World News

By Georgie Hewson, ABC Onstage antics involving celebrities have become talking points of the VMAs in the early 2000s and 2010s. Photo: AFP / Timothy A Clark, Kevin Winter / Getty Images via AFP, Christopher Polk / Getty Images via AFP From a surprise pregnancy reveal to Madonna and Britney's infamous kiss to Lady Gaga singing while covered in fake blood, the MTV Video Music Awards have hosted memorable performances. This year, for the 40th MTV VMAs, audiences will actually be able to vote on what they think was the most iconic performance in a new category. But it is not just the planned portions of the evening that has put the show in the spotlight over the past four decades. It is also the place where many famous celebrity feuds, bizarre interruptions and political statements hav...

Property owner and Chamarro nation chief, Tony Sablan claims his family has lost over 5000 acres of land. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon Emergency shelters have been set up in Guam as Tropical Depression 14W intensifies. Guam's National Weather Service had forecast the depression would become a Tropical Storm overnight in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Its science and operations officer Brandon Aydlet said there were two things the weather service was "really concerned about". "One is the rainfall, which we're going to be expecting heavy, torrential rains, starting tonight, continuing through Wednesday night. "And then another wet pattern sets up through the weekend. So one is the concern for flooding." Residents had been asked to prepare for heavy rain and...

Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi The Indian High Commission in Wellington has warned nurses against coming to New Zealand unless they have a genuine job offer. "It has come to the notice of the High Commission of India that a number of Indian nurses are facing difficulties in securing jobs in New Zealand, even though they may have successfully completed the Competency Assessment Programme (CAP) and registration with New Zealand Nursing Council," the Indian diplomatic mission said in a statement on Monday. "[We] would like to advise the Indian nurses that they should not travel to New Zealand unless they have a genuine job offer. It is also advisable to get the genuineness of the employer checked by the High Commission by emailing at pol.wellington@mea.gov.in ." The Indian High Commission also...

Malcolm Bishop KC Photo: LinkedIn / Malcolm Bishop KC A petition circulating in Tonga is calling for the newly appointed chief justice, Malcolm Bishop from Wales, to have his position revoked because he is openly gay. The petition was launched by members of Tonga's law society and a protest is also planned. Tonga Law Society president Lopeti Senituli has distanced himself from the petition. Senituli said the lawyers who kicked the petition into motion were acting independently and not in conjunction with Tonga Law Society. "That is not an official petition of the Tonga Law Soceity," he told RNZ Pacific on Monday. "It is a petition by members of the [Tonga] Law Society but it is not sanctioned by the Tonga Law Society executive council," he added. Senituli said he has not signed the peti...

Interpol has issued an international red notice for Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya (pictured in 2012). Photo: Somchai Poomlard /Bangkok Post via AFP By Lauren Day, ABC South-East Asia correspondent There's a saying in Thailand: "Only the poor go to jail." And no case proves it like that of Red Bull heir Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya. In the early hours of 3 September, 2012, the then-27-year-old allegedly smashed his Ferrari into the back of a police officer's motorbike on a busy Bangkok road. The officer was flung from the bike, dragged almost 200 metres under the car and died at the scene. But by the time police arrived, Yoovidhya had already sped away. A trail of oil leaking from the sports car led investigators to his luxury home and medical tests reportedly taken in the hours after th...

People walk in front of the Kremlin's Spasskaya tower (L) and St. Basil's cathedral in downtown Moscow, on 23 July 2024. Photo: AFP / ALEXANDER NEMENOV Russia recorded its lowest birth rate since 1999 in the first six months of this year, according to official data published on Monday, with births in June below 100,000, marking their first monthly decline. Why it's important The conjuncture of declining births and rising mortality has led to a decrease in Russia's population, posing an issue for the Kremlin as it wages a protracted war in Ukraine, which Moscow launched with a full-scale invasion in 2022. The Kremlin in July called Russia's low birth rates a disaster for the country. By the numbers According to data published by the statistics service Rosstat, 599,600 children were born ...

A patient wanders through the hall containing the men's cells at the St Giles Psychiatric Hospital. 24 February 2004 Photo: AFP / Torsten Blackwood Fiji's only psychiatric hospital is battling with resource constraints as demand for mental health services, linked to drug use, is surging in the country. Local media are reporting substance abuse-related mental health cases, particularly due to the use of hard drugs such as methamphetamine, is creating problems for the St Giles Psychiatric Hospital. The problems range from a shortage of nurses and doctors to beds for patients, at the only facility of its type in the country. The medical superintendent at the hospital in the capital Suva, Dr Balram Pandit, told the state broadcaster FBC on Monday that 100-beds was "insufficient" and they ne...

Interpol has issued an international red notice for Red Bull heir Vorayuth Yoovidhya (pictured in 2012). Photo: Somchai Poomlard /Bangkok Post via AFP By Lauren Day, ABC South-East Asia correspondent There's a saying in Thailand: "Only the poor go to jail." And no case proves it like that of Red Bull heir Vorayuth "Boss" Yoovidhya. In the early hours of 3 September, 2012, the then-27-year-old allegedly smashed his Ferrari into the back of a police officer's motorbike on a busy Bangkok road. The officer was flung from the bike, dragged almost 200 metres under the car and died at the scene. But by the time police arrived, Yoovidhya had already sped away. A trail of oil leaking from the sports car led investigators to his luxury home and medical tests reportedly taken in the hours after th...

By Eric Beech and Lisa Richwine, Reuters Photo: ETIENNE LAURENT / AFP Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was rushed to a hospital from a New York City prison on Sunday and underwent heart surgery on Monday, his representatives said. Weinstein, 72, is due in court this week where prosecutors have presented evidence to a New York grand jury to try and secure a new indictment against him on sex crimes charges. Spokespeople for the Oscar winner said in a statement he had been taken to Bellevue Hospital on Sunday night because of several medical issues. "We can confirm that Mr Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today," Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said. They did not provide any information on his condition. ABC News first reported that Weinstein had undergon...

By Bill Trott and Lisa Richwine, Reuters American actor James Earl Jones overcame a stutter to have a voice recognised the world over as intergalactic villain Darth Vader. Photo: Getty Images / Jemal Countess American actor James Earl Jones, an imposing stage and screen presence who overcame a childhood stutter to develop a stentorian voice recognised the world over as intergalactic villain Darth Vader, died Tuesday at the age of 93, his agent said. Jones, a longtime sufferer of diabetes, died at his home surrounded by family members, agent Barry McPherson said. No cause of death was provided. Jones had a great physical presence on stage and television, as well as in movies, but he would have been a star even if his face was never seen because his voice had a career of its own. The r...