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Photo: Auckland for Kids Te Maeva Nui NZ is Aotearoa New Zealand’s  premier Cook Islands cultural festival, proudly hosted by the Te Maeva Nui ō Aotearoa NZ Charitable Trust. Since its debut in 2019, the festival has grown into the largest platform for Cook Islands culture in New Zealand, uniting communities through music, dance, language, food, and arts. This year’s theme, “Te tau’ianga reva”: Climate Change, draws attention to the urgent challenges facing our planet, encouraging awareness, reflection, and action through cultural expression.  Te Maeva Nui NZ returns to Trusts Arena, Auckland with three days of celebration: Tu Rangatira Awards: 2 October Te Maeva Nui NZ Festival: 3–4 October The festival kicks off with the prestigious Tu Rangatira Awards, followed by two full days of Kapa Markets and cultural performances. The markets celebrate “All things Cook Islands” , supporting local businesses while offering visitors delicious cuisine, traditional arts & cr...

Breaking Silence | Online series In this story, our anonymous contributor appears to have it all. But as her husband’s drug-fuelled life begins to spiral out of control, so does hers. He falsifies documents, racking up large-scale loans and hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt in her name.  With her credit rating in ruins and the debt mounting, she leaves a violent relationship with nothing. New Zealand organisation Good Shepherd supports her through the process, helping negotiate debt relief with banks. Many New Zealand banks are now taking greater responsibility for this type of marital fraud. Please note: a pseudonym is used in this story to protect the identity of the contributor. HELPLINES If you have an emergency, dial 111 Good Shepherd New Zealand: 0800 466 370 or 09 302 1643 Shine: 0508 744 633 It’s Not OK: 0800 456 450

Seaspan released the following statement on August 27, 2025: Seaspan, a long-standing sustainment partner for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), welcomes yesterday’s announcement by the Government of Canada that it has taken the next steps to procuring a new fleet of submarines by identifying Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd. (Hanwha) as the two qualified suppliers for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP). For more than 15 years, Seaspan has been providing maintenance, repair and sustainment support for the RCN’s current fleet of submarines. Through this work, Seaspan has built a large, highly skilled and experienced Canadian submarine workforce and a dedicated Canadian supply chain for servicing and outfitting naval submarines. Our deep relationships with the RCN Fleet Maintenance Facilities are a critical element for future success. Seaspan is ready today to help Canada protect its sovereignty by providing long-term, in-service support of the fut...

Hanwha Ocean released the following statement on August 27, 2025: Hanwha Ocean is extremely pleased to have selected by the Government of Canada as a qualified supplier for the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP). Hanwha’s KSS-III Canadian Patrol Submarine (KSS-III CPS) is proven, in-service, in active production, and meets all the operational and urgent delivery requirements for CPSP, including superior underwater surveillance capability and deployability in the Arctic with extended range and endurance that will provide stealth, persistence and lethality to ensure that Canada can detect, track, deter and, if necessary, defeat adversaries in all 3 of its oceans. Importantly, Hanwha can deliver four KSS-III CPS to fully replace Canada’s current Victoria Class fleet before 2035 if on contract in 2026. Earlier retirement of the Victoria Class fleet will result in estimated savings of approximately $1 Billion on maintenance and support costs. The additional 8 submarines will be del...

As the United States heads into Labor Day weekend for the final gasps of summer, Christie’s announced on Saturday that it had secured the collection of Robert F. Weis and Patricia G. Ross Weis for its marquee November sales in New York, marking one of the first major consignments for the fall sales. The Weis collection at Christie’s will represent 80 lots and has a valuation in excess of $180 million. It includes works from some of the 20th century’s most important art movements, from Cubism to Abstract Expressionism, with works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, and Mark Rothko hitting the block. The works will be split across multiple auctions, with 18 going to a single-owner sale that will precede the house’s 20th-century evening sale, and the remaining works being divided between Christie’s postwar and contemporary day sale and its modern art day sale. “The collection of Patricia G. Ross Weis and Robert F. Weis is both deeply personal and instilled with historical ...

Wing Fritz Rayasi attacking early in the second half for the Centurions today, with teammates in close support.  By Steven White & Scott MacLean One-sided results were the order of the day in three matches played in and around Palmerston North today. The Wellington Centurions sailed to a 79-14 win over Manawatu Development at Bill...

Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday over the unlawful termination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), reported Bloomberg Law . The museum expected to receive a $750,000 grant award towards its historic preservation program. In March, President Trump signed the executive order  “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,”  which called for the IMLS to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” within seven days. That order followed another that shrank seven federal agencies, including the IMLS. According to a complaint  filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Woodmere “has been scrambling ever since” to complete its “America 250″ exhibition slated for next year, following the termination of its IMLS grant in April. In 2024, Woodmere was awarded the $750,000 grant through the IMLS’ “Save America’s Treasures” program to reva...

Ngani Laumape is returning to the Hurricanes next year. By Kevin McCarthy  World Rugby has given the All Blacks permission to field a revolutionary 19-man starting lineup for the blockbuster test at Eden Park next week. There’ll be eight forwards as usual, a halfback and first five and fullback. And five wingers and three centres....

Both the Wellington Lions and Auckland will be seeking an uptick in fortunes when they meet on Sunday at Porirua Park in round five of the NPC and in their annual Fred Lucas Memorial Cup game. Both sides have misfired early in their campaigns, especially Auckland who have yet to register a win, making this...

Racist slur on Councillor Josephine Bartley’s billboard in Maungakiekie. Photo: Mary Afemata / LDR Local Democracy Reporting | Free Public Interest News Service By Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting Election hoardings of three Auckland female candidates have been vandalised and graffitied with offensive and racist words. The three targets of the vandalism say it’s not just graffiti – it’s racist abuse, a financial burden, and a threat to democracy. Josephine Bartley, the incumbent councillor for Maungakiekie and one of only two female Samoans on Auckland’s governing body, says a hoarding on Captains Springs Road was defaced with explicit abuse. “They’d written all over the sign, calling me a ‘fat, useless, plastic poly’.” Another one of her billboards on Trafalgar Street was attacked just a day after it went up. “We put it up on Saturday and by Sunday someone had cut my face and my name out,” she says. Bartley says she has chosen not to replace damaged boards b...

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities recently retrieved underwater ruins from a sunken city off the coast of Alexandria. On August 21, divers and cranes retrieved ancient statues from the site, located in the waters of Abu Qir bay. Egypt’s tourism and antiquities minister, Sherif Fathi, told Agence France-Presse : “There’s a lot underwater, but what we’re able to bring up is limited, it’s only specific material according to strict criteria. The rest will remain part of our sunken heritage.” Agence France-Presse reported the statues included “royal figures and sphinxes from the pre-Roman era, including a partially preserved sphinx with the cartouche of Ramses II, one of the country’s most famous and longest-ruling ancient pharaohs.” However, many of the statues were missing components. The sunken city also included limestone buildings, residential spaces, commercial structures, reservoirs, artifacts, and a 125-meter dock that is more than 2,000 years old. Authorities told ...

A campaign group called Freedom in the Arts (Fita) has sent a letter to the University of Leicester in the UK threatening to sue it over for publishing “misleading” guidance on furthering transgender inclusion in museums and galleries. Fita has also demanded that the university removes the guidelines , titled “Trans-Inclusive Culture,” from its website immediately. The guidelines were published by the university’s Research Center for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) two years ago and lay out a framework for cultural institutions to “generate inclusive public spaces and workplaces.” It addresses legal and ethical questions about trans inclusion, which, it says, must be prioritized like “all other forms of prejudice and discrimination.” Twenty-two cultural and heritage groups support the guidelines, including the International Council of Museums UK (ICOM UK) and the Association of Independent Museums (Aim). Choreographer Rosie Kay and Denise Fahmy, a former staffer at Arts Council ...

Tagata Pasifika | Television Series Myshaan performs “Carry My Heart” at the 2025 Pacific Music Awards.

A community group in south Auckland is concerned with the operation of vape stores alongside bottle shops. Monique Ford / Stuff / Supplied Local Democracy Reporting | Free Public Interest News Service By Torika Tokalau of Local Democracy Reporting Vape stores setting up inside booze shops “only exacerbates the harm from both”, say opponents, but the vaping industry says liquor store age restrictions would likely limit exposure to young people. Communities Against Alcohol Harm (CAAH), which assists groups to oppose alcohol licences, says several south Auckland liquor stores have been allowed to sell vapes in the same premises, in the past year. Recent off-licence renewal applications, which include variations to operate a vape shop, showed that small sections of bottle shops were being sectioned off and turned into a vape store. Bottle shops approved by the District Licensing committee (DLC) to sell vapes alongside alcohol include Finlayson Liquor in Clendon Park, Liquor ...

