London: England defeated New Zealand in a photo finish match at Lords, the home of Cricket here, to lift the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time.
England batting second was chasing a target of 242 for victory but they ended up tied at 241 due to a dramatic runout on the last ball.
Ben Stokes
This led to each side facing the superover for the final outcome. England brought Ben Stokes at the crease to face the superover and with two boundaries, New Zealand was left facing a target of 16 to win the match. After Archer began his over with a wide, he was greeted with a six and a boundary but when only two runs were required by the kiwis to win, their game ended with run-out on the last ball.
Final score: As both sides finished on 15, England won due to a tie-break rule because they hit the most boundaries.
Military style semi-automatics and assault rifles banned under stronger gun laws
Immediate action to prevent stock-piling
Military style semi-automatics and assault rifles will be banned in New Zealand under stronger new gun laws, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today announced.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
“On 15 March our history changed forever. Now, our laws will too. We are announcing action today on behalf of all New Zealanders to strengthen our gun laws and make our country a safer place,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“Cabinet agreed to overhaul the law when it met on Monday, 72 hours after the horrific terrorism act in Christchurch. Now, six days after this attack, we are announcing a ban on all military style semi-automatics (MSSA) and assault rifles in New Zealand.
“Related parts used to convert these guns into MSSAs are also being banned, along with all high-capacity magazines.
“An amnesty will be put in place for weapons to be handed in, and Cabinet has directed officials to develop a buyback scheme. Further details will be announced on the buyback in due course.
“All semi-automatic weapons used during the terrorist attack on Friday 15 March will be banned.
“I strongly believe that the vast majority of legitimate gun owners in New Zealand will understand that these moves are in the national interest, and will take these changes in their stride.
“When Australia undertook similar reforms, their approach was to allow for exemptions for farmers upon application, including for pest control and animal welfare. We have taken similar action to identify the weapons legitimately required in those areas, and preclude them.
“Legislation to give effect to the ban will be introduced when Parliament sits in the first week of April. We will provide a short, sharp Select Committee process for feedback on the technical aspects of the changes. We are looking to progress the amendments to this legislation under urgency and expect these amendments to the Arms Act to be passed within the next session of Parliament,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“The Bill will include narrow exemptions for legitimate business use, which would include professional pest control. Police and the Defence Force will also have exemptions. Issues like access for mainstream international sporting competitions are also being worked through,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said.
Police Minister Stuart Nash
“We have also acknowledged that some guns serve legitimate purposes in our farming communities, and have therefore set out exemptions for 0.22 calibre rifles and shotguns commonly used for duck hunting. These will have limitations around their capacity.
“While the legislation is being drafted, I am announcing the Government will take immediate action today to restrict the potential stock-piling of these guns and encourage people to continue to surrender their firearms.
Earlier this afternoon, an Order in Council under section 74A(c) of the Arms Act was signed by the Governor-General to reclassify a wider range of semi-automatic weapons under the Act. It came into effect at 3pm today.
“This interim measure will ensure that all of the weapons being banned under amendments to the Arms Act are now categorised as weapons requiring an E endorsement on a firearms licence.
“The effect of this is that it will prevent the sale of MSSAs and assault rifles to people with A category gun licences. The Order in Council is a transitional measure until the wider ban takes effect.
“We are introducing transitionary measures for gun owners to hand in their guns to Police to hold until details of a buy-back are announced. Likewise, the Police continue to accept guns for destruction.
“Again, we encourage gun owners to phone in to Police ahead of time to advise them they are bringing their guns in to the station,” Stuart Nash said.
“The actions announced today are the first step of the Government’s response. We will continue to develop stronger and more effective licensing rules, storage requirements and penalties for not complying with gun regulations. It is the Government’s intention that these amendments will go through the full legislative process,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“To owners who have legitimate uses for their guns, I want to reiterate that the actions being announced today are not because of you, and are not directed at you. Our actions, on behalf of all New Zealanders, are directed at making sure this never happens again.”
