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.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern has declared that ‘Australia has to answer to the Pacific’ on climate change, saying that New Zealand is doing what it can to limit global emissions and expects other nations to do the same. Pacific leaders have this week been urging Australia to commit to urgent action to reduce emissions
Continue reading...Fresh atrocities in El Paso and Norway bring back the pain of New Zealand’s worst mass-shooting
It’s just gone lunch time at al Noor mosque in central Christchurch and a handful of men gather to pray. They bend down on a thick blue carpet, newly installed, and sit up to face walls gleaming with fresh plaster and paint. In the corner, one young man appears to be quietly crying.
“We’ve replaced everything, everything,” says worshipper Murray Stirling, 52, gesturing around the main prayer room, now serene and bathed in winter sunshine. “There’s no physical trace left of what he did to us.”
Continue reading...Police praise response after thousands of now-banned guns taken out of circulation in less than a month
More than 10,000 firearms have been bought by New Zealand’s government in less than a month as part of its gun buyback scheme following the Christchurch mosque shootings in March.
Following the killing of 51 people in two inner-city Christchurch mosques by an Australian white supremacist, prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s government rushed through legislation to ban military-style semi-automatic weapons and set aside NZ$150m to buy firearms that were now illegal.
Continue reading...Climate crisis is more than a meeting agenda item in a host country that could be left uninhabitable by rising sea levels
As the leaders of Pacific countries step off their planes at Funafuti airport this week for the Pacific Islands Forum, they are being met by the children of Tuvalu, who sit submerged in water, in a moat built around the model of an island, singing: “Save Tuvalu, save the world.”
The welcome sets the tone for a Pacific Islands Forum meeting that will not only have climate change at the top of the agenda – as it has been for many years – but is being hosted by a country that the UN says is one of the most vulnerable to rising sea levels, which could render it uninhabitable in the coming century.
Continue reading...Giant bird estimated to have weighed about 7kg has been named Heracles inexpectatus
Fossils of the largest parrot ever recorded have been found in New Zealand. Estimated to have weighed about 7kg (1.1st), it would have been more than twice as heavy as the kākāpo, previously the largest known parrot.
Palaeontologists have named the new species Heracles inexpectatus to reflect its unusual size and strength and the unexpected nature of the discovery.
Continue reading...Activist leading Ihumātao dispute calls on PM to visit site and act on Māori disadvantage
The leader of a major Indigenous land dispute in New Zealand has criticised Jacinda Ardern’s government for its lack of action on confronting systemic Māori disadvantage, and says the Māori nation is in “a state of emergency” and “crisis”.
Hundreds of activists camped out in tents and cars continue to occupy a sliver of land at Ihumātao in South Auckland – land they say is sacred to Māori, but which has been sold to a private developer and slated for private housing.
Continue reading...Countries focus on increasingly effective encryption of communications
British, American and other intelligence agencies from English-speaking countries have concluded a two-day meeting in London amid calls for spies and police officers to be given special, backdoor access to WhatsApp and other encrypted communications.
The meeting of the “Five Eyes” nations – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – was hosted by new home secretary, Priti Patel, in an effort to coordinate efforts to combat terrorism and child abuse.
Continue reading...Rubbish has been washing up on its isolated beaches in the Pitcairn chain at a rate of several thousand bits of plastic a day
Henderson Island, uninhabited and a day’s sea crossing from the nearest sign of civilisation, should be an untouched paradise.
Instead its beaches, which were awarded Unesco world heritage status in 1988, are a monument to humanity’s destructive, disposable culture.
Continue reading...Two South Koreans killed and athletes from US, New Zealand, Netherlands, Italy and Brazil injured
Two South Koreans have died and several others, including athletes attending the world aquatic championships, have been injured after a structure collapsed in a nightclub in the city of Gwangju early on Saturday, a fire department official has said.
