World News

Susana Lei'ataua in Samoa The Manawanui caught fire and sank on Sunday morning after crashing into a reef on Saturday night. Photo: Profile Boats / supplied Villages on the southwest coast of Upolu in Samoa are being told not to eat the fish from the ocean in front of their homes because the sunken HMNZS Manawanui is leaking diesel into their water. The New Zealand Navy ship ran aground on Saturday on the Tafitoala Reef in treacherous high winds and seas. The following morning it caught fire and sank. The New Zealand Defence Force said 950 tonnes of diesel were on board when it went down. The villages issued with a warning not to fish are Tafitoala, Mulivai and parts of Si'umu that are within a 20km length of coastline from the districts of Safata to Lefaga. Samoa authorities have b...

Photo: Instagram, msjennafischer The Office star Jenna Fischer has revealed that she has been undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment for stage 1 triple-positive breast cancer. In a post on Instagram, Fischer said she was now "cancer free", after a diagnosis in December last year. The 50-year-old, best known for her role as Pam Beesly in the US version of the hit sitcom, had a tumour removed from her left breast in January this year. "Triple positive breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer but it is also highly responsive to treatment," she shared on social media. "In January, I had a lumpectomy to remove the tumour. Luckily my cancer was caught early and it hadn't spread into my lymph nodes or throughout the rest of my body, however because of the aggressiv...

An investigation into a Queensland helicopter crash that killed a Kiwi pilot in August has found he was intoxicated, broke aviation rules and appeared to be trying to evade being detected. But officials are none the wiser as to why he did it. Blake Wilson, 23, died after taking a helicopter from his employer's hangar in Cairns and flying into a no-fly zone over the city before crashing into the roof of the DoubleTree hotel. His employer, Nautilus Aviation, said he had been celebrating his promotion with workmates on Sunday night, before he took the helicopter in the early hours of Monday morning. Wilson, 23, held a New Zealand commercial helicopter licence, but was not authorised to fly in Australia. He was the only person killed in the accident. A report by the Australian Transport Safety...

Composition image of various Met Gala 2024 attendees, from top left, clockwise, Zendaya, Rita Ora and Taika Waititi, Gigi Hadid and Nicki Minaj. Photo: AFP / Angela Weiss, Marleen Moise/Getty Images/AFP The theme and hosts for one of the biggest fashion events, Met Gala, have been revealed by Vogue. The Met Gala, traditionally held on the first Monday in May every year, is a fundraising benefit with an exclusive dinner for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Bringing in the biggest names in entertainment, fashion, and sports, next year's event on 5 May is being labelled as "history making" by media outlets as the all-Black male co-chairs and theme inspired by the style of Black men are unveiled. Louis Vuitton is the lead sponsor for the exhibit and Met Gala, with additional...

NBC metereologist John Morales reacts to the scale of Hurricane Milton on the air. Photo: Screenshot / NBC A respected hurricane forecaster went viral this week for choking up while warning Americans about the approaching Hurricane Milton. Apologising for showing emotion on live TV, NBC meteorologist John Morales called Milton an "incredible, incredible, incredible hurricane" and warned those in its path in Tampa, Florida and the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to get out while they could. Read more on Hurricane Milton: What he said next was: "You know what's driving this, I don't need to tell you. Global warming, climate change." "I mean, the seas, are just so, incredibly, incredibly hot." I debated whether to share this. I did apologize on the air. But I invite you to read my in...

Photo: CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP Hurricane Milton has crashed into the Florida coast, packing furious winds and triggering life-threatening storm surges across a region still reeling from another massive storm two weeks before. The weather front made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key, in a densely populated area on the US state's western coast. People watch water-flooded streets after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Brandon, Florida. Photo: MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/ AFP Milton triggered tornadoes before its arrival, with unconfirmed reports of multiple fatalities after one twister struck a senior living community on Florida's east coast. A girl hugs her grandfather before he is taken to the hospital after getting injured by a reported tornado that hit his house in ...

Photo: AFP / Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo A local journalist hunkered down in Florida's Tampa Bay said he's never seen anything like Hurricane Milton, and was "scared for the aftermath". Kirby Wilson, a reporter at Tampa Bay Times, had remained in the area and said he and his family were doing OK so far. It was going to be tough "for the foreseeable future," he said, "but we're hanging in". Many people in the area had not been ordered to evacuate. Tampa Bay Times reporter Kirby Wilson Photo: Tampa Bay Times / Supplied "A lot of it is perfectly safe from the kind of floodwater we're expecting... I know a lot of people have an image of Florida as a state that will one day be entirely submerged, but it does take a lot of water to overcome some of even the mild high points. "I decided ...

Defence Minister Judith Collins has lashed out at what she calls "deeply misogynist" comments about the sinking of the HMS Manawanui and its captain, Commander Yvonne Gray. Collins said that Gray has been attacked online since the sinking of the ship off the coast of Samoa over the weekend. Collins said a "deeply concerning misogynist narrative reared its head before our people had even made it home to New Zealand." Collins said a Court of Inquiry has been already planned to examine the cause of the wreck. "The one thing that we already know did not cause it was the gender of the ship's captain, a woman with 30 years of naval experience who made the call to get her people to safety. "I'm appalled to see the comments online from these armchair admirals, people who will never have to make de...

By Kanishka Singh, Reuters Donald Trump has refused to debate Kamala Harris again. Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB Republican former President Donald Trump said he will not debate Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, hours after Fox News invited the two presidential contenders to participate in a possible second debate on either 24 or 27 October. Trump and Harris debated each other for the first time on 10 September. Trump has said there would not be another debate before the 5 November US time election. He rejected a past invitation from CNN for an 23 October debate, accepted by Harris. Trump and Harris face each other in what polls show to be a tight race for the 5 November US elections. In its statement, Fox said a second debate "would present an opportunity for each candidate to make ...

Defence Minister Judith Collins is set to speak about 2pm. We will be livestreaming the press conference at the top of this page. Defence Minister Judith Collins has lashed out at what she calls "deeply misogynist" comments about the sinking of the HMS Manawanui and its captain, Commander Yvonne Gray. Collins said that Gray has been attacked online since the sinking of the ship off the coast of Samoa over the weekend. Collins said a "deeply concerning misogynist narrative reared its head before our people had even made it home to New Zealand." Collins said a Court of Inquiry has been already planned to examine the cause of the wreck. "The one thing that we already know did not cause it was the gender of the ship's captain, a woman with 30 years of naval experience who made the call to get ...