New Zealanders are withdrawing money from their KiwiSaver schemes to help them through financial hardship at twice the rate of last year – and one supervisor says it’s largely because of rising interest rates. Data from Inland Revenue shows that there was $21.5 million withdrawn from KiwiSaver accounts for reasons of financial hardship in October, Read more
Judith Rainhorn, a historian specialising in the history of lead pollution, has criticised officials in charge of renovating the fire-damaged Notre-Dame de Paris for using lead, a highly toxic metal, for the world-famous cathedral’s new roof. “In this day and age, there are so many possible techniques and materials that we could obviously have found Read more
Eduardo Verástegui, filmmaker and aspiring presidential candidate in Mexico published a “manifesto” against gender ideology, pledging to eliminate gender ideology indoctrination from schools if he is elected president of the nation. Verástegui, producer of the box office hit “Sound of Freedom,” which exposes child sex trafficking, must gather almost 1 million signatures by early January Read more
ISIS has claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that ripped through a Catholic Mass service at a university gym in the southern Philippines on Sunday. At least four people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the blast at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, according to authorities. In a communique, ISIS Read more
An Indian nun who recently received a global honour for her efforts to combat human trafficking has called upon the estimated 100,000 religious sisters in her vast nation to join the fight. She said that by doing so, “we could save many lives.” Sister Seli Thomas, a member of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Read more
New Zealand’s government should confront Indonesia over its alleged human rights violations in West Papua, human rights activists and West Papua independence activists in Aotearoa say. The UN Human Rights Council has reported the human rights situation in West Papua has deteriorated, citing reports of torture and mass displacement. “We know the violence that West Read more
Although he was forced to cancel a scheduled trip to Dubai this week due to health concerns, Pope Francis kept a busy Thursday schedule with nine separate appointments. This was despite receiving ongoing antibiotic treatment for a flu-causing lung inflammation. In a statement Wednesday night, the Vatican said that the pope’s condition is “stable” and Read more
A major police investigation into abuse at Gloriavale has identified more than 100 potential victims of crimes spanning about four decades, Stuff can reveal. The previously undisclosed and ongoing investigation, dubbed Operation Mathius, began in 2021, and followed another investigation that brought to light offending involving 60 people at the West Coast fundamentalist Christian community. Read more
Irish songwriter and former Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan received last rites before he died on Thursday, his family said. “Prayers and the last rites were read during his passing,” the family said in a written statement on Nov. 30. MacGowan, 65, is best known as the co-author of the 1987 Christmas mega-hit “Fairytale of Read more
The Philippine president blamed “foreign terrorists” for a bomb blast that killed four people at Mass on Sunday. The blast wounded dozens of other Catholic worshippers in the south and sparked a security alarm, including in the capital, Manila, where state forces were put on alert. The suspected bomb, which the police said was made Read more