On January 2, 1971, a deadly stampede killed 66 fans in Glasgow, Scotland who were there to watch an Old Firm match between Rangers and Celtics.

An Auckland car dealership will fork out a $14,000 refund after selling a car that had been once written off before being reregistered. As a recent tribunal decision details, Robbie Clemens purchased the 2006 Ford Focus from A…

A man has been arrested and charged after an alleged backpackers stabbing in one of Auckland’s most upmarket suburbs. The 33-year-old has appeared in the Auckland District Court today after an incident at a boarding house on St…

The Senate has voted to override President Donald Trump's veto of the sweeping defence bill known as the National Defence Authorization Act, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to the President in his final days in office.

Trump's veto forced Republicans to decide whether to defy the President in support of legislation that sets defence policy for the country.

The legislation, however, originally passed both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities and the House voted on Monday to override the veto. 

The final vote was 81-13, far above the two-thirds majority needed.

Trump had threatened to veto the defence bill, which includes pay raises for America's soldiers and modernizations for equipment, because it doesn't include a repeal of Section 230, a law that shields internet companies from being liable for what is posted on their websites by them or third parties.

The bill also includes provisions to limit how much money Trump can move around for his border wall and to require the military to rename bases that were named after figures from the Confederacy.

Trump has said that he opposes any effort by the US military to rename the nearly one dozen major bases and installations that bear the names of Confederate military commanders — and he raised that issue in his veto message in addition to his complaints over Section 230.

"I have been clear in my opposition to politically motivated attempts like this to wash away history and to dishonour the immense progress our country has fought for in realizing our founding principles," the message stated.

A standoff in the Senate over stimulus checks led to a drawn-out timeline for the final override vote after independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont indicated Monday night that he would delay a quick vote unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, brought a vote on $2,000 stimulus checks to the floor. That vote never took place and the Senate voted Friday afternoon to end debate on the veto override.

Two people have been arrested in relation to a homicide in Christchurch. A man and a woman, both aged 24, have been charged in relation to the death of local man Kane Alan Wayman. DO YOU KNOW MORE? EMAIL US Police have not…

An early-morning 4.2 earthquake rattled Wellington residents this morning.Geonet reported the quake at 4.57am, with a depth of 26km, 5km west of Upper Hutt.Geonet reported it as moderate and 7623 had said via its website that…

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Iraqi explosives experts were working to defuse a large mine discovered on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and evacuate its crew, authorities said Friday.

The statement came a day after two private security firms said sailors feared they had found a limpet mine on the MT Pola, a Liberian-flagged tanker in the waters off the Iraqi port of Basra. A limpet mine is a type of naval mine that attaches to the side of a ship, usually by a diver-member of special forces. It later explodes, and can significantly damage a vessel.

The Iraqi statement said the mine had been attached to a tanker rented from Iraq's Oil Marketing Company SOMO that was refuelling another vessel. Iraq's naval forces were making "a great effort to accomplish the mission" safely, said Iraq's Security Media Cell, which is affiliated with the country's security forces.

READ MORE: Rockets fired at US embassy in Baghdad

It was the first official Iraqi confirmation that a mine was discovered on an Iraqi tanker transferring fuel in the Persian Gulf to another vessel. It did not identify either vessels or provide more details.

The discovery came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. in the waning days of President Donald Trump's administration.

Already, America has conducted B-52 bomber flyovers and sent a nuclear submarine into the Persian Gulf over what Trump officials describe as the possibility of an Iranian attack on the one-year anniversary of the US drones strike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian general and a top Iraqi militia leader.

Iraq is marking the anniversary with a series of events this week.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an organisation under Britain's royal navy, said on its website that an "unknown object" had been attached to a ship's hull in the vicinity of Iraq's Khor Al-Zubair Port, without providing further information.

READ MORE: Crushing heatwave setting records in the Middle East

The Pola serves as floating fuel oil storage of Iraq's State Organisation of Marketing of Oil, said Sudharsan Sarathy, a senior oil analyst at the data-analysis firm Refinitiv. Smaller vessels carry the fuel oil to the ship, which then conducts ship-to-ship transfers in the Persian Gulf to clients.

Sarathy said the Pola was conducting a ship-to-ship transfer with the MT Nordic Freedom, a Bermuda-flagged tanker.

Friday's statement said an explosives-handling team from Iraq's Interior Ministry was airlifted to the scene after a "foreign body" was observed attached to one of the ships in the waiting area in Iraq's international waters, 28 nautical miles from Iraqi oil ports.

Despite high waves, the vessel receiving the fuel was evacuated while the Iraqi team was still working on neutralising the mine and evacuating the refuelling ship, it said.

In 2019, the US blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 per cent of all the world's oil passes. Iran denies being involved.

Thousands of Victorians sat in long queues overnight in a race to cross the NSW border before it closed.

The border shut at midnight as Victoria moves to protect its residents from growing COVID-19 cases across Sydney.

Queues were reportedly dozens of kilometres long at every checkpoint between the states as police worked through documentation to assess whether the returning Victorian residents had been in a NSW COVID-19 "red zone".

READ MORE: Pressure mounts on NSW premier to enforce Sydney lockdown

Despite the long queues, Victorian officials said anyone who was in the queue by 11.59pm would have a chance to cross – but the same will not apply to those wishing to do so from today.

"Anybody who is in a queue at the border at 11.59pm will be allowed to go through," Victoria's Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar said.

"But that does not extend to people wandering through at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

One couple chose to drive through the night from Port Macquarie in NSW to return to their home in Melbourne, more than 1200km away.

Another fled Newcastle to make the border crossing before the closure, with delays reported to be five hours in some places.

"It's been a bit of a stress trying to get across the border but hopefully we can avoid going into quarantine," the man said, when stopped at the checkpoint near Albury-Wodonga.

At the border town of Mulwala, traffic jams on New Year's Eve stretched back more than 3km as drivers waited to cross into Yarrawonga.

Residents returning to Victoria will still have to undergo a COVID-19 test on arrival and quarantine at their home for 14 days.

READ MORE: Australia's domestic border restrictions explained: State-by-state breakdown

It comes after five new local cases of COVID-19, with none of the infections acquired interstate.

Eight new cases were reported on Friday, which include three international cases that are in hotel quarantine.

https://twitter.com/FoottZane/status/1344563382981021696

Western Australia has also brought back its hard border with Victoria. 

People travelling from Victoria will no longer be able to enter the state unless they have an exemption.

Travellers asked about the abrupt closure described it as "shattering".

"Devastated. Yeah, very, very upset. Going to a hotel for 24 hours and we're on the first flight back to Melbourne. Shame," one told 9News.

"After the year that we've had in Victoria, to then get told this is, yeah, just shattering."

Western Australia's border is currently closed to New South Wales, except for those who have exemptions.

In Queensland, similar scenes are playing out at borders as a fifth checkpoint is due to open to ease traffic congestion.

There is now speculation Queensland may tighten its border restrictions with NSW in the coming days as the state attempts to remain COVID-free.

The additional checkpoint, at Numinbah on the Gold Coast, will operate between the hours of 8am and 4pm only unlike the four others which are 24 hours.

Police in Queensland say they have turned away 374 cars and more than 800 people from suspected COVID-19 hotspots in NSW since the hard border closure came into place on December 18.

A border closure is now in place in South Australia, banning anyone from NSW unless they have an exemption.