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WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk finally got underway on Musk's social media platform X on Monday evening, following a lengthy delay caused by technical problems that kept many users from accessing the live stream. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, began the event at 8:42 p.m., more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time. He blamed the difficulties on a distributed denial-of-service attack, in which a server or network is flooded with traffic in an attempt to shut it down, though his claim was not confirmed. More than 1.3 million people were listening about 45 minutes into the conversation, according to a counter on X. Trump sought to turn the problems into a positive, congratulating Musk on the number of people trying to tune in. The former president sounded at times as if he had a lisp, many listeners on X pointed out. Some said it made him sound like a cartoon character, others suggested it could be due to audio compression issues. The technical issues recalled a similar event on X in May 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a chaotic start to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination due to glitches on the platform. At the time, Trump mocked DeSantis on his own, social media platform, Truth Social. "My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!)" Trump posted, "Yours does not." Ahead of Monday's event, Musk had written: "Am going to do some system scaling tests tonight & tomorrow in advance of the conversation." X did not respond to requests for details or evidence of the alleged cyberattack. Musk spent much of the early part of the interview lauding Trump for his bravery during the attempt on his life on July 13, when his ear was struck by a bullet. Musk, the world's richest person, announced his support for Trump shortly after the shooting. He backed Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 but has tacked rightward since. Trump said he plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of the attack, for a rally in October. As the conversation unfolded, Trump delivered his usual mix of grievances, exaggerated claims and personal attacks, with Musk offering occasional encouragement. Trump claimed without evidence that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he were still president and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — all authoritarian strongmen — as at the "top of their game." He also expressed anger that Vice President Kamala Harris had been swapped in for Biden on the Democratic ticket. "She hasn't done an interview since this whole scam started," Trump said, claiming falsely that Biden dropping off the ticket was a "coup." Trump had been leading Biden in many polls of battleground states likely to be critical to the outcome of the Nov. 5 election but is now trailing Harris in some of the same states. In an interview that was light on policy detail, Trump also appeared to praise Musk for firing workers. "You're the greatest cutter. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike — I won't mention the name of the company — but they go on strike. And you say: 'That's OK, you’re all gone.'" Trump back on X The interview provided an opportunity for Trump to seize the limelight at a time when his campaign is facing new headwinds. Harris has erased Trump's lead in opinion polls and energized Democratic voters with a series of high-energy rallies since she replaced Biden as the party's candidate three weeks ago. Her momentum could get another boost from the Democratic National Convention next week in Chicago. Trump returned to X, formerly known as Twitter, with a series of posts on Monday for the first time in a year, reviving an account that had served as a main method of communication in previous campaigns and his four years in the White House, including his followers' Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump's access to his account, @realDonaldTrump, was restored a month into Musk's ownership of X after being suspended by the platform's previous owners following the Jan. 6 attack, citing concerns he would incite violence. Trump frequently posts on his Truth Social platform, which was launched in February 2022, but his posts there reach a much smaller audience than on X. Musk backs Trump Musk, who heads electric car company Tesla, has echoed Trump's false claims about voter fraud and Biden's immigration policies. Musk has started an external super PAC spending group to support Trump's campaign. The political action committee is now under investigation in Michigan for possible violations of state laws on gathering voter information. Trump, a longstanding critic of electric vehicles, shifted gears after Musk's endorsement. "I'm for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice," Trump said at an early August rally. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fein, campaigning in support of Harris, called Trump a "sellout." The Biden administration has worked to popularize electric vehicles through tax breaks and other support as part of its broader goal of reducing carbon emissions blamed for climate change. Republicans in Congress, including Trump's running mate Senator JD Vance, have opposed those subsidies.

As an attack by Iran or its proxies on Israel appears imminent, world leaders try to stave off a wider conflict in the Middle East and push hard for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region. His statement marked the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin. South Korea has deployed a bedbug-sniffing dog at Incheon International Airport to lower the chances of the tiny insects arriving into the country, as athletes, officials and fans return from the Paris Olympics.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

