WORLD NEWS RT - September 27 2026 (17:00 MSK)

With Nicola Willis departing Parliament, National's Simeon Brown and Labour's Barbara Edmonds are being promoted as leading candidates for one of New Zealand's most powerful government positions. Both have relevant qualifications and experience, but are either equipped to confront the country's economic challenges? And when business organisations and unions express their preferences, whose interests will the next Finance Minister ultimately…

British comedian and political commentator Russell Brand has reportedly been sentenced to ten and a half years in prison following convictions for rape and sexual assault. Yet the continuing investigations into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Labour politician Peter Mandelson have raised wider questions about accountability among Britain's political and royal establishment. Are the differences in legal outcomes simply a reflection of…

Billionaire businessman Guy Haddleton wants National and Labour to cooperate in governing New Zealand, arguing that the country needs stability and long-term economic planning. But his proposal raises a more uncomfortable question: how different are the two major parties when powerful business interests, lobbyists and established institutions already exert influence over government policy? And would cooperation between National and Labour…

With the votes cast, New Zealand faces a period of waiting, political finger-pointing and coalition negotiations. Andy Loader examines National's criticism of MMP, Chris Bishop's electoral defeat and the strategic vote-splitting campaign that may have saved the centre-right coalition. With 67 seats provisionally secured, the focus now shifts to special votes and the negotiations that will determine who governs, what policies survive and how…

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has demanded that Western European governments agree on a single representative for negotiations over the Ukraine conflict by the end of November. His intervention follows trilateral discussions between Russia, the United States and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, where European governments were absent from the negotiating table. The demand exposes growing tensions over who should influence a settlement, whether…