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As Jake Lloyd remains focused on his mental health, he made a rare social media appearance to thank Star Wars fans for their continued support. The 37-year-old joined Daniel Logan, an actor who portrayed Boba Fett in the 2002 prequel Attack of the Clones, in a pair of Instagram videos documenting their recent reunion. Lloyd, who experienced a “full-blown psychotic break” in 2023, waved to the camera and introduced himself. Logan spoke first, saying, “We want to send a special message to each and every one of our Star Wars fans to let you know ‘thank you so much.’” “Very,...

The United Nations General Assembly rammed through another non-binding “political declaration” on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response on Tuesday by a lopsided 153–3 vote. The only countries that voted no were the United States, Israel, and Argentina. New Zealand and Paraguay abstained. According to UN News, the declaration calls for stronger international cooperation on pandemic preparedness and welcomes the World Health Organization’s controversial Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025. The declaration is officially nonbinding, meaning it does not itself give the WHO legal authority to impose lockdowns, vaccine mandates, or other public health restrictions on Americans. But the overwhelming vote...

Came from an underwater volcano. The New Zealand Navy announced today that they have found a patch of floating volcanic pumice from an underwater volcano floating about 600 miles off the shore of New Zealand. “The rock looked to be sitting two foot (half a meter) above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant while colour in the spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf,” said Lieutenant Tim Oscar aboard the ship the HMNZS Canterbury.Scientists aboard the ship said the white pumice – which covers 10,000 square miles ( 26,000 sq km) –...

An Electron rocket launched a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft for the Tokyo-based company Synspective from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Sept. 18, 2026 at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT and 3:22 p.m. local time on Sept. 19). Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab launches Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite from New Zealand | 9:25 VideoFromSpace | 2.14M subscribers | 5,187 views | September 19, 2026

A 54-year-old woman in Auckland, New Zealand, has received a full apology from the parking company Smart Compliance Management after they issued a parking ticket to her on the day she died, then came back to life. The woman was arriving at the New World Supermarket in Orewa on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast when she collapsed in the parking lot on July 26. ... After what was almost certainly the longest few moments of their life, however, the chest compressions worked. ... He also said that the paramedics from the ambulance told him, after his daughter had been taken to North...

A US Air Force flight en route to Antarctica was forced to return to New Zealand after receiving a warning of "potentially hazardous" space activity. The alert was confirmed by New Zealand authorities on Wednesday. New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued the warning after being informed by Russia’s State Air Traffic Management Corporation, which led to the decision to turn the flight back. The warning was disseminated through a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). The flight, originally departing from Christchurch, New Zealand, is a part of the annual Winter Fly-in (WINFLY) operation, which connects Christchurch with Antarctic research facilities. Impact...

Japan for the first time has deployed ground troops to the Balikatan exercise, a series of multidomain drills staged across the Philippine archipelago. Participation by about 1,000 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Soldiers augments the annual training that began decades ago as a Philippines-United States exercise and now involves about 20 nations. Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) personnel previously attended Balikatan as observers and in noncombat roles focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR). They participated in a maritime drill in 2025. A reciprocal access agreement between Manila and Tokyo, which took effect in September 2025, allows JSDF and Armed...

A teenage schoolgirl unwittingly exposed what has been described as the "world's worst inbred family" when she casually told her classmate: "My sister is pregnant and we don't know which of my brothers is the father." The disturbing comment was overheard by another student, who promptly informed a teacher of what she had inadvertently heard. It was rare for any children from the family to attend school, as they frequently relocated to different parts of Australia to evade scrutiny. However, on one of the rare occasions a child did attend, the teacher reported the student's account to Australian authorities —...

Sam Neill, the genre-spanning New Zealand actor best known for his starring role in the “Jurassic Park” movies, has died, his family said Monday. He was 78. “Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” the family said in a statement on Instagram. “The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free,” the family said in the statement, which did not specify a cause of death. Neill, who died in Sydney, had announced in April that he was cancer-free after several years of treatment for...

