Hawke’s Bay bucked the turnout slump, recording a sharp rise in local voting.

The second-place candidate Colin Alder said Stoltz was a “solid advocate” for the region.

How many votes did comedian Jamaine Ross get after saying he did not want the job.

The 79-year-old says this will be his final term leading the Super City.

Denyer said he was “extremely happy and relieved” to be re-elected.

US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday with Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado after his administration denounced the committee awarding her the honour.

Trump has made no secret of his desire to win the prize.

A growing number of world leaders have also said he should win the award.

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Those calls increased as his Gaza peace plan gained momentum in recent days.

However, the nomination window closes at the end of January for the year, according to the award's website.

On Friday, the Nobel Committee announced the 2025 accolade would go to Machado for promoting democratic rights in Venezuela and "for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

Machado said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais that she had spoken with the US president but declined to offer details about their conversation.

The opposition leader, as she had in her post accepting the award, expressed gratitude to Trump.

In remarks Friday evening, Trump confirmed he spoke with Machado, adding that she was "very nice" in their call.

"The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me and said, 'I'm accepting this in honour of you, because you really deserved it,'" the president said.

"A very nice thing to do. I didn't, I didn't say, 'Then give it to me,' though I think she might have. She was very nice," Trump joked.

"I've been helping her along the way," Trump added.

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"They need a lot of help in Venezuela, it's a basic disaster. So, and you could also say it was given out for '24 and I was running for office in '24."

Shortly after the Nobel Prize announcement, the administration reacted negatively.

"The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace," White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a post on social media.

Machado won the award after years of efforts to promote democracy and has described her life's work as promoting "ballots over bullets."

She was driven into hiding in Venezuela amid a sharp crackdown on dissent by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Many in the Trump administration had previously praised Machado's work.

The administration has also repeatedly denounced Maduro and has deployed a substantial military presence to the region to combat "narcotrafficking" – a campaign that many see as an attempt to weaken and potentially drive the Venezuelan leader from power.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among a group of lawmakers, including now US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, who nominated Machado for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024.

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"In our work as policymakers who strive for democracy and human rights in the face of dictatorial regimes in the Western Hemisphere and beyond, we have rarely witnessed such courage, selflessness, and firm grasp of morality as we have in María Corina Machado," they wrote in a letter in November 2024.

"It is our firm belief that María Corina Machado's courageous and selfless leadership, and unyielding dedication to the pursuit of peace and democratic ideals, make her a most deserving candidate for this prestigious award," the group of Florida lawmakers wrote.

In April, Rubio called her "the personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism," someone who "has never backed down from her mission of fighting for a free, fair, and democratic Venezuela."

Trump himself, before his inauguration in January, said she was a freedom fighter who "MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!"

Machado on Friday dedicated her Nobel Prize "to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!"

However, there were no warm words from the president's allies after her win and the perceived snubbing of Trump.

Richard Grenell, Trump's envoy for Venezuela, declared the "Nobel Prize died years ago."

Benjamin Gedan, the Venezuelan director at the National Security Council under the Obama administration, said it appeared the Nobel Committee was sending a message to both the United States and the Venezuelan opposition in its choice to award Machado the prize.

"The White House has been sending signals that it might use military force to topple this regime, and that it has the support of Maria Corina to do so," Gedan told CNN.

"It seems to me that the Nobel Committee would prefer that both the United States and the Venezuelan opposition continue to fight peacefully for change.

"I think the US reaction might reflect both things – frustration that Trump wasn't chosen but also discomfort with this critique of US policy in the Caribbean," he said.

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Although Trump did not speak publicly about Machado's win until early on Friday evening, he had, however, thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin hours earlier.

"There have been cases where the committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to people who have done nothing for peace," Putin said in remarks in Tajikistan on Friday.

"Whether the current US president deserves the Nobel Prize or not, I don't know. But he's really doing a lot to resolve complex crises that last for years, even decades," he said.

"Thank you to President Putin!" Trump wrote in on Truth social, following Friday's announcement, which included a clip of the Russian President who has perpetuated an ongoing war against Ukraine and has defied Trump's own efforts to bring that conflict to an end.

In a rare sighting, a massive python was spotted at a national park in South Australia's northern Eyre Peninsula.

The south-western carpet python was spotted by reintroduction ecologist Tali Moyle at the Gawler Ranges National Park and was posted to South Australia's National Parks and Wildlife Services Instagram account as it slithered along a dusty trail.

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South-western carpet pythons – also known as Morelia imbricata – can grow anywhere from two-and-a-half metres to three metres in length and are usually nocturnal but occasionally bask in the sun.

Their natural habitats usually consist of patches of bushland, rocky outcrops and catchment areas.

The species of snake is native to Western Australia's south and South Australia's west.

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French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday re-appointed Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister, just days after his resignation, asking him to try again to form a government and produce a budget in a bid to end the country's political deadlock.

Lecornu’s re-appointment followed days of intense negotiations and came less than a week after he resigned amid infighting in his freshly named government.

France is struggling with mounting economic challenges and ballooning debt, and the political crisis is aggravating its troubles and raising alarm across the European Union.

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The appointment is widely seen as Macron's last chance to reinvigorate his second term, which runs until 2027.

Lacking a majority in the National Assembly to push through his agenda, Macron faces mounting criticism, including from within his own ranks, and has little room to maneuver.

Macron’s office released a one-sentence statement late Friday night announcing the appointment, one month after the statement issued a month ago when Lecornu was initially named and four days after he resigned.

