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New Zealand’s Māori King Tuhetia dies

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The Māori king in New Zealand – Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII – has died peacefully at age 69, surrounded by his wife and three children.

The Kiingitanga, or Māori king movement, announced the news on social media on Friday morning local time (Thursday evening GMT).

Spokesman Rahui Papa said the king had been in hospital recovering from heart surgery, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation.

“The death of Kiingi Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness for followers of Te Kiingitanga, Maaoridom and the entire nation,” the spokesman said. “A chief who has passed to the great beyond. Rest in love.”

The king was born Tūheitia Paki in 1955. He was crowned in 2006 following the death of his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

Like his mother, King Tuheitia was seen as a great unifying figure – recently calling on Māori to stand together in the face of policies targeting them.

“Let’s keep pushing forward while we are currently facing a storm, there’s no need to worry. In this storm we are strong. Together. The wind in our sails is kotahitanga [unity], and with that we will reach our destination.”

King Tuheitia’s successor will be chosen by leaders within the Kiingitanga and may not be announced until the end of his funeral rites.

New Zealand media reported the king was expected to lie in state at Turangawaewae Marae, the seat of the Māori king, for five days, then would be taken to rest on Taupiri Mountain.

The Māori king position dates back to 1858, when Māori decided to create a unifying figure similar to that of a European monarch in order to try and prevent the widespread loss of land to New Zealand’s British colonisers and to preserve Māori culture. The role is largely ceremonial.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon paid tribute to the king on social media, saying: “His unwavering commitment to his people and his tireless efforts to uphold the values and traditions of the Kiingitanga have left an indelible mark on our nation.”

Former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern addressed King Tuheitia in her tribute, saying: “You have been an advocate for Māori, for fairness, justice and prosperity. You wanted children, young people, and those who have been left behind to have opportunities and hope”.

The Māori king attended King Charles III’s coronation in May 2023 and privately met the British monarch before the celebration.

The two also met during a visit by then-Prince Charles and his wife Camilla to New Zealand in 2015.

In a statement, King Charles said he and Queen Camilla were “profoundly saddened to learn of the death of Kiingi Tuheitia” and that he had had the “greatest pleasure” of knowing the king for decades.

“He was deeply committed to forging a strong future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand founded upon culture, traditions and healing, which he carried out with wisdom and compassion.”

“Kua hinga te tōtara i Te Waonui a Tāne. (A mighty Totora tree has fallen),” added King Charles in Māori, referring to a native New Zealand tree considered to be sacred and a symbol of strength.

In 2014, the king declined to meet Prince William and Princess Kate, the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on their tour to New Zealand because he said the 60 to 90 minutes allocated for the visit was not enough time to carry out the cultural customs befitting their status.

(BBC News)

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Funeral of Pope Francis, today

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Dozens of world leaders and thousands of mourners are gathering for the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday aged 88.

The service will begin at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST) in front of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

More than 250,000 people came to pay their respects to the late pontiff over the three days he was lying in state, the Vatican says.

Preparations have begun for the conclave, the process by which cardinals will elect the next Pope.

In Sri Lanka, the government has declared today a national day of mourning in honour of the funeral of His Holiness Pope Francis.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism – Vijitha Herath will represent the Government of Sri Lanka at the funeral.

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TikTok astrologer arrested for predicting new Myanmar quake

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Myanmar authorities have arrested an astrologer for causing panic by predicting a new earthquake in a viral TikTok video.

John Moe The posted his prediction on 9 April, just two weeks after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed 3,500 people and destroyed centuries-old temples in the South East Asian nation.

He was arrested Tuesday for making “false statements with the intention of causing public panic”, Myanmar’s information ministry said.

John Moe The had warned that an earthquake would “hit every city in Myanmar” on 21 April. But experts say earthquakes are impossible to predict due to the complexity of the factors involved in such disasters.

In his video, which got more than three million views, John Moe The urged people to “take important things with you and run away from buildings during the shaking.”

“People should not stay in tall buildings during the day,” read its caption.

A Yangon resident told AFP that many of her neighbours believed in the prediction. They refused to stay in their homes and camped outside the day John Moe The said the earthquake would happen.

His now-defunct TikTok account, which has more than 300,000 followers, claims to make predictions based on astrology and palmistry.

He was arrested during a raid on his home in Sagaing, central Myanmar.

The areas of Mandalay and Sagaing were hit especially hard by the earthquake on 28 March, which prompted a rare request from the Myanmar junta for foreign aid.

That earthquake was felt some 1,000km away in Bangkok, where a building collapsed at a construction site, killing dozens.

(BBC News)

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China shares rare moon rocks with US despite trade war

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China will let scientists from six countries, including the US, examine the rocks it collected from the Moon – a scientific collaboration that comes as the two countries remain locked in a bitter trade war.

Two Nasa-funded US institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday.

CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the samples were “a shared treasure for all humanity,” local media reported.

Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa’s Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency’s collaboration with China.

Under the 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration with China or any Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.

But John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the latest exchange of Moon rocks have “very little to do with politics”.

While there are controls on space technology, the examination of lunar samples had “nothing of military significance”, he said.

“It’s international cooperation in science which is the norm.”

Washington has imposed tariffs Chinese goods that go up to 245%, while Beijing has hit back with 125% tariffs on US goods.

US President Donald Trump previously hinted at a de-escalation in the trade war, but Beijing has denied that there were negotiations between the two sides.

In 2023, the CNSA put out a call for applications to study its Chang’e-5 moon samples.

What’s special about the Chang’e-5 Moon samples is that they “seem to be a billion years younger” than those collected from Apollo missions, Dr Logsdon said. “So it suggests that volcanic activity went on in the moon more recently than people had thought”.

Space officials from the US and China had reportedly tried to negotiate an exchange of moon samples last year – but it appears the deal did not materialise.

Besides Brown University and Stony Brook University in the US, the other winning bids came from institutions in France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, the UK.

Shan, from the CNSA, said the agency will “maintain an increasingly active and open stance” in international space exchange and cooperation, including along the space information corridor under the Belt and Road Initiative

“I believe China’s circle of friends in space will continue to grow,” he said.

(BBC News)

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