Category: World News

Posted on

Aid organisations fighting to stay in Gaza, unable to get much-needed supplies into city

Source: Radio New Zealand

Medecins Sans Frontieres is determined to stay in Gaza despite requirements from Israel to supply extensive details of staff and funding. Medecins Sans Frontieres

Aid organisations in Gaza, say they have been unable to get supplies or staff into the city since January.

A court temporarily blocked a decision by Israel to ban 37 aid organisations for failing to cooperate with new rules.

Those rules included registering names and contact details of staff with Israeli authorities as well as providing details of the group’s funding.

Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as, Doctors Without Borders’ (MSF) executive director for New Zealand and Australia, Tom Roth, told Nine to Noon, the organisation had been discussing with authorities why they needed that information and what it would be used for.

He said there were fears about staff being targeted using the information and so far there had been no assurances on how that information would be used.

Despite the court temporarily blocking the decision, supplies and staff had not been able to enter Gaza since January, Roth said.

He described the situation as “catastrophic”.

“Eighty percent of the infrastructure [in Gaza] has been destroyed, it’s a massive catastrophe… Palestinians are struggling just with basic shelter. They are living within 40 percent of Gaza’s land mass, living in tents trying to survive without access to food, water and medical assistance.”

Displaced Palestinians warm up by the fire. (File photo) NurPhoto via AFP

Roth said there had been limited food in Gaza since before the ceasefire, and even with it there had still been limited amounts of food coming in.

“There’s an obligation under international humanitarian law that Israel is required to allow unhindered humanitarian access for NGO’s.”

Roth said after the new rules came in last year, a petition was taken to the Supreme Court to overthrow the registration ban.

He said an injunction to stop it being implemented was now in place, but by the time it was put in place, MSF has already removed staff from Gaza.

“We’ve requested staff and supplies to come into Gaza since then and that has been refused.

“We’re still waiting for the Israeli government’s response to it.”

MSF had no international staff in Gaza and the West Bank at present, Roth said, but Palestinian staff remained, which made up about 80 percent of the staff.

“So we have and will continue to operate in Gaza for as long as possible.”

However, Roth said staff needed the means to do their job, including the supply of medical equipment which at the moment was unable to replenished, he said.

“People are living in tents desperately searching for food, for water, there’s thousands of people needing urgent medical attention.

“It would take five years to evacuate the children needing urgent medical evacuation. It’s heartbreaking we’re put in this situation.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

How to talk to your children about conflict and war

Source: Radio New Zealand

It can be hard to avoid news about the conflict and war around the world, especially with images and updates regularly topping the news and circulating online.

Brad Morgan is the director of Emerging Minds, an Australian organisation which develops mental health policy, interventions and programmes, and leads the National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health.

“You see it on public transport. We see it in shops. You see it at home. Obviously, for some children, it’s also in their pockets or at school,” Morgan tells Nine to Noon.

Our children are increasingly exposed to updates about wars and conflicts from all around the world with the 24/7 accessibility to the news.

Unsplash / Getty Images

Is it okay to lie to children about pain?

“Certainly, the news exposure to these sort of things is pretty prevalent and persistent and pervasive across every part of our lives these days.”

What’s the best way to answer kids’ questions about war?

Guardians should be proactive in establishing what children have heard, Morgan says.

“I tend to encourage just being curious … ‘I’ve been watching, lots of news has popped up this week about this, have you seen anything pop up?’

“Then through that conversation, you can say, ‘it’s a bit worrying, isn’t it?’ And encourage them to sort of share some of their worries just by you sharing some of yours.

“But just assume that kids will probably try to protect you as well from their worries.”

For children who might not be at the age where you can ask them these questions, you can offer simple explanations instead, Morgan says.

“‘When there’s a disagreement between countries, they find it hard to find a way to resolve that and so, as a consequence, sometimes they try to protect themselves or try to end that conflict by using weapons or by engaging in these sorts of things’. And so that might be a simple enough explanation for some children.”

