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Nominations for candidates to replace Jacinda Ardern as New Zealand's prime minister must be submitted by 9am Saturday (2200GMT) ahead of a leadership vote on Sunday, the Labour Party's chief whip said in an emailed statement on Friday.

Ardern, 42, said Thursday she had "no more in the tank" to continue leading the country, and would step down no later than early February and not seek re-election.

Her party, Labour, has been struggling in the polls, with a Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll released Friday using research from before Ardern announcement saw Labour’s popularity fall to 31.7%, while the opposition New Zealand National Party saw support from 37.2% of respondents.

There is no clear successor to Ardern and commentators point to several ministers as possible candidates for the role, including Chris Hipkins, the former COVID minister and current Minister of Education and Police, and current Minister of Justice Kiri Allen and Minister of Transport Michael Wood.

Hipkins told news organisation Newshub on Friday that he expected Labour lawmakers to reach consensus on a new candidate, but declined to say whether he planned to run.

"We do have a responsibility to make sure that we're making these decisions in the best interests of New Zealanders," he said.

Ardern told media at Napier Airport on Friday that she intended to remain neutral during the election.

"I think the most important thing is that we focus on the process," she said.

Local media have reported that Megan Woods, minister of housing, ruled herself out of contention.

If a candidate is unable to secure two-thirds of the available votes on Sunday, the leadership contest will go to the wider membership.

Labour's chief whip, Duncan Webb, said in a statement that to be nominated a candidate must have the support of at least seven lawmakers, and that their nomination must be received before the deadline.

"Caucus (the 64 Labour lawmakers in parliament) had seven days from the date of resignation to reach a decision. Accordingly Caucus can continue to meet to seek to obtain 66% support for a leader up until that time," Webb said.

The winner will become prime minister until the next general election. Ardern's term as leader will conclude no later than Feb. 7 and a general election will be held on Oct. 14. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy said his government was expecting "strong decisions" from defence leaders of NATO and other countries meeting on Friday to discuss boosting Ukraine's ability to confront Russian forces with modern battle tanks.

The meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany is the latest in a series since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, and where future weapons supplies will be discussed, particularly of Germany's Leopard 2 tanks used by armies across Europe.

Berlin has veto power over any decision to export the tanks and Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has appeared reluctant to authorise that for fear of provoking Russia.

Some allies say Germany's concern is misplaced with Russia already fully committed to war and its repeated assertions that Western weapons transfers would prolong the conflict and increase suffering in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia have both relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which have been destroyed in their hundreds during the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin started on Feb. 24, calling it a "special military operation" to protect Russia and Russian speakers.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Russia of an unprovoked war to grab territory and to erase the independence of a ex-Soviet republic and neighbour. Western countries have provided a steady supply of weapons to Ukraine.

"We are, in fact, now waiting for a decision from one European capital, which will activate the prepared chains of cooperation regarding tanks," Zelenskiy said in a video address on Thursday night.

The Lithuanian defence minister said earlier that several countries would announce sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine at Friday's meeting.

"Some of the countries will definitely send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, that is for sure", Arvydas Anusauskas told Reuters, about the Ramstein pledges, speaking after a preparatory meeting of 11 nations in Estonia.

Zelenskiy is due to address the gathering: "We are expecting strong decisions," he said.

U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE

The United States on Thursday announced new military assistance for Ukraine valued at up to $2.5 billion, including hundreds of armoured vehicles and support for Ukraine's air defence.

The aid includes 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 90 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers, the U.S. Defense Department said. In total, the United States has committed more than $27.4 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the invasion began.

Government sources in Germany have said it would move on the Leopard tanks issue if the United States agreed to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Abrams tanks were not included in Thursday's U.S. announcement.

Germany's new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said earlier, however, that he did not know of any requirement that Ukraine receive U.S. and German tanks simultaneously.

"I'm not aware of any such stipulation," Pistorius told German ARD television when asked if that meant Abrams and Leopards had to be delivered at the same time, a position that leaves open the possibility of an agreement on Friday.

CIA DIRECTOR VISIT

Ukraine's allies in the West have wanted to avoid NATO appearing to confront Russia directly and demurred on sending the Kyiv government their most potent weaponry.

Ukraine needed the tanks to defend itself, recapture occupied land, and did not plan to attack Russia, Zelenskiy told ARD television on Thursday.

"From Washington to London, from Paris to Warsaw, you hear one thing: Ukraine needs tanks. Tanks are the key to ending the war properly. It is time to stop trembling before Putin and take the final step," Zelenskiy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

Poland and Finland have already said they would send Leopard tanks to Ukraine if Germany gives approval for export. On Friday morning, Poland indicated that it might send the tanks even if Germany opposes.

