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Wealthy Americans top ‘golden visa’ surge in New Zealand and applications from China double

Wealthy Americans are dominating applications for New Zealand’s “golden visa”, driven by a love for the country’s natural beauty and entrepreneurial spirit, as well a desire to escape Trump’s administration. New rules for the Active Investor Plus visa came into effect in April 2025, lowering investment thresholds, removing English-language requirements and cutting the amount of time applicants must spend in the country to establish residency from three years to three weeks. Successful applicants can only purchase homes in New Zealand worth more than $5m. Immigration New Zealand said the new scheme offering residency to wealthy foreigners has attracted 573 applications, representing 1,833 people. Before the changes, the visa attracted 116 applications over two-and-a-half years. The most recent data released by the government showed that investors from the US made up nearly 40% of applicants, followed by China and Hong Kong. Since August 2025, the number of applications from China more than doubled, from 45 to 95. The remaining top 10 countries in order included Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea tied, and Great Britain. There are two categories of “golden visa” in New Zealand. Most have applied under the “growth” category, which requires a minimum NZ$5m ($3m) investment over three years. A smaller group applied under the “balanced” category, which sets a minimum investment of $10m over five years. The previous scheme required an investment of $15m. Courtney and Jim Andelman, a couple from California who run a venture capital firm, were, alongside their twin daughters, the 100th family to be granted a visa. The visa provided an opportunity for the family to spend more time in New Zealand – a country Courtney fell in love with during a backpacking trip 30 years ago, while being an opportunity “give back” to the community, she told the Guardian. The visa was also good for business, she said. “This is not just about fun and games and having a chance to live in one of the most amazing countries on the planet – this is also a really smart investment scheme. It’s smart for us.” New Zealand was an “underserved” market with “incredible entrepreneurial habits, history and technologies”, she said. The family has invested in various venture funds and is also eyeing up companies for direct investment. They are particularly interested in New Zealand’s “deep-tech” industry, including artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnologies. The couple have decided not to buy a home in New Zealand, in part because the $5m price tag is too hefty, and because they do not want to add strain to the housing market. Meanwhile, they will split their time between New Zealand and Santa Barbara, where they live. “We feel a real responsibility to participating, not just in one country, but in both countries.” Robbie Paul, the chief executive of the Auckland-based venture capital firm Icehouse Ventures, has worked with more than 30 people who have applied for a golden visa. Paul helps applicants fulfil their visa requirements by assisting with their investments in New Zealand. Many of the Americans Paul has worked with have said the visa provides an opportunity to escape Trump’s administration. “I’ll put it this way, never in my time in New Zealand, did I have an applicant reference Biden or Obama … and then, absolutely, a lot of references to people’s feelings towards Maga and Trump,” he said. New Zealand had become an appealing option for those investors because it is English-speaking, political stable, beautiful and “very connected to the world”, Paul said. It is not the first time New Zealand has attracted the interest of Trump-weary Americans and other wealthy foreigners seeking to make New Zealand their “bolthole” at a time of societal division. After Trump election victory in 2016, visits to the country’s immigration website rose almost 2,500%. After the US supreme court ruled there was no constitutional right to abortion – upending the landmark Roe v Wade – visits to New Zealand’s immigration site quadrupled to 77,000. After Trump’s 2024 election win, there was a surge of interest from the US in New Zealand’s property market. Billionaires acquiring residency or citizenship in New Zealand have been subject to controversy in the past. After Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, was granted citizenship in 2017 despite spending only 12 days in the country, the former Labour prime minister Jacinda Ardern tightened the rules on investment visas. Ardern also banned foreign home ownership in 2018, because of concern that foreign buyers were driving up prices during a housing crisis. In 2025, the government announced that while the ban largely remains, holders of a “golden visa” would now be able to buy homes valued at more than $5m. At the same time wealthy investors are flocking to the golden visa, New Zealand citizens have been leaving the country in record numbers in recent years, due to a weak economy, high living costs and high unemployment. The most recent migration statistics released in February, however, show signs of improvement, with 66,300 citizens departing in 2025 compared with 67,200 in 2024. The Active Investor Plus visa scheme has generated $3.39bn investment in New Zealand, Immigration NZ said. The immigration minister, Erica Stanford, said the new visa settings are helping to open up investment in New Zealand. “International investment is critical for lifting productivity, supporting jobs, and helping New Zealand businesses to expand,” she said in a statement.