Emerging Minds director Brad Morgan.

Supplied / Emerging Minds

What if they’re feeling abysmal about everything in the world?

It’s a natural and healthy reaction for children to be concerned about others in pain or suffering, but hearing about one global catastrophe after another can have a cumulative impact, Morgan says.

“Generally, we would recommend limiting exposure to news, particularly for those under sort of five or even probably a bit older than that,” he says.

“But something that’s really important just to be aware of, particularly with younger children, is they might not be able to distinguish whether … that’s happening in their neighbourhood or whether that’s actually on the other side of the world. So it does have that potential to make them feel unsafe in their context.”

Providing some reassurances will be critical here, Morgan says, including about what is being done to help people in distress.

Share your own stories of when you witnessed chaos in the world and how “hope can be maintained, that there were actions that were taken, there were consequences to those things but, in everyday life, things were able to recover and develop again”.

“So sort of framing these things as, I guess, waves of issues that pop up, some of them are big, some of them are smaller, but they do change and they do settle.”

I’m worried and don’t want my children to sense it

It’s okay to share with your children that you have worries too because it gives them permission to feel it’s okay to react that way, Morgan says.

But try to emphasise ‘what it means for us in our everyday life’ and encourage problem-solving by finding ways to disconnect, he says.

Be mindful that infants and young children are attuned to looking at our faces to gauge whether they’re safe or not, he says.

“If you’re feeling quite distressed just by witnessing the news … probably turn off the news in the first place, but then actually do something calming and help them feel like they’re in a safe space again and that’s just through the way you react with them.”

With older children, take care with how you talk about conflict because they will be trying to understand your values and beliefs to form opinions, he says.

I’m concerned about what my children are seeing online about the war

We live in an age where everyone has license to release their own narrative, and social media has the potential to expose our children to extreme content, Morgan says.

“Certainly what does tend to pop up, particularly [with] war and conflict, is discussions around race and discrimination.

“Something that we really encourage you to think about is how can you communicate in ways that encourage compassion.”

Focus on humanity instead of the political aspects which can increase a sense of separation, he says.

“I think, from a parent or an adult entry point, opening up the conversation enables you to understand where they’re coming from [and] introduce different ideas.

“If they’re being exposed to extreme content as well that you find quite disagreeable as a parent, even though you might find it hard to swallow, [ask] ‘can you show that to me? I want to sit down with you and watch that so we can have a bit of a chat about why that information has been given in that way and who’s giving that information’.

“You use it as a way to what we call media literacy, which is unpacking who’s telling this story and why they’re telling it in this way.”

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

‘It is a ticking time bomb’: Drive to evict PNG settlement communities runs into problems

Source: Radio New Zealand

Shattered homes: community leaders at Paga Hill settlement discuss their response to police attempts to evict them. RNZ / Johnny Blades

A Papua New Guinean anthropologist has warned that a campaign by authorities to remove communities from informal settlements in Port Moresby will not solve growing social problems in PNG’s capital.

The government is determined to end the role of settlements as what Prime Minister James Marape decsribes as “breeding grounds for terror” as part of its law and order reforms, but recent evictions have run into problems.

Almost half of Port Moresby’s estimated population of around 500,000 live in settlements, often without legal title or access to basic services. Some of the settlements have become notorious as crime hotspots.

However, in late January, police moved into the settlement at 2-Mile, sparking clashes with residents that resulted in two deaths and numerous injuries.

Police then moved to evict another settlement at 4-Mile, but this met with a legal challenge which led to the National Court placing a stay order on the eviction.

While the campaign is essentially paused, Marape has said that his government would soon announce a permanent plan to replace unplanned settlements with properly titled residential allotments.

He also apologised to residents affected by the evictions, in recognition that many law-abiding and hard working families have made settlements their home over the years.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat

Urban drift

Previous attempts at evicting settlement communities did not exactly lay a template for the success of what authorities are trying to do in 2026.

