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March 9, 2026

Raisina: The Taiwan Strait Issue

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/09/raisina-the-taiwan-strait-issue/

March 8, 2026

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

. If you have ever seen someone badly hurt themselves, then you probably had an averse response.

Your brain will have reacted to their pain and your body will probably have shown signs of physiological arousal. Your heart rate might have gone up, or you might have sweated.

These are common signs of physiological arousal in response to someone else’s suffering. But they are often lacking in psychopaths.

When my colleagues and I asked people in prison with a history of violence to view pictures of others’ emotional facial expressions, those who reported more of the characteristic features of psychopathy also showed blunted physiological arousal. Our 2019 study found that the pupil (the small black hole in the centre of the eye that lets in light but also increases in size during physiological arousal) did not change much in size among people higher in psychopathic traits when they looked at pictures of people who were afraid.

These differences mean that some people with these traits might struggle to learn about how their actions cause other people to feel distressed or afraid.

Prisons and secure forensic hospitals are where people with psychopathic traits are often entered into treatment programmes designed to reduce their risk of reoffending. Modest reductions in general reoffending have been reported following cognitive behavioural programmes that are offered to people in prison with or without psychopathy or another personality disorder.

But not all criminal behaviour programs have been marked by success. For example, in the UK in 2017 the failure of the Core Sexual Offender Treatment Programme designed by His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) and approved for use in 1992, to lower reoffending was highly publicised.

HMPPS has since introduced a new programme, Building Choices. It adopts a strengths-based, skill focused approach to improve emotion management, healthy relationships and sense of purpose. Unlike the previous course, the programme is not designed to address particular offence types, and it has shown some signs of promise.

Historically, researchers have considered such programmes less effective at reducing reoffending when offered to people with psychopathy. Indeed, some studies even suggest that people with psychopathy worsened following treatment.

One of these programmes, offered from around 1965 to 1978 at the maximum-security Oak Ridge Division of the Mental Health Centre in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada, made use of a so called “total encounter capsule.”

These results made for a high degree of pessimism among scientists and practitioners alike. But that pessimism might be misplaced.

It is perhaps unsurprising that the “total encounter capsule” did not prove effective. The capsule was “a tiny self-contained chamber where sustenance was supplied through tubes in the walls and from which no group members would leave during sessions that lasted up to two weeks”.

Participants were reported to be nude and did not participate voluntarily. There were few professional therapists, and the use of force and humiliation was permitted.

Historically, there has been a lot of pessimism around treatment for other personality disorders, too.

This is in part a reflection of stigma attached to these disorders. But it is also because personality difficulties can make it harder for people to build relationships, including with the people responsible for their treatment.

Yet a form of therapy known as dialectical behaviour therapy has shown success in reducing self-harm in people with borderline personality disorder. This type of therapy is designed to help people cope with intense emotions and to learn interpersonal skills.

In another recent study, mentalisation-based treatment, which targets the person’s ability to understand and regulate the negative effects of thoughts and feelings, led to reductions in aggressive behaviour in people with antisocial personality disorder. Findings like these suggest tailored interventions are more effective when it comes to personality disorders.

Capable of empathy?

One important consideration when treating psychopaths is that they are often assumed to be incapable of empathy. But this assumption has been challenged by some intriguing studies, which suggests that they might instead lack the motivation for empathy.

In a 2013 brain scanning study, a group of scientists at the university of Groningen, the Netherlands, showed that although criminal psychopaths did not automatically feel empathy for other people’s pain depicted in videos, their brains did generate an empathic response similar to that of non-psychopaths when instructed to feel what the people in the videos were feeling.

It could be an important step toward helping people with psychopathy if they could better understand how their actions can hurt other people.

Perhaps the most promising work that suggests people with psychopathy can change has been conducted with young people. Although children and young people under the age of 18 cannot be diagnosed as psychopathic, features of psychopathy referred to as callous unemotional traits can be reliably assessed in children as young as two years of age.

A 2018 study adapted parenting interventions to be more effective for this high-risk group of children, aged three to six years old. Afterwards, the children showed significant reductions in behavioural problems, callous unemotional traits and aggression. The researchers coached parents to show more warmth, sensitivity and responsiveness. Parents were also asked to focus on reward-based rather than punishment-based strategies to encourage the child participants to be more responsive to distress in others.