ALBANY, N.Y. — A judge ruled Monday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name should not appear on New York's ballot, saying that he falsely claimed a New York residence on nominating petitions despite living in California. Kennedy's lawyers quickly vowed to appeal ahead of the Aug. 15 deadline. If the judge's ruling is upheld, it would not only keep Kennedy off the ballot in New York but could also lead to challenges in other states where he used an address in New York City's suburbs to gather signatures. The ruling came after a North Carolina judge decided earlier Monday that Kennedy can remain on that state's ballot following a separate challenge on different grounds. Judge Christina Ryba, in her 34-page decision, said the rented bedroom Kennedy claimed as his home in the state wasn't a "bona fide and legitimate residence, but merely a 'sham' address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration" and furthering his political candidacy. "Given the size and appearance of the spare bedroom as shown in the photographs admitted into evidence, the Court finds Kennedy's testimony that he may return to that bedroom to reside with his wife, family members, multiple pets, and all of his personal belongings to be highly improbable, if not preposterous," the judge wrote. Ryba said evidence submitted in trial showed Kennedy had a "long-standing pattern" of borrowing addresses from friends and relatives so he could maintain his voter registration in New York State while actually residing in California. "Using a friend's address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law," the judge wrote. "To hold otherwise would establish a dangerous precedent and open the door to the fraud and political mischief that the Election Law residency rules were designed to prevent." Clear Choice Action, the Democrat-aligned political action committee that backed the legal challenge, said the ruling makes it clear that Kennedy "lied about his residency and provided a false address on his filing papers and candidate petitions in New York, intentionally misleading election officials and betraying voters' trust." The lawsuit, filed on behalf of several voters in the state, claims Kennedy's state nominating petition falsely listed a residence in well-to-do Katonah while actually living in the Los Angeles area since 2014, when he married "Curb Your Enthusiasm" actor Cheryl Hines. Kennedy, who led a New York-based environmental group for decades and whose namesake father was a New York senator, argued during the trial that he has lifelong ties to New York and intends to move back. During the trial, which ran for less than four days, Kennedy said he currently rents a room in a friend's home in Katonah, about 65 kilometers north of midtown Manhattan, though has only slept in that room once due to his constant campaign travel. The 70-year-old candidate testified that his move to California a decade ago was so he could be with his wife, and that he always planned to return to New York. Barbara Moss, who rents the room to Kennedy, testified that he pays her $500 a month. But she acknowledged there is no written lease and that Kennedy's first payment wasn't made until after the New York Post published a story casting doubt on Kennedy's claim that he lived at that address. The judge also heard from a longtime friend of Kennedy's who said the candidate had regularly been an overnight guest at his own Westchester home from 2014 through 2017, but was not a tenant there as Kennedy had claimed. Attorneys representing several New York voters grilled Kennedy in often heated exchanges as they sought to make their case, pointing to government documents including a federal statement of candidacy with a California address, and even a social media video in which Kennedy talks about training ravens at his Los Angeles home. "Kennedy's testimony that none of the furniture, bedding and other decorative items in the spare bedroom belonged to him, as well as his testimony that his wife and family, his extensive book collection, and his wide assortment of domestic and exotic pets all remained in California, was further compelling evidence that Kennedy lacks the necessary physical presence and intent to remain" at the Katonah address, the judge wrote in her ruling. Kennedy has the potential to do better than any independent presidential candidate in decades thanks to his famous name and a loyal base. Both Democrat and Republican strategists have expressed concerns that he could affect their candidate's chances. Kennedy's campaign has said he has enough signatures to qualify in a majority of states, but his ballot drive has faced challenges and lawsuits in several. Kennedy has told reporters that getting knocked off the ballot in New York could lead to lawsuits in other states where his campaign listed the same address. After the trial ended Thursday, Kennedy argued that people who signed his petitions deserve a chance to vote for him. "Those Americans want to see me on the ballot. They want to have a choice," he said.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. FBI said on Monday it was investigating after Donald Trump's presidential campaign said its internal communications were hacked and the campaign blamed the Iranian government. The former president said on Saturday that Microsoft had informed his campaign that Iran had hacked one of its websites. Trump said Iran was "only able to get publicly available information." The FBI is also investigating an alleged hack targeting advisers to the campaign of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, The Washington Post reported on Monday. The FBI began the investigation in June, when Biden was still running for president, suspecting that Iran was behind the attempts to steal data from two U.S. presidential campaigns, the newspaper said, citing sources. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee after Biden withdrew his bid last month. The Iranian government has denied that it hacked the Trump campaign. Trump's campaign has pointed to a report on Friday by Microsoft researchers that indicated that Iranian government-linked hackers tried breaking into the account of a "high-ranking official" on a U.S. presidential campaign in June. The report added that the hackers took over an account belonging to a former political adviser and then used it to target the official. It did not provide further details on the targets' identities.