In numerous cases, homes were destroyed or razed to the ground, people were left homeless and then simply moved to other areas of vacant land or ended up living with wantoks in other parts of Morebsy.

A PNG anthropologist who has done extensive work on settlements, Fiona Hukula, noted that settlements are long-established communities, stretching back decades.

“Essentially, people came to work in the towns and the cities, like in Port Moresby, and so where there was low cost housing, or where people weren’t able to afford housing, they started living in settlements, and some of the settlements on the outskirts, there’s stories that they made some kind of connection and deals with the local landowners.”

Dr Hukula said over the decades, migration to the towns and cities had grown significantly, but the available housing had not kept pace.

Water services at a settlement.

“People are just now coming into the city, really, to access better services, health and education. Some Papua New Guineans are coming to the city to escape various forms of conflict and violence.

“And this is now where we’ve seen just an influx of people coming into the city, and obviously there’s nowhere to live, and they live in settlements, and many of Moresby settlements are populated by families who have been there for several generations.”

‘Difficult thing I have to do’

Many of Moresby’s settlements are now populated by families who have been there for several generations. Removing people from these communities is a complex challenge.

“An eviction is not going to solve the problem, because people will just go and find somewhere else to stay (in Moresby), especially if they’re generational families who have lived in these settlements, who don’t necessarily have the ties back to their rural villages and their connections to their people in their village,” Dr Hukula said.

Adding to the complexities of the eviction drive are social connections forged in the National Capital District (NCD) over the years.

The head of the NCD Police Command Metropolitan Superintendent Warrick Simitab admitted that for him personally, leading the eviction exercises such as at 2-Mile had not been easy.

“It’s been difficult, because I grew up here. I grew up in NCD. For example in 2-Mile. Most of my classmates that I went to school together with, they live there. So for me personally, it’s a difficult thing that I have to do,” he told RNZ Pacific.

Papua New Guinea police RNZ / Johnny Blades

Simitab would not be drawn on when the evictions would start up again, saying things were paused while political leaders decide next steps.

Criminal hotspot

The local MP for Moresby South Justin Tkatchenko said the 2-Mile settlement had become a notorious criminal hotspot, and that the people of the city have had enough of it.

“Hold ups nearly every night and every day, women have been raped, attacked, citizens have been held up, cars stolen, injured, abused for nearly 20 years,” he said.

Things came to a head when police were shot at and those living in 2-Mile refused an ultimatum given by police to hand over the criminals, he explained.

Tkatchenko said the government was steadily working on resettling settlers with proper, legal allocations of land to live on.

“We have already allocated land and sub-divided that land for over 400 families in the 2-Mile Hill area and other areas. Some have already been resettled and moved, and others will follow suit,” the MP said.

Rainbow settlement in Port moresby, Papua New Guinea, where West Papuan refugees have squatted for years. RNZI / Johnny Blades

Dr Hukula acknowledged that crime linked to some settlements was an issue that the general population keenly wanted addressed.

But she said persisting with displacing communities from other settlements would not address the underlying cause of the problem.

“It is a ticking time bomb. It’s going to be like this, where there’s evictions and then people move. And the thing is that the cycle of violence continues, and that’s what we’re trying to address here, the crime.”

The anthropologist stressed that “not everybody in settlements are criminals”, saying the people who lived in settlements were often working people, “people who are doing the menial jobs in the offices, the office cleaners, the people who are drivers, all of these kinds of people also live in settlements, and so when they’re being kicked out, there are people who can’t go to work, children who can’t go to school”.

Dr Hukula has researched and written about how settlement communities have developed informal systems of settling disputes or addressing law and order problems such as through local komiti groups or village courts.

These provided a way in which the communities could maintain order and general respect between their people. But “because the settlements have just exploded now it’s not like necessarily everybody comes from the same area or the same province” she said, making it harder to maintain a social balance.