A 2022 study also reported positive outcomes, showing improvements in behaviour and personal relationships in adolescents after an intervention with a focus on strength-based (helping children understand what they’re good at) rather than punishment-based parenting strategies.

So recent work is offering a glimpse of a more optimistic future for reducing aggressive and antisocial behaviour associated with psychopathy. Perhaps the question is not can psychopaths change now, but can we get better at helping them to change.

Steven Gillespie is senior lecturer in clinical psychology, University of Liverpool.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/08/can-psychopaths-change/

March 7, 2026

Amanda Seyfried’s ‘prosthetic butthole’ isn’t a joke

Source: Radio New Zealand

In The Testament of Ann Lee, a musical drama about the Shaker sect, Amanda Seyfried wears what she calls a “prosthetic butthole” as she is stripped and beaten in front of a burning church.

“This movie needed to be graphic, so I wore a prosthetic butthole. […] It was cool. It was exciting. I was pregnant and naked, but I wasn’t naked at all. And at the end of the movie, I was standing in front of a burning building with just a merkin. I felt so free”, she told BBC Radio 2:

On the surface, Seyfried’s comments might seem like a case of TMI. But costume performs an important, invisible technical function of a quasi-body the actor inhabits to transform into their character.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

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But some roles can require the actor to portray intense emotional vulnerability or distressing events, which can leave them feeling anything from mildly embarrassed to deeply traumatised.

By creating a costume that can be taken off, even when the character appears to be naked, costume designers help create an important separation between the role and the actor.

Taking care of the actor

Historically, actors have often been expected to do whatever appalling things the director demanded of them, regardless of the consequences to their physical or mental health.

Actors have also been expected to manage their own emotions in these roles. While many have different processes to help them exit the role, they still rely on theatre and film professionals like stage managers, dressers and directors to help manage their sources of emotion and distraction.

An important part of leaving the character behind involves taking off the costume at the end of a play or scene. But if your own naked body is the character’s costume in a scene, then how can you take it off?

The Testament of Ann Lee covers the life of the founder of the Shaker faith and how she used her religious faith to process pain and grief and inspire others.

Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Every actor has a different approach. Some don’t mind appearing nude for laughs, while others might use body doubles for sex and nude scenes, which provides them with a surrogate body.

The newer job of intimacy coordinators has developed in the past 15 years to help protect actors on stage and set. These are professional advocates who establish the ground rules, look out for the actors’ physical and emotional well-being, and assist with the choreography during scenes that require intimate touching, nudity or sex.

Actors and intimacy coordinators collaborate closely with the costume department to ensure the actor will be protected during nude and sex scenes with the right type of coverage.

Costume designing for ‘nudity’

Costume departments have a host of garments, accessories, prosthetics and hacks to protect an actor’s dignity in nude and sex scenes. These include modesty patches, fake nipples, stick-on bras, strapless thongs and pouches that cover the genitals. These can be attached to the body with fashion tape or kinesiology tape.

The devices are made to match the actor’s skin tone and can be padded with a thick material (think yoga mat fabric) or made from a hard plastic to mitigate the impact of being touched or grabbed. Other costume hacks, such as merkins, have been around for hundreds of years.

The use of these devices means you won’t see the actor’s actual private parts or pubic hair; you’ll see the character’s.

This crucial distinction gives the actor a body they can take off.

Creating Ann Lee’s naked body

The Testament of Ann Lee covers the life of the founder of the Shaker faith over three decades and shows how she used her religious faith to process the pain and grief of physical tribulations, sexual abuse and the loss of her children, and to inspire others.

Seyfried has described the role of Ann Lee as “fucking daunting” and “really scary”, and has said the part needed to be graphic to show the strength of Lee’s faith in the face of extreme adversity.

Towards the end of the film, local thugs who do not want the Shakers to establish a church near their village attack Lee and her fellow worshippers at night and burn down their church. The thugs strip Lee and beat and humiliate her, accusing her of being a man and of being a witch. Ann Lee’s naked body is on display in front of the burning church during the brutal scene.

Amanda Seyfried described the role of Ann Lee as “fucking daunting” and “really scary”.

Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

This is the scene where Seyfried wore a merkin and the “prosthetic butthole” – likely a modesty sticker, or a strapless, skin-toned thong with the merkin on the front that covered the vulva, perineum and anus.

