Category: World News

Source: Radio New Zealand

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By Asif Shahzad, Reuters

An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday (all times local) before setting off a suicide bomb and killing at least 31 people, in the deadliest attack of its kind in Pakistan’s capital in over a decade.

More than 170 others were wounded in the explosion, detonated after guards challenged the attacker as he made his way into the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah compound on the outskirts of the city, officials said.

Images from the site showed bloodied bodies lying on the carpeted mosque floor surrounded by shards of glass, debris and panicked worshippers. Dozens more wounded were lying in the gardens of the compound as people called for help.

The man blew “himself up in the last row of worshippers,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif wrote on X.

He said the bomber had a history of travelling to Afghanistan and blamed neighbouring India for sponsoring the assault, without providing evidence.

There was no immediate response from New Delhi, which has dismissed Pakistan’s accusations of backing militants in the past.

Capital already on alert for visit

The attack was the deadliest suicide bombing in Islamabad in more than a decade, according to conflict monitor ACLED, which said it “bears the hallmarks of the Islamic State”.

Shi’ites, who are in the minority in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation of 241 million, have been targeted in sectarian violence in the past, including by Islamic State and the Sunni Islamist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Bombings are rare in the heavily guarded capital, although Pakistan has been hit by a rising wave of militancy in the past few years, particularly along the border with Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry condemned the attack. Kabul has repeatedly denied charges that it provides safe haven to militants carrying out attacks in Pakistan.

“A total of 31 people have lost their lives. The number of wounded brought to hospitals has risen to 169,” Islamabad’s Deputy Commissioner, Irfan Memon, said in a statement.

The capital was already on high alert on Friday for the visiting President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, with roads around the capital blocked by checkpoints and security forces posted across the city.

“We are giving every possible help to the families of those killed and those injured,” Pakistan’s parliamentary affairs minister Tariq Fazal said after visiting the wounded at Islamabad’s Polyclinic hospital.

Week of violence

Pakistan has also blamed India for assaults by militants in the restive Balochistan province over the weekend, accusations that have fanned smouldering tensions between the nuclear-powered neighbours who engaged in their worst conflict in decades in May.

New Delhi has denied any involvement in the violence in Balochistan where Pakistan’s military has battled a decades-long insurgency.

That region was brought to a standstill after separatist militants stormed government buildings, hospitals and markets in a coordinated attack, killing 58 civilians and security officials. The military said it killed 216 militants in targeted offensives across the province.

The military said earlier on Friday that another 24 militants linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were killed in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The last major attack in Islamabad was a suicide bombing on 11 November that killed 12 people and wounded 27 others. Pakistan said it was carried out by an Afghan national. No group claimed responsibility for that attack.

– Reuters

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[repuv]

By Julien Mivielle and Laurent Thomet, AFP

In an ironic twist, lower air pollution during Covid lockdowns fuelled an unprecedented surge in the powerful greenhouse gas methane in the early 2020s, a study said Thursday.

Methane levels rose at a record pace in the wake of the pandemic as the super pollutant’s main natural “cleaning agent” weakened during that period, the research found.

The rise was also partly attributed to an increase in emissions from wetlands, lakes, rivers and agriculture, the result of wetter-than-average conditions in tropical areas, according to the study published in the journal Science.

Methane, the second biggest contributor to climate change, stays in the atmosphere far less longer than CO2, but its warming effect is roughly 80 times more potent over a 20-year period.

The greenhouse gas is scrubbed from the atmosphere over time by hydroxyl radicals (OH), molecules that act as natural “cleaning agents” and have a very short lifespan.

As Covid lockdowns limited travel and kept businesses shut, it caused a decline in a key ingredient – nitrogen oxide – which is needed to produce hydroxyl radicals.

“These drops in OH are partly linked to the fact that we emitted less nitrogen oxide,” Philippe Ciais, the study’s lead author, said in a press briefing.

“It seems paradoxical: We pollute less but it’s not good for methane [levels],” said Ciais, associate director at the Laboratory of Climate and Environment Sciences outside Paris.

The sharp drop in hydroxyl radicals in 2020 and 2021 explains roughly 80 percent of the annual variation in methane accumulation, the study said.