Looters run amok in shops amid a state of unrest in Port Moresby on 10 January, 2024. AFP / Andrew Kutan

In Dr Hukula’s view, “the village courts and the community leaders still play an extremely important role in being that bridge” between the authorities and the settlement community, and should be supported to play that role.

She said one of the other main things the government could do to help the situation was “to make sure that there’s affordable housing for all levels, all kinds of Papua New Guineans”.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Human trials about to take place on universal flu vaccine

Source: Radio New Zealand

File photo. CDC

If you get a regular flu vaccine, you may be well aware that it protects against the most prevalent strains. But because influenza viruses evolve rapidly, the flu vaccine is updated annually to provide protection against new strains.

A universal flu vaccine looks to change that, providing protection against all strains of the flu – past, present, and future.

It’s a step closer to becoming a reality, with the first human trials about to take place for Centivax’s universal vaccine Centiflu 01 in Australia.

US-based immunoengineer and founder of Centivax, Dr Jacob Glanville, who is leading the trials, told RNZ’s First Up Centiflu 01 was designed to solve the problem that flu vaccines have.

“This is a single vaccine that you don’t need to change, and it focuses the immune response on parts of flu viruses that never change. So, we are expecting the efficacy, the proportion of people who take the vaccine and then don’t get sick, to be much higher than current flu shots,” he said.

Dr Glanville said the vaccine’s animal trials showed the immune response was better than the commercial vaccines, which he said are 10-60 percent effective.

“Your immune system has basically a limited budget of antibodies and T-cells that it chooses to respond randomly, normally against a virus,” he said.

“We are just adjusting that budget to make it entirely focused on the best parts of the virus to focus on.”

Dr Glanville said that while a normal flu shot doesn’t work against future viruses, hence the need for annual shots, his company’s vaccine continued to provide protection from viruses 15 years later.

“You don’t know where flu is going to mutate, except you know it’s not going to mutate on these spots that haven’t changed in thousands of years,” he said.

“… That’s sort of the big transition here. It’s making flu shots into like a normal vaccine. One that you take, and then it provides anticipatory future protection for years to come.”

Phase one of trials in Australia is the first step in a broader programme that will enrol roughly 300 healthy volunteers in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Phase two of the trials would commence next year, and phase three in 2028, Dr Glanville said.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

‘Sovereignty at stake’, Iranian diaspora says

Source: Radio New Zealand

Women members of Iran’s Red Crescent society stand near smoke plumes from an ongoing fire following an overnight airstrike on the Shahran oil refinery in northwestern Tehran on March 8, 2026. AFP

On 28 February, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed by joint US and Israel attacks on his residence. A further week of strikes on Iran have targeted nuclear and military sites, including airfields, radar, and naval facilities.

The Red Crescent estimates the death toll has topped 1000 people across Iran, including at least 165 girls killed when their school was bombed in the city of Minab. Iran has retaliated against military and civilian targets across the Gulf states, and Israel has also attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As the strikes continue, Iranians living here in New Zealand talk to Kadambari Raghukumar about their views on the war and the divide in the community that it has amplified.

Mahdis Azarmandi, an expert in Peace and Conflict studies and senior lecturer at University of Canterbury said: “I think what people need to understand that this war is motivated and it’s a continuation of the genocide in Gaza, the war in Lebanon, of the restructuring of West Asia. So it has to be seen politically in a broader context of how to rearrange the, you know, Middle East or West Asia more accurately. And that has been underway for a period of time. And Iran, as one of the few countries left that retains sovereignty, is a threat to the reordering of that part of the world.”

Many in the Iranian community are divided over the conflict.

Rubble of destroyed buildings is pictured at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Rweiss neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, on March 8, 2026. AFP

While some Iranians around the world have celebrated the death of Khamenei and welcome the attacks, there are large numbers denouncing the assault on Iran and decrying the attack on their nation’s sovereignty.

Mahdis said: “This is not just about people who opposed the war and people who are celebrating the war in some park. It means that entire families and communities are going to be completely divided for a very long time. So that is what concerns me on a personal level. I think it’s that how many relationships are broken right now because of it.”

