World News

A handout picture provided by the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office shows him speaking during the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran on 4 October, 2024. Photo: AFP / Handout / Khamenei.IR Iran's supreme leader has vowed in a rare address that his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel, as he defended his country's missile strike on its foe. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's address in Tehran follows Iran's second ever direct attack on Israel. It was also the first since exchanges of fire between Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops escalated into full-blown war in Lebanon. Speaking ahead of the first anniversary of Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Khamenei defended the Palestinian group's "logical and legal"...

Mase Mahonri Schwalger was appointed as head coach of Manu Samoa in late March. Photo: Lakapi Samoa Mase Mahonri Schwalger has been suspended as Manu Samoa head coach after criminal charges were filed against him. Mase was charged in September with unlawful sexual connection, attempted sexual violation, sexual conduct with a person under 16, indecent assault and common assault. He was released on bail and will appear in court in Samoa on 4 November. The former national rugby team captain, who played professional rugby in New Zealand, was appointed as head coach of Manu Samoa in late March. In a statement released on Friday, Lakapi Samoa said he had been suspended, "effective immediately". "The suspension, resolved by the Board on 30 September 2024, will be reviewed in three months." Mas...

By Kanishka Singh, Timour Azhari and Ari Rabinovitch Residents inspect the damage following Israeli airstrikes on the Mreijeh neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on 4 October, 2024. Photo: AFP Residents inspect the damage following Israeli airstrikes on the Mreijeh neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on 4 October, 2024. An Israeli strike on Friday morning near Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with Syria cut off a road used by hundreds of thousands of people to flee Israeli bombardments in recent days, Lebanon Transport Minister Ali Hamieh told Reuters. Hamieh said the strike hit inside Lebanese territory near the border crossing, creating a four-metre (12 feet) wide crater. An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) military spokesman had accused Iran-backed Lebanese armed group H...

Erik Menendez (R) and brother Lyle listen to court proceedings during a May 17, 1991 appearance. Photo: Reuters: Lee Celano Los Angeles authorities are reviewing new evidence that could lead to the release or a new trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers convicted of killing their parents three decades ago. The brothers are serving life in prison without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents. Jose Menendez was shot in the back of the head and Kitty Menendez was shot 15 times. At the time of the murders Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18. At a televised trial that captivated the United States in 1996, the brothers claimed they had been sexually abused by both parents for years and were acting in self-defence. Prosecutors argued the pair were seeking their pare...

Tammie Mance hugs her boss Liesl Steiner (L), whose home was destroyed, after seeing each other for the first time since the storm in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding on 3 October, 2024 in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Photo: MARIO TAMA / AFP By Ulysse Bellier and Mandel Ngan, AFP More than 210 people are now confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction through several US states, officials said, making it the second-deadliest storm to hit the US mainland in more than half a century. US President Joe Biden made his second straight day of visits to the country's southeast on Friday (NZT) to grieve with residents of a region traumatised by a disaster that has upended life for millions. The storm flooded towns and cities, made countless roads impassable, kn...

People inspect a cemetery that was damaged an Israeli airstrike targeting a nearby appartment building, on 3 October, 2024 in central Beirut. Photo: IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP Rocket sirens wail in northern Israeli towns as Hezbollah keeps up cross-border fire Hezbollah says it has fired rockets at Haifa Bay WHO says 28 healthcare workers killed in 24 past hours Israel's military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday (local time) as it pressed on with its cross-border incursion and struck Hezbollah targets in a suburb of Beirut. The latest warnings took the number of southern towns subject to evacuation calls to 70 and included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli military operation was imminent against th...

The BBC was due to grill Boris Johnson about his government's handling of the Covid pandemic. Photo: Brandon Bell / Getty Images via AFP The BBC cancelled a prime-time interview with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after one of its best-known presenters accidentally sent him the notes prepared for her questions. Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC's former political editor and now the host of its flagship Sunday morning news programme, said she mistakenly sent Johnson the notes "in a message meant for my team" and this meant the interview had to be cancelled. "It's very frustrating, and there's no point pretending it's anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked," Kuenssberg said on X. "But red faces aside, honesty is the ...

Salomons Atoll in the Chagos. Photo: Wikimedia / Charles and Anne Sheppard - University of Warwick Britain says it will give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal that would allow people displaced decades ago to return home while London retains use of the UK-U.S. military base on Diego Garcia. Britain said that the operation of Diego Garcia, a strategic military base jointly operated with the United States, was protected by the agreement, which also allows Mauritius to resettle the rest of the islands after its population was displaced. "This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges," British Foreign Minister David Lammy said in ...

George Harrison's 'Futurama' guitar was one of his most played. Photo: AFP / Axel Heimken An electric guitar played by the late guitarist George Harrison in the early days of the Beatles will go up for sale at an auction next month where it could be sold for more than US$800,000 (NZ$1.3 million). Bought from a music store in the band's birth city of Liverpool, Harrison played the Futurama guitar in the early 1960s when the band performed at the Cavern Club, toured Germany and made their first official records for Polydor. The auctioneers say the Futurama guitar, with its sunburst finish, was one of his most played. They call it "one of the holy grails of historic Beatles guitars" and said it is expected to exceed its estimate price tag of US $600,000-$800,000 (NZ$965,000-$1.3m). Harriso...

By Anke Richter Photo: 123rf Opinion - Cults are a hot topic - from Netflix to the High Court - but the stereotypes that come with them can hurt their victims. Survivor-focused reporting will be addressed at the [https://decult.net/ upcoming Decult Conference in Christchurch]. The Press recently ran the headline 'Burger joint with cult-like following closes'. It took me a second to comprehend the correct meaning - this was no exposé of another food business with a suspicious guru, like Bernie Prior from She Chocolate in Governors Bay. Nor an investigation of a meditation cult with a shopfront eatery, like Sri Chinmoy's Lotus Heart restaurant in Christchurch. The news article was standard local fare. Nothing sinister was lurking behind the patty flippers in Riccarton, despite one cust...