Grok under fire after complaints it undressed minors in photos
Elon Musk's Grok is fixing flaws after it was used to create erotic images of children and women. Photo / Getty ImagesGrok under fire after complaints it undressed minors in photosElon Musk's Grok is fixing flaws after it was used to create erotic images of children and women. Photo / Getty ImagesElon Musk’s Grok says it is scrambling to fix flaws in the artificial intelligence tool after users claimed it turned pictures of children or women into erotic images. “We’ve identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them,” Grok said in a post on X on Saturday. The button allows users to modify any image on the platform – with some users deciding to partially or completely remove clothing from women or children in pictures, according to complaints.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 11:02 UTC
First supermoon of the year: Best time to see it above New Zealand
A supermoon, like this one from 2025, will be visible to New Zealanders on Saturday night if skies are clear. Photo / SuppliedFirst supermoon of the year: Best time to see it above New ZealandA supermoon, like this one from 2025, will be visible to New Zealanders on Saturday night if skies are clear. Photo / SuppliedBy RNZStargazers can expect to see the first supermoon of the new year on Saturday night if skies are clear. Dr Ryan Ridden from the University of Canterbury said a supermoon is when a full moon is at its closest point to Earth. Ridden said anyone with a view out to the northeast should be able to see the supermoon, and moonrise is roughly 9.40pm.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 10:44 UTC
ManageMyHealth privacy breach: Government ‘blundered’ by cutting IT expert jobs
“Last year the PSA asked the Privacy Commissioner to investigate the impact of cuts to Health NZ’s digital services workforce but he refused,” Fitzsimons said. ”We call on him to reconsider this given the Manage My Health data breach." ‘A very concerning breach of patient data’ - Simeon BrownMinister of Health Simeon Brown has called the ManageMyHealth breach “a very concerning breach of patient data”. “ManageMyHealth is a private company responsible for protecting patient data, and it is responsible for this incident. Between 6 and 7% of the approximately 1.8 million registered users, up to 126,000 people, may have been impacted by the security breach.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 10:40 UTC
Privacy breach exposes risk of cutting IT experts: union
Photo: RNZThe Public Service Association says a security breach at privately run ManageMyHealth highlights the risk of cutting IT experts in public health. It said the government had "blundered" when they cut off the jobs of many IT experts "safeguarding the public health system". Health Minister Simeon Brown previously said government agencies were working with ManageMyHealth to fully understand the scope of the breach and to protect the privacy of patients. "This is a concerning breach of patient data and Health NZ is working closely with ManageMyHealth to ensure it is being appropriately addressed. "At this stage, there is no evidence any Health NZ systems, including My Health Account, have been compromised as ManageMyHealth has separate systems."
Source:Otago Daily Times
January 03, 2026 09:53 UTC
Determined to revive Hurunui Hotel
Hotel director Sourav Sharma. Hotel director Sourav Sharma has taken on the lease with plans to reinvigorate the hotel and buy it in the future. The Hurunui Hotel has been serving guests since 1868 and is the oldest continuously licensed pub in Canterbury. "All these things are in progress, by the middle of January we should have function area open," Sharma said. "My brother Harry who owns the Southbridge Hotel, the Coalgate Tavern as well as the Springfield Hotel.
Source:Otago Daily Times
January 03, 2026 08:30 UTC
The laundry gadget helping stop global pollution
With 11 million tonnes of plastic waste entering Earth's oceans annually, the contamination of ecosystems with microscopic particles, or microplastics, has also escalated alarmingly. Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5mm wide and break down further to nanoparticles. Environmental company The Goodside Project produces the Good Catch filters in Adelaide, with founder Karen Jones Hauser keen to do more. Fibres made up 72% of the waste, plastic fragments 17% and plastic beads 8%. Nearly two-thirds of plastic waste comes from products with lifetimes of under five years, with 40% derived from packaging, 12% from consumer goods and 11% from clothing and textiles.