Separating the personal from the current politics is hard, Mahdis tells Raghukumar – especially for those who had to leave Iran during the 70s or 80s – either during the rule of the last Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, or after he was deposed in 1979, when the first Supreme Leader, the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini took power.

Mahdis said: ” I think I am constantly living through all of these layers of personal experience. So the personal experience of being in a diaspora Iranian with a particular kind of relationship to the Islamic Republic and who sees these things not in isolation from each other, but in conjunction. And I think that is what differentiates the people who are now more concerned and maybe taking a step back and defending the sovereignty of Iran, which I think is what is at stake.”

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tibnit on March 5, 2026. RABIH DAHER / AFP

The current bombings came after weeks of negotiations between Iran and US and are viewed by many commentators as a breach of international law.

Dr Behzad Dowran has been living in New Zealand for eight years. He said: “From the past, we can remember they invaded many countries. And the result was just, innocent people were killed over there. And nothing but misery they gifted to those countries.”

In January, Dowran happened to be in Tehran, a witness to the violent protests that saw thousands of people killed. Behzad said “nobody can imagine being attacked by negotiators”.

“We have had many internal issues, many internal problems, mismanagement or wrong policies, many things. But we have had this experience, and we were going to manage it in a way internally to solve it.

“It is not easy to solve these sort of problems when you have long term of sanctions. But we managed it, more or less. But they attacked the country just in the middle of negotiations.”

Dowran said he was “very angry” because it violated international law.

“Nobody has the right, no country has the right to invade another country and kill the head of another country. And I am sorry and I am very sad that I see my Iranian comrades here think this is a thing that they may celebrate.”

Another Iranian, who preferred to remain anonymous for concerns of their safety, told Here Now that “the Iranian community is very diverse. Whatever the people inside Iran want that is what should matter most. Many people believe that a lasting solution must come from inside Iran, not imposed from outside”.

“Different approaches doesn’t we mean are enemies to one another. Most of us want the same ultimate goal -a better, freer, more dignified future for Iranians. But the ways we reach that goal may be very different.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Iran conflict: Request for Australian help shows the changing nature of warfare

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Israeli center coastal city of Netanya amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks. AFP / JACK GUEZ

The Gulf states’ calls for Australian military assistance shows the changing nature of weaponry, and warfare leaders on both sides of the Tasman are reckoning with it, say defence experts.

The Australian government is considering a request for help from all six Gulf states – Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar – for protection against Iranian drone and missile attacks, which have targeted airports and oil infrastructure, the ABC reported.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the government has not received a request for military assistance and is not considering it.

Massey University professor of International Relations Bethan Greener said Australian ministers will have to carefully weigh what counter-drone and missile protection means.

“What’s quite important about the requests is by nature they are being deemed defensive, and so the Australian government is having to weigh what that might look like, and whether or not engaging in any way in this war could potentially pull them into a more offensive action.”

Malcolm Davis, senior defence strategy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Nine to Noon the Gulf states’ request was a “legitimate” one.

He said the government could offer a short-range surface-to-air missile system called NASAMs, which would involve teams operating on the ground in the Gulf states.

Greener said the request showed the changing nature of warfare – the Australian government had recently become highly interested in counter-drone operations, launching a project called Land 156 in late January focused on safeguarding critical infrastructure.

“I think this conflict will be quite a telling one with regards to what kind of weaponry we are going to see, what kind of movement of troops or manoeuvre, the difference in air power crewed, or uncrewed.

“For a long time, a lot of western militaries have still clung to the model of an infantry – often a light mobile infantry, backed by artillery and armoured components – this really does change things up.”

Greener said the New Zealand government was also looking at this, with an announcement 10 days ago that the defence force would trial air, land and sea drones made from kiwi company Syos Aerospace.

