A prison guard who inadvertently brought cannabis into Rimutaka Prison has been convicted – but not for carrying the drug.Okotai Ruaporo, 66, appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court today, having pleaded guilty to breaching the…

N. R. Narayana Murthy, one of India's richest people, had mixed feelings when he first heard about the man who would become his son-in-law.

"I, too, was a little sad and jealous when you told us you had found your life partner," he wrote to his daughter Akshata Murty in a letter, published in Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to their Daughters.

"But when I met Rishi and found him to be all that you had described him to be – brilliant, handsome, and, most importantly, honest – I understood why you let your heart be stolen," he said about a certain Rishi Sunak, who became Britain's prime minister on Tuesday after emerging the victor from the chaotic contest to replace Liz Truss.

READ MORE: New UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promises to restore stability, 'fix' Liz Truss' mistakes

Sunak will not only be Britain's youngest leader for 200 years, he is the country's first non-White prime minister. And thanks largely to his wife Murty, Sunak will be one of the richest people to reach the top of the political establishment.

Murty has a 0.93 per cent stake in her father's Indian software company, Infosys, worth approximately $1.1 billion.

That represents the bulk of the couple's estimated net worth of £730 million ($1.3 billion), according to the Sunday Times Rich List, an annual ranking of the wealthiest people in Britain.

Even Queen Elizabeth II wasn't as rich – the Sunday Times put the late monarch's net worth at £370 million (about $662 million) before she died.

And this super-rich status nearly derailed Sunak's rise to the top.

In April, it was reported that Murty enjoyed a tax status in the UK that meant she could legally avoid to pay taxes on her foreign earnings.

Sunak, who was Chancellor to the Exchequer, the equivalent of finance minister, at the time, had recently pushed the overall burden on UK taxpayers to its highest level since the 1940s.

READ MORE: Federal Budget 2022: Winners and losers

After attempting to ride out the storm, Murty put out a statement that confirmed the reports.

"In recent days, people have asked questions about my tax arrangements: to be clear, I have paid tax in this country on my UK income and international tax on my international income," she wrote on Twitter.

"This arrangement is entirely legal and how many non-domiciled people are taxed in the UK.

"But it has become clear that many do not feel it is compatible with my husband's role as Chancellor."

Non-domiciled status has attracted controversy in the UK – tax campaigners say it benefits the super-rich.

Acknowledging the controversy, Murty said she would renounce its advantages.

"I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family. For this reason, I will no longer be claiming the remittance basis for tax," she added on Twitter.

READ MORE: When life will get cheaper for millions of Aussies

Sunak referred himself to then Prime Minister Boris Johnson's independent adviser on ministerial interests over the furore, which came as the country was already in the grip of a cost-of-living crisis.

He was later cleared of breaching the ministerial code.

When asked about the couple's wealth in an August interview with the UK's Times newspaper, Sunak said, as he was campaigning against Truss in his first bid for the leadership: "I do think in this country we judge people by their character and their actions, not by what's in their bank account. I am fortunate today but I didn't grow up like this. I worked really hard for what I've got, my family worked hard and that's why I want to do this job."

From fashion to politics

Murty was not born into riches.

Infosys was started by her father in 1981, a year after her birth.

"In those days we could not afford a telephone at home, and my then colleague, Arvind Kher, came all the way from our office in Nariman Point (in Mumbai) to our house in Bandra (a Mumbai suburb) to tell me that your mother had delivered you," N. R. Narayana Murthy wrote in Legacy.

"Life has changed for us since then and there is enough money, but you know our lifestyle continues to be simple," he added in the letter.

Sunak writes on his official website that he and Murty met in California, when they were both studying for MBAs at Stanford University in the US.

They married in 2009 in the Indian city of Bangalore.

The Indian press described the party as a "no-frills" event attended by close friends and family, noting that the Murthys "are known to respect their privacy."

Murty went on to found womenswear brand Akshata Designs, described in a 2011 Vogue India mini-profile as "local craftsmanship meets contemporary Western silhouettes."

In the interview, Murty said her love of clothes "baffled" her mother, "a no-nonsense engineer" confused as to why Murty "would spend so much time creating different outfits from my wardrobe."

The pair went on to have two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka, and in 2015, Sunak was elected as a Member of Parliament in the safe Conservative Party seat of Richmond in North Yorkshire.

In the UK, she and Sunak are listed as directors of a venture capital firm, Catamaran Ventures, which was founded by her father, and Murty is listed on Companies House as the director of Digme Fitness, a high-end gym chain that went into administration after struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Sunak made his first pitch for Conservative Party leader in August, he told the Times that what made the pair tick were their differences.

"I'm incredibly tidy, she's very messy … I'm much more organised, she is more spontaneous … she is not going to love me for saying this but I'll be honest with you, she is not big on the whole tidying thing. She is a total nightmare, clothes everywhere … and shoes … oh God shoes…" he said.

Sunak does not drink, a fact that irritates Murty, he said.

"I really tried (to drink alcohol)," he told the Times. "My family all drink, my wife definitely drinks. It massively irritates her that I don't. My parents do, my dad was upset that I wouldn't share a glass of wine with him but thankfully my younger brother came along and that was all right."

