A family’s move from New Zealand to Australia went horribly wrong when they realised their cat had been left on the plane and flown back home.
Mittens, an eight-year-old Maine coon cat, was booked on a one-way trip from Christchurch, in New Zealand, to Melbourne, Australia, on 13 January.
Once they touched down in Melbourne, she was meant to be unloaded from the cargo hold but after three hours waiting, owner Margo Neas said there was no sign of her.
It was then that ground staff told Ms Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand – with Mittens still on board. The return trip involves about seven-and-a-half hours in the air.
“I said, ‘how can this happen? How can this happen? Oh my God’,” Ms Neas said.
“It was not a great start to our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have the family, we weren’t complete.”
The Air New Zealand pilot was told about Mittens’s presence mid-air, so they turned on the heating in the cargo hold to keep her comfortable, Ms Neas said.
She was told a stowed wheelchair had obscured a baggage handler’s view of Mittens’s cage.
Upon landing back in Christchurch, Mittens was met by the company Ms Neas had employed to take care of the cat’s transfer and they ensured she was safely put on a plane back to Melbourne to be reunited with her family.
Mittens had lost weight but was otherwise unharmed.
“She basically just ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here and just did the biggest cuddles of all time,” Ms Neas said. “It was just such a relief.”
Air New Zealand apologised for the blunder and said it would refund all costs associated with the animal’s travel, according to a statement by the airline.
“We’ll work closely with our ground handler in Melbourne to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” said spokesperson Alisha Armstrong.
Meanwhile Mittens, not usually an affectionate pet, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been”, said Ms Neas.
“The cat gets as much attention as she wants right now because we’re just so absolutely and utterly relieved to have her back.”
Donald Trump has hit out at the bishop of Washington after she lectured him on respecting immigrants and LGBT+ citizens during a televised church service.
The direct appeal to Mr Trump, which went on for around two minutes, has gone viral on social media and drawn criticism from Republicans, including a congressman who urged the president to deport the bishop.
But what exactly did Bishop Budde say and what has the president’s response been?
What did Bishop Budde say?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:19
Watch the moment Bishop Budde confronts Trump
She began: “Let me make one final plea, Mr President. Millions have put their trust in you.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in democratic, republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
The bishop then highlighted the contributions of asylum seekers – a group Mr Trump has wasted no time in cracking down on.
She listed groups including “the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings” and those “who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals”.
“They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she said. Mr Trump then looked down at the floor.
She continued: “I ask you to have mercy, Mr President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.
“And that you help those who are fleeing war and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here.
“Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.”
Her comments came after Mr Trump promised to carry out the biggest deportation in US history and his executive order stating the government will recognise only two sexes.
How did Donald Trump and other Republicans react?
The president remained stony-faced during the remarks, during which he sat alongside wife Melania in the front row, and next to Mr Vance and his wife Usha Vance.
He did at one point turn away and look over his shoulder before examining the booklet he was holding.
At another point in the sermon, Mr Trump turned towards his VP and the pair shared a wordless exchange of looks.
Mr Vance raised his eyebrows at one stage and turned to share a look with his wife, whose gaze remained firmly forward.
He repeated the move after the bishop spoke about immigrants, and followed it up by whispering to Mrs Vance.
When Bishop Budde finished her sermon, Mr Trump leaned over to say something to Mr Vance, who shook his head in response.
Asked what he thought of the sermon as he returned to the Oval Office, the president told reporters: “They could have done better.”
In a late-night post on his social media platform Truth Social, he called Bishop Budde a “radical left hardline Trump hater” and said she was “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart”.
“She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way,” he said.
“Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job. She and her church owe the public an apology.”
Republican congressman Mike Collins shared a video of the sermon on X and wrote: “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
She was elected as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (EDW) in 2011, having served as rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis for 18 years.
She has had her sermons published in several books and journals, and has authored three of her own books about faith – most recently in 2023.
She has also been openly critical of Mr Trump before, having written an opinion piece for The New York Times in 2020, in which she condemned him for clearing Lafayette Square, near the White House, amid the George Floyd protests and then posing for photos on the grounds of nearby St John’s Church while holding a Bible.
She said she was “outraged” by the move and claimed he was using the Bible and the backdrop of the church, which belongs to her diocese, “for his political purposes”.
The EDW’s website describes her as “an advocate and organiser in support of justice concerns, including racial equity, gun violence prevention, immigration reform, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons, and the care of creation”.
The bishop is married and has two children and grandchildren, the website adds.
A fire at a hotel in a popular ski resort in Turkey has killed at least 76 people, the country’s interior minister has said.
Ali Yerlikaya added that at least 51 other people were injured in the fire at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya in Bolu province’s Koroglu mountains in northwest Turkey, about 185 miles (300km) east of Istanbul.
Four people, including the business owner, have been arrested by Turkish authorities, the justice secretary said.
The fire broke out at about 3.30am in the hotel’s restaurant, with pictures showing several fire engines surrounding the charred building, and white bed sheets tied together could be seen hanging from one upper-floor window.
At least two of the victims died after jumping from the building in panic, the governor of Bolu told the state-run Anadolu media agency, adding that 234 guests were staying at the 12-storey, 161-room hotel.
Datawrapper
This content is provided by Datawrapper, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Datawrapper cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Datawrapper cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Datawrapper cookies for this session only.
Other reports said some people tried to climb down from their rooms using sheets and blankets. The health minister said at least one of the injured was in serious condition and 17 others had been discharged from hospital after being treated.
Third-floor guest Atakan Yelkovan told the IHA news agency his wife smelled burning but “the alarm did not go off”.
“We tried to go upstairs but couldn’t, there were flames. We went downstairs and came here [outside],” he said.
Mr Yelkovan said it took about an hour for the firefighting teams to arrive.
“People on the upper floors were screaming. They hung down sheets… some tried to jump,” he said.
Ski instructor Necmi Kepcetutan said he was asleep when the fire began and, after rushing outside, he helped some 20 guests escape.
He said the hotel was engulfed in smoke and admitted he couldn’t get to some of his students.
“I hope they are OK,” he said.
Mr Aydin’s office said 30 fire trucks and 28 ambulances were sent to the site. Other hotels at the resort were evacuated as a precaution and guests were placed in hotels around Bolu.
A team of six government-appointed prosecutors is investigating how the fire started.
German TV station NTV suggested the wooden cladding on the outside of the hotel may have accelerated the spread of the fire and that efforts to put it out were hampered by the fact it is built on the side of a cliff.
The Grand Kartal hotel passed a fire inspection last year, tourism minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy told reporters.
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to take “all necessary steps” to find out what happened and “hold those responsible accountable”.
A two-year-old boy and 41-year-old man have been killed while two others were injured in a stabbing incident in the southern German state of Bavaria.
A man, described by police as a 28-year-old Afghan national, has been arrested following the knife attack in a park in Aschaffenburg on Wednesday.
Police said the two seriously injured people were receiving hospital treatment and that a cordon remained in place in the area around the scene.
Officers have said the motive for the attack is currently unclear.
The suspect, who had followed a day care group of five small children, was detained at the scene in Schoental park, an English-style garden in the Bavarian city, where the attack occurred at around 11.45am local time.
Train services in the town were temporarily interrupted as the suspect tried to flee along the tracks, German news agency dpa reported.
A witness is being questioned, police added. They said there was no indication of further suspects and no danger to the public.
Police said they did not know the nationality of the two people who were killed and they did not release any details about those injured.
Germany has been hit by a string of violent attacks, including a car ramming into a crowd at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg in December, killing six people and injuring about 200.