“It’s quite important this year that New Zealand is looking much more seriously in to how it might utilise drones, I know that’s contentious for New Zealanders, it’s discomforting, the idea of unpeopled vessels potentially carrying ammunition – those sorts of ethical questions.”

She said it wasn’t surprising the New Zealand government had not been asked for military assistance from the Gulf states, and reflected the size of the country’s military.

Davis said governments had not taken “the counter-drone mission seriously enough”, and it was something Australia and other Western powers were now considering.

“Now we’re finding that we’re confronted with this reality, and it’s not just about Iran, it’s also about what China and Russia can do in a conflict.”

He said he expected a decision from the Australian government on military assistance early this week.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Raisina: The Taiwan Strait Issue

Source: Radio New Zealand

By Graeme Acton, Asia Media Centre

This week’s 11th Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi decided to take the Taiwan Strait issue seriously. GREG BAKER/AFP

If China decides to attack Taiwan, what exactly does the rest of the world do? Graeme Acton is at the 2026 Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.

It’s the kind of question that diplomatic forums sometimes avoid. However, this week’s 11th Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi decided to take the Taiwan Strait issue seriously, first session, second day.

A panel of five experts took the stage, and warned that the scope of simultaneous conflicts across the globe is widening in ways that stress-test the architecture of deterrence and diplomacy – with much of that stress seemingly by design.

Washington’s policy of strategic ambiguity – deliberately leaving unclear whether it would militarily defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack – has long provided a kind of managed uncertainty that has kept Beijing cautious.

But the “might is right” ethos of American power under the current administration, combined with its scepticism toward long-standing commitments and international norms, has eroded the credibility that US ambiguity once traded upon.

Simultaneously, Beijing has grown more, not less, vehement in its insistence on what it calls “reunification”.

Experts at Raisina 2026 argued that the ongoing conflict in Iran is no longer a regional affair but one that is “bleeding together” with security concerns across the Indo-Pacific. Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director of ORF America, pointed to the expanding reach of Iranian missile and drone capabilities – including strikes on a British military base in Cyprus – as evidence of this widening arc of instability.

Indian commentators are obviously also concerned about the sinking of an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka just a few days ago. The ship had just been on exercises with the Indian navy, and PM Modi has been roundly criticised in Indian media for his silence to date on the issue.

The risk, Raisina panellists argued, is that Beijing sees American engagement in Iran Asia as a window of opportunity. Bonnie Glick of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies pushed back on that assessment, maintaining that Washington remains perfectly capable of dealing with multiple crises simultaneously and that its messaging on Taiwan stays firm. “I think China views bottom line American intervention in Iran right now as a moment for consideration of Taiwan,” she told the audience, but she also felt China has this moment to consider the consequences of dealing with a US administration quite happy to let loose the dogs of war under circumstances it regards as appropriate.

Helena Legarda of the Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies offered a more cautious European perspective. While acknowledging that Beijing might exploit other conflicts for “rhetorical ammunition,” she noted that this does not necessarily legitimise direct military action against Taiwan – partly because Beijing still wishes to present itself as a responsible global power.

But her assessment of Europe’s practical capacity to respond to a Taiwan crisis was sobering. If the war in Ukraine is still ongoing and Europe is managing that conflict largely alone, she said, it would be unlikely that EU member states could assemble the right military assets quickly enough for a standoff in the South China Sea.

Ms Legarda cut to the chase on what makes the Taiwan question so difficult: the world’s potential democratic responders are already stretched. Japan has adopted the firmest posture among US treaty allies, bolstered by a new defence pact with the Philippines.

But what Australia, New Zealand or South Korea would actually do in the event of a crisis -not rhetorically, but operationally – remains cloudy. All three nations have trade and economic ties with China that hugely complicate the situation.

From Taipei itself, I-Chung Lai of the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation offered his reading of China’s military readiness: China simply does not yet possess the capability to carry out a successful invasion of Taiwan.