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says Trump exerting ‘unfair’ pressure on Kyiv during Geneva talks

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Donald Trump was exerting undue pressure on him in trying to secure a resolution to the nearly four-year-old Russia-Ukraine war. Zelenskyy also said any plan requiring Ukraine to give up territory that Russia had not captured in the eastern Donbas region would be rejected by Ukrainians if put to a referendum. In an interview with Axios, Zelenskyy said it was “not fair” Trump kept publicly calling on Ukraine, not Russia, to make concessions in negotiating terms for a peace plan. “I hope it is just his tactics and not the decision,” Zelenskyy said in an interview conducted as Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators held talks in Geneva. Trump has twice in recent days suggested it was up to Ukraine and Zelenskyy to take steps to ensure the talks proved successful. “Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you,” Trump said on Air Force One on Monday. Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, said the opening day of talks in Geneva had focused on “practical issues and the mechanics of possible decisions,” without providing details. Negotiations would resume on Wednesday for a final day, he said. Russian officials made no comments on the talks but Russian news agencies quoted a source as saying that the talks were “very tense” and lasted six hours in different bilateral and trilateral formats. Both sides agreed to continue the discussions on Wednesday, the source told the agencies. Ukrainian drones hit the Taman oil terminal in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region and a chemicals plant in the Perm region near the Ural mountains overnight, Ukraine’s SBU domestic security service said on Tuesday. An official said the attack on the Taman terminal was the agency’s second on the facility since 22 January. SBU drones also attacked the Metafrax Chemicals plant in the Perm region, about 1,600 km from Ukraine, a facility the official described as one of the biggest methanol producers in Russia and Europe. Ukrainian drones have struck nine oil refineries across Russia since the start of the year, the commander of Kyiv’s drone forces said on Tuesday. In a statement released on Telegram, Robert Brovdi said the refineries were among 240 facilities in Russia and Russian-occupied territory hit by Ukrainian forces. Lithuania’s Vilnius airport has resumed operations after a short closure due to weather balloons from Belarus entering its airspace on Tuesday night, officials said. The airport, located about 30km from Belarus, has been closed more than 10 times since October 2025 over similar incidents. Traffic at the airport was restricted for 75 minutes after the Baltic country’s crisis management centre notified the airport of weather balloons posing a risk to aviation. France on Tuesday released a tanker called Grinch suspected of being part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” after its owner paid a multimillion-euro fine, a minister said. French forces and their allies boarded the oil tanker last month between Spain and Morocco after it started its journey in Russia. Starlink terminals used by the Russian military have not been in operation for two weeks, but the disconnection has had no effect on its drone operations, a senior Russian military official claimed on Tuesday. “Starlink terminals have been down for two weeks, but this has not affected the intensity or effectiveness of the troops’ unmanned systems, as confirmed by data from objective monitoring of damage to enemy equipment and personnel,” the deputy defence minister, Aleksei Krivoruchko, told state television. The Ukrainian defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said the effect on Russian operations had been considerable. Ukraine recaptured 201 sq km from Russia between Wednesday and Sunday last week, taking advantage of the Starlink shutdown, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War. Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in the area surrounding Sweden, the head of Sweden’s military intelligence told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday. Thomas Nilsson, the head of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) said he believed Moscow would “unfortunately” continue doing so – regardless of whether it succeeds in Ukraine or not. Nilsson did not cite any particular attacks, but MUST said in its yearly threat review released on Tuesday that Russia “has developed a wide range of methods that can be used within the framework of hybrid warfare,” including disinformation, cyber-attacks, economic sanctions, intelligence operations, and election interference.