Former National Party MP Tim Macindoe has confirmed he is not seeking the candidacy in the upcoming Hamilton West byelection.Macindoe, who was an MP for the electorate from 2008 until 2020, was regarded as a strong contender to…

Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson is denying the Government struck a deal with Iran to allow two New Zealanders to exit the country after being prevented from leaving for more than three months. It comes as Iranian-born Greens…

An off-duty nurse who witnessed a stranger’s ejection from a moving vehicle near a South Auckland primary school last year recalled today that the man seemed so lifeless as his body hurtled towards the asphalt that she initially thought…

The story of a Paraparaumu tabby who disappeared in mysterious circumstances has been turned into a children’s book with an important underlying message.While proceeds of the book will go to Feline Fix, which subsidises the desexing…

A man accused of scamming people out of $9 million while posing as a financial planner in Melbourne has been arrested after landing back in the country.

The 49-year-old man allegedly deceived at least 34 "vulnerable" people into investing their superannuation funds with him – totalling at least $9,094,405 – before he left the country in 2019, according to police.

He was arrested after he got off a flight at Melbourne Airport last night and charged with 35 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

READ MORE: 'Like a war zone': Melbourne's outer suburbs smashed by flash floods

Police are alleging the man worked as a financial planner around Brighton and was unlicensed.

Investigators have identified at least 34 alleged victims they believe to be linked to the man from 2014 to 2018.

Police are investigating whether there are any other potential alleged victims.

The man will appear at Melbourne Magistrates' Court today.

Detective Inspector Damien Jones said the arrest was a significant result for police.

"And one that highlights the malicious nature of fraud and deception related offending," he said.

"Targeting some of the most vulnerable is heartless offending.

"This kind of offending can have life-changing consequences for the victims."

He has urged anyone involved in a scam that seems similar to the one described in this instance to contact police.

A man with a history of violent offending has had his extended supervision order (ESO) cancelled despite psychologists’ assessment showing he is at high risk of reoffending. An ESO was imposed on William Mosen, 41, for five years…

When single mother Lisa Evans was told she had no evidence of disease after brutal treatment for breast cancer, she was relieved.

But four years later, the 44-year-old has now undergone more surgery after doctors found pre-cancerous cells they said may have been caused by the common anti-cancer drug she was taking.

However, she wants people to look at the benefits of the drug, rather than what happened to her.

READ MORE: 'Dangerous' hybrid cyclone set to form off the coast

She was told the chances of it happening were very low.

"My friends say how do I feel? I say clearly I'm an overachiever," she joked.

Evans, from Perth, had no symptoms or signs when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 aged 39.

It was only because her GP asked to check her breasts as part of a pap smear appointment it was even detected.

She told Evans she'd felt "thickening" in one of her breasts and sent her for tests.

"I wasn't expecting it," she said.

"It was just a little bit fuller – it would never have dawned on me there was something wrong."

Evans was told she had a 6.5cm tumour in her left breast, which was classed as stage three cancer.

The government admin worker, who now runs therapeutic horse riding classes, had a mastectomy followed by chemotherapy.

She had a rare side effect of being allergic to the chemotherapy.

READ MORE: 'It's stark': Woman diagnosed with breast and lung cancer in the same year describes the contrast

Evans lost part of her vision, coordination and suffered hallucinations.

She was so sick doctors even wanted to stop treatment, but she said she had to keep going for her two children, Ethan, 15, and Caitlyn, 13. 

"I said I don't have a choice – it doesn't matter if it nearly kills me," she said.

Following a breast reconstruction, Evans was finally told there was no cancer.

As is common with her type of breast cancer, she was put onto oestrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen to try to stop it returning.

And though the side effects were harsh – she compared it to feeling like she constantly has flu – the research was clear in showing the benefits of keeping the cancer away.

But now, Evans has been told she had the early signs of endometrial cancer in her uterus.

Rather than planning her five-year "cancerversary" party, she's recovering from a hysterectomy.

"You go on a drug to limit your chances of breast cancer again but then it gives you a higher risk of endometrial cancer," she said.

"It's very rare."

However, she advised people to look at the benefits of the drug, rather than what happened to her.

Dr Mun Hui, medical oncologist at Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, said tamoxifen halves the risk of recurrent metastatic breast cancer.

"If the absolute risk is high due to higher stage disease, the absolute benefit is larger," he said.

Hui said studies have not definitively shown tamoxifen increases the risk of endometrial cancer in premenopausal women like it has in those post menopause.

"The risk of endometrial cancer is low compared to the benefit against recurrent, incurable metastatic breast cancer," Hui said.

"Additionally, most endometrial cancers are diagnosed in stage one."

Government body Cancer Australia said it's important to examine both the risks and benefits of tamoxifen too.

"It's important to balance the risk of these rare side effects against the fact that anti-oestrogens lower the risk of breast cancer coming back and dying from breast cancer," it said.

Now Evans is part of a charity calendar of breast cancer patients.

READ MORE: 'I was living in fear': Call for easier access to genetic cancer testing

She took part in an "empowering" photoshoot in Darwin with six other women affected by breast cancer for the So Brave calendar, which is in its seventh year.

So Brave is Australia's only breast cancer charity for women under 40.

Evans said it was a special day.

"We've all had reconstructions, and our bodies have changed due to the drugs. You're in a pair of knickers but you feel safe," she said.

Contact journalist Sarah Swain at ss****@******om.au

With wait times becoming unbearable at many medical practices around Kāpiti, a new medical practice with an innovative model has established itself and is now welcoming new patients.Mātauranga Medical is based at 5 Tongariro…