Crossing the Taiwan Strait is one of the most complex military operations imaginable. You need to move tens of thousands of troops, armoured vehicles, and supplies across 150-200 km of open water, under fire, and then storm heavily defended beaches. But as Dhruva Jaishankar pointed out , China has been involved in extensive military exercises in the South China Sea, as much a signal to Taiwan as a process of military preparedness.

Some analysts suggest the Chinese Army (the PLA) just doesn’t have the resources necessary at present. Add to this the fact that Taiwan has just signed off on the largest defence budget in its history – roughly $US40 billion to be spent from 2026 to 2033 – focused on asymmetric warfare capabilities including munitions designed to cripple amphibious landing forces at long range

I-Chung Lai also mentioned the concept of “Pax Silica.”, the peace maintained by the understanding that global chip makers would be devastated if Taiwan’s giant semiconductor factories went down. The disruption to supply chains – from cars to laptops to AI infrastructure would be massive on all sides of the conflict. In 2025 the US moved to set up a network of “trusted chip suppliers” – India joined that group last month.

But despite the chip issue, Beijing’s signals around Taiwan remain clear, and the recent invasion of Ukraine shows that sometimes nations will act against their economic interests while chasing their strategic objectives.

What Raisina 2026 made clear is that the comfortable old framework – American strategic ambiguity underpinning a reasonably stable cross-strait status quo – is fraying. The burden of deterrence is being redistributed across a coalition whose cohesion, resolve, and actual capacity vary enormously.

For New Zealand’s part, the three AUKUS founding members (US, UK, Australia) have themselves said they are “not yet in a position to consider expanding to additional partners” – meaning New Zealand hasn’t been formally offered a military “Pillar Two” membership.

But New Zealand’s recent Defence Capability Plan, released nearly a year ago, proposes investments in long-range drones, satellite surveillance, data integration, and counter-drone technologies that closely mirror the priorities seen in AUKUS.

New Zealand also maintains its own ambiguity on the Taiwan question -arguably edging closer to the alliance without triggering Beijing’s red lines –or the New Zealand public’s nuclear-free sensitivities and marked hesitancy about fighting other people’s wars.

The question is not simply whether anyone will come to Taiwan’s defence. It is whether the network of interests, alliances, economic interdependencies, and democratic solidarity that constitutes the current world order can commit and act quickly enough, and firmly enough, to make Beijing reconsider an assault on the island.

-Asia Media Centre

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Can psychopaths change?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Psychopaths might account for only about 1 percent of the general population, but they account for a disproportionate share of violent crime.

Distinct from other conditions like sociopathy and antisocial personality disorder, psychopaths tend to show traits such as an absence of remorse or guilt, a lack of empathy and a charming and manipulative interpersonal style.

You may find it hard to imagine how someone without much empathy can change. And early psychological treatments were not successful. But advances in research are showing that a deeper understanding of psychopathy may help to create more effective interventions.

To help psychopaths change, we first need to understand them.

Unsplash

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

World-leading neurobiologist: Science means it’s not okay for me to hate Donald Trump

Source: Radio New Zealand

In his latest book, Determined, Robert Sapolsky argues that we are not, in fact, masters of our own destiny. Everything we think and do is beyond our control and caused by a combination of biology and environment.

The Stanford University professor was just 14 when one “very revelatory night”, he realised that humans have no free will at all.

“Suddenly, I woke up at two in the morning and said, ‘Ah, I get it. There’s no free will. And there’s no God. And there’s no purpose in the universe whatsoever.’ It all just evaporated right then and hasn’t been back since.”

This video is hosted on Youtube.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Posted on

Acid rain falls on Vanuatu islands as volcano belches ash

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Manaro Voui volcano is spewing ash and smoke as high as four kilometres above sea level. The alert level remains at three on a scale of five and a 3km danger zone has been declared around the crater. 24 February 2026 Supplied/Sergei Kriukov – Unity Airlines

The Vanuatu government has decided not to order a mass evacuation of communities on Ambae island affected by acid rain from the Manaro Voui volcano.