Methane levels had been rising steadily since 2007 but their growth accelerated during the pandemic, peaking at 16.2 parts per billion per year in 2020 before declining by half by 2023.

“The impressive increase in methane in the air at the beginning of the 2020s is mainly due to a reduction in the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere,” Ciais said.

The paradox raises questions about how to ensure that clean air policies and efforts to cut pollution from cars, planes and ships do not have a negative effect on climate.

Marielle Saunois, a co-author of the study, described it as “collateral damage”.

“For me, this means we need to improve air quality and, even more importantly, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, to offset these negative effects linked to the chemical-climate relationship,” Saunois said.

The methane pledge

The paper also linked the rise in methane levels to exceptionally wet conditions due to the cooling La Niña weather phenomenon between 2020 and 2023, especially in tropical Africa and southeast Asia.

Some 40 percent of methane emissions come from natural sources, mainly wetlands.

The rest are from human activities, particularly agriculture and the energy sector.

“As the planet becomes warmer and wetter, methane emissions from wetlands, inland waters, and paddy rice systems will increasingly shape near-term climate change,” said Hanqin Tian, a Boston College professor and co-author of the study.

The scientists said these effects need to be better understood and factored into global efforts to reduce methane emissions.

Under the Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, nearly 160 countries have committed to cutting global methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030 compared with 2020 levels.

– AFP

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By Trevor Hunnicutt and Xiuhao Chen

• Soybean futures rally on potential deal announced by Trump
• Trump and Xi look to stabilize relations
• US president may visit Beijing in April

China is considering buying more US-farmed soybeans, President Donald Trump says after what he called “very positive” talks with President Xi Jinping, even as Beijing warned Washington about arms sales to Taiwan.

In a goodwill gesture two months before Trump’s expected visit to Beijing, Trump said Xi would consider hiking soybean purchases from the United States to 20 million tons in the current season, up from 12m tons previously. Soybean futures rallied sharply.

Hours after Xi’s virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi and Trump discussed Taiwan and a wide range of trade and security issues that remain a source of tension between the world’s two biggest economies. Both leaders publicly affirmed their personal stake in strong relations after the call, their first since November.

Trump said the call was “all very positive,” that his relationship with Xi is “extremely good” and that “we both realize how important it is to keep it that way.” An official Chinese government account said that Xi had said, “I attach great importance to Sino-U.S. relations.”

Though Trump has tagged China as the reason for several hawkish policy steps from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela, he has eased policy toward Beijing in the past several months in key areas from tariffs to advanced computer chips and drones.

“Both sides are signalling that they want to preserve stability in the US-China relationship,” said Bonnie Glaser, head of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank.

Areas of tension and goodwill gestures

One key area of tension is on Taiwan policy. The United States announced its largest-ever arms sales deal with Taiwan in December, including $11.1 billion in weapons that could ostensibly be used to defend against an attack by China. Taiwan expects more such sales.

China views Taiwan as its own territory, a position Taipei rejects. The United States has formal diplomatic ties with China, but maintains unofficial ties with Taiwan and is the island’s most important arms supplier. The United States is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

“The United States must carefully handle arms sales to Taiwan,” China said in an official summary of the meeting. The dismissal or investigation into several senior military leaders in China has stirred concern about the implications for Chinese foreign policy. Trump downplayed the investigation into Central Military Commission vice-chairman Zhang Youxia, saying over the weekend that “as far as I’m concerned, there’s one boss in China,” and “that’s President Xi”.

The last nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States is soon to expire, raising the risk of a new arms race in which China would also play a key role with its own growing nuclear stockpile. Trump has said that he wants China to be part of arms control. The Kremlin said it was a topic between Xi and Putin.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about whether arms control had been discussed between Xi and Trump.

Soybeans, airplanes and oil

Economic issues continue to be a flashpoint between the world’s biggest consumer and its biggest factory. Trump has made tariffs on imports a pillar of his strategy to revive domestic manufacturing jobs. US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday (local time) unveiled plans for a preferential trade bloc of allies for critical minerals, part of an effort to eliminate one key area of leverage that China has over the United States given its control of key metals. But the two sides are working to find areas of accord heading into an expected April state visit by Trump to Beijing. Trump and Xi last met in person in October in South Korea, where a fragile trade truce was struck.