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london — Street artist Banksy on Monday unveiled a new mural of a rhinoceros that looks like it is climbing on top of a car in London — the eighth animal-themed artwork he has posted in the past week in a collection that includes elephants, a goat, a wolf, pelicans and more. The elusive graffiti artist, who has never confirmed his full identity, has been posting the new work on his Instagram account every day since last Monday. The latest piece in Charlton, southeast London, features a rhino on a wall and gives the impression the animal is mounting a broken-down car parked in front of the building. On Sunday, the artist claimed another artwork depicting piranhas that appeared on a police box near the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, in London. A small crowd of people flocked to the fish tank-themed artwork Monday, taking photos and selfies as workmen placed barriers around it. A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation said it was looking at options to preserve it. Other pieces unveiled last week included pelicans that appeared on the side of a fish shop in Walthamstow, east London, and a silhouette of a howling wolf that was painted on a satellite dish on a garage roof in south London. The wolf design was seen being taken down by men who carried it off on the same day it was revealed. It was not immediately clear who removed the satellite dish.  Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists. His work has sold for millions of dollars at auction, and past murals on outdoor sites have often been stolen or removed by building owners soon after going up. 

San Diego, Calif. — Belarus sentenced two more journalists to prison last week in what media groups say is a continuation of a crackdown on media since the contested 2020 election and protest movement.  A court in the city of Mogilev sentenced freelance reporter Ales Sabaleuski to four years in prison and cameraman Yauhen Hlushkou to three years on extremism-related charges. Both were also ordered to pay fines of $2,450, according to media watchdogs.  The charges are linked to the journalists’ work with the independent news outlet 6TV Bielarus, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ. Belarus had earlier labeled 6TV Bielarus as an extremist group.  Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, condemned the closed-door trial that took place last Wednesday, calling the Belarusian judicial system “rigged.”  The sentences are “yet another example of the Belarusian authorities’ relentless harassment of members of the press,” she said in a statement.  Belarus-based human rights groups, including Viasna, issued a statement calling on authorities to release the journalists, and to stop using prosecution to limit rights and freedoms.  Media and civil liberties groups say Belarusian authorities have used arrests and prison to target critics and opposition voices since the 2020 disputed presidential election. Mass protests spread across Belarus that year, after President Alexander Lukashenko was voted in for a sixth term.  The election had been widely seen as fraudulent, with opposition leaders imprisoned or threatened.  Belarus has since arrested dozens of journalists and labeled several media outlets as extremist organizations.  Data collected by Viasna show thousands of politically motivated arrests in the past four years, with at least 1,385 still imprisoned. CPJ additionally found 28 journalists imprisoned in Belarus for their work as of late 2023. That makes Belarus the third-worst jailer of journalists in the world, after China and Myanmar, the watchdog says.  The press office of the Belarus Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment.  Among those detained are Ihar Losik and Andrey Kuznechyk, who worked for VOA sister network, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. On the four-year anniversary of the election on Friday, the Belarusian Association of Journalists issued a joint statement with other watchdogs, calling on authorities to release all jailed media workers.  “Lukashenko’s regime has been crushing free speech and stripping journalists of their freedom for too long,” the statement said.  “We demand the immediate and unconditional release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues, and express our solidarity with those who were forced to flee their country and still have to live in fear abroad. Belarusian authorities must stop harassing and intimidating journalists.” Belarus ranks 167 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index and is considered one of the most dangerous countries in Europe to be a journalist.

washington — Last month was the hottest July on record, making it the fourteenth straight record-breaking month, a U.S. environmental agency reported Monday. The monthly report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also said that 2024 now has a 77% chance of being the warmest year on record. The July calculation by NOAA contradicted the EU's Copernicus climate monitor, which -- using a different dataset — calculated last month's average temperature as being slightly lower than July 2023. However, both agencies agree on the alarming trend of record-breaking heat, with the past year seeing month after month of new highs. According to NOAA, whose historical data goes back 175 years, 2024 will definitely be one of the five hottest years on record. In July, the global temperature was 2.18 degrees Fahrenheit (1.21 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average of 60.4F (15.8C), the U.S. agency said. The month saw a series of heat waves across Mediterranean and Gulf countries, NOAA said. Africa, Europe and Asia recorded their hottest July on record, while North America was the second hottest. Ocean temperatures were their second warmest ever in July, according to NOAA -- the same reading as Copernicus. Scientists at Copernicus noted last week that "air temperatures over the ocean remained unusually high over many regions" despite a swing from the El Nino weather pattern that helped fuel a spike in global temperatures to its opposite La Nina, which has a cooling effect. Last year was also the warmest year on record. "The devastating effects of climate change started well before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus.

