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China is in trouble - and New Zealand should look to Japan for a way out of its reliance on it, a geopolitical expert says. "No one is in a worse position than the Chinese," Peter Zeihan, a top geo-political strategist, says. "According to the data that the Chinese have updated in just the last year... they've got a fertility rate that is one quarter, or below, replacement levels in all of their major cities. "So, we're looking at the demographic collapse of the Chinese state within 10 years, and that assumes nothing else goes wrong - no trade war with the United States, no government breakdown because of the cult of personality that has arisen around chairman Xi [Jinping], no conflict, nothing." Zeihan's dramatic predictions are in the latest episode of RNZ's multimedia programme, 30 with...

Photo: Composite image: Donald Trump AFP/Mark Peterson. Joe Biden AFP/Mandel Ngan In 2020 an exasperated Joe Biden came out swinging in the first presidential debate, exclaiming to then-president Donald Trump: "Will you shut up, man?" Four years on, he may have wished he said it again. While the interruptions which marked the chaotic first 2020 presidential debate were absent thanks to muting of microphones and talking turns were tightly controlled by CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, fast-talking Trump still dominated 2024's first debate. Read more of RNZ's coverage of the first US presidential debate: Softly-spoken and raspy, the 81-year-old Biden managed to speak just 39 percent of all words said in the 90-minute match-up, while the 78-year-old Trump commanded 48 percent. Wi...

US President Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race. Photo: AFP / Brendan Smialowski Analysis - US President Joe Biden, who channelled perseverance and grit into a 50-year run in American politics, finally met a foe he could not beat. His opponent in the November presidential election was technically former president Donald Trump, but it was also a much, much harder one to beat - age and perception. The disastrous June debate performance - the worst I have watched in 40 years of viewing these frustrating, fascinating American events - laid bare the harsh reality of age on America's oldest president, and in US politics, image is everything. At 81-years-old - 82 in November - Biden finally recognised today he could not win this one. My own father died in May at 83-years-old, j...

By Graham Fahy for Reuters Edna O'Brien in 1996. Photo: AFP / Jean-Pierre Couderc Edna O'Brien, the author who wrote of her native Ireland in such febrile prose, steeped in sex, love and religious angst, that it sparked national outrage and led to her self-imposed exile, has died aged 93, her agent said on Sunday. Her 1960 literary debut stirred national contempt in then-staunchly Catholic and conservative Ireland, prompting a priest in her hometown to call for it to be burned. The culture minister of the time branded it "a smear on Irish womanhood". But when a selection of her personal papers was added to Ireland's national library in 2021, Culture Minister Catherine Martin cited O'Brien's unique importance as a novelist and chronicler of a country that had once shunned and reviled...

Photo: BBC By Kaitlin Easton of the ABC The director of the BBC has been forced to respond to reports of abusive behaviour on the company's flagship show, Strictly Come Dancing. Director general Tim Davie said the line should never be crossed and the company will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour of any kind. It comes after allegations of abuse were made against two of the professional dancers on the show. So, what exactly is the Strictly Come Dancing scandal? Sherlock star raises concerns over dancer behaviour Actress Amanda Abbington quit the 12-week show after competing for just five weeks in October 2023. In January of this year, reports began swirling that Abbington had requested footage of her training sessions with dance partner Giovanni Pernice. The Sherlock star, 51, later rev...

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Israeli shelling in the southern Lebanese border village of Tayr Harfa. Photo: Kawnat HAJU / AFP A deadly rocket strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has added to concerns that Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah could be sucked into a full-scale war - something they have both previously indicated they want to avoid but for which they have also said they are ready. Israel said on Sunday it would strike hard at Hezbollah after accusing the group of killing 12 children and teenagers in a rocket attack on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah denied any responsibility for the attack on Majdal Shams, the deadliest in Israel or Israeli-annexed territory since Hamas' 7 October assault sparked the war in ...

Janet Andrewartha, who played Lyn Scully in Neighbours, has died at the age of 72. Photo: Freemantle By Charlotte Gallagher of BBC Janet Andrewartha, who played Lyn Scully in Neighbours, has died at the age of 72. The actress joined the long-running Australian soap in 1999 as the Scully family matriarch. She left the show in 2006 but returned multiple times, last appearing in Erinsborough in 2019. The soap's official Instagram account paid tribute to the star, with a post reading: "Everyone at Neighbours is deeply saddened by the passing of Janet Andrewartha. "Beloved by viewers for her role as Ramsay Street's Lyn Scully, Janet will be remembered for her wide body of work, which includes her memorable turn as Reb Keane in Prisoner." Jackie Woodburne who played Susan Kennedy on the soap ...