Peru’s president ousted in ‘express impeachment’ after just four months

Peru’s interim president has been forced out of office in an “express impeachment” after a political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen. Lawmakers voted by 75 votes to 24 to proceed with the removal of José Jerí, who had been at the helm for just four months. He had become embroiled in a scandal dubbed “Chifagate” after security-camera footage emerged showing him in clandestine meetings with Chinese businessmen outside his official agenda, including one visit in which he appears to try to conceal his identity with a hooded top. Jerí, 39, was Peru’s eighth president since 2016 amid oustings, resignations and interim terms, in an unprecedented period of political instability. The acting speaker of Peru’s congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, said lawmakers would vote on Wednesday to decide who would replace Jerí just months before the country’s presidential elections in April. Jerí was initially popular but his approval rating collapsed amid the Chifagate controversy and other scandals. Political parties that had backed him began to call for him to quit, seeking to distance themselves as election campaigning got under way. Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into alleged influence-peddling linked to the meetings with Yang Zhihua, known as “Johnny”, a well-connected Chinese businessman who has lived in Peru for decades. Prosecutors say another Chinese citizen, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who was present at one of the meetings, is accused of belonging to an illegal timber-trafficking network known as Los Hostiles de la Amazonia and had been placed under house arrest for two years. Jerí also faces scrutiny for allegedly hiring unqualified young women who secured government jobs after late-night meetings at the presidential palace, based on its official entry-and-exit log. Several of them had also accompanied Jerí on multiple official trips on the presidential plane. Jerí has denied wrongdoing and said the appointments were legal. The shake-up at the top of Peruvian politics comes amid a tit-for-tat row between the US Trump administration’s newly appointed ambassador to Peru, Bernardo Navarro, and China. Navarro, who began his diplomatic duties in Peru this month, lambasted “cheap Chinese money” in a post on X – adding that there was “no higher price to pay than losing sovereignty”, in what appeared to be a pointed reference to the port of Chancay, which is majority-owned by the Chinese firm Cosco Shipping Ports. The fully automated port is located about 50 miles north of Lima. Previously, US officials have suggested that the deepwater port could be used for naval activities, which Peru has denied. In response, China’s foreign ministry decried what it called the US’s “false accusations and disinformation against China’s cooperation with Peru” concerning Chancay port. Keen to deflect the US’s diplomatic broadside, Peru’s foreign ministry posted a photograph on X of its minister shaking hands with China’s ambassador to Peru, Song Yang, to mark the lunar new year and praising Chinese investments and bilateral trade relations.

