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The 90-minute phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 6, 2025, was the official initiation of return to diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict with ‘immediacy’.  · Trump had made ending the Ukraine war a campaign issue and dubbed it as former President Joe Biden’s war. · The reality on the ground is that Ukraine is losing and Russia is gaining more ground every passing day. And that…

Stuck for healthy and nutritious lunch ideas that don't cause the 3pm slump. This simple to make and quick to prepare pasta dish is both full of flavour and has the benefit of vitamin e in the almonds, giving you a boost to your brain function to get you through the day · INGREDIENTS -per person · - 80g pasta (spirals or penne work well) - 1 roasted sweet red pepper from a jar, in oil, drained - 1 tbsp ground almonds - 1 tsp pine nuts - 1…

Speaking as a private citizen, Fiona Mackenzie delivered a forceful submission before Parliament’s Justice Committee in support of the Treaty Principles Bill. · Criticising media coverage of Te Pāti Māori’s recent hikoi, she said: “TV interviews with protesters featured generic statements like ‘we’re standing up for Māori.’ However, there were no probing questions about what this truly means.” · Mackenzie argued that Māori are not a homogeneous…

WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the character of Aotearoa-New Zealand, and its future evolution, remain matters for passionate disputation, rather than military chauvinism and outsized flags. · Conservatives of a certain age…

Twenty men and one woman drowned when a cloudburst sent a wall of water surging through a public works camp in the Kōpuawhara Valley, near Māhia on February 19th 1938. · Located on the banks of the Kōpuawhara Stream, the no. 4 camp accommodated workers building the Wairoa–Gisborne railway. Houses for married men were on higher ground, with a cookhouse and huts for single men closer to the riverbank. · Although the stream was in flood after…

Whether you buy your lunch from the most esoteric of health food stores, or simply nip to the supermarket for a meal deal, you will have seen shelves bursting with “gut-healthy” kefirs and colourful kombuchas. Or perhaps you’ve found your eyes watering over the pungent punch of homemade kimchi. · What all of these have in common (aside from a first letter) is that they’re fermented foods, filled with microbes which are thought to boost gut…

Archaeologists have unearthed what is now believed to be the earliest section of the Great Wall of China, predating previous estimates by approximately 300 years. This section dates back to the late Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE–771 BCE) and the early Spring and Autumn Period (770 BCE–476 BCE). This groundbreaking discovery was made in Changqing District, Jinan, Shandong Province. · The Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and…

Few people would pop a medical pill without a doctor’s prescription or advice. The caution about self-medication or overuse, however, tends to drop when the pill in question is herbal. The common assumption is that since herbal pills are derived from natural sources, they must be safe to use freely without restrictions on courses and dosages. · This is a dangerous misconception. · The rise in use of herbal medicines and dietary supplements…

On December 25, 2024, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported Beijing’s approval for the construction of a hydropower project (HPP) in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. This is the river whose lower course is known as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and, after a confluence with two other major tributaries, as the Brahmaputra in Assam. · Since then, Indian and global media have produced hundreds of experts elaborating on the…

Enjoy summer and all its fruitful bounty with the vibrant colour and tropical flavours of this fruity tart. Serve as is with a dusting of icing sugar or with extra fruit and mint leaves · Ingredients · - 300g mango chunks (about 1 large mango, prepared) - 5 egg yolks - 100g caster sugar - 60g butter (melted) - 1 lime zested and juiced - 2 passion fruit - whipped cream · For the pastry · - 300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting - 150g…