Tukoroirangi (Tuku) Morgan has returned as chair of Te Arataura after Linda Te Aho stepped down from the role last week.Morgan returns to the role he held from 2006-2012 when he helped spearhead the Waikato River settlement claim…
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Suggestion rape accused 'mobster' was misidentified
A “mobster” accused of rape could have been misidentified by the complainant, a court has heard.Pierre Rewi Anglem, 42, is on trial after pleading not guilty to two charges of rape, four of unlawful sexual connection, one of possessing…
Law firm sought right to sell woman's home to pay legal debts
Two Nelson lawyers have been found guilty of misconduct for their handling of a complicated family estate matter.The New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal has described the actions of Graeme Downing and Alexander…
Dog who chewed off its leg to escape adopted by couple
A dog who chewed off its own leg to try and escape while it was tied up has found a loving home.
In August, a mail carrier found Bella tied up in a steel tether without food or water among deplorable conditions in Saginaw, Michigan.
In a desperate attempt to escape, she chewed off her own leg at the thigh.
Bella was malnourished and underweight when she was found.
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Staff at the Saginaw County Animal Care and Control Centre cared for Bella until it left Michigan for the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah on January 15.
Saginaw County Animal Control Officer Desiree Sage, who rescued Bella, travelled with it out west.
"Once we got there, it was very emotional. It was almost like leaving my own dog behind but I knew she was in a great place," Ms Sage said.
Bella's soon-to-be adopters, Kim Diehl and Jason Reding from Rockford, Illinois, visited the sanctuary in February.
"She stole our hearts. That was how the story goes," Ms Diehl said.
The couple adopted a senior pit bull named Roxanne from the sanctuary in 2015.
After Roxanne passed away in October, the couple wanted another pit bull in their home.
The day before her official adoption, Ms Diehl and Mr Reding flew out to Denver and rented a car to take Bella back to Illinois to ensure Bella had a comfortable journey home.
READ MORE: Dogs being given up across Victoria in unprecedented numbers
"She's had such a horrible start to life. We intend to make up for that. I'm so happy that we can make life good for her so that she knows there actually is good things out there for her," Ms Diehl said.
Ms Sage said she cried when she learned Bella found her forever home.
"The people that adopted her actually spent a whole week with her. So to know that they took the time to get to know Bella, to make sure that they could handle her, was heart-warming," Ms Sage said.
Ms Sage said she hopes to drive out to see Bella someday.
As for Ms Diehl, she is more than happy to arrange a visit.
"I think those are incredible people that did what they did for her. And that they took her out there. Best Friends is an incredible place for animals. And that they took her there to get what she needed was great," Ms Diehl said.
Small sign that led to Aussie bride-to-be's chronic diagnosis
When Leah McDonald noticed tingling in her feet while running last year, she put it down to getting back into shape after knee surgery.
But then the 28-year-old woke up one morning unable to see properly in her right eye.
"My right eye was fuzzy and it progressively got worse," she said.
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Ms McDonald works as a speech pathologist at a hospital and has some medical knowledge. She soon realised what could be wrong.
She feared she might be suffering with Multiple Sclerosis, a chronic disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.
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Scans confirmed it within days. It was actually a relief.
"I guess I was expecting it," she said. "I ended up high-fiving the doctor as I wasn't wanting the diagnosis of the other things," she said.
Soon after her diagnosis, Mrs McDonald, from Swanhill in regional Victoria was introduced to a special medic.
Belinda Bardsley is her MS nurse and helped her negotiate her new reality.
'It was incredible," she said. "I had no idea that whole service was available.
"It's been so reassuring. I would hate to think of how scary it would be to go through what I've gone through and not have that support."
However around a third of the 25,000 Aussies with MS have to face diagnosis without an MS nurse's support.
READ MORE: Woman who lost sight in her 20s says being blind isn't a barrier
There are only 90 in Australia.
A new report from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, in collaboration with MS Australia and MS Nurses Australasia, showed the benefits of having a nurse.
It found patients with the specialised nursing care see lower disability levels, slower disease progression, reduced need for emergency visits, hospitalisations and more costly health professionals
All this added up to a ten per cent reduction in costs associated with MS care.
Rohan Greenland, CEO MS Australia said a $5m government investment would reduce the overall annual cost of MS care by $62.2 million.
"Nurses in chronic disease care, like MS, can effectively alter the trajectory of the disease and when the diagnosis is in younger people, 20-to-30-year-olds as we see in MS, investment in nurses is absolutely essential, he said.
"They have their full life ahead and ensuring they have the ability to maximise every aspect of it – must be acknowledged and prioritised."