Mexican president challenges UK asylum given to woman accused of corruption

The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said her government will send a formal letter of complaint to officials in the United Kingdom after the wife of a former governor wanted for allegedly pilfering £4.8m of public money was granted asylum in Britain. Karime Macías, ex-wife of jailed former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, is wanted for extradition to Mexico for allegedly siphoning millions from the state welfare office, but has reportedly spent the last few years in London. “How can a woman accused of fraud and corruption be granted asylum?” Sheinbaum asked. “Today we are sending a letter with this position.” Neither the British embassy nor Macias’ lawyer responded to a request for comment. The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases. Macías’ asylum in the UK was first reported by Mexican news outlet N+. Macías was first lady of Veracruz from December 2010 to October 2016, when her husband resigned amid allegations of organised crime and embezzlement. He was alleged to have siphoned away billions of pounds from state coffers. At the time, Duarte and Macías’ alleged crimes came to embody the graft that has plagued Mexico for years, and was particularly rampant during the government of then-president Enrique Peña Nieto. Mexico remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with Transparency International recently ranking it as 141 out of 182 countries. After his resignation, Duarte fled the country, but was arrested six months later in Guatemala. He was jailed in Mexico on money laundering and criminal conspiracy charges. Mexican prosecutors recently requested to extend his sentence on charges that he embezzled £215,000 from a state fund that was supposed to support children and the elderly. While serving as first lady, Macías reportedly enjoyed the use of a 15-acre, $9.7m ranch called El Faunito, where the walls were decorated with paintings by Latin American masters such as Rufino Tamayo and Fernando Botero. She was also head of the state welfare office, where she is alleged to have awarded contracts worth millions of pounds to shell companies. Authorities later found a warehouse filled with goods belonging to the couple, including Macías’ notebooks. On Tuesday, Sheinbaum displayed a page from one of those notebooks where Macías had written “I deserve abundance” over and over again. Macías disappeared from view shortly after her husband’s capture. In 2018, a Mexican judge issued an arrest warrant for Macías, accusing her of embezzlement. Days later, Duarte’s successor, Miguel Ángel Yunes, presented the findings of a months-long surveillance effort, alleging she was living a life of luxury in London. According to Yunes’ investigation, Macías had a home in Belgravia, one of London’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, less than a mile from Buckingham Palace. Macías reportedly spent at least £60,000 a month, and attended a “face gym” to strengthen her facial muscles. The day the findings were released, Interpol reportedly issued a red notice for Macías’ arrest, although she does not currently appear on the agency’s wanted list. Macías was detained by British authorities in October 2019 but she was released after paying £150,000 to face the extradition charges on bail. She also agreed to wear an ankle monitor. In 2022, Westminster magistrates court ruled in favour of her extradition to Mexico but Macías’ legal team filed several appeals to halt the process, according to local news reports, alleging that the case against her had expired, a fact that the Mexican foreign ministry had not shared with British authorities. Macías had also filed an asylum petition with the British government, alleging that she was the victim of political persecution by the Mexican government. According to news reports, the disgraced first lady was granted asylum in the UK last year. As well as condemning the British government’s ruling, President Sheinbaum also questioned how Macías was able to live in one of the world’s most expensive cities. “This person, who has been living in the UK for quite some time now, who knows where they got the money? Because having children there, living in a special place, where did they get it from?”

Four Chagossians return to islands in attempt to stop British transfer to Mauritius

Four Chagos Islanders have landed on one of the archipelago’s atolls to establish what they say will be a permanent settlement, in an attempt to complicate a British plan to transfer the territory to Mauritius. The Mauritius attorney general said the move was a publicity stunt designed to create conflict over a 2025 agreement with Britain on handing over sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which is opposed by some Chagossians who accuse Mauritius of decades of neglect. Mauritius has denied the accusations. Under the deal, Britain would cede control over the islands to Mauritius but lease the largest, Diego Garcia, for 99 years to continue operating a joint US-UK military base there. Misley Mandarin, leader of the four people who landed on Monday on the remote Île du Coin atoll, said they were living in tents. They expect 10 more arrivals next week and many more in the coming year, he said. Mandarin, who was born in Mauritius, told Reuters that his father, Michel Mandarin, 74, was with him and had been removed from the island aged 14. “I am not in exile any more. This is my homeland,” he said, adding that he wanted to make it possible for the 322 people who he said were born on Île du Coin and still alive “to come home before they die”. He sought to reassure the US that the settlement did not threaten the military base on Diego Garcia. Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly removed from the archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s and resettled mainly in Mauritius and Britain, with many wanting the right to return to their homeland. The UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination has urged Britain and Mauritius not to ratify the 2025 agreement, saying it risks perpetuating historical rights violations. The Mauritius attorney general, Gavin Glover, told Radio Plus the group had landed illegally and dismissed the move as a “publicity stunt organised to create a situation of conflict with the British government”. He said Mauritius would not exercise authority over the Chagos Islands until the treaty was ratified. Earlier this month, Donald Trump watered down his criticism of the UK’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands back, saying the deal was the “best” Keir Starmer could make. The US president had described ceding sovereignty as an “act of great stupidity” only last month. He also claimed the deal was one of many “national security reasons” why the US should acquire Greenland. After a phone call with Starmer, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Diego Garcia was “strategically situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean and, therefore, of great importance to the National Security of the United States”. He said US military operations had succeeded over the past year “because of the strength of our war fighters, modern capability of our equipment and, very importantly, the strategic location of our Military Bases. “I understand that the deal prime minister Starmer has made, according to many, the best he could make.” But Trump added: “If the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers U.S. operations and forces at our Base, I retain the right to Militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia. “Let it be known that I will never allow our presence on a Base as important as this to ever be undermined or threatened by fake claims or environmental nonsense.” A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The UK government recognises the importance of the islands to the Chagossian community and is working with Mauritius to resume a programme of heritage visits to the Chagos archipelago. This kind of illegal, unsafe stunt is not the way to achieve that. “The vessel does not pose any security risk to Diego Garcia.”

