Hundreds of shoppers fled as a masked group robbed a jewellery store at the Westfield Albany mall in Auckland this evening.Westfield Albany confirmed a group of men ran into the mall and smashed cabinets at the Michael Hill Jeweller…

New Zealand has joined its Western allies in not recognising results of referenda in Russia-occupied regions of Ukraine and labelling them a “sham”. Russia has said it would formally annex four regions parts of occupied Ukraine…

Two men have been arrested after an allegedly stolen van was dumped in an Adelaide street.

CCTV shows two men walking around the suburb of Myrtle Bank just before 1.30am on Friday.

Footage then shows the pair taking off in a rental van, which police said was stolen and had stolen plates.

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Police then pursued the pair towards to the city before they lost them along the way.

Officers said they discovered the car dumped just minutes later near the zoo on Plane Tree Drive.

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Police dog Duke then tracked the pair through the university grounds towards Festival Plaza, where they were arrested and charged with being unlawfully on a premises and illegal use.

The 29-year-old man fronted court today while a 32-year-old man from Adelaide will appear in November.

An Auckland school principal has taken leave as an investigation is conducted into the hiring of a sexual abuser as a teacher aide.The Herald understands the principal is on leave and a barrister has been hired to conduct the inquiry,…

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air A recent documentary on the Enchanter fishing tragedy has seen some retailers experiencing higher than usual sales for emergency position-indicating radio beacons.When the Enchanter…

A woman was stranded for 15 hours in her wrecked car after crashing off a bank on State Highway 1, at Mangamuka Gorge in Northland.The area has no cellphone coverage and no passing traffic, 1News reported, leaving the woman stranded…

By RNZ Gloriavale Christian community received almost $5 million in government money in the 2021 financial year, while its church trust held more than $4m in cash, a court has heard.Financial statements show senior Gloriavale…

Rangatahi (teenagers or young adults) not perceived as European/Pākehā, ‘white’ or mixed race are more likely to experience discrimination by teachers, police and healthcare providers in Aotearoa, according to research from…

China's famous "Panda diplomacy" faces a test after a bear in Taiwan came down with a life-threatening brain lesion.

Taipei Zoo told CNN they had requested help from experts in China to treat their giant panda, Tuan Tuan, after an MRI scan revealed the damage.

They are hoping for support in treating Tuan Tuan after he began behaving abnormally, lost his appetite and suffered a three-minute seizure in late August.

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But the request raises the possibility of a delicate diplomatic balancing act, given relations between China and Taiwan have taken a nosedive since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-governing island in August.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory, despite never having governed it, and has vowed to "reunify" it with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.

Since Pelosi's visit, it has ramped up pressure on the island by holding a series of military exercises on its doorstep.

Now animal lovers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will be watching to see how it responds the zoo's request.

A goodwill gift – and a political token

Tuan Tuan and his partner Yuan Yuan were gifted to Taiwan by China in 2008 as a goodwill gift from Beijing – as part of its longstanding practice known as "panda diplomacy".

But the two animals, whose combined names form the word "reunion" in Chinese, were also a subtle political token of the Communist Party's view of Taiwan.

There have been some signs Beijing is willing to extend the olive branch.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for mainland China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the Taipei Zoo had notified the Giant Panda Protection Research Centre in Chengdu, Sichuan province, of Tuan Tuan's condition.

And state-run news outlet China Daily reported on Wednesday that experts from China were willing to provide technical support to the zoo and help the animal.

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A Taipei Zoo spokesperson said it would "very much welcome the help" but added that Chinese experts "haven't specified whether they intend to send any experts here this time".

The spokesperson said that previously, "Both sides have cooperated closely to care for the giant pandas," and "regularly exchange knowledge."

"In the past, when the panda gave birth, they also sent experts to assist us," the spokesperson added.

Since being gifted to Taiwan, Tuan Tuan and his partner Yuan Yuan have given birth to two cubs, one in 2013 and another in 2020.

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In a statement, the zoo said Tuan Tuan was "recovering under observation behind the scenes" and it was "necessary to wait for all test results before clarifying the cause [of his illness]".

Pandas' average life span in the wild is 14 to 20 years, but they can live far longer in captivity, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Tuan Tuan turned 18 in August.

In July, the world's oldest male giant panda in captivity, named An An, died in captivity in Hong Kong's Ocean Park. It was 35 years old.

In 2017 the International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded the species from "endangered" to "vulnerable" after their population grew nearly 17 per cent over the previous decade.

That move was mirrored by the Chinese government last year after the wild giant panda population increased to 1800.

Giant pandas are notoriously hard to breed in captivity, but after years of decline, their numbers in the wild have increased in recent years.

Melbourne-based Samoan social media creator, Thomas Pepa, has taken his push to grow awareness of a debilitating condition to the next level on TikTok.He’s raised more than $9000 in support of his nephew River and others living…