Soybeans are a key issue because struggling US farmers are a major domestic political constituency for Trump, and China is the top consumer. Overseas sales of US soybeans this year slumped to the lowest in 14 years due to trade tensions with China. Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures surged more than 3 percent to a two-month high after Trump’s post.

China’s commerce ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the soybean purchases Trump mentioned.

US Representative Ro Khanna, a House of Representatives Democrat who sits on a select committee focused on China, criticized Trump’s effort at dealmaking.

“He points to China’s soybean buying as proof of progress, despite volumes still trailing where they stood before he took office,” Khanna said in a statement. “He says nothing about China’s aggression towards Taiwan, support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine or human rights abuses.”

In addition to soybeans, the US and Chinese leaders discussed Iran, Russia’s war in Ukraine, airplane engines and oil and gas, Trump said.

China has been Venezuela’s top oil buyer for years, and the sales helped Caracas repay massive loans to Beijing in debt-for-oil deals. The United States removed President Nicolas Maduro last month, and it has suggested that China will have to buy Venezuelan oil on US terms.

– Reuters

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In the US, a winter cold snap blanketing the country has created a new hobby in the usually tropical state of Florida – people there are collecting thousands of frozen iguanas.

Green iguanas were suddenly falling from trees into back gardens, becoming accidental dog toys, freaky fascinations and ice packs.

The reptiles were what locals described as “cold stunned”, not dead.

Iguanas are ectotherms, meaning their internal body temperature is affected by the weather outside.

Blake Wilkins, of Redline Iguana Removal, told the BBC the biggest issue had been the ferocious wind that amplified the cold.

“The ones that seemed to fare the best were that ones that were either in burrows, or under roofs or somehow shielded from the winds.”

Florida, which usually struggled to drop below 20 degrees, had been in single digits, effectively paralysing iguanas.

The reptiles were a pest in southern Florida, Wilkins told the BBC.

With no predators, their numbers had increased exponentially in the ten years he had been in the business.

“They’re able to reproduce extremely fast, they’re excellent diggers. They dig under sea walls causing issues,” he said.

“They get onto roofs, cause damage to them and everyone’s beautiful flowers and landscaping, so it’s a huge problem.”

One enterprising local took matters into his own hands, introducing lizard as a pizza topping at his restaurant.

A customer called the taste “unbelievable, it’s frog-like – hard to describe”, according to the BBC.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would rather the picked-up iguanas were not made into a meal, but taken to collection points.

It had temporarily allowed people to pick them up without a permit, but warned people to wear protective clothing and secure iguanas in an “escape-proof cloth sack or bag”.

The Commission said members of the public could humanely kill green iguanas year-round on their property or with landowner permission.

Iguana trapper Ryan Izquierdo told the BBC he had never collected so many in a day before.

“We’ve been very careful storing and capturing the animals, ” he said.

“There are videos online of people being super disrespectful of iguanas, and although they’re invasive, they have a beating heart, so you have to respect them.”

Most of the iguanas handed over to authorities would be euthanised, but some of the frozen finds would be able to thaw out through live animal sales, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

But it warned the public against trying to adopt one themselves.

“Iguanas can recover from cold-stunning more quickly than you might expect and, once recovered, can act defensively, with long tails that whip and sharp teeth and claws,” its website said.

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The New Zealand government says it hopes an electrification aid project that was halted in Papua New Guinea can still be completed if security improves.

Work on the Enga Electrification Project in PNG’s Enga province has stopped due to ongoing violence around the project area in Tsak Valley.

New Zealand spent NZ$6.7 million over the last six years on the project which aimed to connect at least 4000 households to electricity.

It was part of combined efforts with the US, Australia and Japan to help 70 percent of PNG homes get connected by 2030, as agreed to in 208 when PNG hosted the APEC Leaders Summit.