Meanwhile, Ms McDonald has started monthly infusions of a drug called Tysabri which has been seen to slow down the disease's progression in some studies.
She was well enough to walk down the aisle at her wedding to partner Gus a few months after being diagnosed.
She is even back to running, and will take part in MS charity fundraiser The May 50K.
She admits she sometimes needs to take things easy, but is determined to have a positive outlook.
"I still get tingling limbs and fatigue is a big thing and the vision in my right eye is a bit impaired," she said.
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"I can drink alcohol, and dance, I guess it's just being wary that I'm going to be really tired the next day.
"I'm optimistic it's not going to affect my life too much. It's just learning how to manage it," she said.
The Australian Government Department of Health, said it has given $6.4 million towards a pilot which aims to improve access to specialised nursing care for people with conditions including Multiple Sclerosis.
It said it's leading the development of a National Nursing Strategy and a Nurse Practitioner 10 Year Plan.
"The Strategy will set out a vision for the future of nursing in Australia and will articulate priorities for action to help support a capable, resilient nursing profession delivering person-centred, evidence-based, compassionate care to Australian communities across all sectors, including MS," a spokesman, said.
What is MS?
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)is a chronic disease that affects the brain and spinal cord.
While there is medication to manage the disease, there's no cure, and treatment can't reverse the damage that's already been done.
Many people, often wrongly, associate MS with being unable to walk, but that's not always the case.
Every week, 10 Australians will be diagnosed with the disease and three quarters of them will be aged 20-40.
That makes it is the most common chronic disease in young adults
Three times as many women have MS than men.
MS symptoms include muscular spasms, loss of balance, fatigue, constipation and memory loss.
Contact journalist Sarah Swain: Ss****@******om.au
What happens when the PM calls an election? Take a drive with 9News
The Prime Minister is due to make the drive to Government House and call the Federal Election any day now.
Scott Morrison will meet the Governor-General and ask him to dissolve parliament, as part of an election process rich in tradition and important under Australia's Constitution.
Nine's Political Reporter Jonathan Kearsley takes us along the route the Prime Minister will take, and what might be going through his mind. Watch the video above.
How to vote in this year's election
This year's federal election will be the nation's first during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's already thought things will look very different.
Postal and early voting is set to surge, with people keen to avoid long lines at polling places on election day.
Here's how you can make sure your voice is heard at the ballot box.
READ MORE: When will the federal election take place this year?
Who gets to vote?
All Australian citizens over the age of 18 are required to enroll as a voter with the Australian Electoral Commission.
You can do that online here, or visit an AEC centre in person.
If you've moved or changed your name since you last voted, you need to update your details at the AEC website, or in person.
READ MORE: What happens when the PM calls an election
I'm enrolled – how can I vote?
While Australia's election days are designed to be in-person events, postal and early voting is also permitted.
People need to have a good reason for it though – such as having to work on election day, or if you're going to be outside the electorate you're enrolled in.
If you can't vote on election day, there will be in-person early voting centres open around the country, with the details to be published on the AEC website.
Alternatively, people can apply online for a postal vote form after the election date has been announced.
It's anticipated there will be a surge in postal voting this year, due in large part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you're isolating with COVID-19 or as a close contact on election day and didn't have time to apply for a postal vote, you will be able to cast your vote via phone.
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What if I want to vote on election day?
Closer to the ballot, The AEC website will post the location of polling places in your electorate online.
These will be open from 8am to 6pm on the day.
One way or another, I've got my ballot papers. Now what?
All voters receive two separate ballot papers.
The smaller, green ballot paper lists the candidates for your electorate who are aiming for the House of Representatives – the Lower House.
To ensure your vote is counted, you must number each box, with "1" beside your most preferred candidate, "2" by your second-most preferred, and so on.
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If just one box is left un-checked, it will be assumed the unmarked box is for the voter's least-preferred candidate.
But any other gaps in the numbering will mean the ballot is deemed informal, and it will be discarded.
Easy enough – but the other paper is much bigger…
The larger white ballot is for the Senate, and there are two ways to fill it out.
Anybody choosing to vote "above the line" must mark at least six boxes 1-6. Again, your preferred party gets "1", and so on. You can number more than six boxes, but six is the required minimum.
Voting above the line means your preferences will first be distributed to the candidates in the party or group of your first choice, then to candidates in the party or group of your second choice and so on.
Voting below the line means you will vote for individual Senate candidates, rather than parties or groups.
Choosing this option means you will have to number at least 12 boxes for your preferred Senate aspirates, 1-12.
