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Olivia McTaggart (L), Imogen Ayris (C) and Eliza McCartney celebrate together after qualifying for the Women's Pole Vault Final at Stade de France during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: Simon Stacpoole / www.photosport.nz Eliza McCartney eased into the final of the Olympic pole vault for a second time but for two of her New Zealand team mates they admit they're lucky to be joining her. All three New Zealand athletes knew what was ahead of them during the qualification round on a warm Monday morning in Paris. The qualification standard was set at 4.70 metres. Two pole vault pits would be running side by side and at least the top 12 best performed athletes would be through to the final two days later. All was going to plan until the bar was lifted to 4.55m. Olivia McTaggart competes i...

By Nadine Yousif for BBC Photo: Unsplash A US judge has ruled Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly on online searches and related advertising. Google was sued by the Department of Justice in 2020 for its control of about 90 percent of the online search market. US District Judge Amit Mehta noted that Google paid billions to ensure it is the default search engine on smartphones and browsers. The decision on Monday could reshape how technology giants do business. "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," Judge Mehta wrote in his 277-page opinion. The decision is a significant victory for federal antitrust regulators who have filed other pending lawsuits against Big Tech companies, accusing them of operating unlawful monopolies. Federal regulat...

By Carolyn Enting Chanel replica bag posted by a Chinese seller on RepLadies. Photo: Screenshot They're known as luxury reps or super fakes - counterfeits of designer accessories that are so good you'd swear they were the real thing. These super fakes are being unwrapped in plain sight by influencers on Instagram and TikTok and purchased to order through online anonymous forums and chat groups. One such forum, sub-Reddit group Repladies Designer, has 112,000 members and spent more than US$3 million on replicas in 2021 (according to a self-reported survey). A spin-off group, WagoonLadies, has $58,000 members. Kiwi shoppers buying luxury fakes with the assistance of these chat groups include Auckland mum Rachel (not her real name). She bought a super fake Miu Miu bag directly from a Ch...

The pilot was killed after the helicopter landed in an isolated area of Papua in Indonesia. File photo. Photo: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Separatist rebels in Indonesia's easternmost region of Papua have killed a helicopter pilot from New Zealand, regional police say. Police said four passengers aboard the aircraft were safe. The pilot was killed immediately after rebels rounded up those on board after the helicopter landed in an isolated area, police said in a statement. It comes nearly 18 months after the abduction by rebels of another pilot from New Zealand, Phillip Mehrtens, who remains in captivity. Police said the group responsible for Monday's incident in Alama district in the Central Papua province was the same group that is holding Mehrtens. The rebel West Papua National Libera...