On Friday the Council of Ministers (cabinet) endorsed the recommendations of the National Disaster Committee for a plan of action.

This included approving a budget of 20 million vatu (US$170,000) for a team from the National Disaster Management Office to go to Ambae on Saturday.

Once there they will assess the most affected parts of the island and have them declared disaster zones.

Climate change minister Ralph Regenvanu said there is no mandatory evacuation at this stage but people in the worst affected areas are encouraged to move to less affected parts of the island if they do not feel safe.

“Even though on Ambae we are hearing the activity of the volcano is changing, sometimes it is increasing and sometimes it is going down, it is still only at alert level three,” Regenvanu said speaking in Bislama.

Regenvanu said plans are in place should the volcanic activity increase even further.

“The council has also approved that if we go to alert level four, which is the worst case scenario, and will require the whole island to be declared a disaster zone and for us to start evacuations, an emergency plan is already in place.”

Acid rain impacts

Acid rain from the volcano on Ambae – 310km north west of the capital of Port Vila – is reportedly effecting water and food supplies.

Authorities say the volcano is spewing toxic burning ash which is now covering the entire island due to wind changes.

The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazard department (VMGD) says acid rain has now reached Santo, Malakula, Pentecost and Ambrym islands.

Its director, Levu Antfalo described its effects.

“It burns, right because it contains sulphuric oxide, it rains down and becomes acid rain. It burns their crops, pretty much anything that it gets in contact with, water as well. Usually those who use wells, drums, tanks that are not covered could be affected, but bore hold water seems to be okay,” he said.

Antfalo said the heavy ash fall also alters the PH levels in water, making it more acidic.

“I mean it burns their protein source, like vegetables.. We were told as well it increases the PH of water as well as prawns and fish that are there (in rivers).”

Vanuatu’s cabinet is convening an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the escalating situation on Ambae Island following increased volcanic activity at the Manaro volcano. Facebook / Ministry of the Prime Minister – Vanuatu

Edwin Tarai and his family were evacuated after Ambae erupted in 2018, and have never returned.

The 74-year-old, who lives in Santo, said people on Ambae were complaining about government inaction.

“There is no plan of moving out at the moment but there is a concern. People are complaining and wondering what is the government’s next move,” Tarai said.

The former nurse practitioner said that the noise is increasing and can be heard in east Santo, Pentecost and Ambrym islands.

Nixon Garae, a tug boat captain in Luganville, Santo has relatives in East Ambae, who described the noise.

“They said the noise is very loud because when people are talking you can’t hear the other person talking. It is causing ear pain because it’s very loud and heavy,” he said.

“Last Saturday when they were in church, when the preacher stood up at the front, they could hardly hear him because the noise was too loud.”

Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards Department

Active shield volcano

A volcano duty officer with New Zealand’s GNS Science, Yannick Behr said Ambae is a typical shield volcano and a very active one at that.

“It’s part of a chain of volcanoes in Vanuatu, they’re sitting on a rifting zone that is caused by the eastward subduction of the Australian plate. That tectonic process keeps that volcanism alive so all volcanoes on this rifting zone, they erupt quite regularly,” Beer said.

The latest plumes are about four kilometres above sea level, he said.

“It can twice as high, but again these are explosive eruptions but because of the consistency of the magma they tend to be not quite as catastrophic as you can see them (sic) from other types of volcanoes,” Beer said.

The geohazards department has issued a reminder to Ambae residents to stay out of the danger zone.

This comes after an aviation warning was issued on Thursday for volcanic ash cover over the island.

In a public address overnight director Levu Antfalo warned residents to take precautions.

“Just a reminder that the danger zone is a three kilometres radius around the crater. So do not go close to it,” Antfalo said.

“Things to take care of include water, protect your water supply. It will also affect food gardens. And also those with respiratory illnesses…this can affect the health of families that live close to or in the surrounding areas of Ambae,” he said.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand