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Drawing by Jacinda Ardern Sold for $12,000 at Charity Auction

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Reuters Photo)
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Reuters Photo)
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Drawing by Jacinda Ardern Sold for $12,000 at Charity Auction

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Reuters Photo)
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Reuters Photo)

An original artwork by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sold for NZD $18,050 (USD 12,000) during an open charity auction.

According to the German News Agency, the artwork called "The Political Cycle" was displayed on the Trade Me website on Saturday.

The drawing, which features a tornado and has no other copy, witnessed over 200 bids and more than 33,000 views.

Proceeds from the auction will be donated to Koru Care NZ, a charity that supports kids facing life-threatening illnesses or disabilities. Koru Care spokesperson Tracey Curran said the charity had to cancel its major annual fundraiser due to COVID-19.

"Although our overseas trips are currently on hold, we will be continuing making dreams come true by planning domestic holidays for these special kids," she added.

It is not the first time Adern's artwork has been auctioned off on the website, with a piece called "To Do List" raising 2,500 New Zealand dollars (USD 1,670) for the charity Parent to Parent in 2018.

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Cologne Starts Its Biggest Evacuation Since 1945 To Defuse WWII Bombs 

One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)
One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)
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Cologne Starts Its Biggest Evacuation Since 1945 To Defuse WWII Bombs 

One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)
One of the three unexploded bombs from the Second World War is fenced off with screens as specialists prepare to defuse them in Cologne, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Thomas Banneyer/dpa via AP)

More than 20,000 residents were being evacuated from part of Cologne's city center on Wednesday as specialists prepared to defuse three unexploded US bombs from World War II that were unearthed earlier this week.

Even 80 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs dropped during wartime air raids are frequently found in Germany.

Disposing of them sometimes entails large-scale precautionary evacuations such as the one on Wednesday, though the location this time was unusually prominent and this is Cologne's biggest evacuation since 1945. There have been bigger evacuations in other cities.

Authorities on Wednesday morning started evacuating about 20,500 residents from an area within a 1,000-meter (3,280-foot) radius of the bombs, which were discovered on Monday during preparatory work for road construction. They were found in the Deutz district, just across the Rhine River from Cologne's historic center.

As well as homes, the area includes 58 hotels, nine schools, several museums and office buildings and the Messe/Deutz train station.

It also includes three bridges across the Rhine, among them the heavily used Hohenzollern railway bridge, which leads into Cologne's central station and is being shut during the defusal work itself.

Shipping on the Rhine will also be suspended.

The plan is for the bombs to be defused during the course of the day. When exactly that happens depends on how long it takes for authorities to be sure that everyone is out of the evacuation zone.