However, contractors had to be withdrawn from the area after a surge in tribal fighting in August last year, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“Ending New Zealand’s involvement is a disappointing outcome, particularly given New Zealand’s longstanding and extensive efforts to deliver energy infrastructure in Enga Province,” the spokesperson said.

“New Zealand is working on a transition plan with partners in Papua New Guinea. It is hoped this will allow for the successful completion of the project if security improves.”

The ministry said 13.5 kilometres of distribution lines in the North of the project area were largely installed but were yet to be commissioned or connected to houses.

It said 12km of distribution lines in the south of the project area remain at various stages of construction.

Meanwhile, PNG’s Foreign Minster Justin Tkatchenko told local media that New Zealand would hand over equipment from the project to PNG Power Limited, a state-owned entity.

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By Christian Edwards, CNN

The US government’s release of more than 3 million documents related to Jeffrey Epstein has raised further questions about the ties of three prominent figures in British public life to the disgraced financier, who appears to have been granted access to the heart of Britain’s government and royal family.

The former Prince Andrew, his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US, are all listed multiple times in the latest trove of Epstein files, ramping up pressure on the trio to explain their ties to the late sex offender and further distance themselves from British institutions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has urged Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before the US Congress, while Mandelson – who resigned from the Labour Party on Sunday – is facing calls from leading figures, including Starmer, to retire from the House of Lords.

Here’s how the Justice Department’s latest drop of files is scandalizing Britain.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor

The former Prince Andrew has for years attempted to bat away questions about his links to Epstein. In a now-infamous interview with the BBC in 2019, Andrew claimed that he had severed all ties with Epstein in 2010, following the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Emails uncovered last year called Andrew’s claim into question. The British media reported that Andrew appeared to contact Epstein again in 2011, telling him to “keep in close touch” and that they were “in this together.” Soon after, King Charles III stripped Andrew, his brother, of his royal titles in October, and began the process to evict him from the royal estate at Windsor.

But the latest trove of Epstein files has heaped further scrutiny on the disgraced royal. Three undated photos appear to show the former prince, now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, kneeling over what appears to be a female – whose face has been redacted – who is lying fully clothed and supine on the floor. In two photos, Andrew touches her stomach and waist; in a third, he looks at the camera while on all fours, leaning over her body.

It is unclear when or where the images were taken; no captions or context for the photographs was provided with the document release. Neither the photographs nor the email messages suggest any wrongdoing.

Andrew previously faced pressure to explain a 2001 photograph which showed him standing with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and a convicted child sex trafficker, and Virginia Giuffre, a prominent accuser of Epstein who died by suicide in April.

In her posthumous memoir, Giuffre accused Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was 17. She wrote that Andrew “believed that having sex with me was his birthright”. Despite claiming never to have met her, Andrew reportedly paid millions of dollars to Giuffre in 2022 to settle a civil case she brought against him. He has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing and said he never witnessed or suspected any of the behaviour that Epstein was accused of.

The latest Epstein documents also contain an email exchange between Epstein and Andrew in August 2010, in which the financier invites the royal to meet a “friend” – whose name was redacted – for dinner in London. Andrew replied that he would be “delighted to see her” and told Epstein to pass on his contact details. Epstein then describes the woman as a 26-year-old Russian who is “clevere (sic) beautiful, trustworthy,” and confirms that she has Andrew’s email.

In November, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee requested that Andrew come to Washington to give evidence as part of the panel’s investigation into Epstein. Although Andrew did not respond to the request at the time, Starmer on Saturday urged the former prince to submit himself to questioning.

“Anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that,” Starmer said. “You can’t be victim-centered if you’re not prepared to do that.”

Sarah Ferguson

Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson – known as “Fergie” – is also mentioned several times in the latest tranche of files, although this does not indicate any wrongdoing. Ferguson was dropped last year as the patron or ambassador to several British charities after earlier documents showed she had called Epstein her “supreme friend”. At the time, a spokesperson for Ferguson said she regretted her association with Epstein.

But the latest documents are further evidence of the depth of their relationship. In March 2009, Ferguson – then the Duchess of York – sent an email thanking Epstein, touting fashion and media outlets which she said now wanted to work with her.

