Morning Report Essentials for Friday 13 June 2025
crime politics 10:00 am today
In today's episode, at least 290 people have been killed when an Air India plane bound for London crashed minutes after taking off from the city of Ahmedabad, Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran has been in touch with the Air India to offer his support, we have our weekly political panel, and we cross the ditch to talk to our correspondent in Australia.
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Confusion over trade deal between US and China
world politics 25 minutes ago Asia Correspondent Katie Silver spoke to Lisa Owen about confusion over whether a trade deal has been struck between the US and China, as well as a massive beach resort set to open in North Korea, that leader Kim Jong-un hopes will boost tourism.
RNZ News
5 days ago
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Live: Israel blames Iran for ceasefire 'violation'
People walk past a huge banner on Enghelab (Revolution) Square, in Tehran on 24 June. Photo: AFP / ATTA KENARE Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to strike Tehran, in response to what he said were missiles fired by Iran in a violation of the ceasefire announced hours earlier by US President Donald Trump. Iran has denied violating the ceasefire. The armed forces general staff denied that there had been any launch of missiles towards Israel in recent hours, Iran's Nour News reported. The developments raised early doubts about the ceasefire, intended to end 12 days of war. Katz said in a statement he had ordered the military to "continue high-intensity operations targeting regime assets and terror infrastructure in Tehran" in light of "Iran's blatant violation of the ceasefire declared by the President of the United States." Hours earlier, Trump had posted on Truth Social: "THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!" Both Israel and Iran had confirmed the ceasefire after it was announced by Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had achieved the goals it had set in launching its June 13 surprise attack on Iran, to destroy its nuclear programme and missile capabilities. "Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defence and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat," Netanyahu had said. Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said its military had forced Israel to "unilaterally accept defeat and accept a ceasefire". Iran's forces would "keep their hands on the trigger" to respond to "any act of aggression by the enemy", it said. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had earlier said that Iran would halt its retaliatory strikes provided that Israel stopped attacking as of 4am in Tehran. Global stock markets surged and oil prices tumbled on Tuesday after the announcement of the ceasefire, in the hope it heralded a resolution of the war just two days after the United States joined it by hitting Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs. - Reuters
RNZ News
6 days ago
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Visa approvals for Indian students climb after steep declines
Visa approvals for Indian students rise slightly after two years of high rejection rates. Photo: 123rf Visa approvals for Indian nationals are on the rise after two years of steep declines, with new figures showing a drop in rejection rates for student visa applications. From 1 January to 22 June, Immigration New Zealand received 6548 applications for student visas from Indian nationals. Of those, 4780 were approved and 1501 declined, giving Indian applicants a 75.4 percent approval rate and a 23.7 percent rejection rate. That's a notable improvement from 2024, when Immigration New Zealand approved 8,997, or 58.9 percent, of the 14,313 applications it received from Indian students. At the same time, the agency rejected 39.5 percent of the applications. In 2023, Immigration New Zealand approved 6523 applications, or 62.7 percent, of the 11,537 applications it received. The rejection rate for the year was 34.9 percent. "Increased engagement with the education sector and agents, and Immigration New Zealand detailing the type of information needed to assess the application, has contributed to the improvement," said Celia Coombes, director of visa at Immigration New Zealand. "As per the current 2025 year-to-date figures, the approval rate for both China and India is higher than in 2024 and 2023," Coombes said. Applications from Chinese students have also seen a decline in rejection rates, falling to just 1.6 percent so far in 2025, down from 2.9 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2023. "This is due to increased engagement with the education sector and agents, and Immigration New Zealand detailing the type of information needed to assess the application," Coombes added. From 1 January to 22 June, Immigration New Zealand received 6548 applications for student visas from Indian nationals. Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin The rebound in visa approvals comes amid a broader push to revive New Zealand's international education sector. More than half of the country's universities are now offering dedicated packages for Indian applicants, including scholarships and fee discounts. Five institutions currently have such offers in place. In April 2024, Education New Zealand - the government agency promoting the country to foreign students - partnered with the High Commission of India in Wellington to mark India as the "country of honour" at the 2024 New Zealand International Education Conference. Education New Zealand is also working on a three-year growth plan to expand the international education sector. The agency had previously said international students contributed $3.7 billion to the economy in 2019 - a figure that dropped sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting job cuts and emergency funding for universities. However, the international education sector has shown signs of stabilisation, with April 2025 enrolments matching pre-pandemic figures. Universities New Zealand said the country's eight universities had about 20,000 full-time equivalent international students in April this year. Arunima Dhingra Photo: Supplied "This improvement is both welcome and timely," said Arunima Dhingra, CEO of Aims Global Immigration and Education. However, she said the problem of incorrectly declined student visa applications had been "persistent and frustrating" for months. "It has been raised repeatedly - by industry bodies, education providers and licensed immigration professionals - to senior INZ leadership and government officials alike," she said. While INZ had attributed past rejections to issues around financial documentation, Dhingra said confusion still lingered. "Another issue that continues to cause confusion is the mismatch between INZ's public-facing checklists and the reality of how applications are assessed," she said. Dhingra said applicants who had followed Immigration New Zealand's existing online checklist to the letter were being declined, and the agency had yet to release an updated version. "If INZ truly wants to support better approval outcomes, especially from high-volume markets like India, [it] must improve transparency around ... expectations - particularly around financial evidence," she said. "While we understand they can't provide an exhaustive list, clarity around how things like nationalised education loans or payment plans are actually assessed would make a huge difference."