The pubic wig is seen, but the fake anus is not. But wearing them meant Seyfried could focus on the intensity of her acting and fully embody Lee in the scene, without worrying about her own dignity.

The modesty garments also gave Seyfried a body she could take off, leaving any potential for personal trauma, embarrassment or pain from playing Ann Lee behind her.

Emily Brayshaw is an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Design, University of Technology, Sydney.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/07/amanda-seyfrieds-prosthetic-butthole-isnt-a-joke/

March 7, 2026

The Oscars are coming up and it’s anyone’s game

Source: Radio New Zealand

With the Academy Awards right around the corner, it’s difficult to find another year when the race was this wide open, this late in the game.

The Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTA and Actor (formerly SAG) Awards are now firmly in the rearview mirror, and while some elements have come into sharper focus – it’s Hamnet star Jessie Buckley’s best actress Oscar to lose, for instance – many other aspects of the race remain foggy to predict at best, like who might walk away with the best actor trophy opposite her.

And that’s not to mention the seemingly wide-open fields in both supporting actor races.

Irish actress Jessie Buckley accepts the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture for Hamnet.

VALERIE MACON

. RNZ will live blog the red carpet and the awards show from 11am.

A breakdown of top categories follows:

Best picture

Regina Hall in One Battle After Another.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures via CNN Newsource

Two titans seem sure to be big competitors on Oscar night, namely critical darlings One Battle After Another and Sinners.

Pointed commentaries on racial inequality and American values, featuring a handful of buzzy performances and fuelling strong word of mouth, these two Warner Bros. Pictures films (which come from CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery) both had considerable momentum going into the season.

But while 14-time Oscar nominee Paul Thomas Anderson’s Battle seemed like the one to beat a few months ago – especially after best picture wins at the Golden Globes (on the comedy side, inexplicably), Critics Choice Awards and the BAFTAs – Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has picked up more than a little renewed steam, mainly after the film’s decisive ensemble win at the Actor Awards on Sunday.

It’s been 15 years since the Academy opened up the best picture race to more than the previously fixed number of five nominees – vacillating between eight and ten best picture contenders, and settling consistently on ten for the last few years. This year, there are of course some other contenders in the ten-film category – including Sentimental Value, Marty Supreme, Hamnet and Bugonia – but the race seems set for the vampires versus the revolutionaries.

Best actress

Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley and Bodhi Rae Breathnach in director Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet.

Agata Grzybowska/Focus Features via CNN Newsource

In the clearest-seeming race of them all, Jessie Buckley’s portrayal of a grief-stricken mother and wife to William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet looks all but sure to net the Oscar, after she was previously up for best supporting actress in 2022 for The Lost Daughter. Buckley’s recent passionate and emotional speech at the Actor Awards, mostly directed toward her Hamnet costar Emily Watson, certainly only helped her chances.

In addition to Buckley, two of the other women up for best actress have been nominated before (the Academy loves return nominees), but if anyone might be able to pull off an upset, it’s a tossup between the two first-timers: Rose Byrne, who won best actress in the comedy category at the Golden Globes for her work as an overextended mother in the harrowing If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and acclaimed Norwegian performer Renate Reinsve as a resentful daughter in Sentimental Value.

Australian actress Rose Byrne won the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy award for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” during the 83rd annual Golden Globe Awards on January 11, 2026.

AFP / Etienne Laurent

Best actor

Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent.

MK2 Films via CNN Newsource

This is where any confident handicapping ends, and the rest of the acting categories are essentially anyone’s game.

Early momentum for best actor went to Timothée ‘I-want-to-be-one-of-the-greats’ Chalamet, who clinched the Golden Globe, comedy lead actor award as well as the Critics Choice Award. But both the BAFTAs and the Actor Awards threw a bit of a wrench in things, with the Brits awarding non-Oscar nominee Robert Aramayo (for I Swear) and the Screen Actors Guild bestowing best actor honours on Michael B. Jordan for his twin roles of Smoke and Stack in Sinners.

Jordan might indeed ride the wave of Sinners love all the way to the Oscars podium, or it just might be Timmy’s turn (Chalamet was also nominated last year for portraying Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, which won him the then-still-named SAG Award).

