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Guam Legislature generic Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon Why America's muscling up of might in Guam will have a ripple effect in the Pacific, including on NZ's peace-making efforts The tiny island of Guam is known as the tip of the US military spear. It is closer to Beijing than to Hawaii, and is a hugely valuable strategic asset for that reason - especially now there are rising tensions around China's presence in the Pacific, and surrounding North Korean missile testing. Right now there is a massive build-up going on there of the already significant American military presence as it gets ready for a decade of twice-yearly missile weapons testing. By 2028, the US will spend $9 billion to relocate 5000 marines from Japan, build an integrated missile defence system, and add command func...

By Pavel Polityuk, Reuters This handout photograph taken and released by the National Police of Ukraine on September 28, 2024, shows a damaged hospital building following a drone attack in Sumy. Two Russian strikes on a hospital in the Ukrainian border city of Sumy killed at least six people on 28 September, 2024, the interior minister said. Photo: Handout / National Police of Ukraine / AFP Russia attacked a hospital in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine early on Saturday, killing nine people and injuring at least 19 others, Ukrainian and UN officials said. Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said "loitering munitions" - or suicide drones - hit the Saint Panteleimon Clinical Hospital in two attacks 45 minutes apart. "Most of the fatalities occurred dur...

Keir Starmer led the Labour Party to a sweeping victory in the July election. Photo: CLAUDIA GRECO / AFP British lawmaker Rosie Duffield quit the ruling Labour Party on Saturday in protest at Prime Minister Keir Starmer's approach to child poverty and his acceptance of tens of thousands of pounds of free clothing and hospitality from political donors. In her resignation letter, a copy of which she gave to The Sunday Times newspaper, Duffield accused Starmer of "sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice", adding: "I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party." Starmer, who was Britain's top prosecutor before entering parliament, said on 20 September he would stop accepting donations to pay for clothing for him and his wife. Duffiel...

A year ago, the last government torched its plan for a joined-up public broadcaster more like Australia's one. But the ABC is a billion-dollar beast that's also been a political football. Mediawatch asks its outgoing boss where it - and David Anderson himself - is heading. The ABC's boss David Anderson answers questions on ABC TV last month about his decision to step down at the end of the year. Photo: screenshot / ABC TV news "To speak truth to power, news media have . . . to be big enough and strong enough that politicians and other holders of power can't afford to ignore them. Without that, we're in trouble," warned Gavin Ellis, former editor of the New Zealand Herald. In a recent talk entitled 'The Day the News Dies', Ellis went on to say commercial news media companies here we...

By Samuel Rillstone The Wild Robot is the latest movie from Dreamworks Animation. Photo: Dreamworks Dreamworks' latest movie has a stellar cast, gorgeous animation and a heart-warming story at its core. Is it a school holiday movie that all the family will love? RNZ visual journalist Sam Rillstone takes a look. What's this movie about? The Wild Robot is based on the book series of the same name by Peter Brown. The story follows Roz the robot, who is shipwrecked on an island full of wildlife. Building relationships with the native animals, Roz is thrust into being a parent to an orphaned gosling named Brightbill. It's written and directed by Chris Sanders, of Lilo & Stitch fame. Who's in it? There's a strong cast: Lupita Nyong'o voices Roz, Pedro Pascal is Fink the Fox and Kit Co...

US President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Carter turns 100 years old on 1 October, by far the longest-lived American president. Photo: AFP / File Analysis - Jimmy Carter is the longest-lived American president, and as he turns 100 years old, it turns out he was also pretty much the last of his kind. Growing up in California, I was just a kid when the former peanut farmer from Georgia became an unlikely president in 1976, aiming to wipe away some of the disillusioned taint of the Nixon years. He's the first president I have memory of, smiling away from the tiny TV in our kitchen. He turns 100 years old on Tuesday, 1 October, and despite his single term, he will never quite be the footnote of other presidential one-termers like Millard Fillmore. Carter is the last living American president from ...

By ABC Middle East correspondents Eric Tlozek, Toby Mann and Basel Hindeleh Photo: AFP / Patrick Baz Analysis: The death of Hassan Nasrallah is a monumental moment for the Middle East. The leader of the region's most powerful militia and Iran's strongest ally is gone and Hezbollah, the group he led, has been decimated by intense Israel attacks. It's a very different outcome to the last time Hezbollah fought Israel. "Nasrallah wins the war", the Economist magazine declared when Israel and Hezbollah signed a ceasefire after a 34-day war in 2006. The leader of "The Party of God" had miscalculated, provoking an Israeli invasion when he ordered the kidnapping of soldiers in the Golan Heights, but still claimed victory despite dire Lebanese casualties and infrastructure damage. Nasrallah...