Brother of No Other Land co-director injured as Israeli settlers again attack family home

The co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land has said his home and family have come under renewed attack, almost a year after the documentary on Israeli settler and army violence in the West Bank received an Academy Award. Hamdan Ballal said a group of settlers who had conducted a long-running campaign of harassment against Palestinian villagers came on Sunday to his home in Susya, in the Masafer Yatta area on the southern edge of the West Bank. Ballal, one of the documentary’s four directors, said that since an Israeli court order two weeks before had banned non-residents from the area – in a rare legal victory for Palestinian villagers – he had called the police. Two soldiers had come instead, accompanied by a local settler leader. “The army came first and immediately raided our house, attacking everyone inside,” Ballal said, standing outside his small concrete home, set halfway up a rocky hillside. Last March Ballal, 36, was injured in a settler attack shortly after No Other Land was awarded an Oscar. On Sunday he was not at home but the settler had instead targeted his brother Mohammed, he said. “He gave the soldiers the order, and then they called my brother and pushed him down on the ground asking for his ID,” Ballal said. “One of them held my brother round his neck and pushed very, very hard and so that my brother couldn’t catch his breath. His face turned blue and my nephews when they saw it were scared he would die, so they took him directly to hospital.” There Mohammed Ballal was put on oxygen and treated for trauma to his neck and bruises. Relatives in a nearby village who got news of the attack and made their way to the Ballals’ house were intercepted by the army. Two of the director’s brothers, a nephew and a cousin were held in handcuffs and blindfolded for three hours in a nearby army base, Ballal said, before being released at night on a road used by settlers, putting them at further risk. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson confirmed the detentions but denied the attack. “On Sunday night, IDF soldiers detained a number of Palestinians adjacent to the area of Susya, after they refused to identify themselves to the soldiers. A short while after being detained, the Palestinians were released,” the spokesperson said. “We emphasise that, contrary to the claims, IDF soldiers did not assault them and did not raid their home.” No Other Land, which won the academy award last year for best documentary feature film, portrays the destruction of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta, in the south Hebron hills, by Israeli settlers acting with the complicity and support of the Israeli army. The brutality of the treatment of Palestinian villagers shocked audiences around the world and shone a light on a campaign of settlement-building, intimidation of Palestinians and village clearances across the West Bank, spearheaded by extremist members of the Israeli cabinet. Human rights groups and a UN special rapporteur have termed the campaign “ethnic cleansing”. The Israeli government on Sunday opened a land registry for the West Bank, allowing Israelis to stake ownership claims to the occupied territory for the first time since the registration process was frozen after the 1967 war, when Israel captured the territory from Jordan. The move appeared to be in direct defiance of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population into an occupied territory. It was one of a series of government measures in recent days, aimed at tightening Israel’s grip on the West Bank, that have drawn rebuke from around the world and a reminder from the Trump administration that, despite its strong support for Israel, it opposes annexation of the West Bank. “The situation has become worse,” Ballal told reporters in Susya on Tuesday. He pointed to a recent attack on another village in Masafer Yatta, in which a group of settlers had raided a Palestinian barn and killed the sheep and lambs inside. The attack was recorded on video. “All the people who live in Masafer Yatta are farmers. They have to plant their land and graze their sheep in order to live,” he said. He added that the army had prevented them ploughing fields that would have provided vegetables and feed for livestock in winter, and had coordinated with settlers to stop Palestinians grazing their sheep. “It is not a life any more,” he said. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last week that the Israeli army had issued orders at the behest of settlers for troops actively to prevent Palestinians from ploughing their fields, declaring agricultural areas closed military zones and using crowd dispersal techniques and detentions to drive Palestinian farmers off their land. In July 2024, the international court of justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and the building of settlements was unlawful. It called on Israel to leave the occupied territories promptly and ruled that Palestinians were due reparations for the 57 years of occupation. Ballal said the recent government measures were just making official what had long been a harsh reality for the people of Masafer Yatta. “These laws, these decisions, are new for the media, but this is nothing new for us,” he said. He said the worldwide publicity his film had attracted had not changed anything for the better for the people of Masafer Yatta and the West Bank as a whole, but he hoped it would contribute to a generational change in international attitudes. “We hope the new generation can change [policy], but it will be in the future,” he said. “Some of those who watch the film and know the truth can [enter] government or diplomacy and do something and stop this maybe in the future.”