But let’s not forget Narcos actor Wagner Moura, who made waves for his work in the Brazilian film The Secret Agent, winning him best actor at Cannes, as well as the Golden Globe for lead actor in the drama category.

Best supporting actress

Amy Madigan in Weapons.

Warner Bros. via CNN Newsource

The best supporting actress race is, historically, a tough one to predict, and this year is no exception. While Teyana Taylor’s visceral, kinetic performance as revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills in One Battle After Another was the early favourite after her Golden Globe win, two other attention-getting actresses have kept reinserting themselves into the conversation, thanks to their undeniable work.

The first is Amy Madigan, known to most for ’80s films like Uncle Buck and Field of Dreams, who turned out a bonkers performance as the villainous witch Aunt Gladys in last summer’s breakout elevated horror hit Weapons (also from Warner Bros.). With both the Critics Choice and Actor Award under Madigan’s belt, the Oscar may very well fall under Gladys’ spell come 15 March.

But we shouldn’t count out Wunmi Mosaku, whose performance as Annie in Sinners rooted the film in heritage, magic and heart. Mosaku won the BAFTA award in this category last month, and in case there’s a Sinners sweep come Oscar night, hers would be thoroughly deserved.

While horror doesn’t often get recognized by the Academy, both Madigan and Mosaku are up for playing magically inclined women in horror films this year, and remind us that there is a precedent – Ruth Gordon won supporting actress Oscar gold in 1969 for playing a similarly witchy character in Rosemary’s Baby, and landmark genre films like The Exorcist and Aliens also received Academy recognition for the actresses who starred in them.

Best supporting actor

Does the monster’s new look reveal something about our modern age? A scene from the new “Frankenstein” film directed by Guillermo del Toro. Ken Woroner/Netflix A scene from the new Frankenstein film directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Netflix

Last but certainly not least is best supporting actor, which could go to a newly minted star, industry veterans enjoying their first nomination or heavyweights with Oscar hardware already sitting at home.

Let’s start with the newbie – Jacob Elordi has been getting recognition for his transformative portrait of the creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, including a win at the Critics Choice Awards. If 2017’s The Shape of Water is any indication, one should never write off this visionary director’s projects when it comes to the Oscars’ affections.

Then there are the industry vets who are basking in their first Academy Award nominations, namely Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value and Delroy Lindo for Sinners. Skarsgård was surprised and gracious when he won best supporting actor at the Golden Globes, topped only by Lindo’s sheer gratitude when he took the microphone after Sinners won for best motion picture cast at the Actor Awards. Both actors boast prolific and respected bodies of work, and each contributed head-turning performances this year.

Lastly, there are the One Battle After Another boys, previous Oscar-winners Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro. While it might be tempting to assume they would split the vote and cancel each other out (much like what looks to be the case with Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Sentimental Value in the previous category), Penn has been getting late-in-the-game attention for his physical and gritty portrayal of a hardened, racist, misogynistic colonel in Battle. So far, he’s clinched the BAFTA and Actor Awards. It really is anyone’s game.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/07/the-oscars-are-coming-up-and-its-anyones-game/

March 6, 2026

Sir Peter Jackson to receive an honorary award at Cannes

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand Oscar-winning filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson will be awarded the Palm d’Or at the opening of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Best known for creating the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson said the honour was “one of the greatest privileges of my career”.

The French film festival organisers said the award recognised “a body of work that blends Hollywood blockbusters and films d’auteur with extraordinary artistic vision and technological audacity”.

“Cannes has been a meaningful part of my filmmaking journey,” Jackson said in a statement following Thursday’s announcement.

“In 1988, I attended the Festival Marketplace with my first movie, Bad Taste, then in 2001 we screened a preview sequence from The Fellowship of the Ring, both of which were important milestones in my career.

“This festival has always celebrated bold, visionary cinema, and I’m incredibly grateful to the Festival de Cannes for being recognised among the filmmakers and the artists whose work continues to inspire me.”

In giving Jackson the honour, Cannes president Iris Knobloch said: “The Festival welcomes and thanks a filmmaker of boundless creativity who has brought prestige to the heroic fantasy genre”.

In 1993 Jackson founded Wētā Digital with Sir Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk. The workshop has produced visual effects for films including The Lord of the Rings series King Kong, Avatar and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Previous recipients of the award include Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep. Last year it was given to Robert De Niro and Denzel Washington.

