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Trish McKay was run over and killed during a botched robbery in July in California. Photo: Supplied US media report the three men facing murder charges in the botched robbery attempt that led to the death of a 68-year-old New Zealand tourist in California have pleaded not guilty. Patricia McKay died outside a Newport Beach mall during an attempted robbery when she was hit by one of the alleged offenders' cars. Leroy Ernest Joseph McCrary, Jaden Cunningham, and Malachi Eddward Darnell are charged with murder. The Los Angeles Daily News reported there was a brief hearing today in a Santa Ana courtroom. The newspaper reported the suspects watched the proceeding from a holding cell on the side of the courtroom and spoke only briefly. They had earlier refused to leave their cells for another...

By Kanishka Singh and Matt Spetalnick, Reuters Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia talks to supporters as Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (L), his wife Mercedes Lopez (R) and his daughter Mariana Gonzalez (2nd R) listen during a rally in front of the United Nations headquarters in Caracas on July 30, 2024. Photo: AFP / YURI CORTEZ The United States on Thursday recognised Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's opponent and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of Venezuela's disputed presidential election, rejecting Maduro's claim of victory. "Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela's Ju...

Luuka Jones is a medal prospect in the brand new Kayak Cross event at the Paris Olympics Photo: AFP / Olivier Morin It is among a new wave of extreme sports added to the Paris Olympic programme. But for Luuka Jones, it feels more like returning to her roots - the days she spent knocking about in plastic kayaks on Tauranga's Wairoa River as a kid. Jones and fellow Kiwi paddler Finn Butcher are expected to feature in the medal mix when Kayak Cross makes its Olympic debut on Sunday morning. The event, where kayakers in heats of four fight their way down the course, bumping each other out of the way, is part of a shift by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include more youth oriented action sports in the Games. The additional slalom event was added to the Olympic programme at th...

Donald Trump will be sentenced on 18 September. Photo: POOL / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel, Reuters A New York state appeals court on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's challenge to a gag order in his hush money criminal case, where the former US president was convicted in May on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star. The decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan means the Republican presidential nominee cannot comment publicly about individual prosecutors and others in the case until Justice Juan Merchan sentences him on 18 September, seven weeks before the 5 November election. Trump's lawyers have argued that the gag order violated Trump's constitutional free speech rights under the First Amendment. Steven Cheun...

By Geoffrey Miller* Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Analysis - As tensions in the Middle East rise further, New Zealand's approach to the region continues to evolve. Neither Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, nor Foreign Minister Winston Peters were immediately keen to comment publicly about Israel's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. On social media, Luxon instead promoted the government's recently introduced tax cuts, while Peters posted on the launch of a new shortwave radio transmitter for Radio New Zealand's Pacific-focused service, a key plank of Wellington's public diplomacy efforts. But it would be wrong to call New Zealand reticent when it comes to the war in Gaza as a w...

Photo: British Army / Supplied The Defence Force has been helping the US military with artificial intelligence-powered weapons to speed up what they call "kill chains". US reports show the NZDF is one of a half dozen militaries involved in regular exercises to link American and allied war-fighting technology more closely. The Pentagon has been putting a lot more stress on getting allies on board to counter China. In an exercise in California with six nations in March, a F35 jetfighter with AI-driven sensors instantly passed targeting data along the "kill chain" to an unmanned kamikaze drone. In another exercise - also attended by New Zealand - the controversial surveillance firm Palantir supplied a so-called "metaconstellation" of submarine-hunting satellites. US military chiefs said the...