“In just one week, after your lunch, it seems the energy has lifted. I have never been more touched by a friends (sic) kindness,” she wrote. “Thank you Jeffrey for being the brother I have always wished for.”

In January 2010, she wrote: “You are a legend. I really don’t have the words to describe, my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness. Xx I am at your service. Just marry me.”

The emails also appear to suggest that Epstein wanted to use Ferguson to help clear his name. In one undated email, Epstein wrote to Mike Sitrick, chair of the crisis management firm Sitrick and Company, which was retained by Epstein’s law firm, saying: “I would like you to draft a statement that in an ideal world fergie would put out.” Sitrick told CNN that he had never contacted Ferguson or her representatives directly.

In a March 2011 email to Sitrick and two others, Epstein wrote: “I think Fergie can now say, I am not a pedo.” In reply, Sitrick said there is a “strategy” to “get newspapers to stop calling you a pedophile and get the truth out,” and that one tactic was to “get Fergie to retract”.

The next month, Ferguson wrote in an email to Epstein and James Henderson, her spokesperson at the time, saying she “did not” and “would not” call him a “P”.

In October 2009, she wrote to Epstein saying that she “urgently” needed £20,000 for rent, and that her landlord had “threatened to go to the newspapers if I don’t pay”.

It was not clear if Epstein sent that money. However, in 2001 – years before Ferguson’s request – newly released documents appeared to show that Epstein wired the former Duchess $150,000 after helping her to cash in the share options she earned from her work for Weight Watchers. CNN has asked a spokesperson for Ferguson for comment.

Peter Mandelson

Mandelson, widely known in political circles as the “Prince of Darkness” for his Machiavellian approach to power, was fired as the UK’s ambassador to Washington in September over the deepening scandal surrounding his ties to Epstein. That month, US lawmakers had released a “birthday book,” compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, in which Mandelson penned a handwritten note describing the financier as “my best pal”.

The latest tranche of documents has revealed that Mandelson appeared to leak sensitive UK government tax plans to Epstein. They also show that his partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, regularly received undisclosed payments from him.

In September 2009, da Silva – who married Mandelson in 2023 after three decades together – emailed Epstein to ask for £10,000 to help fund his osteopathy course. Epstein replied: “I will wire your loan amount immediated’y (sic).”

In April 2010, da Silva emailed Epstein again, sharing his bank details. Epstein forwarded the message to his accountant, Rich Kahn, adding: “send 13k dollars”.

That same month, Epstein told Kahn to “send 2k per month to reinaldo.” When Kahn asked if this was in addition to the original $13,000, Epstein replied: “no after rethinkoing (sic) send 4000 dollars only.”

In October that year, Mandelson asked Epstein, jokingly: “Have you permanently stopped the reinaldo sub?! I may have to put him out to work on the streets.”

The latest files also revealed that Mandelson leaked a sensitive UK government document to the financier while he was business secretary in 2009. The memo, written for then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown, advocated £20 billion asset sale to help relieve Britain’s debt burden following the 2008 financial crisis, and revealed Labour’s tax policy plans.

On Sunday, Mandelson – who also sits in the House of Lords – announced his resignation from Labour, saying he did not want to cause the party “further embarrassment.” He also apologized “to the women and girls whose voices should have been heard long before now”. CNN was unable to contact Mandelson for further comment.

Some lawmakers have called on Mandelson to refer himself to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards, which investigates alleged breaches of the code of conduct.

Mandelson has been on a leave of absence from the House of Lords since February last year, to allow him to serve as the UK ambassador to the US. On Monday (local time), a Downing Street spokesperson said that Starmer believes that Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage.

“The prime minister has asked for this to be urgently looked at. The prime minister believes that Peter Mandelson should not be a member of the House of Lords or use the title,” the spokesperson said.

– CNN

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A New Zealand aid project in Papua New Guinea has been halted due to security concerns, and appears unlikely to be completed.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) confirmed work on the Enga Electrification Project in PNG’s Highlands region had “stopped due to ongoing violence around the project area”.