The Cannes Film Festival runs from 12-23 May. Sourh Korean director Park Chan-wook will preside over this year’s jury.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/06/sir-peter-jackson-to-receive-an-honorary-award-at-cannes/

March 6, 2026

Donald Trump replaces Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem

Source: Radio New Zealand

By Ted Hesson, Reuters

Kristi Noem is being moved to a new role. TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

One of the top officials overseeing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, will leave her role, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (US time).

It’s a major staffing move that raises questions about the direction of the Republican president’s immigration agenda.

“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Noem will serve as “Special envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” Trump said.

Noem, a former governor of South Dakota, became one of Trump’s most high-profile Cabinet secretaries with social media posts that portrayed immigrants in harsh terms, highlighting cases of alleged criminal offenders and using vitriolic language.

She faced criticism in January when she quickly labelled two US citizens fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis as committing “domestic terrorism.”

Videos that emerged after the deaths undercut the assertion by Noem and other Trump officials that the two deceased – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – were violent aggressors.

The public backlash for the deaths led the Trump administration to move to a more targeted approach to immigration enforcement in Minnesota after months of sweeps through US cities that led to violent clashes with residents opposing the crackdown.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives moved to impeach Noem and at least two Republicans in Congress called for her to lose her job after the incidents.

During congressional hearings in March, Democrats and some Republicans criticized Noem for her approach to the immigration crackdown and management of DHS, including concern over a US$220 million (NZ$373m) ad campaign that heavily featured Noem.

The staffing change raises questions about whether the Trump administration could seek to intensify its mass deportation push or retreat to a more targeted approach.

Under Noem’s leadership, masked immigration agents surged into Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC., scouring neighborhoods and Home Depot parking lots in search of possible immigration offenders.

The popularity of Trump’s immigration approach fell as agents detained US citizens and tear-gassed streets in an attempt to drive up deportations, which last year fell short of the administration’s goal of 1 million per year.

AFP/Kamil Krzaczynski

Strong embrace of Trump’s hardline immigration approach

While Noem, 54, served as a prominent proponent of Trump’s agenda, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a long-time Trump aide, controls Trump’s immigration policy.

Noem was quickly confirmed to lead the 260,000-employee Department of Homeland Security in January 2025 after Trump took office. On social media, she referred to immigrants convicted of crimes as “scumbags” even as the number of non-criminals arrested by immigration authorities rose under Trump.

She joined immigration enforcement operations on the ground in New York City and visited a maximum-security prison in El Salvador where Venezuelan immigrants deported by the Trump administration were being held without charges or access to lawyers.

The number of migrants caught trying to illegally cross the US-Mexico border plummeted under Trump’s restrictive policies, a steep drop after high levels of illegal immigration under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

Noem, reflecting Trump’s agenda, also took steps to cut legal immigration programmes and increase vetting. She ended several Temporary Protected Status programmes that provided work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Venezuela, Haiti and other nations, drawing legal challenges.

After an Afghan immigrant was accused of attacking National Guard members in Washington, DC, Noem said she recommended that Trump place “a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”

Critics said Noem demonised immigrants and promoted an immigration enforcement strategy that targeted non-criminal, working immigrants and families.

During Noem’s tenure, the number of deaths in immigration detention rose to a two-decade high while staff in DHS oversight offices were slashed sharply.

-Reuters

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/06/donald-trump-replaces-homeland-security-chief-kristi-noem/

March 6, 2026

NZ Defence Force planes prepare to fly to Middle East for evacuations

Source: Radio New Zealand

A plume of smoke rises after a strike on the Iranian capital of Tehran on 5 March, 2026. AFP / ATTA KENARE

Follow the latest with our live blog above

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says when conditions allow, NZDF planes will help New Zealanders get to locations where they can get on commercial flights home.

He says they will not be long flights.

The minister says at the speed at which potentially thousands of people need to be moved, it’s better they are taken to a safer place as fast as possible.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said 3171 New Zealanders were registered with its service SafeTravel in the region.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/06/nz-defence-force-planes-prepare-to-fly-to-middle-east-for-evacuations/

March 5, 2026

NZ Defence Force planes on standby for Middle East evacuations

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two NZDF planes are on standby to head to the Middle East for evacuation operations. NZDF/Jalesa Normani

The government is getting ready to send consular staff and two NZ Defence Force (NZDF) planes to the Middle East in preparation for evacuation operations.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealanders in the Middle East should continue to shelter in place, or take safe and practical opportunities to leave.