A well-preserved Roman mausoleum, modeled after the famous Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, was discovered by archaeologists in Saint-Romain-en-Gal, near Lyon, France. Constructed around 50 CE, the interior of the structure measures more than 50 feet in diameter and is thought to have had 20-foot-tall ceilings. It would have been visible to those in the Roman colony Vienna and can be seen along the Rhône River. “This was a person who, even in death, remained present in the world of the living,” Giulia Ciucci, archaeologist and scientific director of the Saint-Romain-en-Gal museum site, told Arkeonews . “The resemblance to the emperor’s mausoleum suggests a figure of significant political power and influence.” The monument’s opulence and location indicate that it was likely constructed for a member of the aristocratic elite who had a strong connection with imperial authority. It is one of only 18 mound mausoleums found in France and is the only known circular elevation monument i...

France has returned three colonial-era human skulls to Madagascar, including one believed to have belonged to a Malagasy king executed by French troops in a 19th-century massacre. The skull, presumed to be that of King Toera, and two others from the Sakalava ethnic group were handed over to Malagasy representatives at the French Culture Ministry on Monday. French colonial forces killed Toera in 1897, and his skull was taken to France, where it was later displayed in Paris’s National Museum of Natural History alongside other human remains taken from Madagascar, an island off the east African coast in the Indian Ocean. “These skulls entered the national collections in circumstances that clearly violated human dignity and in a context of colonial violence,” said French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, describing the moment as “historic.” Her Madagascar counterpart, Volamiranty Donna Mara, welcomed the return of the skulls as “an immensely significant gesture.” “Their absence has been, fo...

Youth from the Martin Hautus Foundation’s Tupulaga Le Lumana’i programme, which supports young people into training and employment pathways. Photo: Martin Hautus Foundation Trust / Facebook Local Democracy Reporting | Free Public Interest News Service By Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting A Māngere-based charity is calling on local government officials to support the development of stronger youth employment pathways. The Martin Hautus Foundation Trust, with more than 30 years of community experience, presented its Tupulaga le Lumana’i programme to the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board on Wednesday and emphasised the need for collaboration to ensure young people remain engaged in work and training. The Trust urged the local board to back stronger pathways into the workforce, warning many young people risk being left behind without adequate training and employment support. Pulotu Selio Solomon, an adviser to the Trust, told the board that they have been operating in Mānge...

People Inc. recently sold a large sculpture in the shape of a garden trowel by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, which became a landmark in Des Moines, Iowa. The media company, formerly known as Dotdash Meredith, announced the sale of the 23-foot-tall sculpture Plantoir (2001) on August 22 but did not disclose the name of the buyer, where it will be relocated, or the price paid. “We recently finalized the sale of the Plantoir , the art installation situated near the campus entrance,” said a statement issued by People Inc to the Des Moines Register , which first reported the news of the sale . “The sale was completed with an out-of-state buyer that made a significant offer for the piece. We agreed to the sale only after offering the piece to local organizations. The Plantoir will likely be moved to the new owner before the end of September.” The 2,300-pound aluminum, fiber-reinforced plastic and steel sculpture was designed by the couple to withstand wind speeds of up to 120...

The two sides met at Rugby League Park in Wellington in fine conditions in their representative team clash. Wellington skipped to an early two-try lead, which would ultimately prove necessary as Hawke’s Bay rallied over the back end of the game to push it close. They got within a converted try of victory and on...

On August 19, 2025, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, and the Honourable Stephen Fuhr, Canada’s Secretary of State (Defence Procurement), together with Ebba Busch, Sweden’s Minister for Energy, Business and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister, and Pål Jonson, Sweden’s Minister for Defence, released the following statement: “Canada and Sweden share a close relationship, with extensive cooperation based on common values and mutual interests. Canada was the first country to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO. Since then, both countries have increased their cooperation for a stable and prosperous Arctic, including through establishing an Arctic security dialogue. As NATO allies, we stand united in defending our freedom, territories, values and interests. Further strengthening our partnership is more critical than ever as we confront shared global challenges, including Russia’s ongoing war o...

