National MP Mark Mitchell says he rushed to Westfield Albany mall to pick up a terrified relative after a masked group robbed a jewellery store in front of families and evening shoppers.Footage of the robbery shows loud bangs echoing…
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Tradies perform citizen's arrest after Toyota Hilux allegedly stolen
A joyride across Brisbane in an allegedly stolen ute has ended in a citizen's arrest.
A group of tradies chased down two teenagers in the suburb of Manly West this morning after their Toyota Hilux went missing.
The chase stopped in a suburban street, where one of the teens ran down a footpath, while the other remained in the car.
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The tradies blocked the ute with one of their cars, as the teenager locked himself inside.
Residents in the street said they were woken by commotion and yelling.
Police arrived at the scene a short time after.
It is understood the teenager who ran down the footpath was taken to the police station by his parents.
Both teenagers are now being questioned by officers.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern makes surprising appearance as model at World of WearableArt
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made a surprise appearance as a model at the World of WearableArt (WOW) show in Wellington.Wearing a specially commissioned piece, Digitally Grown, by New Zealand designer Dylan Mulder, Ardern appeared…
Kaimai chaos: 'Massive' pothole takes out convoy of cars
Police have issued a warning after a reported “massive” pothole punctured the tyres of various vehicles traversing State Highway 29 over the Kaimai Range.Social media users have posted videos showing a lengthy line of stricken vehicles…
Human skull and 'large number of bones' found on Darwin beach
Police say there's no indication of trauma to skeletal remains found on a Darwin beach earlier this week.
A "large number of bones", including a skull, have been recovered by Northern Territory Police from Lee Point Beach.
Detective Acting Superintendent Karl Day said the bones were discovered by a bushwalker around lunchtime on Wednesday and police were notified soon after.
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"There's no indication of any trauma to the skull or any trauma to other parts of the bones on first look at them," Day said.
Police established a crime scene and called in specialists.
"From Wednesday through until Friday lunchtime the scene has been painstakingly processed with the use of medical experts, including a forensic pathologist," Day added.
It's still not known how long the remains have been there.
"From now we will be focused on identification of the remains (and) focus on putting a timeline on when this person has died," Day said.
Day said further analysis would be undertaken by forensic specialists as well as archaeological experts.
Police are seeking information from the public, requesting anyone with knowledge of this persons death to contact police on 131 444.
Patron reportedly stabbed and seriously injured at Hastings bar, one in custody
A Friday night at a downtown Hastings bar and gaming lounge has turned violent after a patron was reportedly stabbed.One person is in custody after the alleged attack, understood to have happened at Zabeels Sports Bar and TAB in…
Telstra reacts to Optus hack with online safety tips for customers
It's been over a week since Optus was hacked and the telco began contacting its customers to let them know they had been a victim of the data breach, but there are still some customers claiming they've not heard from Optus.
In response to a large number of questions from their own customers, Telstra has today sent an email to its entire customer base with their own online safety tips.
Titled "helping to keep you safe", the email from Telstra refers directly to the Optus attack, saying: "Over the past week many of our customers have reached out to us following the Optus cyber-attack with questions about how to stay safe online and to know if their data has been impacted."
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The telco giant then confirms their customer data is not impacted, but that they have "heightened our monitoring and, as cyber-attacks become more regular, and scammers become more sophisticated, we all need to remain on alert".
To assist Telstra customers, who will have certainly seen the extensive coverage of the Optus incident over the last week, there are then six tips supplied.
In reality, these tips are more detailed than anything Optus has sent to their own users, but that is in part because it's more broad and covers password protection – something Optus has not touched on so as not to alarm their customers given no password information is involved in the Optus breach.
Given Optus has taken a week to contact their 9.8 million customers via email, 9news.com.au asked Telstra how long it would take for their customers to receive the email.
"We anticipate our customers will receive this communication by close of business today," a Telstra spokesperson said.
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It leaves Optus customers to wonder why it takes Optus so long to send emails, when Telstra can do it in a day.
