The return of tourists near, the Government acts on petrol prices, and talks between Ukraine and Russia end without a breakthrough in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
Tech guru Elon Musk has thrown down the gauntlet to Russian President Vladimir Putin to decide the fate of Ukraine via a Game of Thrones-style trial of "single combat".
The Tesla CEO has already had plenty to say about the conflict - and he even sent millions of dollars worth of Starlink Rapid Deployment Kits to assist in Ukraine's emergency communications.
However, he has stepped up the rhetoric with a series of social media posts overnight, that included memes about the invasion and references to Macbeth.
As Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met for another round of talks, Musk tweeted the direct challenge to Putin.
"I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat. Stakes are Ukraine," he said, using Russian and Ukrainian language for effect.
He later tweeted directly at the Kremlin, asking if they "agree to this fight".
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP
When one of Musk's 77 million followers wrote that the Tesla founder might not have thought his challenge through, Musk said he was "absolutely serious".
"If Putin could so easily humiliate the west, then he would accept the challenge. But he will not."
The bizarre challenge was part of a flurry of tweets Musk, 50, sent out over the course of three hours, including the oft-quoted Shakespeare line from Macbeth: "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."
In another tweet, he posted a meme of a character from the Netflix show Narcos sitting on a porch swing that reads, "Netflix waiting for the war to end to make a movie about a black ukraine guy falls in love with a transgender russian soldier."
Musk has been tweeting about the Russia-Ukraine war since it began more than three weeks ago.
After launching another 48 Starlink satellites into orbit on Friday, Musk trolled the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Dimitry Rogozin, who said Americans would be denied access to the country's rockets and would have to "fly on something else like their broomsticks".
Musk replied to a screenshot of Rogozin's remarks by linking to a previous launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with the phrase "American broomstick" and four American flags.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Elon Musk for providing internet connectivity in Ukraine and personally invited him to visit the country.
The South African-born Musk, 50, had already offered his support for Kyiv, tweeting "Hold strong Ukraine" this month while also offering "my sympathies to the great people of Russia, who do not want this" war.
He also responded to a Kyiv plea by activating the Starlink internet service in Ukraine and sending equipment to help bring connectivity to areas hit by Russian military attacks.
Musk often raises eyebrows on Twitter. In February he accused the US stock market regulator, which had imposed fines and restrictions on Musk and Tesla, of trying to muzzle his free speech.