France releases suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker after huge fine, as Ukraine peace talks begin – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! Several European countries are reportedly present at the Russia-Ukraine talks in Geneva today, brokered by the US in a bid to make progress in ending the war (9:51, 10:03, 10:40, 11:18, 14:09, 14:48, 15:50). Meanwhile, the European Commission has confirmed plans to adopt the new, 20th, round of sanctions against Russia by 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion on Ukraine (12:41). France released a tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” called “Grinch” after its owner paid a fine of several million euros, the country’s foreign minister said (13:20). Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just confirmed that 2,000 Ukrainian children forcibly abducted by Russia “have been brought home” as part of his campaign to “Bring Kids Back Ukraine” (16:57). The head of Sweden’s military intelligence said Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in the area surrounding the country (13:08). And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

A binge and a prayer: Italian monks told to avoid Netflix and social media

The prior of a hermitage in Tuscany has urged monks living in the secluded retreat to avoid the use of social media and streaming services, arguing that their rooms are sacred places for prayer and “not for Netflix or other platforms”. Father Matteo Ferrari, the prior general of the Camaldolese congregation and of the Camaldoli monastery and hermitage in Arezzo, Tuscany, said such digital technologies were “specifically designed to create addiction” and “should absolutely be avoided”. Ferrari, 51, published a long letter on Facebook in which he said engaging with social media such as Instagram and TikTok and watching films online presented “a challenge for monastic and religious life”. He said: “We cannot pretend this challenge doesn’t exist.” The hermitage of Camaldoli, located in the middle of a national park and founded by Saint Romuald of Ravenna in the early 11th century, is home to nine monks. The main purpose of the retreat is for the monks to engage in prayer and sacred reading and, when in their individual rooms, to spend time in deep contemplation or meditation. “If the room is transformed into a cinema then where does our monastic and Romualdine spirituality end up?” Ferrari asked. He warned that real “cinephile addictions” exist, and could lead the monks to “becoming film experts rather than seekers of God”. He said it would be “much healthier” for monks to use their time alone “thinking about community moments”. In an interview with La Nazione, Tuscany’s regional newspaper, Ferrari said his goal was not to reproach the monks but to invite them to “meditate on a theme that pervades everyone’s life and cannot be ignored”. In 2022, the late Pope Francis urged seminarians to use social media “to advance, to communicate”, while warning them about the dangers, particularly digital pornography. “I will not say ‘raise your hand if you have had at least one experience of this’,” Francis said. “But if each of you think you have had the experience or temptation … It is a vice that so many people have. So many laymen, so many laywomen, and also priests and nuns.”