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.”
A series of videos show the moment a car carrying a family in the occupied West Bank came under attack during an Israeli raid into the city of Jenin yesterday.
At least seven gunshots are heard as the passengers including children scream before the footage filmed from inside the Kia vehicle shows the car crashing on the side of the road.
Wadah Soubeh, who was inside the car, said his 43-year-old cousin who was driving, Ahmed al Shayeb, was killed in the attack.
The dashboard seen in the footage filmed inside the car shows that it was taken at 1.10pm local time on Tuesday.
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A family was driving in Jenin in the West Bank when their car was attacked.
Israel launched a major military operation into Jenin on Tuesday and said its forces had “initiated a counterterrorism operation” in the area.
Sky News geolocated another video filmed after the attack that shows the abandoned vehicle on the same road around 600m northwest of the Jenin refugee camp.
An Israeli military vehicle can be seen in the background – less than 100m from the car. It’s unclear whether that vehicle was involved and how long after the attack this particular video was filmed.
Mr Soubeh said the family left Jenin at the start of the raid and were “heavily shot at”.
“When we turned right on the road to Burqin, we drove another 30 or 40 metres. Ahmed al Shayeb said ‘oh God’. After he said ‘oh God’, he stopped breathing,” he added.
A funeral was held on Wednesday for Mr al Shayeb, who owned a mobile phone shop in Jenin.
Sky News asked the IDF whether its forces were involved and why it had a vehicle in the area at the time and received the following response: “The IDF arrests individuals wanted for suspected terrorist activities, incitement of terrorism, and terrorists who have carried out or are planning to carry out attacks.
“Additionally, security forces are deployed in the area to ensure the safety of the region and its residents, as well as the security of the State of Israel and its citizens.
“The IDF operates wherever necessary, especially in areas with a high levels of terrorism, such as Jenin. The IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals.
“In cases where uninvolved individuals are harmed, the events are investigated and handled accordingly.
“The case mentioned is under review.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said it is “deeply concerned” about the wellbeing of civilians in Jenin city and refugee camp.
At least nine Palestinians were killed on Tuesday, including a 16-year-old, and 40 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The move into Jenin, where the Israeli army has carried out multiple raids and large-scale incursions over recent years, comes just days after the Gaza ceasefire started.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said hundreds of Palestinians were trapped in Jenin Government Hospital and were unable to leave for hours. Videos filmed by the hospital shows bulldozers outside the hospital.
The Israeli military said its forces were trying to detonate explosive devices planted by militants beneath the road outside the hospital in the city of Jenin, and had told patients and doctors not to exit the hospital during the detonations.
Dozens of military bulldozers have carved up tracts of roads in the city.
It was the third major incursion by the Israeli army in less than two years into Jenin, a major stronghold of militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which said its forces were fighting Israeli troops.
As the raid began, Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces pulled out after having conducted a weeks-long operation to try to reassert control over the refugee camp, dominated by Palestinian factions that are hostile to the PA, which exercises limited governance in parts of the West Bank.
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?
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Watch the moment Bishop Budde confronts Trump
She began: “Let me make one final plea, Mr President. Millions have put their trust in you.
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“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.”
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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.
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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”.