The Covid 19 pandemic has claimed more events planned for Christchurch over the summer.The Christchurch City Council announced that the New Year’s Eve party planned for North Hagley Park has been cancelled.The free concert which…

Kāinga Ora boss Andrew McKenzie is defending his agency’s controversial policy banning the eviction of antisocial tenants, saying making marginalised people homeless doesn’t work. And he’s fired a broadside at private homeowners…

Carmen Gray is a chemical engineer, winemaker, and now an award-winning cider maker.Owning and operating Elemental Cider, a small boutique cidery in Ōtaki, Carmen has won Best Traditional Cider at the New Zealand Fruit Wine…

There are 167 Covid-19 cases in the community today and two further people have died with the virus. A woman in her 80s has died at Middlemore Hospital. And a man in his 90s has died in North Shore Hospital. He was a resident at…

Last week’s Covid protest outside Parliament served as a warning that New Zealand is not immune to the kinds of anger seen overseas. As Labour Party whip Kieran McAnulty put it, “I think everyone needs to be aware that things are…

A man being treated for seizures at a US hospital was found to have had tapeworm larvae embedded in his brain from decades ago.

The 38-year-old man was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston after his wife found him shaking and speaking "gibberish" on the floor at 4am.

A study of the case, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, noted the man was combative and resisted being put in an ambulance.

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Initially unable to find anything wrong with the man – who was otherwise in good health – doctors finally ran a CT scan on his head, revealing several brain lesions.

He was therefore eventually diagnosed with neurocysticercosis.

The condition occurs when larval eggs from a tapeworm enter somebody's body and migrate to the brain. It can be fatal.

The study's authors said they believed the larvae had embedded into the man's brain 20 years ago, causing scarring.

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The patient had emigrated from Guatemala as a young man, a region where tapeworm-related conditions are more common than in the US.

The study published in the journal said the man was prescribed medication and released after five days.

In the three years since, he has remained seizure-free.

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The US Centres for Disease Control say neurocysticercosis often develops if somebody digests microscopic eggs from the faeces of somebody with an intestinal pork tapeworm.

One way this can occur is if after using the bathroom, somebody does not wash their hands, and then contaminates a food preparation area.

It is more common in poorer and less hygienic regions, the CDC says.

About 1000 people every year are hospitalised with neurocysticercosis in the US.

It is a leading cause of adult onset epilepsy worldwide.

A stream in Hawaii that smelled like beer has been found to be alcoholic, following a spill from a nearby drinks warehouse.

The waterway, in Waipio, was found to have been contaminated by runoff from a storm drain, Hawaii News Now reported.

The runoff included a spill from a warehouse owned by Paradise Beverages, a liquor manufacturer, according to government authorities.

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"The other day we came here you would think it was a beer pub that hadn't opened its doors for three or four days," environmental activist Carroll Cox said.

Interestingly, Hawaii News Now took it on themselves to have some of the water tested for its alcohol content.

Taking it to independent organisation FQ Labs, they found that it measured at 1.2 per cent alcohol.

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While that may not be a huge amount – light beer typically contains up to 2.7 per cent alcohol and a hearty XXXX Gold mid-strength will include 3.5 per cent alcohol – it's probably still a heady draught for local wildlife.

Paradise Beverages told Hawaii News Now they were working with the proper authorities to determine the cause of the pollution.

The storm drain is no longer carrying the tainted runoff.

Queenslanders have been told to brace for severe thunderstorms today, which will bring heavy rainfall and may cause flash flooding.

Storm activity is expected across the Wide Bay region and Burnett coast, stretching all the way between Bundaberg and Moore Park Beach.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued a severe weather warning for the region, with the coast expected to cop a battering starting from this morning and lasting the duration of the day.

In New South Wales, the BoM has also said that storms are possible across the state's northern areas this afternoon.

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The bureau has advised residents in the area to monitor situations closely, which have a chance of becoming severe.

Elsewhere in NSW, a weather warning has also been issued for the Snow Mountains region, with gale force winds predicted to wreak havoc, seeing speeds of up to 125 kilometres an hour.

"Damaging winds, averaging 80 to 90 kilometres an hour with peak gusts of around 125 are possible over Alpine areas above 1900m from later this afternoon," the BoM said.

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https://twitter.com/BOM_Vic/status/1461072404411727877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

"Winds are expected to ease on Friday morning. Locations which may be affected include Thredbo Top Station."

A severe wind warning was also issued for parts of South Australia yesterday, which has continued into today.

Residents living at the in Mount Lofty Ranges and parts of Mid North and Murraylands districts have been told to practice caution and monitor situations.