ROME — Archaeologists in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have discovered the remains of two more victims of the volcanic eruption almost 2,000 years ago. The skeleton of a man and a woman were found in a small, makeshift bedroom in a villa which was being restructured when the eruption struck, the Pompeii archeological site said in a statement Monday. The woman was lying on a bed with gold, silver and bronze coins around her, along with jewelry including gold and pearl earrings. The man lay at the foot of the bed. The once-thriving city of Pompeii, near Naples, and the surrounding countryside was submerged by volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius exploded in 79 AD. The eruption killed thousands of Romans who had no idea they were living beneath one of Europe's biggest volcanoes which buried the city in a thick layer of ash, preserving many of its residents and buildings. The latest victims discovered had chosen the small room as a refuge, waiting for the end of the rain of rock fragments which had blocked the door and prevented them from escaping. They were eventually buried under the flow of lava and other boiling hot material from the volcano, the statement said. "The opportunity to analyze the invaluable anthropological data on the two victims ... allows us to recover a considerable amount of data on the daily life of ancient Pompeians," site director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said. Ancient Pompeii, rediscovered only in the 16th century, has in recent years seen a burst of archaeological activity aimed at halting decades of decay and neglect.

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San Marino, a landlocked independent republic surrounded by Italy, has been subject to scrutiny due to reports this year highlighting its ties to Russia. Although its officials deny wrongdoing, European Union regulators have expressed concerns that San Marino’s financial services sector could provide a back door into the EU trade bloc for illegal money from Russia. Henry Wilkins reports from San Marino.

San Juan, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico activated the National Guard and canceled the start of classes in public schools as forecasters warned that the U.S. territory would be hit by Tropical Storm Ernesto, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten.   The storm was located about 295 miles (475 kilometers) off Antigua. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 28 mph (44 kph). Ernesto is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Officials in the French Caribbean said the storm was expected to drench Guadeloupe on Monday and pass near St. Barts and St. Martin. The National Hurricane Center said Ernesto is forecast to move over or near Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands on Tuesday afternoon or evening. Forecasters warned the storm is expected to unleash floods and landslides. “We cannot let our guard down,” Nino Correa, Puerto Rico's emergency management commissioner, said at a news conference. Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said more than 340 shelters across the island would be available if necessary and that more than 200 personnel with the National Guard were activated. Ernesto Morales, with the National Weather Service in San Juan, said between six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimeters) of rain are expected, with higher amounts in isolated areas. He also warned of hurricane-strength wind gusts as the storm is expected to hit northeast Puerto Rico and move across the U.S. territory late Tuesday and early Wednesday. He urged people to prepare and stay alert given ongoing uncertainties over the approaching system. “This trajectory is not written in stone and will be changing,” he said. Officials also warned Ernesto would cause widespread power outages given the fragile state of Puerto Rico's power grid, which crews are still rebuilding after Hurricane Maria struck the island in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm. “That's a reality,” said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, a private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico. Power outages also were a concern in the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands for similar reasons. Even before the storm approached, officials announced island-wide blackouts on St. John and St. Thomas. U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan Jr. urged people to take the storm seriously. “This is a practice run to make sure we’re really prepared,” he said, noting that the peak of hurricane season is yet to come. Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early Thursday as it turns north toward Bermuda, with some forecasters warning it could strengthen into a major Category 3 storm. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record warm ocean temperatures. It forecasted 17 to 25 named storms, with four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

syracuse, new york — A former Cornell University student arrested for posting statements threatening violence against Jewish people on campus last fall after the start of the war in Gaza was sentenced Monday to 21 months in prison. Patrick Dai, of suburban Rochester, New York, was accused by federal officials in October of posting anonymous threats to shoot and stab Jewish people on a Greek life forum. The threats came during a spike in antisemitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric related to the war and rattled Jewish students on the upstate New York campus. Dai pleaded guilty in April of posting threats to kill or injure another person using interstate communications. He was sentenced in federal court to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release by Judge Brenda Sannes, according to federal prosecutors. The judge said Dai “substantially disrupted campus activity” and committed a hate crime, but noted his diagnosis of autism, his mental health struggles and his nonviolent history, according to cnycentral.com. Dai, 22, had faced a possible maximum sentence of five years in prison.  “Every student has the right to pursue their education without fear of violence based on who they are, how they look, where they are from or how they worship,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “Antisemitic threats of violence, like the defendant’s vicious and graphic threats here, violate that right." Dai’s mother has said she believes the threats were partly triggered by medication he was taking to treat depression and anxiety. Public defender Lisa Peebles has argued that Dai is pro-Israel and that the posts were a misguided attempt to garner support for the country. “He believed, wrongly, that the posts would prompt a ‘blowback’ against what he perceived as anti-Israel media coverage and pro-Hamas sentiment on campus,” Peebles wrote in a court filing. Dai, a junior then, was suspended from the Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York. 