Germany: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her joint press release with New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key said that Germany looks toward intensification of mutual relations between the two countries. This came in as a follow up of her visit to in November last year, and Merkel stood determined to take the bilateral ties a step ahead. Reaffirming that this partnership was defined by shared values, vibrant political, economic, scientific and cultural engagement, strong people to people links and close cooperation on a range of international issues, Merkel welcomed the increased tempo of visits by senior political figures in both directions, as well as productive engagement on a wide range of global issues.
Chancellor said Germany looked forward to a continuing pattern of regular political level visits and dialogue with New Zealand and hoped this engagement would be supplemented from 2016 with the inaugural visit of the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Fellow for Germany, to New Zealand. Extending forward the consistentcy in staying put with the agreement in 2014, Merkel stated that there had been an increasing breadth of discussion between the two governments. She said, ‘We have directed senior officials to continue to take regular opportunities to share perspectives and experiences on issues of mutual interest, in particular including international and regional political, economic and security matters. We appreciated the growing trade and investment ties between our countries. We welcomed the recent successful conclusion of negotiations between New Zealand and the European Union for the Partnership Agreement on Relations and Cooperation, which provides a formal structure for relations between New Zealand and the European Union.’
On EU’s stance pertaining to New Zealand, Merkel said, ‘We also warmly welcomed the announcement that the EU and New Zealand will start the process for negotiations to achieve swiftly a deep and comprehensive high-quality Free Trade Agreement, and we look forward to this taking place as soon as possible.’ Discussions between the two leaders ranged across the board of sectors, and Merkel spoke about this thus — Science and innovation engagement has gathered further momentum over the last year. Collaboration in medical robotics between the University of Auckland’s Bioengineering Institute and the German Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA has now achieved the status of an ICON project; and further joint scientific endeavour is under way, notably in agricultural sciences.
Yesterday, we both took part in the High-Level Opening Meeting of the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris at the invitation of French President Francois Hollande. Both countries strongly support the adoption of an ambitious, durable, comprehensive and legally binding agreement to hold the increase in global average temperature below 2°C above pre industrial levels and will work towards a successful outcome of the Conference. We also joined 37 other countries to support a Communiqué calling on the international community to eliminate inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies as a major contribution to climate change mitigation.
A cohesively strong partnership is what Merkel termed the bilateral ties with New Zealand, saying — shared values had reinforced mutual interest in close engagement on significant international developments, including on Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, international refugee and migration issues and relations with countries in Asia. We agreed on the importance of promoting the resolution of maritime disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law. We are committed to fully utilise the potential of the Working Holiday Programme. Our common interest in promoting peace and international security, as well as higher education, will be given tangible recognition through a New Zealand Prime Minister’s Peace and Security Scholarship for a German student to undertake Master’s study in New Zealand.
New Zealand : New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop had a blunt chat about the issue of Australian deportation laws which resulted in a conclusive distaste for the New Zealand PM.
The laws, introduced last year, indicate that any non-Australian criminal imprisoned for a year or more could face a revocation of ‘permit to live in Australia’. About 300 New Zealanders have been kept on hold in Australia or have been deported since the new laws came into force.
On this, New Zealand PM Key responded by saying that some New Zealanders now facing deportation, had spent their entire lives in Australia. He said many of those detained went to Australia when they were very, very, young. In Key’s exact words – Its a little bit like the Australians saying, – well, we’re going to pick and choose – we’re going to keep the ones we like but we’re going to send back the ones we don’t like.
Key said that New Zealand’s special relationship with Australia was being challenged by the new rules. Due to this, Key expected that Australia would consider treating New Zealanders differently from other countries.
Bishop stated that there was no closer relationship than Australia and New Zealand, and agreed that the issue needed further discussion.
The death of New Zealander Junior Togatuki, 23, in the Goulburn Correctional Centre, a super-maximum prison in New South Wales, had also raised concerns and added to the deportation issue. Togatuki had reportedly written to Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton pleading against his impending deportation.
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