World News

Foreign Minister Winston Peters said its vote for the UN resolution was a signal of New Zealand's strong support for a two-state solution. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone New Zealand was one of 124 countries that supported a United Nations General Assembly resolution on Thursday. The UN adopted a Palestinian-drafted resolution that demanded Israel end "its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" within 12 months. There were 43 countries that abstained, while Israel, the United States and 12 others voted against it. Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Israel-Palestine conflict had gone on for far too long. He said the resolution wasn't perfect and New Zealand had expressed concerns with some of the text, including the 12-month timeframe which Peters said was unrealist...

By Marian Faa, ABC Papua New Guinea correspondent Traditional owners at Nauro village are claiming they're owed more than A$15 million in unpaid compensation. Photo: WikiCommons Trampers face being stranded on the Kokoda Track after landowners formed a blockade and authorities closed the route. Traditional owners started the blockade claiming they're owed compensation from the Papua New Guinea government. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs says it's monitoring the situation closely as a tour operator warns the hikers are exhausted and don't have enough food if they turn back. There are concerns for dozens of Australian and New Zealander hikers on the Kokoda Track after local landowners set up a blockade, forcing authorities to suddenly close the famous route in Papua New Gui...

A pager displayed at a facility operated by NTT DOCOMO, Japan's telecommunications company, in 2022. Photo: HIDENORI NAGAI the Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP As mobile phones became the world's main communications tool, pagers, also known as beepers because of the sound they make to notify users about incoming messages, were largely rendered obsolete, with demand plunging from their 1990s heyday. But the tiny electronic devices remain a vital means of communication in some areas - such as healthcare and emergency services - thanks to their durability and long battery life. "It's the cheapest and most efficient way to communicate to a large number of people about messages that don't need responses," said a senior surgeon at a major UK hospital, adding that pagers are commonly used by doctors an...

By Jack Queen for Reuters Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to committing a criminal sexual act on Wednesday, nearly five months after the disgraced Hollywood movie mogul's sex crimes conviction in New York was overturned. Weinstein, 72, who is recovering from emergency heart surgery he underwent last week, entered his plea to the first-degree felony charge at a hearing before Justice Curtis Farber in a New York state court in Manhattan. "Not guilty," Weinstein said emphatically when asked for his plea. Weinstein appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie, and with a large bandage on his right hand. Jurors had found Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault in February 2020, less than 2-1/2 years after sexual misconduct acc...

By Marc Leras, Reuters Attempts from some defence lawyers to question Gisele Pelicot's credibility caused outrage in the courtroom. Photo: CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP Warning: This story discusses sexual assault Gisele Pelicot, who was drugged and raped by dozens of men recruited by her husband, called the men standing trial "degenerates" while attempts from some defence lawyers to question her credibility caused outrage in the courtroom. The trial in the southern French town of Avignon of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men accused of raping his wife has shocked the world. The case has also triggered protests across France in support of Gisele Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence. "These men are degenerates. They committed rape," Gisele Pelicot, 72, told the...

By Savyata Mishra and Dietrich Knauth for Reuters Orlando-based food storage company Tupperware filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as sales declined. Photo: AFP / Justin Sullivan Tupperware Brands filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware late on Tuesday, succumbing to mounting losses due to poor demand for its once popular colorful food storage containers. Its popularity exploded in the 1950s as women of the post-war generation held "Tupperware parties" at their homes to sell the containers as they sought empowerment and independence. However, its sales slumped in recent years as the company struggled to place more of its products in retail stores and online sales platforms. Tupperware has historically relied on independent sales representatives to move its products, but that strateg...

A man holds a walkie talkie device after he removed the battery during the funeral of persons killed when hundreds of paging devices exploded. Photo: ANWAR AMRO/AFP Hand-held radios used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon's south and in Beirut suburbs, further stoking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group's pagers. Lebanon's health ministry said nine people had been killed and more than 300 injured, while the death toll from Tuesday's explosions rose to 12, including two children, with nearly 3,000 injured. At least one of Wednesday's blasts took place near a funeral organised by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group exploded across the country and wounded many of it...

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games flag Photo: Photosport The Scottish government has backed a bid for Glasgow to host a scaled-down version of the Commonwealth Games in 2026, 12 years after the city last hosted the quadrennial multi-sport event. The Games were originally slated for the Australian state of Victoria, but they withdrew as hosts due to rising costs. "We have been working with Commonwealth Games Scotland and the Scottish Government for several months and are delighted to hear CGS has received confirmation of support from the Government to enable them to progress with their proposal to host the Games in 2026," Commonwealth Games Federation president Chris Jenkins said in a statement. At the heart of discussions, Jenkins said, is the 100 million pounds (NZ$213.00 million) invest...

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams hold a news conference from the International Space Station on 13 September. Photo: AFP PHOTO / NASA TV Two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station for eight days and ended up staying months were aware of the risks and will be being kept busy, a retired astronaut who knows the pair says. NASA astronauts Sunita "Suni" Williams and Barry "Butch" Wilmore crewed Boeing's Starliner which left earth on 5 June for what was meant to be an eight-day test mission. They're now expected to return in February on a different spacecraft. Retired astronaut Michael Fossum told Nine to Noon what happened to Wilmore and Williams was "pretty jarring" - to go from an eight day mission to months spent in space. But this was a test flight, he sa...

By Ben Blanchard, Reuters Hsu Ching-kuang (L), head of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, speaks to the media outside the company's office in New Taipei City on September 18, 2024. Photo: AFP / YAN ZHAO The model of pagers used in detonations in Lebanon were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo said on Wednesday, adding it had only licensed out its brand to the company and was not involved in the production of the devices. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday. According to a senior Lebanese security source and another source, explosives inside the devices were planted by Israel's Mossad spy agency. Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters s...