Thursday, April 23

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Man who allegedly attacked Brisbane baby with hot coffee fled Australia
World News

Man who allegedly attacked Brisbane baby with hot coffee fled Australia

By Jessica Black, ABC A baby was badly injured in at attack in a Brisbane park, Australian police say. (file photo) Photo: AFP/ ABC Far North - Isaac Egan This story contains details of harm to a child, that may upset some readers. A foreign national alleged to have poured boiling coffee on a baby boy in a Brisbane park fled the country as little as 12 hours before investigators could confirm his identity, Australian police say. Nine-month-old baby Luka was seriously burned in the attack at Stones Corner on 27 August as he sat with his mum on a picnic rug, with another mother and her baby. He has since undergone multiple surgeries. On Monday, police said the 33-year-old man accused of the crime was in New South Wales on 28 August, and flew out of Sydney airport on 31 August. Detectiv...
Charging for returns: Is online shopping in for a shake-up?
Business

Charging for returns: Is online shopping in for a shake-up?

Customers who want to return items bought online may face more charges, as some retailers have been adding up the costs Photo: NZ Post The decision by retailer ASOS to start charging shoppers for returns when they frequently want large refunds makes sense in a changing retail environment, commentators say. The large international clothing retailer announced it will charge UK shoppers £3.95 for returns unless they keep £40 of their order. In New Zealand, returns cost $8.99. Retail New Zealand chief executive Carolyn Young said the evolution of influencers had changed how people shopped, and many people now ordered large numbers of items online, only to return the majority. "If the retailer is paying for the freight it will impact on margins and profitability, together with double handlin...
Typhoon Yagi leaves dozens dead in Vietnam, pounds infrastructure
World News

Typhoon Yagi leaves dozens dead in Vietnam, pounds infrastructure

Damaged buildings and debris after Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long, in Vietnam, on 8 September. Photo: AFP/ Nhac Nguyen Typhoon Yagi, Asia's most powerful storm this year, left dozens dead in northern Vietnam and widespread damage as it churned westwards, preliminary government estimates showed on Monday, while the weather agency warned of more floods and landslides. Thirty-five people have died and 24 are missing, mostly because of landslides and floods triggered by the typhoon, Vietnam's disaster management agency said. The typhoon made landfall on Saturday on Vietnam's northeastern coast, home to large manufacturing operations of domestic and foreign companies, and was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday by the meteorological agency. It cut power to millions of households and comp...
Pope Francis delivers medical supplies in visit to remote PNG town
World News

Pope Francis delivers medical supplies in visit to remote PNG town

By Joshua McElwee, Reuters Pope Francis takes part in a meeting with Catholic faithful of the diocese of Vanimo in front of Holy Cross Cathedral in Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, on 8 September 2024. Photo: TIZIANA FABI / AFP Pope Francis flew deep into the jungle of the Southwestern Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea on Sunday to visit Catholics living in one of the most remote areas of the world and deliver medical supplies and other aid. Travelling 1000 km in a C-130 cargo aircraft provided by the Royal Australian Air Force, Francis arrived with a small entourage in Vanimo, a township of some 12,000 people in the northwestern corner of PNG's main island, with no running water and scarce electricity. The 87-year-old pope brought hundreds of kilograms of items to help support the ...
IRD data sharing: Safety of anonymising detail to be examined
Business

IRD data sharing: Safety of anonymising detail to be examined

IRD has been giving hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' details to social media platforms for marketing campaigns. File photo. Photo: AFP Inland Revenue (IRD) has confirmed it will look into the safety of how it anonymises the taxpayers' details it provides to Facebook and other social media platforms. IRD is giving hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' details to social media platforms for marketing campaigns, despite legal and computer experts saying it is not safe. It earlier said all the details were fully protected by anonymisation using a "hashing" process, in which letters are replaced by numbers. 'Hashing' substitutes long strings of letters and numbers for taxpayers' names, dates of birth, address, phone, and email contacts, which have been provided by IRD in lists of up to half ...
Pope Francis visit keenly awaited in deeply Catholic East Timor
World News

