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By Brendan O'Brien, Reuters Residents board up a store in St. Petersburg ahead of Hurricane Milton's expected landfall in the middle of this week in Florida. Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP As Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 5 storm, Floridians scrambled to prepare for its arrival this week near Tampa, where it may bring blistering winds, life-threatening storm surge and torrential rains to the Gulf Coast for the second time in two weeks. Milton strengthened to the most powerful category of storms as it churned through the southwest Gulf of Mexico, about 1183km from Tampa. It was packing sustained winds of up to 257kph, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was expected to turn northeast on Wednesday (NZT) and head toward the populous Tampa-St. Petersburg area, making l...

Earth sits in dried cracked mud before metropolis Photo: Bruce Rolff Three of New Zealand's Pacific neighbours have asked the International Criminal Court to consider "ecocide" an international crime. In September, Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa made a formal submission to the world's highest court, asking it to put the worst environmental destruction by humans on a par with genocide and crimes against humanity. It follows a push in recent years to make ecocide a globally punishable offence and moves by some countries - particularly in Europe - to include it in their own statutes. So what kind of destruction would "ecocide" apply to? And what's the process the ICC has to follow? Stop Ecocide International chief executive Jojo Mehta told Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan the term was coined in th...

The Manawanui sank off the south coast of the island of Upolu on Saturday. Photo: Supplied / Profile Boats Nearly 1000 tonnes of diesel fuel were onboard HMNZS Manawanui when it sank, the Chief of Navy says. The Manawanui sank off the south coast of the island of Upolu on Saturday, after running aground, catching fire and capsizing. The immediate focus was on the safety and recovery of its crew, with attention now turning to salvage and environmental mitigation. Rear admiral Garin Golding told Morning Report there were different types of fuel on board the ship, the largest being 950 tonnes of automotive gas oil. "It is a diesel fuel ... a light oil of commercial diesel quantities." A dive team will on Tuesday assess the condition of the stricken ship and if there are any leaks, he said....

By Manuel Ausloos, Reuters Two people embrace as relatives and supporters of Israelis killed in the 7 October Hamas attack attend a ceremony at the Nova memorial near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel on the first anniversary of the attacks. Photo: JOHN WESSELS/AFP Israelis marked the first anniversary of the devastating Hamas attack that triggered a war which has sparked protest worldwide and risks igniting a far wider conflict in the Middle East. Ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem and Israel's south began around 6.29am local time, the hour when Hamas launched rockets into Israel at the start of its 7 October assault last year and burst across the border, rampaging through towns. They killed some 1200 people and took about 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Outside ...