He says it’s unclear when and how any civilian evacuation operation might be possible, but wants to be ready if and when conditions on the ground make them possible.

Are you in an affected area? Email us iwitness@rnz.co.nz

Peters says when conditions allow, NZDF planes will help New Zealanders get to locations where they can get on commercial flights home. He says they will not be long flights.

The minister says at the speed at which potentially thousands of people need to be moved, it’s better they are taken to a safer place as fast as possible.

Defence Minister Judith Collins says exactly where the consular response team and two NZDF C-130J aircraft will be deployed is still to be decided.

There are 3000 New Zealanders registered with MFAT as living in the Middle East.

Emirates flight to Auckland going ahead

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says an Emirates airline flight from Dubai to Auckland is scheduled to go ahead today.

The government is seeking urgent updates from airlines to confirm the resumption of flights from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to New Zealand.

More than 20,000 flights globally have been cancelled because of conflict in the Middle East.

MFAT advises passengers booked on the Emirates flight to contact the airline or their travel agent.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters RNZ/Calvin Samuel

It is offering to help travellers who are having problems with travel documents.

Meanwhile, aviation commentator and chief executive of Auckland’s Ardmore Flying School Irene King told Morning Report, it was likely there would be disruptions to flights to Europe, Africa and the Middle East for some time.

“Dubai is such a massive global hub… it’s not going to be easy because you’re going to have so much disruption.”

King said there would now be quite a lot of nervousness about flying over the Middle East which could mean a higher demand for Europe flights which went past Singapore or Hong Kong.

She said those flights were likely to be pretty full.

“It’s going to be challenging to get into Europe for quite a period of time.

“I think we’ll start to see other carriers [from Asia] potentially putting more volume down into Australasia because they will be acutely aware of people wanting to travel to Europe and not over the Middle East.”

King said it was likely there would be a lot more screening going on at airports in the Middle East.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/05/nz-defence-force-planes-on-standby-for-middle-east-evacuations/

March 5, 2026

Iran ‘close’ to choosing new leader, Israel warns Southern Lebanon to leave

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man makes his way through debris at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the offices of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial institution, in the southern coastal Lebanese city of Tyre on March 2, 2026. KAWNAT HAJU/AFP

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The Israel Defense Forces have begun “broad scale strikes targeting Iranian terror regime targets in Tehran,” it said in a statement.

This marks the 10th such wave of attacks since the latest conflict began on Saturday, according to the IDF. Earlier Wednesday, it said its overnight strikes had targeted what it described as command centers used by Iran’s feared internal security forces and the Basij militia.

“They hit quite hard last night, it was a bad night,” one resident in northern Tehran told CNN. “I don’t know where exactly they hit, but it felt like we could hear explosions from around us.”

They added that they wanted to get out of the city and flee into the mountains. “But we also don’t know where military assets are so its hard to tell where it is going to be safe,” the resident said.

Israel said its air force had launched a new “large scale” wave of strikes “targeting the Iranian terror regime’s infrastructure in Tehran”, following the latest salvo of missiles fired from Iran, including in Tel Aviv and in several sites in central Israel.

Iran, in turn, appealed to the UN Security Council to step in, while warning of more intense attacks on US forces and Israel as the war raged for the fourth day.

Iranian drones struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia after previously hitting the mission in Kuwait.

In Lebanon, air strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs, an area where Hezbollah holds sway, while Hezbollah said it had targeted a military facility in Israel in response.

Israel ordered its forces to take control of more positions inside Lebanon to create a buffer zone, and the Lebanese army pulled back some of its forces.

Explosions were also heard in the Bahraini and Qatari capitals of Manama and Doha.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said a key Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, was damaged, but “no radiological consequence” was expected.

The UN refugee agency said the escalation of hostilities has displaced at least 30,000 people in Lebanon, and the Iranian Red Crescent said more than 780 people have been killed nationwide.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/05/iran-close-to-choosing-new-leader-israel-warns-southern-lebanon-to-leave/

March 4, 2026

Government ‘talking to everybody’ over Kiwis caught up in Middle East war – Peters

Source: Radio New Zealand

Foriegn Affairs Minister Winston Peters RNZ / Mark Papalii

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says there are thousands of New Zealanders whose plans have been disrupted by the current war between the US and Israel and Iran.

