Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The All Blacks have a chance to make their fifth Rugby World Cup final, but they have to get past Argentina first.

However, with two wins over the All Blacks in the past World Cup cycle, the All Blacks certainly won’t be taking this one lightly.

The Black Caps remain unbeaten at the Cricket World Cup, but their win streak could be under threat.

They have a top of the group clash against hosts India in Dharamshala, where the Black Caps are ahead of India on run rate.

Sportstalk host D’Arcy Waldegrave joined Jason Pine.

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Lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to reduced charges on Thursday over efforts to overturn former US President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election in Georgia, becoming the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors.

Powell, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, entered the plea just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanours accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.

As part of the deal, she will serve six years of probation, will be fined $6000 and will have to write an apology letter to Georgia and its residents. She also agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials.

Powell, 68, was initially charged with racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep the Republican president in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Prosecutors say she also participated in an unauthorised breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office.

The plea deal makes Powell the most prominent known person to be working with prosecutors investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Her cooperation in the case and participation in strategy talks threaten to expose the former president and offer insight on what he was saying and doing in the critical period after the election.

Above all, the guilty plea is a remarkable about-face for a lawyer who, perhaps more than anyone else, strenuously pushed baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election in the face of extensive evidence to the contrary. She also has important knowledge about high-profile events, including a news conference she participated in on behalf of Trump and his campaign shortly after the election and on a White House meeting she attended in mid-December of 2020 in which prosecutors say ways to influence the outcome of the election were discussed.

John Fishwick, a former US attorney for the Western District of Virginia, called Powell’s plea a “significant win” for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

“This is somebody who was at ground zero of these allegations and a lawyer who is pleading guilty,” he said. “This is very significant.”

In this frame grab from video, Sidney Powell, former attorney for Donald Trump, attends a hearing with her attorney Brian Rafferty before Judge Scott McAfee on October 19 in Atlanta. Photo / AP

Fishwick also said Powell’s plea is helpful to Jack Smith, the Justice Department’s special counsel.

Powell is referenced, though not by name, as one of six unindicted co-conspirators in Smith’s federal case charging Trump with plotting to overturn the election. That indictment notes how Trump had privately acknowledged to others that Powell’s unfounded claims of election fraud were “crazy”, yet nonetheless he promoted and embraced a lawsuit that Powell filed against the state of Georgia that included what prosecutors said were “far-fetched” and baseless assertions.

Barry Coburn, a Washington-based lawyer for Powell, declined to comment on Thursday.

Powell gained notoriety for threatening in a Fox Business interview in November 2020 to “release the Kraken”, invoking a mythical sea monster when talking about a lawsuit she planned to file to challenge the results of the presidential election. Similar suits she filed in several states were promptly dismissed.

She was about to go on trial with lawyer Kenneth Chesebro after each filed a demand for a speedy trial. Jury selection was still set to begin Friday for Chesebro to go on trial by himself, though prosecutors said earlier that they also planned to look into the possibility of offering him a plea deal.

Chesebro’s attorneys didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment on whether he would also accept a plea deal.

A lower-profile defendant in the case, bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, last month pleaded guilty to five misdemeanour charges. He was sentenced to five years of probation and agreed to testify in further proceedings.

Steve Sadow, the lead attorney for Trump in the Georgia case, expressed confidence that Powell’s plea wouldn’t hurt his own client’s case.

“Assuming truthful testimony in the Fulton County case, it will be favourable to my overall defence strategy,” he said.

Prosecutors allege that Powell conspired with Hall and others to access election equipment without authorization and hired computer forensics firm SullivanStrickler to send a team to Coffee County, in south Georgia, to copy software and data from voting machines and computers there. The indictment says a person who is not named sent an email to a top SullivanStrickler executive and instructed him to send all data copied from Dominion Voting Systems equipment in Coffee County to an unidentified lawyer associated with Powell and the Trump campaign.

Trial dates have not been set for the 16 remaining defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was a Trump lawyer, and Mark Meadows, who was the Trump White House’s chief of staff.

Willis has faced some criticism over her wide-ranging indictment and use of the state’s anti-racketeering law to charge so many defendants. Some people had speculated that, if her case did not go well, it could undermine Smith’s case, Fishwick said.

“This certainly shows that at least, as of today, it’s not undermining it. In fact, it’s strengthening his case,” Fishwick said.

- AP

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A White House correspondent says US President Joe Biden will likely ask for roughly $100 billion dollars to boost aid to Israel and Ukraine.

Biden spoke from the Oval Office, outlining why the US should provide further aid and why they can't sit by and watch the violence inflicted by Putin and Hamas.

Reuters' Jeff Mason told Jason Pine the main objective of the speech was to rally Americans' support for the funding.

“60 of which is likely to go to Ukraine, 10 of which is likely to go to Israel, and the rest to other regions as well. So it’s a massive package.”

The speech comes hours after the US shot down a number of missiles and drones fired from Yemen over the Red Sea possibly heading toward Israel.

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has touched down to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other leaders.

Sunak is also expected to visit other regional capitals, which have not been released for security reasons, as the situation intensifies.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says Rishi Sunak's visit will re-iterate Britain's commitment to standing with Israel.

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Tonight on The Huddle, Ali Jones from Red PR and Ben Thomas from Capital joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!

Is it outrageous that Wellington Council wants to buy the land below Reading Cinema, so that the company can use it to renovate the cinema? Couldn't this listed company pay its own costs, especially as plenty of other Wellington issues need the funding?

Napier Council is being accused of dictatorship for proposing a lower fence height limit (1.2 metres). Is this reasonable?

Auckland Light Rail settled a deal to buy the old Kiwi Bacon building 11 days before the election, knowing that National, ACT and NZ First wanted to do away with the Light Rail project. Are they right to progress the project while it's still alive, or should they have waited for political direction?

The Mongrel Mob has expressed concern about the incoming National-led Government, fearing it'll make things harder for gangs- can we be sympathetic?

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The US has surprised economists by reporting more rapid economic growth.

The net worth of the typical US household grew at the fastest pace in more than three decades from 2020 through 2022, and interest rates have stayed low.

Fisher Funds expert Sam Dickie explains why the US economy has managed to stay so resilient.

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The 160th annual Hawke's Bay A & P Show is underway at the Tomoana Showgrounds in Hastings.

The event has undergone several key changes, including a recent focus on the horticulture sector and active rural sports.

The Country's Rowena Duncum says Great Raihania Shears shearing and woolhandling is expected to happen tomorrow.

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Speculation hints that the post-pandemic imbalances in the economy could be working themselves out.

Since mid-September, the economic numbers have started to beat the expectations of economists and markets.

NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says inflation is still running rampant- but unless something bad happens, the economy is moving in a positive direction.

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Chris Luxon has confirmed his National-led government isn't keen on Auckland's Light Rail project.

The incoming Prime Minister labelled the project a 'white elephant' and said the billions spent could be better put towards other transport priorities.

ZB political editor Jason Walls says Luxon has been consistent about scrapping Light Rail from the beginning of the campaign.

"If he had turned around and said- we're going to go ahead with this, he would have had a mutiny on his hands led by Simeon Brown."

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Australia's High Court has struck down Victoria's tax on electric vehicles, in a move labelled 'contentious'.

Victoria had previously established a distance-based charge for electric and hydrogen vehicle owners for each kilometre they travel.

Two EV drivers filed a challenge in the High Court, arguing that it was 'unconstitutional' for individual states to impose these taxes.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says establishing more taxes would be a controversial decision. 

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