The Budget, vanguard v rearguard on AI, social media pushback
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RNZ News
43 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Palace lose appeal against Europa League demotion at CAS
Crystal Palace players celebrate their 2025 FA Cup win. Photo: AFP Crystal Palace's appeal against UEFA's decision to drop them from the Europa League to the third-tier Conference League has been dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. UEFA demoted Palace while allowing Olympique Lyonnais to play in the Europa League as, at the time of assessment on 1 March, the Eagle Football Group were majority owners of Lyon while their chairman John Textor owned a controlling stake in Palace. Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, will replace Palace in the Europa League. Palace qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup last season but were punished by Uefa for breaching multi-club ownership rules. "After considering the evidence, the panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA's assessment date," the CAS said in a statement on Monday (local time). "The panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL." Palace did not respond to a request for comment. Club chairman Steve Parish told reporters on Sunday that if Palace lost the appeal, they would "have to look if there's any steps after that." The club appealed against UEFA's decision last month. The appeal came days before New York Jets co-owner Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson completed the purchase of Eagle Football Holdings' stake in Palace. Textor has also resigned from Lyon's board of directors with Michele Kang appointed chairwoman and president. As both Lyon and Palace had qualified for the Europa League, the French club were allowed to keep their place because they had finished higher in their respective league. Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1 while Palace were 12th in the Premier League. "Olympique Lyonnais welcomes today's decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirming its participation in the Europa League," Lyon said in a statement. Palace, who won the Community Shield on Sunday beating Liverpool in a penalty shootout, are set to play in the Conference League's qualifying playoff round later this month. -Reuters
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Government accused of 'fence-sitting' on Palestinian statehood
Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone An academic is accusing the coalition of sitting on the fence during the Gaza conflict so they don't upset the United States. New Zealand has fallen out of step with Australia, Canada, France and the UK in its positioning on Palestinian statehood. Australia confirmed it would make the formal recognition at next month's UN General Assembly on Monday afternoon. Minutes beforehand, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters put out a statement saying he had raised the issue in Cabinet . "Cabinet will take a formal decision in September over whether New Zealand should recognise a state of Palestine at this juncture - and if so, when and how," his statement said. Fronting questions in his post-Cabinet media conference, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon would not elaborate on what factors Cabinet was considering, what his colleagues views were, what his view was or what the decision-making process would look like, other than "ongoing conversations" among Cabinet members. Auckland University law professor Treasa Dunworth said the statements put out by countries like Australia weren't without their problems. "It's conditional on Hamas not being part of the post war governance structures in Palestine but the whole idea of state recognition is that the state gets to choose. That's what self determination is," Dunworth said. However, Dunworth said "the time for action was some time ago" and New Zealand had fallen behind many other countries in its position on Palestinian statehood. "I don't accept that they haven't been thinking about this because that's just not credible. They do know and therefore they're fence-sitting because they're not entirely sure which way the wind is blowing," Dunworth said. "We have to raise questions about whether this is all about our diplomatic relationship with the United States and looming above that is the question of the tariffs being imposed by Donald Trump. "If they want to sell New Zealand out on the basis of trade advantage or disadvantage then so be it, at least say that honestly, rather than hiding behind, 'oh it's complicated'." Luxon has denied the coalition's position has anything to do with the United States, reiterating New Zealand has an independent foreign policy. "We'll make our own decisions that are right for New Zealand and consistent with our values," he told reporters on Monday. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said a move to recognise Palestinian statehood was well overdue. "What's really concerning is that New Zealand doesn't appear to have a coherent position on Palestine, doesn't seem to be able to articulate why we're not recognising Palestine as a state or what the criteria might be for us to recognise Palestine as a state," Hipkins said. "It's well and truly time for the government to put this issue to bed. Recognise Palestine. It's the right thing to do." Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick - who's put forward a members bill to sanction Israel - said the whole situation was baffling. "It's just honestly mind-blowing. This government for the better part of two years has said that is is doing everything it can while it sits on its hands. Palestinians can't eat empty statements." RNZ asked voters hurrying home in the wintry weather on Monday night what they thought the government's position should be. "If they're considering it they've probably got their reasons for and against," one Wellington woman said. "It's a very complicated situation," another woman said. "I really don't know. In a way it's none of our business, in another way it's a humanitarian crisis," a Wellington man said. "The least we should be doing is recognising a Palestinian state," another Wellington man said. "There's people starving there, there's people dying there every day. It's stupid not to recognise Palestine," an Auckland woman said. "I think it's the only pathway to peace really... the sooner the better," an Auckland man said. Peters will travel to New York in late September to represent New Zealand at the UN General Assembly. Asked if the public would know Cabinet's decision on recognising a Palestinian state before Peters heads to the US, Luxon said he suspected so. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
New social media platform a 'digital marae' for Māori
Aotearoa New Zealand's first social media app. Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews A project three years in the making, social media platform Tōku Whānau is close to being launched. But it was not a Māori Facebook, creators BJ and Trevania Walbaekken reiterated, it was its own "ecosystem" that put Māori in front of their own data. "We don't need another Facebook with Māori labels. It has to be Māori-owned, Māori-run, and that's why we're talking to iwi, we turn around and say actually you've got to be driving this, it's driven by the whānau," BJ said. While it gave people a safe and inclusive space to connect through sharing visuals, stories, and to tap into the digital side of te ao Māori, it was not exclusive to just Māori. It was also a bilingual site between te reo Māori and English. It could be used as a way to locate long-lost whānau and trace whakapapa. Tōku Whānau creator and IT guru BJ Walbaekken Photo: Supplied Bj (Waikato-Tainui) has been in the IT industry for over 25 years, normally contracting and commuting from Waikato to Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and around the world, but his wife Trevania mentioned that she missed him being home. "She challenged me to get something more local and I'm thinking well what do I do? I've got all these specialist skills," he said. Using their own resources and finances, the wedded pair cracked on with it. "We've got a man here who can really build according to your taste," Trevania said, so he "spearheaded and prototyped" it. "We thought well if we're going to do it, let's do it with our own and that's often the hardest - to do with your own friends and family - but actually they gave us a lot of feedback and we've just worked our way at it over the past three years." Trevania (Ngāti Kahungunu) is a kaiako Rūmaki of 20 years and is also the director for the project, favouring whakawhanaungatanga (creating relationships). "[BJ's] leading it and he's the digitech guy but actually it takes the space of the both of us to get that seesaw - it can't be too techy, can't be too businessy or else you'll miss the heart of it." There will be groups, connections, events, news, and more dedicated to specific kaupapa Photo: screenshot The name Tōku Whānau derives from tōku meaning "mine", and whānau being the whole community. "And so we have the IP on Tōku Whānau that ensures we're doing this the right way. It keeps us honest. It keeps us authentic because we don't own tōku whānau, we are tōku whānau. "It's a very indigenous social platform, which has the potential to lead in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as the world." According to research by Meltwater/We Are Social, 79.1 percent of Kiwis were active social media users and spent an average of two hours and three minutes on social media networks each day. That equated to 4.14 million active social media user identities in New Zealand in January 2025. Tōku Whānau had morphed from the idea of a "Māori Facebook" to a "digital wharenui" with multiple platforms. "A diverse rākau that has roots, that has branches. That's what we can do with our Māori worldview. We see things like that, as well as other indigenous nations around the world," Trevania said. Trevania Walbaekken is the director for Tōku Whānau Photo: supplied A side panel on the main page includes whakataukī o te rā and kupu o te rā , or sayings of the day. "It's uncovering all those hidden gems and then putting it within the layer that's confident like with whānau that were native speakers and non-native speakers what we're able to do to help those ones that weren't speakers," BJ said. Tōku Whānau had a soft launch a few weeks ago with a turn out of 140 of the Walbaekken's friends, whānau, and local businesses. "We had full house marae styles all our whānau here and we actually put on a beautiful evening with kai, we celebrated who we are as Māori." It solidified their reasons for creating the socials site, for social media users and generations to come. "We're actually in the digital era, we're in the Māori digital era , we will be part of those ushering, putting tikanga in place especially for youth and our young ones because they're on these spaces and places - on instagram and tiktok - all over with nothing in place," Trevania said. "If we don't get in the front, we will actually just be left behind and we have the skills and expertise ... within our reach to do it, and that's why we are moving." Tōku Whānau was not fully live yet, but people could sign up and navigate the platform. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