I can't find anybody I want to vote for. Do I have to?
There is no penalty for casting an informal vote – whether it's a mistake or intentional.
But you are required to turn up to the polling place regardless, and get your name checked off the rolls – unless you've voted early.
Failing to do so could result in a fine.
One more thing – what is a "democracy sausage"?
The perfect post-vote treat. Make sure to bring some spare coins so you don't miss out.
Find out more information at the Australian Electoral Commission website.
And you can practice voting with substitute ballot papers here.
Everything to know about XE variant of COVID-19 virus
A new COVID-19 sub-variant, known as XE, has emerged.
Health authorities have detected 637 cases of XE in England, and the variant has also recently been found in Thailand.
Relatively little is known about XE, but here's what we know so far.
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What is XE?
XE is a mixture of the two Omicron variant sub-types BA.1 and BA.2. The BA.2 variant has also been known as the 'Stealth' variant.
And XE is being called a 'recombinant'?
That's right. A recombinant just means the variant is a mixture of two different viruses or variants, and has characteristics of both.
What are the characteristics?
In short, XE has a BA.2 Omicron lineage with a piece of BA.1 at the front end of its genome. Its spike is BA.2.
READ MORE: Zelenskyy accuses Russian troops of worst atrocities since WWII
Is it more transmissible?
With little data, it's too soon to know.
However, on March 29, the World Health Organisation noted XE may have a growth advantage of 10 per cent over the currently dominant BA.2 Omicron sub-variant.
That means it could spread faster and more easily. The key word there is "could".
Is it more dangerous?
Again, too soon to know but it seems unlikely.
"I would not be unduly concerned at this stage," Andrew Freedman, an infectious diseases expert from Cardiff University, told Newsweek.
Recombinant variants are not an unusual occurrence.
How about symptoms?
Keep an eye out for the usual symptoms that could indicate you have the virus; runny nose, sneezing and a sore throat, fever, cough and loss of taste or smell.
And will vaccines work against XE?
There's not enough data to gauge XE's severity or vaccine effectiveness.
Has XE been detected in Australia?
There's no suggestion XE has entered Australia yet. It was first detected in the UK on January 19 and Thailand in early April.
If XE becomes more dominant, expect it to move around the world, including Australia.
Civilians shot in back of head after being tortured, Zelenskyy tells UN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russian troops of gruesome atrocities in Ukraine, telling the United Nations Security Council those responsible should face war crimes charges at a Nuremberg-like tribunal.
Mr Zelenskyy, appearing via video from Ukraine on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEST), told council members civilians had been shot in the back of the head after being tortured, blown up with grenades in their apartments and crushed to death by tanks while in cars.
"They cut off limbs, cut their throats," he said, recounting what he described as the worst atrocities since World War II.
"Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because their aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them."
Likening the troops' actions to those of Islamic State, Mr Zelenskyy said the "Russian military and those who gave them orders must be brought to justice immediately for war crimes in Ukraine."
"Anyone who has given criminal orders and carried them out by killing our people will be brought before the tribunal which should be similar to the Nuremberg tribunals," he said.
Over the past few days, grisly images have emerged of what appeared to be civilian massacres carried out by Russian forces on the outskirts of Kyiv before they pulled back from the capital.
They have stirred global revulsion and led Western nations to expel dozens more of Moscow's diplomats and propose further sanctions, including a ban on coal imports from Russia.
READ MORE: Sickening scenes from Ukraine are a reminder of history's cruelest moments
Mr Zelenskyy stressed that Bucha was only one place and that there are more with similar horrors.
The head of NATO, meanwhile, warned that Russia is regrouping its forces in order to deploy them to eastern and southern Ukraine for a "crucial phase of the war," and said that more horrors may come to light as Russian troops continue to pull back in the north.
"When and if they withdraw their troops and Ukrainian troops take over, I'm afraid they will see more mass graves, more atrocities and more examples of of war crimes," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
READ MORE: Australia backs Russian war crimes investigation call by Biden
'Torture chamber' among Bucha horrors
Ukrainian officials said the bodies of at least 410 civilians have been found in towns around Kyiv that were recaptured from Russian forces and that a "torture chamber" was discovered in Bucha.
Mr Zelenskyy told the Security Council there was "not a single crime" that Russian troops hadn't committed in Bucha.
"The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country. They shot and killed women outside their houses when they just tried to call someone who is alive. They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies," he said.
Police and other investigators walked the silent streets of Bucha on Tuesday, taking notes on bodies that residents showed them.
