World News

In this image released by the US Government, US journalist Evan Gershkovich (L), former US Marine Paul Whelan (2R) and US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (R) are seen on a plane after their release from Russia on August 1, 2024. Gershkovich, Whelan, Kurmasheva and Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza were part of a 24-prisoner swap with Russia. Photo: HANDOUT / US Government / AFP A plane carrying detainees released by Russia has landed in the United States at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, media footage showed. Earlier, tears of joy flowed in the Oval Office the moment families of prisoners such as Evan Gershkovich, freed by Russia in the biggest such swap since the Cold War, first spoke by phone to their loved ones, a White House video showed on Thursday. Happening Now: ...

By Lewis Jackson, Reuters Palestinians are standing next to a vehicle in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on April 2, 2024, where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the NGO. Photo: MAJDI FATHI / NurPhoto via AFP Israeli air strikes that killed international aid workers in Gaza in April were the result of serious operational failures but were not intentional, according to a Australian government review of the incident released on Friday. Three Israeli air strikes hit the convoy of aid vehicles travelling through Gaza on 1 April, killing seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff. The dead included Palestinians and citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland. The killings drew widespread condemnati...

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...

Womens Double Scull final, Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors from New Zealand on the podium to get their gold. Photo: Iain McGregor / www.photosport.nz The mother of rowers Lucy and Phoebe Spoors has revealed she had to run from the medal ceremony to see her next daughter's race. Virginia Spoors has told Morning Report she was in a "bit of a panic" as she sprinted to find a place to watch. Lucy Spoors along with Brooke Francis won gold in the women's double sculls. But the moment the medal ceremony was over, the women's coxless four race began. And that included Phoebe Spoors and teammates Jackie Gowler, Kerri Williams, and Davina Waddy. They went on to win bronze. "We were in a massive grandstand, halfway up next to a German group, Americans in front and Dutch behind. We got talking," sai...

Photo: BBC By Katie Razzall of the BBC The man who was once the most trusted and most recognisable face of BBC journalism has pleaded guilty over images that show child sexual abuse - and the BBC has serious questions to answer. The director general faces some stark and uncomfortable truths. Most difficult to explain is why the BBC continued to pay Huw Edwards his vast salary for five months after he had been arrested. Edwards resigned in April citing medical advice. The BBC said in its statement that if Edwards had been charged, it would have acted. It's true that a charge would have indicated prosecutors believed they had the evidence to convict. Edwards wasn't charged until after he had resigned. But for many, his guilty pleas on Wednesday make it difficult to justify those months pay...