Pope Francis visit keenly awaited in deeply Catholic East Timor

Indonesian sisters living in East Timor walk on the Esplanade of Taci Tolu, where Pope Francis will lead a mass, ahead of his visit in Dili on 7 September 2024. Photo: YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP By Kate Lamb, Reuters When Pope Francis touches down in the East Timorese capital of Dili this week he will be landing in a totally different nation to the one visited by his predecessor. The last papal visit to Dili was in 1989, when Pope John Paul II arrived in territory then occupied by Indonesia, gifting East Timor's fledgling independence movement an historic boost and rare prominence on the global stage. "It was an opportunity for us to express our right to fight for our liberation," recalled Father Francisco Barreto, who was among the crowd when protesters unfurled banners calling for independ...
Vietnam’s death toll from Typhoon Yagi rises to 24
World News

Vietnam’s death toll from Typhoon Yagi rises to 24

Damaged buildings and debris after Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long, in Vietnam, on 8 September. Photo: AFP/ Nhac Nguyen Typhoon Yagi and the landslides and floods it triggered have killed at least 24 people and injured another 299 in northern Vietnam, the government said, as authorities on Monday warned of more flooding. The typhoon was Asia's most powerful storm this year and made landfall on the country's northeastern coast on Saturday. It has disrupted power supplies and telecommunications in several parts of the country, mostly in Quang Ninh and Haiphong, the government said in a statement issued late on Sunday. The weather agency on Monday warned of more floods and landslides, noting that rainfall ranged between 208mm and 433mm in several parts of the region over the past 24 hours. "Flood...
Final decision on Winstone mill closures expected on Tuesday
Business

Final decision on Winstone mill closures expected on Tuesday

Photo: Alexa Cook/RNZ The final decision on whether a Central North Island forestry products mill will close down has been pushed out to Tuesday. Winstone Pulp International is proposing to close its two mills indefinitely due to high wholesale power prices, and a final decision was expected on Monday. However, Winstone chief executive Mike Ryan told RNZ that has changed. "Winstone Pulp International has extended the timeframe for a decision on its future until the afternoon of Tuesday 10 September," he said. Mayors, forestry companies and ministers have met several times over the past few weeks in a bid to find a solution that would prevent the loss of 230 jobs. Some locals have not stuck around for the final decision and have already left to work in Australia, but many are anxiously aw...
Kentucky highway shooting suspect being hunted in rugged forest area
World News

Kentucky highway shooting suspect being hunted in rugged forest area

By Joseph Ax, Rich McKay and Gabriella Borter, Reuters Traffic stopped in the US on Interstate 75 on 7 September, during an 'active shooter incident' near London, Kentucky. Photo: AFP/ Mount Vernon Fire Department Joseph Couch named as suspect, rifle found near his car Laurel County public schools cancel classes on Monday Five people injured, 12 vehicles struck by bullets A US man suspected of opening fire on cars travelling along Interstate 75 in rural Kentucky was at large on Sunday night after a day-long manhunt by multiple law enforcement agencies through rugged, wooded terrain. Kentucky State Police were leading the manhunt for suspect Joseph Couch, 32, whom police identified after finding a vehicle registered to him and an AR-style rifle near the shooting site, about 12.9km ...
Sheep farm profitability for next season ‘sobering’; beef a ‘green shoot’ – BLNZ
Business

Sheep farm profitability for next season ‘sobering’; beef a ‘green shoot’ – BLNZ

Federated Farmers' meat and wool chairperson Toby Williams. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham It is looking like another challenging season ahead for the country's already struggling sheep farmers. Beef and Lamb New Zealand's new season outlook showed while global demand for red meat was forecast to improve slightly next season, farm profitability will remain a challenge - especially for sheep farming. The report said farm profit margins were being hit by high costs, especially interest payments, reaching low levels similar to those seen in the 1980s and 1990s. It described the current forecast for farm profitability this coming year as "sobering" - with profitability for red meat forecast to drop 7.4 percent to an average of $45,200 per farm. It said the 1 percent expected increase in reven...