In Victoria, the state has been forecast a mixed bag of weather today, with generally warm temperatures becoming windy throughout the afternoon, a severe weather warning for the ranges and even a severe fire warning for Mallee.

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Overall, Australia is far wetter than it was 12 months ago, with the La Niña weather system truly setting in across the country this year.

Meteorologists said hardly anywhere in the country is in need of rain right now, as damp conditions have continued to soak the nation, and are expected to remain moving more toward summer.

Although the USA officially declared La Niña for another year a month ago, the BoM have yet to in Australia, though it is expected within the coming week.

Rugby legend Jannie du Plessis' one-year-old son has died in a tragic drowning accident.

The tragedy happened on the same day the former Springboks star marked his 39th birthday, South African media site News24 reports.

The child's death has been confirmed by Du Plessis' provincial side, the Lions.

"I can confirm that this tragedy took place. We are all devastated," Lions chief executive Rudolf Straeul said.

The circumstances surrounding the child's death had not been confirmed yet.

Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubela confirmed that police were investigating an inquest docket after the toddler drowned in a swimming pool on Tuesday.

Du Plessis joined the Lions as an experienced forward tasked in 2019.

He was part of South Africa's 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning squad.

Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman," was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the US Capitol riot.

The Justice Department had asked for Chansley to receive a harsh sentence as a way to set an example among the January 6 rioters, and prosecutors have positioned Chansley as emblematic of a barbaric crowd.

Since then, Chansley gained fame as the "QAnon Shaman," a figure known in the fringe online movement and for widely shared photos that captured him wearing face paint and a headdress inside the Senate chamber.

Judge Royce Lamberth has had Chansley held in jail since his arrest, despite his multiple attempts to gain sympathy and his release.

Other judges are likely to look to Lamberth's sentence as a possible benchmark, since Chansley is one of the first felony defendants among more than 660 Capitol riot cases to receive a punishment.

Pictures of Chansley at the Capitol went viral because of his bizarre appearance while leading others through the Capitol, shouting into a bullhorn. As one of the first 30 rioters inside the building, he made his way to the Senate dais that was hastily vacated earlier by then-Vice President Mike Pence, and left a note that read, "It's Only A Matter Of Time. Justice Is Coming!" according to his plea documents.

Chansley also carried an American flag on a speared flagpole, which prosecutors have characterized as a weapon.

Lamberth asked only a few questions – about Chansley's leaving a note for Pence and whether he knew of other threats to Pence's life coming from the crowd, and about his choices that day.

"He made himself the image of the riot, didn't he?" Lamberth said to Chansley's defence attorney. "For good or bad, he made himself the very image of this whole event."

Prosecutor Kimberly Paschall used several videos to show Chansley's entrance into the Capitol building and Senate chamber, yelling along with the crowd. "That is not peaceful."

Paschall called his role as the "flag-bearer" of the mob "chaos" and "terrifying."

Before January 6, Chansley "posted vitriolic messages on social media, encouraging his thousands of followers to expose corrupt politicians, to ID the traitors in the government, to halt their agenda, to stop the steal, and end the deep state," Paschall said. "That was a call to battle."

After the riot and his arrest, Chansley asked then-President Donald Trump for a pardon. He also went on a hunger strike in an attempt to get organic food while in custody and spoke to "60 Minutes" from jail without permission. In September, Chansley pleaded to a felony charge of obstructing Congress' certification of the 2020 vote.

Spoke for more than a half-hour

For more than 30 minutes, Chansley spoke to Lamberth about the impact jail has had on him, and the guilt he feels for breaking the law.

He said he was wrong to enter the Capitol on January 6, and that he is not an insurrectionist or domestic terrorist, but rather a "good man who broke the law."

His sprawling speech held the attention of the judge, as Chansley quoted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and "The Shawshank Redemption," and described wanting to live his life like Jesus Christ and Gandhi.

"The hardest part about this is to know that I'm to blame. To have to look in the mirror and know, you really messed up. Royally," Chansley said.

"I was in solitary confinement because of me. Because of my decision. I broke the law … I should do what Gandhi would do and take responsibility," he says. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about it, that's what men of honor do." He promised to never have to be jailed again.

"I think your remarks are the most remarkable I've heard in 34 years," Lamberth told Chansley, calling his speech "akin to the kind of thing Martin Luther King would have said."

But, Lamberth added, "what you did here was as horrific as you now concede," and he could not justify a shorter sentence.

After the hearing, Chansley's attorney Albert Watkins said that Chansley is "embracing being held accountable."

Chansley will get credit for the time he has already served behind bars. He will also have to pay $2000 for damage done to the Capitol building during the riot, and will serve three years of supervised release at the end of his prison term.