"If there is strong resistance, we will be ready to take even such non-standard action," Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told private radio RMF FM.

Meanwhile, CIA Director William Burns travelled in secret to Ukraine's capital Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday.

The official declined to say when the visit took place. The Washington Post, which first reported the visit, said it was at the end of last week. The Post said Burns briefed Zelenskiy on his expectations on Russia's military plans.

Fighting has been most intense in the industrial region known as the Donbas on Ukraine's eastern border with Russia, Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday night.

The Ukrainian military said Russian forces shelled the town of Bakhmut, Russia's main target in Donetsk province, which combined with Luhansk province forms the Donbas. Soledar, about 20 km (12 miles) from Bakhmut, also came under fire - Russian forces say they control Soledar, while Ukrainian sources say their military is still fighting there.

"Ukrainian forces have practically stabilised the front around Bakhmut," Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube.

"As of today, Russia is turning Soledar into a military hub. And they are trying to redirect troops towards the towns of Spirne and Bilohorivka - just inside the Luhansk region."

Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports. (Reuters)

Malaysia's central bank on Thursday unexpectedly kept its benchmark interest rate (MYINTR=ECI) unchanged, signalling worries about economic growth after four consecutive rate hikes last year.

Bank Negara Malaysia held the overnight policy rate at 2.75%. All but one of 27 economists polled by Reuters had expected the bank to raise the rate to 3%.

"Today's decision allows the monetary policy committee to assess the impact of the cumulative past overnight policy rate (OPR) adjustments, given the lag effects of monetary policy on the economy," Bank Negara Malaysia said in a statement.

Future monetary policy moves would depend on both domestic inflation and the growth outlook, it said.

The central bank flagged downside risks to the economy, including geopolitical tensions, weaker growth in advanced economies and a sharp tightening in financial market conditions. Headline inflation has peaked, it said.

The central bank has increased interest rates by a total of 100 basis points since last May from a historic low of 1.75%, as it looked to rein in inflation.

"BNM's move suggests that they are getting increasingly worried about the near-term downside risks to growth stemming from the slowdown in the advanced economies," said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ.

Malaysia's economy has recovered strongly from a pandemic-induced slump but is expected to moderate this year amid a global slowdown.

The central bank has said growth in 2022 likely surpassed the government's 6.5%-7% forecast, but would drop to 4%-5% this year.

Capital Economics said it now expects the Malaysian central bank to hold interest rates unchanged for the rest of the year, and begin cutting in 2024.

"With growth set to slow and inflationary pressures easing, we think today's hold represents an end, rather than just a pause, to the tightening cycle," said Shivaan Tandon, emerging Asia economist at Capital Economics. (Reuters)

Senior officials in India's government have said they want to have a bigger role in choosing judges, a demand several lawyers and judges say threatens the independence of the judiciary.

Judges for the Supreme Court and the 25 high courts across India are appointed through a quarter-century-old mechanism that involves both sitting judges and government officials. A group of senior judges, known as the collegium, puts up candidates' names to the law ministry, and these names are approved if they clear security checks.

A senior law ministry official said the government is seeking a role in selecting the candidates and was not satisfied with only being involved at the concluding stage. The official declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The government has recently held back on approving several candidates, without giving a reason.

The law minister said in the upper house of the parliament in December that 165 high court judges were appointed last year against 331 vacancies.

Recently, the government told the Supreme Court that 44 more judges were likely to be appointed this month.

Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has said the current system of appointing judges was opaque. "I am not critical about the judiciary or the judges, but I state a fact which is the reflection of the thinking of the common people of India," he told a news channel.

This week Rijiju's office said the minister was waiting for a response from the chief justice, the country's highest judge, to the government demand to review the structure of the collegium. A bill passed by parliament to change the process was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2015.

The dispute has exacerbated a shortage of high court judges and a backlog of cases. Official data shows 4 out of every 10 judicial seats are currently empty, and there are over 70,000 cases pending before the Supreme Court and over 5.9 million cases before the high courts.

Several lawyers and retired judges told Reuters they believed the government was seeking to influence the judiciary, which would be unconstitutional.

"We are seeing the legislative authority trying to become the supreme power," said N.Santosh Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge and a former Solicitor General. "The collegium system may not be completely perfect but it is not unfair."

Two lawyers affiliated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party said the government was trying to end favouritism. The lawyers declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media since the law minister, a member of the ruling party, was already addressing the issue.

One of the candidates who was not approved, lawyer Nagendra Ramachandra Naik, told Reuters he was rejected 4 times for a seat on Karnataka's High Court.

"I don't have a criminal record and my 30 years of work as a lawyer qualifies me for the position of a judge," he said. When asked about Naik's case, a senior law ministry official said the government's decisions about appointments are confidential. (Reuters)