All sorts of contingencies to help them were being looked at but it was a complex situation, he told Morning Report.

SafeTravel said on Wednesday United Arab Emirates had partially reopened its air space.

There were limited flights operating from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Follow updates with RNZ’s blog

It said there had so far been no official announcement on flights to Australia or New Zealand, but the NZ government were in contact with airline representatives to get urgent confirmation on the status of flights.

Spain and the United Kingdom have announced they are organising evacuation flights for their citizens while Australia has opened an emergency portal for its citizens.

Asked on Morning Report about possible evacuation flights for Kiwis Peters said the situation was “difficult”.

“We’re saying to people if you can get out, and if you are concerned, get out. If you can’t, then try and stay safe or stay inside where you are or make sure you have places that are safe most of the time.”

There were thousands of Kiwis in the region with not a great number registered on SafeTravel, he said.

Last time there was conflict in the Middle East a plane was sent, and within an hour of it landing “peace broke out” and noone got on the flight, Peters said.

“We’ve got all sorts of contingencies ready now – all aspects have been looked at. Obviously I’ve got to be confidential but Foreign Affairs is doing a superb job to do the maximum they can to help New Zealanders there.”

Peters said New Zealand was “talking to everybody” regarding Kiwis stranded by the conflict.

Regarding the negotiations that had been going on in Switzerland just before the weekend attacks, Peters said they had been “protracted” and that was why countries such as New Zealand could see the possibility of conflict and advised citizens to leave.

“We were saying that a long time before this war broke out.”

Not concerned about upsetting US

In an earlier statement, the government said New Zealand had consistently condemned Iran’s nuclear programme and its “destabilising activities” in the region and “acknowledged” the strikes.

Peters said he wasn’t worried about blowback from the United States if New Zealand expressed any criticism over the joint attacks with Israel on Iran.

Critics were commenting as if the current war was from a 1980s or 1990s setting.

“Everything’s changed dramatically. …It’s the most uncertain world since the Second World War.”

Legal experts would decide but in some situations such as the US-Israel attacks it became “a reprisal or retaliation” and the genesis to the current conflict was the earlier actions of Iran.

People had to understand countries were dealing with a group of “religious fanatics” in Iran. Their Arabic neighbours didn’t support Iran because it had been supporting various forms of terrorism for decades.

Critics had “rushed to judgement” over the legality of the US-Israel attacks, however, they had no answers to the way Iran was acting.

While critics referred to rules-based order, Iran had not been observing this and it had been exporting “continual chaos overseas”.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/04/government-talking-to-everybody-over-kiwis-caught-up-in-middle-east-war-peters/

March 4, 2026

The 5am myth: Waking early won’t make you more successful

Source: Radio New Zealand

At 5am, social media fills with proof that the early risers have already won the day. Cold plunges. Journals. Sunrise runs. Productivity gurus insist this is the routine that separates high performers from everyone else, reinforced by high-profile early risers such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, entrepreneur Richard Branson and Hollywood actor Jennifer Aniston.

The message is simple: wake earlier, perform better. But the science tells a more complicated story. For many people, a 5am routine clashes with their biology and can undermine both health and productivity. Much depends on your individual biological rhythm, or “chronotype”.

Chronotypes reflect when people naturally feel alert or sleepy, and genetics play a major role in shaping them. Research shows that sleep timing is partly rooted in our genes, and chronotype is heritable. Chronotype also shifts across the lifespan, with adolescents tending toward later sleep pattern and older adults often shifting earlier. Most people are not extreme larks or owls, but fall somewhere in between.

Jennifer Aniston loves an early start to the day.

SHAUN CURRY/AFP

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/04/the-5am-myth-waking-early-wont-make-you-more-successful/

March 4, 2026

Live: Israel launches fresh attacks on Iran and Beirut, Iran continues strikes across Gulf

Source: Radio New Zealand

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Fresh strikes have hit half a dozen countries across the Middle East in the widening conflict surrounding Iran.

The latest blasts were reported in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as Israel urged countries to cut ties with Iran.