out about claims
Pressure is growing on Jacinda Ardern to explain when she was made aware of serious sexual assault allegations in her party after the staffer at the centre of the furore resigned.
The individual remains unnamed but is known to have worked in a senior role in Parliament House and had regular interaction with senior Labour ministers.
Airline accused of lack of respect for indigenous language by seeking to protect image of the greeting, also the name of its in-flight magazine
New Zealand’s national carrier, Air New Zealand, has offended the country’s Māori people by attempting to trademark an image of the words “kia ora”; the greeting for hello.
The airline applied in May to trademark the image showing the greeting, which is also the name of its in-flight magazine.
Two-thirds of country’s rivers are unswimmable with cow effluent and fertiliser run-off big contributing factors
The New Zealand government has announced an ambitious plan to clean up the country’s freshwater sources, after years of pollution have made the majority of lakes and rivers unswimmable.
“Our rivers, lakes and wetlands are under serious threat after years of neglect. We can’t continue to go on like we are,” said environment minister David Parker, announcing the government’s action plan two years into its term.
Concern in New Zealand that trend of taking photographs with penguins and other creatures is having impact on feeding, breeding and birth rates
At the International Penguin Conference in New Zealand, the experts were worried. Among sobering discussions about the perils of the climate crisis and habitat loss, the unlikely issue of wildlife selfies photobombed the agenda, with increasing concern that the celebrity-fuelled search for that perfect shot is affecting animal behaviour.
Professor Philip Seddon, the director of Otago University’s wildlife management programme, said: ‘We’re losing respect for wildlife, we don’t understand the wild at all.”
From bottle feeding infants in the chamber to a playground on the front lawn, speaker Trevor Mallard has welcomed infants into the corridors of power
Trevor Mallard thought his days nursing babies might be over when he became speaker of New Zealand’s parliament in late 2017.
But the grandfather who has raised three children of his own has overseen a baby boom in the Beehive – as the most recognisable building in the parliamentary complex is known – and has become determined to make life easier for parents in the country’s halls of power.
Conservation research shows humans are ‘loving the dolphins too much’ in Bay of Islands region
The New Zealand government has banned tourists from swimming with bottlenose dolphins in an attempt to save the struggling species.
According to the department of conservation [DoC] research has shown that humans were “loving the dolphins too much” and human interaction was “having a signifiant impact on the population’s resting and feeding behaviour”.
New channel apologises to New Zealanders for map mix-up that also labelled Papua New Guinea as South Korea
Russian news channel RT has apologised for apparently accidentally labelling New Zealand as “Japan”, and Papua New Guinea as “South Korea” in an embarrassing southern hemisphere mix-up.
The mistake came in a segment produced by their US bureau about potential new missile bases in “Japan, South Korea and Australia”. But in a large, erroneous graphic only Australia was correctly labelled.
A low-speed chase took place on New Zealand's South Island on Wednesday when double-amputee Charlie Durham took off on his mobility scooter. The 60-year-old later said he thought the police car was an ice cream van but was later fined for failing to stop and driving his scooter 'inconsiderately'
Petition with more than 25,000 signatures delivered, calling on New Zealand PM to visit sacred Ihumātao site
Several hundred protesters have marched on Jacinda Ardern’s Auckland office, demanding she visit Ihumātao, the site of a major indigenous land dispute that has broadened into wider anger at government inaction in tackling Māori disadvantage.
The protesters delivered a petition, signed by more than 26,000 people, to the prime minister’s office urging her to travel to the site that has been occupied for the past month as part of a housing dispute.
Total of 19 big advertisers have dropped his breakfast program after comments he made about Jacinda Ardern
Broadcaster Alan Jones says advertisers who chose to abandon his program because of his slurs against women will be replaced by others.
“I’ve got no comment about the advertisers, they can make their own judgement if they go,” a defiant Jones told Nine News. “There will be others that take their place.”
‘Monstrous’ and ‘malevolent’ sculpture Quasi alarms office workers and divides opinion
A “terrifying” five-metre tall sculpture of a hand with a face has been flown in from the South Island to perch on top of a contemporary art gallery in the New Zealand capital of Wellington.
It fixes passers by with a disapproving expression. Meant to liven up the Civic Square that was damaged in a 2016 earthquake, the work has instead alarmed and terrified locals, who have described the work as “a Lovecraftian nightmare [that] has come to life”.
Killer fled with body while tourist’s Canadian partner ran several kilometres to get help
A man has been charged over the murder of Australian surfer Sean McKinnon, who was shot in a random attack while camping in New Zealand.
The 23-year-old man will face Hamilton district court on Saturday charged with murder, aggravated robbery and threatening to kill, New Zealand Police said.