The deaths happened when a two-level structure in the club, which is next to the athletes’ village, collapsed at about 2am local time, hitting and pinning revellers, the official said.
Continue reading...Row over plans to build 500 homes on sacred land in Auckland escalates with seven protesters arrested
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is being accused of a “lack of leadership” over an escalating land dispute between Māori and a construction company which plans to build 500 homes on sacred land in south Auckland.
Opposition to the project boiled over this week over when a group that had been illegally occupying the land was served an eviction notice.
Continue reading...Auckland council blames confusion about rules on appropriate swimwear for ‘unfortunate’ incident
A council in New Zealand has apologised to a Muslim woman who was told to leave a public pool after wearing a “burkini”.
Auckland council has since apologised to the woman, who was swimming at the West Wave Pool in Henderson.
Continue reading...Video footage posted to Facebook by James Looyer shows a suburban house lying in ruins after a gas explosion in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday. Six people were injured and dozens of homes evacuated after the blast, which some feared might have been an earthquake or a bomb. Authorities are still investigating the cause.
Continue reading...New Zealand has a long history of outstanding policy innovation and political leadership. Australia could learn a lot from it
The good and the great of Melbourne packed in to the town hall on Thursday evening to hear the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, speak on the topic of why good government matters.
Since the tragic Christchurch mosque massacre, Ardern has come to be seen not just as one of the world’s youngest leaders of a nation, but also as one of the world’s great leaders.
Continue reading...Mayor of New Zealand city says a tweak to signage might be all that’s needed, while some living on Baldwin Street are relieved
The New Zealand city of Dunedin has sought to look on the bright side after losing its claim to have the world’s steepest street to a town in Wales, with its mayor saying: “The street certainly hasn’t got any less steep as a result of the decision.”
This week, Guinness World Records officially stripped Dunedin’s Baldwin Street of the title and instead awarded it to Harlech in Wales. Its street, Ffordd Pen Llech, has a gradient of 37.45% at its steepest point – 2.5% steeper than Baldwin Street.
Continue reading...Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech beats renowned Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand
A meandering street in north-west Wales that challenges the fittest of walkers and cyclists has been confirmed as the steepest in the world.
Ffordd Pen Llech in the historic town of Harlech – better known for its castle and rousing song, Men of Harlech – has been judged steeper than Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Continue reading...New Zealand cricket fans suffered through the night as their team fell excruciatingly short of victory at Lord’s
They emerged tired and emotional in the predawn light. They shuffled from living room couches or from the New Zealand bars lucky enough to organise short-notice liquor licences. Then, they went back to their Monday mornings.
No teacher or manager in the whole country would be naive enough to believe them if they said they had come down with the flu. They would have to wear their decision to stay up all night and watch the most thrilling cricket World Cup final ever played.
Continue reading...Man going by the name of Chris says he wrote condolence card for Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford
The man who killed New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s cat has reportedly broken his silence, a year after he ran over the first cat of New Zealand.
Shortly after Ardern became the prime minister-elect in October 2017, her polydactyl cat named Paddles shot to fame, and even had her own Twitter account.
Continue reading...Steve Hansen made the comments after naming Sevu Reece, who admitted to assaulting his partner, to the side
The All Blacks head coach has been called out for saying that domestic violence is not a gendered issue after he named a player who pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner in his side.
Steve Hansen, a former police constable, made the comments after putting Canterbury Crusaders winger Sevu Reece in the latest All Blacks’ squad.
Continue reading...Justice minister Andrew Little says tech giant’s contempt for murdered backpacker’s family is unacceptable
Tech giant Google is “flipping the bird” at New Zealand laws by refusing to change any company policy after it broke suppression orders related to the murder case of British backpacker Grace Millane.
Last December, a 27-year-old Auckland man appeared in the city’s high court charged with murdering Millane. His name was suppressed but it appeared in Google’s “what’s trending in New Zealand” email that went out to thousands of subscribers.
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