The Wire with Manny

The all important US midterm elections take place on Wednesday our time.

Control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate is up grabs.

Who has the majority in these two chambers will impact how US President Joe Biden and the US government will operate.

David spoke to Otago University Professor of International Relations at the Department of Politics Robert Patman about the topic.

Welcome to the Thursday Wire! Milly joins the show as a producer, chatting to Ellen Rykers from Forest and Bird about the Bird of the Year results. Frances speaks to Ben Green for The Green Desk about flooding in Gisborne. Tuva'a has his weekly catch-up with Andrew Little and Stella speaks to Penny Hulse about the Future of Local Government Report. Stella also talks to the Cuban ambassador to New Zealand, Mr Edgardo Valdés López and Annalucia from Auckland Cuba Friendship Society about sanctions against Cuba by the US and the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

A report into the future of local government commissioned by the Minister of Local Government in New Zealand, Nanaia Mahuta, is in its draft and consultation phase. Stella spoke to Penny Hulse, one of the panel members, about it.

He was barred from running in the 2018 Brazilian presidential election after being imprisoned for corruption and money laundering, however after his charges were nullified, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is back in the same office he occupied from 2003 to 2010.

Lula narrowly won the runoff election against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, whose time in office was defined by loosening environmental protections and his mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

To get some more insight into the election, Emilia spoke to Associate Professor Walescka Pino-Ojeda, Director of the New Zealand Centre for Latin American Studies.