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New Zealanders are heading to the polls today in what's shaping up to be one of the country's tightest general elections.
The latest polls show a close contest between Labour leader Chris Hipkins and incumbent Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, whose National Party governs in coalition with ACT and New Zealand First.
With neither major party assured of enough support to form a government, smaller parties could play a decisive role in the outcome.
The cost of living has emerged as a key election issue, with residents in New Zealand's Far North telling SBS they're struggling to make ends meet.
"Everyone is home, saving every cent to get through the next day. There are a lot more, uh, for sale and for rent signs in the shops." / "Middle class communities, um, are finding it really hard and being left out in the planning."
The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children and one adult.
Pastor Paul Mackenzie was convicted of ordering his followers to starve themselves and their children to death in order to meet Jesus.
The court heard children were deliberately denied food, with some beaten or locked inside houses when they resisted.
More than 400 bodies were discovered in mass graves in southeastern Kenya in 2023.
Judge Diana Kavedza outlined the sentence in a court in Mombasa.
"Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, 100 years imprisonment for each of the 183 counts of murder by starvation, one count involving an adult victim, and 182 counts involving child victims .100 years imprisonment for each of the 8 counts of murder by direct homicide involving child victims to run concurrently with one another."
The Queensland and the Northern Territory governments are facing mounting criticism after they blocked a key UN official from inspecting youth detention centres.
UN Special Rapporteur Albert Barume has expressed his regret that the governments won't engage with his mandate, and meetings with government officials will not take place.
He's been blocked from visiting the Holtze Youth Detention centre in the Northern Territory, and Cleveland Youth Detention Centre, in Queensland.
The Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, has urged states and territories to cooperate, speaking a meeting of the Joint Council on Closing the Gap.
"We come together as a joint council twice a year, and we intend to work always to try to close the gap, and that should also mean being unafraid to speak to the United Nations special rapporteur."
The 82-year-old estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has been arrested on a charge of possessing child sexual abuse material.
Thomas Markle senior was arrested outside Tampa, Florida.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli says federal agents searched two storage units in the Los Angeles area and seized approximately 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books that contained suspected child sexual abuse images.
Thomas Markle senior is due to appear in court in Tampa in the coming hours.
Pope Leo XIV has started his three-nation trip in Latin America, three weeks after undergoing lung cancer surgery.
His first stop in Uruguay where he will be driven along Montevideo's waterfront promenade in a custom-made popemobile, before meeting the president and receiving the keys to the city.
It is the country's first papal visit since 1988.
The pope will later travel to Argentina and Peru, the country where he spent decades as a missionary and church leader.
Socceroos players, via their union, have urged Football Australia to reschedule or relocate their upcoming friendly against Jordan in Amman due to safety concerns.
Australia are due to travel to face Qatar in Doha next Saturday AEDT and then Jordan in Amman four days later.
But some players have been reluctant to travel to the region amid instability, especially given those friendlies are no longer serving as key Asian Cup preparation.
