“I was on something like page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organisation for environmental monitoring,” explains Luke Auld-Thomas, a PhD student at Tulane university in the US.

It was a Lidar survey, a remote sensing technique which fires thousands of laser pulses from a plane and maps objects below using the time the signal takes to return.

But when Mr Auld-Thomas processed the data with methods used by archaeologists, he saw what others had missed - a huge ancient city which may have been home to 30-50,000 people at its peak from 750 to 850 AD.

As a result of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, corporations have been able to spend an unlimited amount on political activities in support of candidates, as long as they do not directly coordinate with a campaign.

“Israel must immediately put into place a comprehensive plan of action that will physically evacuate all settlers from occupied territory,” it said.

The commission also demanded that Israel “return land, title and natural resources to the Palestinians who have been displaced since 1967”.

A member of the Indian Business Association, who did not want to be named, told RNZ about an incident at his Auckland petrol station, in which he tried to stop a customer driving away without paying.

He had opened the passenger side door and was confronted with a gun, he said.

"He just pointed the gun toward me, and that was a shotgun," he said.

"He said 'f*** off', so I immediately hands up, and just left the car, let him go."

Peters’ speech, covering New Zealand First’s policy on overseas investment and taking jabs at Labour, had already been interrupted by a small group, shouting “free Palestine” and questioning Peters’ foreign policy in the Middle East. They were removed from the conference.

They said they were from the “bureau of concerned citizens”, believing a “genocide is occurring”.

Then, as Peters left, more people began shouting at Peters, then clashing with attendees. Multiple people were pushed up against hallway walls.