Survivors who hid in their homes during the month-long Russian occupation of the town, many of them past middle age, wandered past charred tanks and jagged window panes with plastic bags of food and other humanitarian aid. Red Cross workers checked in on intact homes.
Associated Press journalists in the town have counted dozens of corpses in civilian clothes. Many appeared to have been shot at close range, and some had their hands bound or their flesh burned. A mass grave in a churchyard held bodies wrapped in plastic.
The Kremlin has denounced the images as fake and suggested the scenes were staged by the Ukrainians. But high-resolution satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed that many of the bodies had been lying in the open for weeks, during the time that Russian forces were in the town.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the images from Bucha revealed "a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities".
He said the reports of atrocities were "more than credible" and that the US and other countries will seek to hold the culprits accountable.
"Only non-humans are capable of this," said Angelica Chernomor, a refugee from Kyiv who crossed into Poland with her two children, and who had seen the photos from Bucha.
"Even if people live under a totalitarian regime, they must retain feelings, dignity, but they do not."
Ms Chernomor is among the more than 4 million Ukrainians who have fled the country in the wake of the February 24 invasion.
Russia has rejected similar accusations against its forces in the past by accusing its enemies of forging photos and video and using so-called crisis actors.
Europe boots out dozens of Russian diplomats
As Western leaders condemned the killings in Bucha, Italy, Spain and Denmark expelled dozens of Russian diplomats on Tuesday, following moves by Germany and France. Hundreds of Russian diplomats have been sent home since the start of the invasion, many accused of being spies.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the expulsions a "short-sighted" measure that would complicate communication and warned they would be met with "reciprocal steps".
In another show of support, the European Union's executive branch proposed a ban on coal imports from Russia, in what would be the first sanctions from the bloc targeting the country's lucrative energy industry over the war. Coal imports amount to an estimated €4 billion ($5.74 billion) per year.
European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denounced Moscow's "heinous crimes" around Kyiv.
The 27-nation EU has been a steadfast backer of Ukraine since the Russian invasion began and has already pushed through four rounds of sanctions — but Ukrainian officials have begged for more.
Just hours before the latest proposal was announced, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that to prevent "new Buchas" the West must impose the "mother of all sanctions" — on Russian oil and gas.
"A few months of tightening your belts are worth thousands of saved lives," he said.
But Western nations are divided over how far to go. Some are calling for a boycott of Russian oil and gas imports, while Germany and others fear that such a move could plunge the continent into a severe economic crisis.
Western weapons have enabled Ukraine to mount a stiffer than expected resistance to Russia's overwhelming firepower. That resistance stopped Russian forces from overrunning the capital and other cities, and many troops have now withdrawn from areas around Kyiv.
But Western and Ukrainian officials say Russia is merely regrouping for another offensive.
"Moscow is not giving up its ambitions in Ukraine," Mr Stoltenberg said.
"We expect a further push in the eastern and southern Ukraine to try to take the entire Donbas and to create a land bridge (to the Crimea Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014)."
Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas have been fighting Ukrainian troops for the last eight years.
One-punch victim speaks for the first time since brutal attack
Perth soccer player Danny Hodgson is pleading for an end to violence on the city's streets.
A one-punch attack left the 26-year-old with a catastrophic brain injury in September last year.
His teenage attacker was given a sentence of three-and-a-half years.
READ MORE: Perth teen jailed over coward's punch of soccer player Danny Hodgson
Mr Hodgson and his family are now pushing for harsher penalties eight months after the encounter.
His mother Nicola said the unprovoked attack "broke our family, literally broke it to pieces".
"We're literally putting those pieces back together every day and it's never going to be normal," Ms Hodgson said.
The push follows an announcement today that boxer Danny Green's Stop the Coward Punch campaign will receive a million-dollar federal government boost.
READ MORE: Biden calls for Putin to face war crimes trial
The family believes it's a start but it isn't enough.
They are calling for a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years.
"If they want to stop this happening, they've got to act now," Mr Hodgson said.
"The quicker they act, the quicker it stops."
Mr Hodgson is making progress on his road to recovery and is doing things doctors believed he never would again.
"Every day is a challenge," he said.
"The main thing now is to learn how to walk again, which I'm improving rapidly."
Ms Hodgson said she was amazed by her son's progress.
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"It's something we didn't think we were going to see," she said.
"We were told he wouldn't do it and here he is just knocking down barriers and making me proud every day."
Mr Hodgson's parents flew to Perth to be by their son's side and they haven't left since.
After 186 days in hospital, the Joondalup player said he wouldn't be where he is without them.
"There's always light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
"You've just got to brace yourself and set a mindset that you're going to get through it and happier days will come."