World News

An ultra-wholesome Japanese dating series on Netflix has hooked viewers globally. Photo: Netflix An ultra-wholesome Japanese dating series on Netflix has hooked viewers globally. It's part of a wave of reality shows showing the nuances, and differences, of gay relationships. It is a concept that we've seen many times before: a group of strangers enter a house and, as cameras film their every move, they search for a romantic connection. But conceptually, Netflix's The Boyfriend is actually a million miles from the Love Island villa, where singles with chiselled abs search for love (and Instagram fame). The Netflix series is Japan's first ever same-sex dating show - a landmark moment for LGBTQ+ representation. The premise is simple: in Tateyama, a quiet coastal city in Japan, a seaside be...

Former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards leaves after a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London. Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP By Ian Youngs, BBC culture reporter and Lucy Manning, BBC News Huw Edwards, once the BBC's most senior news presenter, has pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. He admitted having 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard. They included seven category A images, the most serious classification - two of which showed a child aged between about seven and nine. Police later revealed the man who sent the images to Edwards was a convicted paedophile. Until last year, Edwards was one of the main presenters on BBC One's News at Ten and often fronted coverage...

By Dean Bilton, ABC reporter at Chateau de Versailles Riders from the equestrian academy and their horses ride towards the Royal Gate of the Palace of Versailles before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Photo: HENRIQUE CAMPOS / AFP Analysis - There's an episode of The Sopranos late in its run called "Cold Stones", in which Carmela Soprano and her friend Rosalie Aprile visit Paris. Rosalie, whose life has been marred by horror and tragedy back home, escapes within the tourist delights of Paris. She eats, she shops, she courts young French men on motorbikes, and she has a wonderful time. Carmela arrives prepared for the same experience, but instead is propelled into existential crisis at the sight of the city's golden statues, centuries-old architecture and artistic marvels. Paris ...

Demonstrators wave flags and hold pictures of Ismail Haniyeh during a protest over his death in Beirut's Burj al-Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees. Photo: Fadel ITANI / AFP By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Parisa Hafezi, Reuters Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday morning local time, an attack that drew threats of revenge on Israel and fuelled further concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war. The Palestinian Islamist militant group and Iran's Revolutionary Guards confirmed Haniyeh's death. The Guards said it took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for Iran's new president. Although the attack was widely assumed to have been carried out by Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's...

Zoe Hobbs is among elite sprinters who have gone under 11 seconds for the 100m. Photo: PHOTOSPORT New Zealand's fastest ever female 100m sprinter is set to make her Olympic Games debut in Paris. Zoe Hobbs went tantalisingly close to making the team for the Tokyo Olympics but has made certain of selection this time round. In Sydney in March 2023 she became the first woman in Oceania to crack the 11-second mark for the blue riband event and repeated the feat in Switzerland four months later. If the 26-year-old could make the final in the Stade de France on 4 August she would become the first Kiwi to reach such a pinnacle in 100 years. The last to do so was Arthur Porritt who won bronze at the Paris Games in 1924. Taranaki-raised Auckland-based Hobbs has had loads of experience at competin...

Regular eye tests can detect problems early. Photo: 123rf Treating failing eyesight and high cholesterol are two new ways to lower the risk of dementia developing, a major report suggests. Scientists have now identified 14 health issues which, if reduced or eliminated, could theoretically prevent nearly half of dementias in the world. Middle-aged people and poorer countries have most to gain from targeting these risk factors, says the Lancet Commission's latest report on the topic. It predicts that the number of people living with dementia could more than double to 153 million by 2050. 'Never too late' Photo: Supplied / Lancet Dementia occurs when a disease, such as Alzheimer's, damages nerve cells in the brain and leads to confusion and memory loss - but it is not an inevitabl...

By Marcelo Teixeira, Reuters The recommended single serving for chocolate is about 30gm to 60gm. (file image) Photo: Unsplash / Tetiana Bykovets Concentrations of heavy metals found in single servings of some chocolates and cocoa-based products are too low in most cases to pose a health risk to consumers, research published on Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition shows. This is true when products are consumed as a single serving, but consumption of more than one serving per day or in combination with other sources of heavy metals - such as seafood and unwashed brown rice - may cumulatively add up to exposure that exceeds recommendations, the researchers said. Some consumer groups and independent test agencies have previously reported heavy metal contamination in cocoa produc...

Photo: RICH POLK British pop rock band The 1975 are being sued by the organisers of a Malaysian music festival which was shut down after the group's frontman kissed a male band mate onstage and criticised the country's anti-LGBTQ laws. Future Sounds Asia is suing The 1975 and its individual members for 1.9 million pounds (NZ$4.1 million), according to UK High Court documents reported by the entertainment publication Variety. In July 2023, Malaysian authorities halted the three-day Good Vibes Festival after videos widely shared on social media showed the band's Matty Healy kissing bassist Ross MacDonald. According to Variety, documents lodged with the court claim that The 1975 were aware of prohibitions on certain behaviour while performing, especially since they had performed at the fest...

Photo: AFP By David Shepardson, Reuters Families for some of the 346 people killed in two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes said on Wednesday a US judge should reject the planemaker's proposed plea deal with the Justice Department and the government should seek a much higher fine. On July 24, the planemaker finalised an agreement to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and pay up to US$487 million (NZ$817m) after breaching a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. Paul Cassell, a lawyer for some of the families, said in a court filing the fine "is inadequate - or, at the very least, rests on misleading accounting and inaccurate accounting". He added the fine "fails to reflect that Boeing's crime killed 346 innocent victims". Cassell called that decision "not only inaccurate - it is...

By George Wright, BBC News This combination of pictures shows handout pictures released by Merseyside Police in London on 30 July, 2024, of nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar (left), seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and six-year-old Bebe King. Photo: AFP PHOTO / Merseyside Police A 17-year-old has been charged with the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar died after a knife attack at the Taylor Swift-themed event in the Merseyside town on Monday. The teenager, who is due to appear at Liverpool City Magistrates' Court later on Thursday, has also been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder. Eight other children and two adults who were at the event in the Hart Space centre were inju...