Source:Otago Daily Times
January 03, 2026 07:07 UTC
Serious crash on SH1 Brynderwyns: Four injured, road reopened
Northern Rescue Helicopters transported two patients from the Brynderwyns to Auckland City Hospital. Photo / Northern Rescue HelicoptersAlready a subscriber? 3 Jan, 2026 04:03 AM 2 mins to readSerious crash on SH1 Brynderwyns: Four injured, road reopenedNorthern Rescue Helicopters transported two patients from the Brynderwyns to Auckland City Hospital. Photo / Northern Rescue HelicoptersFour people are in Auckland Hospital after a crash on State Highway 1, south of the Brynderwyns. “One additional patient, in moderate condition, is being transported by road ambulance to Auckland City Hospital.”Hato Hone St John was notified of the accident on SH1, Waipū, at 12.43pm.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 05:36 UTC
ManageMyHealth breach: Company says security flaws fixed after data hack
The “specific gaps” that allowed hackers to access documents had been identified and closed, the company said. “This is a concerning breach of patient data and Health NZ is working closely with ManageMyHealth to ensure it is being appropriately addressed,” he said. “At this stage, there is no evidence any Health NZ systems, including My Health Account, have been compromised as ManageMyHealth has separate systems.”Shortly before midday on Saturday, he said an incident management team had been established to support ManageMyHealth. Brown said he had asked for advice from the Ministry of Health on options for an independent review of what occurred. “We have seen it before in the public health system with the Waikato Hospital ransomware attack in 2021, and yet this Government failed to heed that lesson in forcing Health NZ to cut the jobs of experts running digital services,” national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 05:27 UTC
Lightning strike sends tree crashing onto Hillcrest house in Auckland
A tree fell on a North Shore house after being struck by lightning. Photo / Hayden WoodwardA neighbour told the Herald that even though they were wearing headphones at the time, they heard “the loudest bang” they had ever heard in their life. “We knew that something had been struck really close, but I didn’t anticipate it to be the tree opposite our house,” the neighbour said. Photo / Hayden WoodwardThe neighbour described the storm as “sudden and violent” and was shocked by the power of the lightning. They are now clearing up debris on the street left behind by the tree, while neighbours watch on.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 05:27 UTC
'Bring it back to new life': Historical Canterbury hotel reopens
Photo: RNZ / Anna SargentThe new director of a historic Canterbury hotel that was shut for more than a year says he's determined to bring the iconic site back to life. Hotel director Sourav Sharma has taken on the lease with plans to reinvigorate the hotel and buy it in the future. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent"Some people had their first date here, some people had their kid's 10th birthday, you know heaps of different stories. The second stage would see a function area open, capable of hosting up to 100 people with its own bar and kitchen. "All these things are in progress, by the middle of January we should have function area open," Sharma said.
Source:Stuff
January 03, 2026 05:08 UTC
Police to carry long-arm rifles at final Ashes test in Sydney following Bondi attack
NZ Herald Morning News Update | Indoor pyrotechnics blamed for Swiss fire, quake in Mexico City, serious crash involving ambulance in Waipu Cove. Police to carry long-arm rifles at final Ashes test in Sydney following Bondi attackAustralian police will visibly carry long-arm rifles at the final Ashes test in Sydney following the Bondi terror attack. The officers will perform high visibility patrols to reassure the public and ensure safety, a NSW police spokesperson said. Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker APM reassured spectators the visibility of the rifles is not because of a specific threat. “I want to emphasise that there is not any active or imminent threat,” McCusker said.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 04:48 UTC
FBI says undercover operation thwarted Isis-inspired terror attack
In recent weeks, the FBI has arrested a number of other individuals alleged to have been plotting terrorist attacks in Texas, California and Louisiana. Many of those investigations, like the one that led to the charges against Sturdivant, involved undercover agents or officers offering encouragement and in some cases suggestions on carrying out those attacks. Christian Sturdivant was charged after discussing his intentions with undercover officers posing as extremists. “I will do jihad soon,” Sturdivant told him during a December 13 exchange, according to an arrest affidavit filed in his case. The officer encouraged Sturdivant to prove his commitment through an act of violence, the document states.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 04:31 UTC
US woman killed in suspected mountain lion attack while hiking in Colorado
“We also contacted houndsmen to bring in dogs to help track scent from lions, which is a really effective way to find mountain lions,” said Van Hoose. Mountain lions are highly territorial, making it likely only one was involved in the attack. Van Hoose said mountain lion attacks are exceedingly rare, with 28 reported since 1990 in Colorado and the last fatality in 1999. Colorado is home to about 3800 to 4400 mountain lions – a figure that excludes kittens. Previously found across the United States, they are now extinct or endangered in the east, with the western states forming their stronghold.
Source:New Zealand Herald
January 03, 2026 03:55 UTC
Obituary: DNA co-discoverer dogged by dubious race views
United States geneticist James Dewey Watson shared the 1962 Nobel Prize with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins for his work to discover the molecular structure on DNA. Crick and Watson are intertwined in the public mind like the structure of DNA they discovered at Cambridge in 1953. DNA research promises the possibility of personalised cancer therapies. Watson was born in Chicago in 1928 and arrived in England aged 23 to join the Cavendish laboratory, which was leading the way in DNA research in the 1950s. She had wanted to patent the gene sequences emerging from the project, something that would have potentially stymied future research.
Source:Otago Daily Times
January 03, 2026 03:34 UTC
Man sought over New Year's Day assault
Police want to identify this man. PHOTO: NZ POLICEPolice want the public’s help to identify a man linked to an assault in Queenstown on New Year's Day. The incident took place in Ballarat St early on Thursday. In a statement today, police appealed for the man, or members of the public who recognised him, to get in contact. The incident took place early on Thursday.
Source:Otago Daily Times
January 03, 2026 03:21 UTC