USA – The winner of a US$560 million lottery jackpot last month is suing state lottery officials in a bid to protect her anonymity.

The New Hampshire woman filed a civil complaint as Jane Doe, after making the “huge mistake” of signing the winning ticket without legal consultation.

State law says a winner’s name, town and winning amount are public record.

The winner has not turned in her ticket yet, but showed lottery officials a photocopy of the front to support her claim for the country’s eighth-largest lottery jackpot.

They told her that they would be compelled to disclose her identity in the event someone files a Right-to-Know request for the 6 January drawing. Her lawyer said that the long-time New Hampshire resident wants to give back to her community.

However, she also wants “the freedom to walk into a grocery store or attend public events without being known or targeted as the winner of a half-billion dollars”.

They argued her privacy interest outweighed the insignificant public interest in disclosing her name.

Musk rocket set to launch

USA – Elon Musk will attempt to fly the world’s most powerful rocket with his own sports car on the top.

The US entrepreneur’s Falcon Heavy launcher is designed to have twice the lifting capacity of any other vehicle.

But because of the historic high failure rate of maiden flights, only a dummy payload is being risked.

Musk has decided this should be his old cherry-red Tesla Roadster with a space-suited mannequin strapped in the driver’s seat.

David Bowie’s classic hit Space Oddity will be looping on the radio as the car is hurled into an elliptical orbit that stretches out to Mars’ orbit around the Sun.

“The Roadster will get about 400 million kilometres away from Earth, and it’ll be doing 11 kilometres per second,” he told reporters in a briefing on Monday. “We estimate it will be in that orbit for several hundred million years, maybe in excess of a billion years.”

Three cameras attached to the car would provide “epic views”, Musk added. The rocket should be capable of generating almost 23,000 kilonewtons of thrust – slightly more than double that of the world’s current most powerful rocket

Virus hits Olympic guards

SOUTH KOREA – Dozens of private security guards at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea have been taken to hospital with norovirus, prompting organisers to call in soldiers as guards instead.

Vomiting and diarrhoea hit the security staff on Sunday.

Some 1200 of the guards have been withdrawn from Olympic sites, with 41 having reported symptoms. Hand sanitiser has now been distributed and the head of the organising committee has apologised. The Pyeongchang Games are due to start on Friday.

Games spokesman Christophe Dubi said that measures had been put in place to avoid a further outbreak of the highly contagious virus.

“Very stringent measures are in place when it comes to food and beverages,” he said. “As soon as a case is reported then all the area gets disinfected,” he added.

The withdrawn security staff have been replaced by 900 soldiers.

The president of the organising committee of the Games, Lee Hee-beom, said all venues were being used for training, and athletes were settling in to their accommodation.

Ardern sets high expectations at Waitangi

NEW ZEALAND – There was a new dawn for Waitangi Day commemorations in the Bay of Islands after peace, love and BBQ replaced protest and tension.

Waitangi Day got off to a peaceful start in the Bay of Islands, with an estimated 1500 people attending the traditional prayer service on the Treaty Grounds.

The turnout is thought to be the biggest in decades.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wound up her first visit to Waitangi conceding she has set high expectations and the real test would be delivering on them.

Ardern ended a five-day visit to Northland after a peaceful Waitangi Day, saying it had “exceeded my expectations”.

She acknowledged there was a lot of expectation now for her to deliver on what she had promised.

Dissent and protest around Waitangi Day commemorations shouldn’t been seen as a sign of failure, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

At the dawn service Ardern gave a reading based on extracts from the Book of Celtic Wisdom by John Donahue.

She asked that those gathered never lose sight of why they had come to Waitangi and that they might know the wisdom of deep listening.

Ngapuhi leader Sonny Tau said New Zealand had a good run under the National Party for the last nine years, but acknowledged the nation might benefit from a young leader.

“We’ve got a very ,very young country and a very, very young leader and that combination is going to be dynamite for this country.”

Ardern said it had been an incredibly moving few days for her in the Far North.

The crowd at the Waitangi.

She said while the atmosphere at Waitangi this year had been more positive and peaceful than in recent years, she did not think people should shy away from challenging the government.

“I think we should stop striving for perfection at the commemorations of our national day. If people choose to use their voice on this day that does not mean it is a failure, it does not mean the day needs to change or move it just means that we’re not complacent.”

She said her first visit to Waitangi as prime minister had exceeded her expectations.

“Of course I was hopeful that everything would go to plan from Ngapuhi perspective. I know that we make it challenging for them because politicians are often targets so it’s not always easy even if you go in with the ambition of it being a particular way.”

A group of women at Waitangi, who weave wahakura, gifted the prime minister three of the woven flax bassinets in three sizes.

Jacinda Ardern said she will use them for her baby.

The prime minister and her entourage then hosted a BBQ for the public at the nearby waka shelter.

Ardern, who was on sausage and bacon duty, said they catered for 400 people but were running out of food within half an hour.

In a brief speech to the crowd she said she had been told previous prime minister’s held a breakfast at a local hotel, but she opted instead to do something for the public.

Ardern’s pregnancy was also a topic of discussion at Waitangi. Labour MP Peeni Henare had also suggested Ardern bury her placenta up there according to Maori custom after her baby was born.

Ardern said she had had a brief discussion with partner Clarke Gayford about it and they felt humbled by the offer.

Asked if she was feeling pressure from the gifts of baby names and other offers, she said while such matters were personal issues, it did not compare to the pressure of running a country.

Around mid-morning a small group of protestors led by Waitangi elder Kingi Taurua marched through the congregation assembled for the morning’s church service chanting “Hikoi”, before moving on.

Hundreds of people later gathered to catch a glimpse of a flotilla of waka paddle by the treaty ground on its annual journey to Te Tii Marae.

National Party leader Bill English spent Waitangi Day in Bluff – ironically as far as it is possible to be from Waitangi while on mainland New Zealand.

Last year, when he was prime minister, he opted not to go to Waitangi, saying there was too much disorganisation and disruption at Te Tii Marae.

But this year all of the events have been shifted to the marae on the Treaty Grounds.

English said that decision, made by the Waitangi National Trust board, appeared to have been a good one.

“It’s been great to see the dignity restored to that event where people have been able to enjoy the Waitangi Day significance for New Zealand rather than have to put up with what used to happen in the run up to it.”

English said he was going to attending Ngai Tahu’s official commemoration events at Bluff.

Waitangi Day celebrations were held all around the country

Ngati Whatu Orakei hosted a big event at Okahu Bay with hundreds of people turning out for the food, entertainment and Maoritanga.

One of those attending said it was a good day spend with family and to get together to celebrate a good day for the whole country.

There were also whanau friendly events at Hoani Waititi Marae in west Auckland and at Hayman Park in Manukau.

In the capital, the national day was marked with kapa haka and live music at Waitangi Park, with plenty of Wellingtonians tucking into kai from a hangi.

There was also a festival at the Porirua Harbour waterfront where 100 paddlers and their waka were out on the water taking people for tours, the event also had different cultural performances and music.

While in the South Island, events were held at Okains Bay Marae in Christchurch and in Nelson.

- PNC sources