Telstra's six tips to stay safe online are, in part:
- Switch on two-step verification with Telstra if you haven't already
- Switch on two-step verification on your bank account and monitor transactions
- Remain sceptical of unexpected communications
- Use strong passwords
- Keep your devices updated
- Be mindful of what you share on social media
Focus: Why Kiwis are 'downgrading' as new PriceSpy shopping habits revealed
Watch full Focus story above The way Kiwis are choosing to shop is changing with new data suggesting we are steering away from purchasing the latest and greatest gadgets.PriceSpy research found average price points across popular…
Russian strike on humanitarian convoy kills 23, wounds 28 in Ukraine
A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens, an official said Friday, just hours before Moscow planned to annex more of Ukraine in an escalation of the seven-month war.
Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh made the announcement in an online statement Friday. He said there were at least 28 wounded when Russian forces targeted a humanitarian convoy heading to Russian-occupied territory.
He posted images of burned-out vehicles and bodies lying in the road.
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Russia did not immediately acknowledge the strike.
It comes as Moscow prepares to annex four regions into Russia after an internationally criticised, gunpoint referendum vote as part of its invasion of Ukraine.
Those regions include areas near Zaporizhzhia, but not the city itself, which remains in Ukrainian hands.
Starukh said those in the convoy planned to travel into Russian-occupied territory to pick up their relatives and then take them to safety.
He said rescuers were at the site of the attack.
The annexation – and planned celebratory concerts and rallies in Moscow and the occupied territories – would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed "referendums" that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that four regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – would be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to give a major speech.
Peskov said the regions' pro-Moscow administrators would sign treaties to join Russia in the Kremlin's ornate St George's Hall.
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In an apparent response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting Friday of his National Security and Defence Council.
Zelenskyy also sought to capitalise on anti-war sentiment in Russia by issuing a special video directed at Russia's ethnic minorities, especially those in Dagestan, one of the country's poorer regions in the North Caucasus.
"You do not have to die in Ukraine," he said, wearing a black hoodie that read in English "I'm Ukrainian," and standing in front of a plaque in Kyiv memorialising what he called a Dagestani hero.
He called on the ethnic minorities to resist mobilisation.
The US and its allies have promised to adopt even more sanctions than they've already levied against Russia and to offer millions of dollars in extra support for Ukraine as the Kremlin duplicates the annexation playbook it followed when it incorporated Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Putin early Friday issued decrees recognising the independence of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, steps he had taken in February regarding Luhansk and Donetsk and earlier for Crimea.
Ukraine has repeated its vows to recapture the four regions, as well as Crimea.
For its part, Russia pledges to defend all its territory – including newly annexed regions – by all available means, including nuclear weapons.
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Heightening the tensions are Russia's partial military mobilisation and allegations of sabotage of two Russian pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor that were designed to feed natural gas to Europe.
Adding to the Kremlin's woes are Ukraine's success in recapturing some of the very land Russia is annexing and problems with the mobilisation that President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday.
Ukraine's Western supporters have described the stage-managed referendums on whether to live under Russian rule as a bald-faced land grab based on lies.
They say some people were forced to vote at gunpoint in an election without independent observers on territory from which thousands of residents have fled or been forcibly deported.
In unusually strong language, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday in New York that Russia's annexation would violate the UN Charter and has "no legal value".
He described the move as "a dangerous escalation" and said it "must not be accepted".
"Any decision by Russia to go forward will further jeopardise the prospects for peace," Guterres said.
As a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia bears "a particular responsibility" to respect the UN Charter, the secretary-general said.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres conveyed the message to Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, on Wednesday.
In what would be a major blow to Moscow's war effort, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces may soon encircle Lyman, 160 kilometres south-east of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
"The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping" in the northern Donetsk and western Luhansk regions and "may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk" region, the institute said, citing Russian reports.
One person airlifted to hospital after serious crash in Rangitata, South Canterbury
One person is confirmed to be in a serious condition after a crash in Rangitata, South Canterbury.St John confirmed one person had been taken to Christchurch Hospital by helicopter.Police said the two-vehicle crash occurred about…