Author: Lucas Bennett

A crested macaque named Naruto picked up a wildlife photographer’s unattended camera in an Indonesian jungle in 2011, pressed the shutter and accidentally produced one of the most widely shared photographs on the internet. Four years later, that moment has ended up in a San Francisco federal court — with an animal rights organisation arguing the monkey should own the copyright. PETA filed the lawsuit on behalf of Naruto this week, naming British photographer David Slater and US publishing company Blurb as defendants. Slater, whose camera was used to take the images, has published a book containing the photographs and…

Federal investigators are looking into whether a government employee used official Department of Homeland Security equipment to edit Wikipedia pages and insert references to unverified claims about the personal conduct of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, days after he dramatically withdrew from the race to become Speaker of the House. The edits, first spotted by a reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, were traced to an IP address registered to DHS. One altered page belonged to Republican congresswoman Renee Ellmers, while a separate change was made to McCarthy’s own Wikipedia entry. Both referenced allegations of an affair between the two,…

The Unravelling Promise: Why UNESCO’s Heritage Shield is Failing the Sites It Was Built to Protect From war-damaged palaces in Iran to crumbling stretches of the Great Wall, a growing body of evidence suggests the world’s foremost cultural protection programme is struggling to fulfil its founding mission — even as its list of designated sites continues to expand. What the Danger List Reveals About a System Under Strain The numbers alone tell a troubling story. The most recent IUCN World Heritage Outlook, presented in October 2025, documented a measurable decline in the condition of the world’s most treasured natural places.…

A synthetic stimulant that can be purchased for as little as five dollars and remains legal across much of the United States is being linked to a wave of violent and erratic incidents, with cases rising by nearly 780% in just three years. The drug, known as flakka — or “gravel” in parts of Ohio and Texas, where it resembles the coloured pebbles used in fish tanks — belongs to the same chemical family as bath salts, the synthetic drug that made international headlines several years ago for causing extreme and sometimes fatal behavioural episodes. The key difference is that…

Air New Zealand and Air China are set to begin operating a new route between Beijing and Auckland before the end of the year, following the formalisation of a strategic alliance between the two carriers. The partnership, which received Cabinet approval, was first signalled when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited New Zealand approximately a year ago. It has now been authorised to run until March 2021. Under the arrangement, Air China will operate daily flights on the new Beijing-Auckland service from 10 December, using Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Air New Zealand will place its NZ code on those flights. Separately, Air…

A court order, a Freedom of Information lawsuit, and more than thirteen months of official resistance stood between the public and dashcam footage showing a Chicago police officer firing sixteen shots at a 17-year-old walking away from him on a residential street — and it was only when a judge forced the city’s hand that the full extent of the cover-up began to unravel. Laquan McDonald was shot and killed by officer Jason Van Dyke on the evening of 20 October 2014 on South Pulaski Road. Police had been called to reports of a teenager carrying a knife and breaking…