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Lecornu said in a statement on social networks that he accepted the new job offer out of ″duty.″

He said he was given a mission ″to do everything to give France a budget by the end of the year and respond to the daily problems of our compatriots.″

All those who join his new government will have to renounce ambitions to run for president in 2027, Lecornu said, adding that the new Cabinet will ″incarnate renewal and a diversity of skills.″

″We must put an end to this political crisis that exasperates the French, and to this bad instability for France’s image and its interests,'' he wrote.

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Lecornu abruptly resigned Monday, only hours after unveiling a new Cabinet that drew opposition from a key coalition partner.

The shock resignation prompted calls for Macron to step down or dissolve parliament again, as he did in June 2024.

But they remained unanswered, with the president instead announcing on Wednesday that he would name a successor to Lecornu within 48 hours.

Political party leaders met for more than two hours Friday with Macron, at his request.

Some cautioned that another prime minister picked from the ranks of Macron's fragile centrist camp would risk being disavowed by Parliament's powerful lower house, prolonging the crisis.

“How can one expect that all this will end well?" said Marine Tondelier, leader of The Ecologists party.

“The impression we get is that the more alone he is, the more rigid he becomes.”

Worried investors

Over the past year, Macron’s successive minority governments have collapsed in quick succession, leaving the European Union’s second-largest economy mired in political paralysis as France is faced with a debt crisis.

At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt stood at US$3.9 trillion, or 114 per cent of gross domestic product.

France’s poverty rate also reached 15.4 per cent in 2023, its highest level since records began in 1996, according to the latest data available from the national statistics institute.

The economic and political struggles are worrying financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission, which has been pushing France to comply with EU rules limiting debt.

The newly reappointed PM faces challenges

The two biggest opposition parties in the National Assembly, the far-right National Rally and the far-left France Unbowed party, weren't invited to the discussions Friday.

The National Rally wants Macron to hold fresh legislative elections and France Unbowed wants him to resign.

Lecornu argued earlier this week that Macron’s centrist bloc, its allies, and parts of the opposition could still clump together into a working government.

“There’s a majority that can govern,” he said.

“I feel that a path is still possible. It is difficult.”

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Lecornu will now have to seek compromises to avoid an immediate vote of no confidence and may even be forced to abandon an extremely unpopular pension reform that was one of Macron's signature policies in his second presidential term.

Rammed through parliament without a vote in 2023 despite mass protests, it gradually raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Opposition parties want it to be scrapped.

The political deadlock stems from Macron’s shock decision in June 2024 to dissolve the National Assembly.

The snap elections produced a hung parliament, with no bloc able to command a majority in the 577-seat chamber.

The gridlock has unnerved investors, infuriated voters, and stalled efforts to curb France’s spiraling deficit and public debt.

Without stable support, Macron’s governments have stumbled from one crisis to the next, collapsing as they sought backing for unpopular spending cuts.

Lecornu’s resignation, just 14 hours after announcing his Cabinet, underscored the fragility of the president’s coalition amid deep political and personal rivalries.

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A blast that levelled an explosives plant in rural Tennessee has left nineteen people missing and feared dead, authorities said.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said the blast at Accurate Energetic Systems, which supplies the military, was one of the worst scenes he's ever seen. He said multiple people were killed but declined to say how many, referring to the nineteen missing as "souls" because officials were still speaking to family.

"There's nothing to describe. It's gone," Davis said of the plant.

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The blast occurred about 7:45am, Davis said, with aerial footage by WTVF-TV showing the smouldering hilltop facility and the burnt-out shells of vehicles.

People reported hearing and feeling the explosion from kilometres away. The company's website says it makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills in the Bucksnort area, about ninety-seven kilometres southwest of Nashville.

Davis said investigators are trying to determine what happened and couldn't say what caused the explosion.

There's no further danger of explosions, and the scene was under control Friday afternoon, according to Grey Collier, a spokesperson for the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said by phone. He didn't have any details on casualties.

Accurate Energetic Systems, based in nearby McEwen, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Friday morning.

"This is a tragedy for our community," McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email. He referred further comment to a county official.

Residents in Lobelville, a twenty-minute drive from the scene, said they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.

The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.

"I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it," he said by phone. "I live very close to Accurate and I realised about thirty seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that."

State Rep. Jody Barrett, a Republican from the neighbouring town of Dickson, was worried about the possible economic impact because the plant is a key employer in the area.

"We live probably 15 miles (24km) as the crow flies and we absolutely heard it at the house," Barrett said.

"It sounded like something going through the roof of our house."

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US first lady Melania Trump said she had secured an open line of communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin about repatriating Ukrainian children caught up in the war with Russia, and that some have been returned to their families with more to be reunited soon.

"This remains an ongoing effort," she told reporters at the White House on Friday. She said Putin had responded to her letter earlier this year and that they remained in touch.

"President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication about the welfare of these children," she said.

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"For the past few months, both sides have participated in several back-channel meetings and calls."

The communication between the Russian president and the US first lady is unusual and reflects a minor bright spot in what have otherwise been largely futile attempts by Washington to end the war that Russia started with its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

President Trump, who has long touted a strong relationship with Putin and invited him to a summit in Alaska in August, has expressed frustration with the Russian leader in recent weeks for not ending the war, which Trump had promised as a candidate to do within a day.

Trump delivered a letter from his wife to Putin at the Alaska meeting.

Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.

Previously Moscow has said it has been protecting vulnerable children from a war zone.

The first lady said on Friday her representative was working directly with Putin's team to secure the safe reunification of children with their families between Russia and Ukraine.

Eight children had been returned to their families within the last 24 hours, she said.

"Russia continues to cooperate with the United States in various areas, including humanitarian ones. We appreciate Melania Trump's humanitarian leadership," said Russia's presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who was involved in discussions.

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