istanbul, turkey — Turkey's military conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq and "neutralized" 17 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the defense ministry said Monday.  Turkey, which typically uses the term neutralized to mean killed, has been carrying out a cross-border operation called Claw-Lock in Iraq as part of its offensive against the PKK militants.  The PKK, which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.  Turkey has also launched military incursions in Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia, largely regarding it as a wing of the PKK. 

sutherland springs, texas — Crews on Monday tore down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history. A judge cleared the way last month for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place, which until now had been kept as a memorial. Church members voted in 2021 to tear it down, but some families in the community of less than 1,000 people filed a lawsuit hoping for a new vote on the building’s fate. Authorities put the number of dead in the November 5, 2017, shooting at 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. After the shooting, the interior of the sanctuary was painted white and chairs with the names of those who were killed were placed there. A new church was completed for the congregation about a year and a half after the shooting. John Riley, an 86-year-old member of the church, watched with sadness and disappointment as the long arm of a yellow excavator swung a heavy claw into the building over and over. “The devil got his way,” Riley said, “I would not be the man I am without that church.” He said he would pray for God to “punish the ones” who put the demolition in motion. “That was God’s house, not their house,” Riley said. For many in the community, the sanctuary was a place of solace. Terrie Smith, president of the Sutherland Springs Community Association, visited often over the years, calling it a place where “you feel the comfort of everybody that was lost there.” Among those killed in the shooting were a woman who was like a daughter to Smith — Joann Ward — and Ward’s two daughters, ages 7 and 5. Smith watched Monday as the memorial sanctuary was torn down. “I am sad, angry, hurt,” she said. In early July, a Texas judge granted a temporary restraining order sought by some families. But another judge later denied a request to extend that order, setting in motion the demolition. In court filings, attorneys for the church called the structure a “constant and very painful reminder." Attorneys for the church argued that it was within its rights to demolish the memorial while the attorney for the families who filed the lawsuit said they were just hoping to get a new vote. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that some church members were wrongfully removed from the church roster before the vote was taken. In a court filing, the church denied the allegations in the lawsuit. A woman who answered the phone at the church said Monday that she had no comment then hung up. The man who opened fire in the church, Devin Patrick Kelley, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was chased by bystanders and crashed his car. Investigators have said the shooting appeared to stem from a domestic dispute involving Kelley and his mother-in-law, who sometimes attended services at the church but was not present on the day of the shooting. Communities across the U.S. have grappled with what should happen to the sites of mass shootings. Last month, demolition began on the three-story building where 17 people died in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, it was torn down and replaced. Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, New York, and the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where racist mass shootings happened, both reopened. In Colorado, Columbine High School still stands, though its library, where most of the victims were killed, was replaced. In Texas, officials closed Robb Elementary in Uvalde after the 2022 shooting there and plan to demolish the school.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The New Zealand government said Tuesday that it would introduce new legislation to make it easier for companies and researchers to develop and commercialize products using gene technologies such as gene editing.  Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins said in a statement that rules and time-consuming processes have made research outside the lab almost impossible.  "These changes will bring New Zealand up to global best practice and ensure we can capitalize on the benefits," she said.  Current regulations mean that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) cannot be released out of containment without going through a complex and vigorous process and it is difficult to meet the set standard. Furthermore, gene editing is considered the same as genetic modification even when it doesn't involve the introduction of foreign DNA.  Under the new law, low-risk gene editing techniques that produce changes indistinguishable from conventional breeding will be exempted from regulation, local authorities will no longer be able to prevent the use of GMOs in their regions and there will be a new regulator of the industry.  "This is a major milestone in modernizing gene technology laws to enable us to improve health outcomes, adapt to climate change, deliver massive economic gains and improve the lives of New Zealanders," Collins said.  The government hopes to have the legislation passed and the regulator in operation by the end of 2025.