The Wire with Castor

When a White House reporter asked the President of the United States, Donald Trump, whether he was ready to move to the “second phase” of sanctions against Russia and Vladimir Putin earlier this week, Trump responded with a blunt “yeah I am” and chose not to elaborate any further.

Following this, the European Union’s most senior sanctions envoy was confirmed to be holding talks with US counterparts, which were reported to have taken place yesterday. The main topic was to look for tougher measures to weaken Vladimir Putin’s war machine, after Russia launched its largest-ever airstrike against Ukraine this past weekend.

To discuss what the “second phase” of sanctions against Russia could be, and how it could impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Producer Max talked to Stephen Hoadley, a retired professor of international relations at the University of Auckland.

Recent Budget documents have shown an almost $8.5 billion hole in future funding.

Most of these cost pressures were in Education, the Defence Force, Health, Disability Support Services, and Transport.

As well as this, the government has outlined their plans to assist those rough sleeping. This follows the government previously tightening the eligibility for those seeking emergency housing, which critics say has resulted in an increase in those sleeping on the street.

This follows the release of the Homeless Insights Report, showing a large spike in those sleeping without adequate accommodation.

And Auckland Transport is set to face some large changes.

For our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Carl Bates, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Bates about these topics, starting with the hole in future funding.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science, our expert, Allan Blackman, chatted with us about the Voyager One getting really hot in space, breakfast impacting life expectancy, and nuclear fusion in Palladium metal. 

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, News director Joel spoke to MP Carl Bates the recent Budget documents have shown an almost $8.5 billion hole in future funding, the government’s expansion of support for those rough sleeping, and changes to Auckland Transport.

Producer Faith spoke to researcher and epidemiologist from Massey University, Professor Jackie Benschop, about the changing risk factors of leptospirosis in Aotearoa.

She also spoke to tax expert Nick Miller from Tax Justice Aotearoa about big tech companies’ tax avoidance, and what steps the government needs to take to address it.

Recently, ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, announced the party’s position statement on climate, saying that if the Paris Agreement isn’t reformed, the country should leave the agreement.

The Paris Agreement, signed by New Zealand by the then National-led government in 2016, aims to keep the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with an overall aim of keeping the temperature increase to 1.5°C. Currently, Aotearoa is one of 195 UN parties to adopt this framework.

If the country were to leave the Paris Agreement, the country would join the likes of the US, who signed an executive order to withdraw this year, and Iran, Libya, and Yemen, who have never formally joined the agreement.

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to him about the Paris Agreement, and our future with this framework.