New Zealand actor built career as dashing romantic leads and charismatic villains across film and televisionSam Neill, the versatile New Zealand actor whose career spanned Oscar winners and blockbusters such as The Piano and Jurassic Park, has died aged 78. The actor’s death was announced on Monday in a statement shared on his Instagram account. No cause of death was given, but Neill had only recently revealed he was cancer-free after being diagnosed with stage three angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, in 2022. “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the...

Acclaimed actor Sam Neill has died, aged 78, surrounded by family in Sydney. Neill’s death was sudden and unexpected after he was declared cancer free following an illness. “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing,” the family said in a social media post on Monday. “Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. “The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.”

President Trump issuing 11 pardons on Friday... The number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo now confirmed to be 1,502... New Zealand announcing its Defense Minister is attending the NATO summit... Ukraine launching drone and cruise missile attacks on Russia late tonight... Near Pueblo, Colorado 11,000 residents evacuated from their homes... Three killed in a Russian attack... British defense and security think tank...saying that Russian linked ships... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking with US President... UN human rights chief Volker Turk issuing a "Red Alert" about the situation in and around the Sudanese city... The US...

In an unprecedented move, 22 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Australia, issued a joint statement condemning the Islamic Republic of Iran for what they called “hostile actions and extraterritorial operations against individuals on the soil of other countries,” and demanded the immediate cessation of such actions. In the statement, published on Thursday, June 11, the Islamic Republic’s security services were accused of using local and international criminal networks to carry out assassination plots, kidnappings, intimidation, and harassment against dissidents, journalists, and citizens in Europe, North America, and Oceania. The signatories emphasized that attempts...

Two people who hated Jews killed another guy who hates Jews. What a world. The two teens, Cain Clark and Caleb Vasquez, wrote a manifesto where they blamed the Jews for the majority of the world's problems. They named that manifesto "The New Crusade: Sons of Tarrant" in honor of Brenton Tarrant, the neo-Nazi who shot up a New Zealand mosque in 2019, killing 51 people. On one of the passages, the young men wrote this about the Jews: The Jews across all of time have been behind an EXTREMELY disproportionate amount of the world's problems, whether that be from...

Thirty-year-old rugby player Eugene Hanna, of the Glenora Bears from Auckland, New Zealand, died Tuesday after an injury sustained in the team’s opening game May 2. Hanna, a member of the Premier Reserves squad, suffered an injury described only as “unsurvivable,” although the team did not detail the exact malady. He spent 10 days in the hospital attempting to recover before he died. ... The New Zealand Rugby League emphasized the importance of safety protocols in in a statement, while specifically mentioning “head injury and concussion protocols.” “This is truly heartbreaking and something we never want to see happen, and...

Credits: Rocket Lab Launch of ESA's Celeste mission 1 | 3:15 European Space Agency, ESA | 1.36M subscribers | 27,893 views | March 28, 2026

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was chased out of the country's largest mosque Friday as Muslims in attendance voiced anger over his stance on the Israeli war against Hamas. Albanese was called several names, including a "putrid dog" and a genocide supporter," referencing the deaths of Palestinian in the Gaza Strip following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack in Israel, The Telegraph reported. Video footage showed the prime minister standing alongside Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, at the Lakemba Mosque in Sydney as the community marked Eid, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. "Why is he in here?...

After fighting for almost a decade to gain U.S. citizenship, time is running out for Marine Corps veteran Paul Canton. He’ll likely be deported soon back to his native New Zealand, despite serving in the U.S. military for seven years, and building a life in Central Florida for more than 25 years. Canton’s story first hit the news cycle in 2020 when his application for citizenship was rejected by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, even though the former Marine had no criminal record. Despite the setback, Canton and his family kept working on his citizenship case, gaining support from leaders...

An Electron rocket launched from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on March 5, 2026 at 6:53 p.m. EST Blastoff! Rocket Lab launches mystery satellite for secretive private customer | 10:49VideoFromSpace | 2.07M subscribers | 3,200 views | March 6, 2026

The lesbian “diversity hire” captain of a Royal New Zealand Navy ship that ran aground and sank off Samoa has been charged with negligence along with two other officers over the loss of the vessel. The $100 million HMNZS Manawanui, which was under the command of UK-born homosexual Yvonne Gray, crashed on the south side of Upolu on October 5, 2024, due to human error including failure to turn off [the] autopilot, an inquiry found last year.