Tagata Pasifika | Television Series Melodownz performs at the 2025 Pacific Music Awards.

Action from Saturday’s match between the Manawatu Evergreens and Wellington Samoa at Porirua Park, with the visitors taking the win. Photo: Stewart Baird. Both these sides are scheduled to be playing in Palmerston North against different opposition this coming Saturday. Monday morning edition – updates expected later on: Yet another big week and weekend of...

Lévis, Québec — Canada’s Arctic ambitions are about to get a massive boost. On August 20, Davie officially launched construction of the Polar Max icebreaker , a vessel destined to redefine the nation’s capabilities in polar waters. When delivered by 2030, Polar Max will not just be a ship—it will be a statement of Canadian ingenuity, industrial collaboration, and Arctic leadership. “Today’s construction launch marks a major step in Canada’s commitment to reinforcing Arctic sovereignty. The Polar Max project will deliver advanced vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard while boosting domestic shipbuilding expertise and strengthening economic and security ties with Finland and Europe,” affirmed the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. A Hybrid Build for Speed and Expertise The construction of Polar Max marks an unprecedented transatlantic collaboration between Canadian-controlled facilities in Helsin...

Toronto, ON – August 19, 2025 – Snowflake , the AI Data Cloud company, has reached a significant milestone in its Canadian journey: the completion of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) Protected B Assessment. Meeting the CCCS Medium Cloud Security profile requirements across both the AWS Canada (Central) and Microsoft Azure Canada (Central) regions, Snowflake now empowers Canadian government departments, partners, and highly regulated industries to securely unlock the potential of their data. The assessment is more than a certification—it’s a gateway for Canada’s public sector to accelerate data-driven initiatives and trusted AI applications on a fully secure, compliant platform. For organizations that manage sensitive information, Snowflake’s Protected B status ensures robust governance and security while enabling seamless collaboration, all without the traditional complications of duplicating data or creating complex integrations. “Across Canada’s public sector, there i...

Quebec City, Quebec – April 7, 2025 – OVA , a Quebec-based leader in immersive enterprise technologies, has been awarded an $849,000 contract by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to advance Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agent technology for space training. This collaboration marks a significant step toward modernizing how astronauts and mission operators prepare for increasingly complex space operations. “We aim to research and develop an agentic AI solution to deliver training on high-stakes operations involved in, but not limited to a space exploration context. This will open up new possibilities to improve how human and artificial intelligences can collaborate to perform complex tasks in a wide range of domains,” remarked Pierre-Luc Lapointe, Head of R&D. The Canadian Space Agency has long been a leader in advancing space research and exploration, fostering innovation across Canada’s space sector. As missions grow more sophisticated—spanning operations with Canadarm2 on the In...

Breaking Silence | Online series Maureen shares her lived experience of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence within her marriage, and her eventual rise above adversity. Her journey is told through a Pacific lens, offering insights that Pacific communities may identify with, understand, and draw strength from. Maureen’s story is one of inspiration, resilience, and hope. She has recently submitted her PhD thesis and now teaches in the Bachelor of Applied Counselling programme at MIT. HELPLINES If you have an emergency, dial 111 Family Action – Whānau Toa: 0800 326 327 or 09 836 1987 Women’s Refuge: 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843

Neueli Mauafu | Reporter All eyes are set on Samoa ahead of its snap election. From the moment you arrive at Faleolo airport and drive towards Apia in Samoa, the signs and billboards of political candidates from various parties can be seen almost everywhere. There are mainly three colours which stand out – green (SUP Party), red (FAST Party) and blue (HRPP Party) – the three main parties battling it out for Samoa’s government. It’s been quite a turn-around for Samoa in regards to its political landscape. In 2021, the swearing in of Fiame Naomi Mataafa as Prime Minister and leader of the FAST Party was a historic moment. The first ever female leader for Samoa, and for the first time in many decades, a new government to end the 39-year rule of HRPP and its leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. Yet only a few years later, that historic run has been cut short, with Samoans again heading to the polls in a snap election, with more than half a year left in the government’s te...