New Zealand invested $6.7 million over the last six years into the project which aimed to connect at least 4000 households in the area to electricity. It was part of combined efforts with the US, Australia and Japan to help 70 percent of PNG homes get connected by 2030.

However, tribal and election-related violence has surged in numerous parts of Enga Province in the past few years, with police largely unable to quell the unrest.

A spokesperson for the MFAT said contractors stopped work at the site in Tsak Valley in Enga’s Wapanamanda District last August.

Complexities

The choice of Enga for the electrification project was laden with risks, not just because of its remoteness and rugged terrain, but also due to the high level of tribal and election-related violence.

Development researcher Terence Wood of the Development Policy Centre said while the project’s goal was worthy, New Zealand appeared to rush into the project without giving enough thought to the complexities involved.

“You’d think very carefully about the country context, and contexts in different parts of the country, and that would guide where you work and also how you worked,” Dr Wood said.

“So violent parts of the Highlands, or the upper Highlands, of Papua New Guinea would be the last places you’re engaged with.”

He noted that large swathes of PNG’s population lack reliable access to electricity, so many rural communities in PNG would benefit from electrification, but added that challenges were compounded by the country’s poor governance.

“With work such as electricity, it’s one thing to build it, you also need a functioning government to maintain it.

Geopolitical motivation

When PNG hosted the APEC Leaders Summit in 2018, the country’s prime minister at the time, Peter O’Neill agreed on the PNG Electrification Partnership with with leaders from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the US.

Wood said geopolitics had driven New Zealand, alongside the other countries, to plunge into the project.

“We’ve sort of jumped in thanks to a perceived threat that China might be going to engage in this type of aid work in Papua New Guinea, and because of our haste, we didn’t pay sufficient attention to some of the complexities associated with providing electricity to Papua New Guinea.

“Aid donors often race in propelled by other motivations, and therefore don’t think carefully enough about the context and about how they might design their aid work to make sure it’s effective.”

Wood said there was a high probability that the project would not be completed successfully.

‘No respect for authority’

Enga governor Sir Peter Ipatas, admitted that escalating tribal violence and the build-up of illegal weapons in the province had got out of hand, putting many innocent lives at risk.

“In my province, my people have taken the lawlessness to another level using modern weapons, guns, and this has been also a sign of no respect for authority.”

He said a vacuum of law enforcement made the problem worse, as Engan warlords and their fighters were rarely arrested or prosecuted for fighting and destroying villages.

However, Ipatas said the problem with the high level of Engan tribal fights was an internal one, not directed at foreigners.

“Now the guns are only used for tribal fights. Nobody outside the the tribes that are involved are in any danger in our context as Engans, because you only fight your enemy. That’s the rule from our tradition.”

He urged PNG’s national government to ensure police do their job, suggesting more police assistance from Australia and New Zealand would be helpful.

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A strong quake has struck the Tonga region.

The 5.8-magnitude tremor hit northeast of ‘Eua just before 10am at a depth of 12km according to the US Geological Survey.

More to come.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/01/how-your-brain-can-be-trained-like-a-muscle/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Ni-Vanuatu migrant worker has pleaded not guilty to murdering a woman on a Kiwifruit orchard in the Bay of Plenty.

The 50-year-old man, who has interim name suppression, is accused of murdering a female Ni-Vanuatu tourist with whom he was in a family relationship.

He appeared briefly at the Tauranga District Court on Friday.

The woman was found dead on New Year’s Day at Cameron Orchards in Pukehina, where the defendant worked. Police were called to the Old Coach Road address at around 3pm.

Less than 12 hours later, Adam Nauka, a migrant worker, was found dead on the same property.

Both workers were employed in New Zealand under a Recognised Seasonal Employee (RSE) visa, and were visiting on a tourist visa.

Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Wilson announced last night that Police had filed a murder charge in place of a simple assault charge relating to the death of the women.

A Vanuatu country liaison told RNZ Pacific that Nauka passed away as the result of a medical issue.

In court this morning, defence lawyer John Wayne applied for interim name suppression for his client to continue until his scheduled High Court appearance on 18 February.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/01/30/ni-vanuatu-rse-worker-pleads-not-guilty-to-pukehina-orchard-murder/