Friday, March 6

World News

US election: Women will pick the winner
World News

US election: Women will pick the winner

By Laura Walters of Issues like abortion are becoming increasingly important for women this election. Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / AFP Analysis - "They're both wrong," the 80-year-old Arizonan says. But Kamala Harris will probably win because she's been strong on a woman's right to access abortions, she says. The mother, who doesn't want to be identified "because I'll probably be too honest", believes Harris is bad for the economy, for job creation, for businesses, and for the country's fuel security. But there's something she cares about more: a woman's right to make choices about her own body. "You can try to put your thoughts in my head, but stay the hell out of my pants." Listening-in is a young mother, with two young children underfoot. "I've always liked Trump,"...
The horse, the prep, the race itself – how the tactics of winning the Melbourne Cup evolved
World News

The horse, the prep, the race itself – how the tactics of winning the Melbourne Cup evolved

By Andrew McGarry, ABC News Jockey Glen Boss steers Makybe Diva (R) to a record-breaking third consecutive victory in Australia's premier race, the Melbourne Cup run at the Flemington course, in Melbourne 1 November 2005. Photo: AFP / WILLIAM WEST If you want to talk to someone who knows about riding the winner of the Melbourne Cup, Kerrin McEvoy is not a bad place to start. His first ride came in 2000, when the then-20-year-old jockey from Streaky Bay in South Australia took on Australia's most famous race on Brew. It did not start off that well. "It was quite bizarre because I picked up the ride on the Saturday and I was pretty happy to pick up the ride because he (Brew) dropped from 58 kilos down to 49 and he only won on the Saturday to get a spot in the race," McEvoy says. "Anywa...
Elon Musk’s $1 million voter giveaway gets green light
World News

Elon Musk’s $1 million voter giveaway gets green light

By Jack Queen, Reuters SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk awarded Kristine Fishell with a US$1 million check. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Michael Swensen A state judge has allowed Elon Musk's US$1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters to proceed in Pennsylvania with one day to go before the tightly contested US presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Musk's favoured candidate. Pennsylvania Judge Angelo Foglietta's decision came after a surprising day of testimony in Philadelphia state court in which Musk's aides acknowledged hand-picking the winners of the contest based on who would be the best spokespeople for his super PAC's agenda, despite the billionaire's assertion that they would be chosen randomly. Tesla CEO Musk has already given aw...
US election: Why these are the five (or six) states to watch on election night
World News

US election: Why these are the five (or six) states to watch on election night

Analysis by Harry Enten, CNN A voter drops off a ballot at the San Francisco City Hall voting centre, California, on the final day of early voting, on 4 November, 2024. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Loren Elliot The 2024 presidential election isn't a race for student council president. And it's not just because one of the candidates is 60 years old (Kamala Harris) and the other is about two years shy of 80 (Donald Trump). It's because, as Democrats Hillary Clinton and Al Gore know, the national popular vote does not determine the winner. The only thing that matters is getting to 270 electoral votes through the Electoral College. This year, if you know the winner(s) in these five states - Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and perhaps a sixth, Arizona - you'l...
US election: Concerns about post-election unrest widespread
World News

US election: Concerns about post-election unrest widespread

By Gram Slattery, Tim Reid, James Oliphant and Gabriella Borter, Reuters People wait in line to vote on the last day of early voting at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / AFP Danielle Trenney, a 39-year-old project manager from western Pennsylvania, is so anxious about the US presidential election on Wednesday that she decided to put up a Christmas tree early this year to take her family's mind off things. Trenney said she knew of other families doing the same in Bellevue, a Pittsburgh suburb and an electoral hotbed prized by both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, rivals in a race that analysts say will go down to the wire. "Just trying to pacify the anxiety," said Trenney, who voted for Harris ahead of Election Day. "Anything and ...
US election live: Harris and Trump on final day of campaigning
World News

US election live: Harris and Trump on final day of campaigning

With only hours to go until Election Day in the US, the presidential candidates are making their final arguments for the top job. The race for the White House between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has already seen more than 78 million Americans cast ballots ahead of Tuesday's Election Day, approaching half the total 160 million votes cast in 2020, in which US voter turnout was the highest in more than a century. Trump will spend the day in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, while Harris will spend the entire day in Pennsylvannia, a state seen as crucial to the election outcome. Follow all the latest developments with RNZ's live blog: Source link
Quincy Jones: Nine facts about the American music producer
World News

Quincy Jones: Nine facts about the American music producer

Quincy Jones on stage during the 53rd Montreux Jazz Festival in 2019. Photo: AFP / Fabrice Coffrini Few people in the music world can match the accomplishments of Quincy Jones, who died at the age of 91. Jones died on Sunday at the age of 91, his publicist said. The man known simply as "Q," was a huge influence on American music in his work with artists ranging from Count Basie to Frank Sinatra and reshaped pop music in his collaborations Michael Jackson. Here are nine facts about Jones: * Jones' work reached the moon. He said Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon on the Apollo 11 lunar mission in 1969, told him that he played Frank Sinatra's 1964 Jones-produced recording of 'Fly Me to the Moon' before setting out on the lunar surface. * In addition to scoring more than 30 mov...
US election: At Kamala Harris’ rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania
World News

US election: At Kamala Harris’ rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Supporters outside Kamala Harris' rally at Muhlenberg College, Allentown. Photo: Nick Monro/RNZ Women's rights and abortion were the main issues given by supporters of Kamala Harris spoken to outside the Pennsylvania college hall where she's due to speak on Tuesday morning. Harris is making a whistle stop tour of the crucial swing state on Tuesday as she looks to build on late momentum with older women voters ahead of polling day Wednesday. Harris is making stops in Allentown, Scranton and Reading during the day, before attending a massive outdoor rally in Philadelphia that will include guest appearances from the likes of Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey. It comes as a late poll in the normally red state of Iowa showed Harris leading in the race there and out performing Donald Trump with wom...
Elon Musk lawyer says US$1 million voter giveaway winners are not random
World News

Elon Musk lawyer says US$1 million voter giveaway winners are not random

By Jack Queen, Reuters SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk awarded Kristine Fishell with a US$1 million check. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Michael Swensen Elon Musk's pro-Trump group does not choose the winners of its US$1 million-a-day (NZ$1.7m) giveaway to registered voters at random, but instead picks people who would be good spokespeople for its agenda, a lawyer for the billionaire said. Musk lawyer Chris Gober was trying to persuade a Pennsylvania judge that the giveaway was not an "illegal lottery," as Philadelphia district attorney Lawrence Krasner alleged in a lawsuit seeking to block the contest ahead of Wednesday's US presidential election. "There is no prize to be won, instead recipients must fulfil contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC," Gober said...
Kamala Harris talks to African American church in battleground Michigan
World News

Kamala Harris talks to African American church in battleground Michigan

By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland, Reuters US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris speaks during a stop at Elam's Barber Shop in Pontiac, Michigan. Photo: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP Democrat Kamala Harris made her closing pitch for the US presidency at a historically Black church in the swing state of Michigan, while her Republican rival Donald Trump rallied in Pennsylvania. Opinion polls show the pair locked in a tight race, with Vice President Harris, 60, bolstered by strong support among women voters while former President Trump, 78, gains ground with Hispanic voters, particularly men. Voters overall view both candidates unfavorably, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling, but that so far has not dissuaded them from casting ballots. More than 76 million Americans ...