Category Archives: New Zealand

Coronavirus live news: New Zealand to trace 320 ‘close contacts’ of virus pair who stopped to meet friends

Posted on by

Beijing raises alert level and grounds hundreds of flights; India’s official death toll leaps by more than 2,000 to reach 11,903; Brazil suffers record case increase

Around 11,000 mink at a farm in Denmark will have to be culled after they were found to be infected with the coronavirus, the country’s authorities have said.

The outbreak is the first in Denmark, the world’s biggest producer of mink skins, but comes shortly after the virus was found at 13 mink farms in the Netherlands, where about 570,000 mink have been ordered culled.

If you’re planning to meet Vladimir Putin in the next few weeks, be warned: you will have to pass through a special disinfectant tunnel to get to the Russian president.

Putin’s official spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has confirmed a report by Russian state television that three airport-style tunnels have been built for the president: one at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, where he has reputedly being doing much of his work during the pandemic, and two at the Kremlin.

В резиденции Путина для защиты от коронавируса установили специальный туннель. Он предназначен для дезинфекцииhttps://t.co/jjwWbuZ2EX pic.twitter.com/h62KWARvsr

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern: new coronavirus cases are ‘unacceptable failure of the system’ – video

Posted on by

Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand's defence force will oversee the country's quarantine facilities and strengthen border requirements, after a slip-up allowed two arrivals from Britain to leave managed isolation without being tested for coronavirus - for which they later diagnosed positive. The prime minister said she would temporarily remove the compassionate exemption under which the pair were released from quarantine early

Continue reading...

UK begins talks with Australia and New Zealand on free trade deal for post-Brexit era

Posted on by

Australian and New Zealand ministers say they are eager to do deals with the UK as their economies emerge from the coronavirus crisis

Australia and New Zealand are about to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the UK in what the Australian trade minister said was “a strong signal of our mutual support for free trade” in a post-Covid-19 world.

Simon Birmingham said Australia was “ready to help the UK find new beginnings post-Brexit and in doing so, open up new doors for our farmers, businesses and investors”.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus in the Pacific: weekly briefing

Posted on by

Covid-19-related developments throughout the Pacific Islands

The total number of Covid-19 cases across the Pacific stands at 314, with new cases reported this week in New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.

New Zealand is under increasing pressure, both internally and from across the region, to consider Pacific countries as part of its proposed travel ‘bubble’, alongside, or even in place of, Australia. The foreign minister, Winston Peters, initially rejected including Pacific island nations, but later backtracked.

Continue reading...

Covid-19 outbreaks in New Zealand and China highlight stark choices

Posted on by

To stay coronavirus free, countries face unsustainable social and economic losses

Beijing and New Zealand had both declared themselves Covid-19-free by mid-June, life returning to an enviable normality of schools and shops, work and human contact. It didn’t last long.

Last week, parts of the Chinese capital went back on a “wartime” footing after a cluster of cases emerged linked to the city’s biggest wholesale food market. Movement restrictions are back and residents have already been warned against leaving the city. Schools are closed.

Continue reading...

New Zealand government deploys nude ‘porn actors’ in web safety ad

Posted on by

Government TV ad is latest in a series of striking public service announcements using humour to tackle tricky subjects

It’s a scene out of every parent’s – and teenager’s – worst nightmare: two adult-film actors turn up naked at the front door, to tell a stunned mother: “Hiya … your son’s been watching us online.”

The sudden appearance of a smiling but nude Sue and Derek has become something of a sensation as part on an unusual series of TV ads by the New Zealand government about internet safety for young people.

Continue reading...

Australia considering shorter Covid-19 quarantine for students and low-transmission countries

Posted on by

Government ministers outline measures being considered to reopen for international travel

Senior Morrison government ministers have flagged shorter quarantine periods for international students and business travellers as part of a suite of measures to reopen Australia to international travel.

On Sunday, the health minister, Greg Hunt, confirmed that modifications to the existing mandatory two-week hotel quarantine could be enacted in addition to travel bubbles with safe countries, such as New Zealand, which would not require quarantine.

Continue reading...

Statue of British naval captain John Hamilton taken down in New Zealand – video

Posted on by

A statue of a British naval captain has been removed by the city council in Hamilton, New Zealand, after a Māori elder threatened to take it down by force. The statue of Capt John Hamilton, after whom the city in the central North Island is named, was gifted to the city by a local company in 2013. The removal of the statue comes amid wider discussions about the future of New Zealand’s colonial statues

Continue reading...

New Zealand to relax borders for essential workers – and US America’s Cup team

Posted on by

With no active Covid-19 cases, NZ to open borders to certain migrants but the move will also help team American Magic for March 2021 competition

New Zealand is relaxing its borders to grant exemptions for certain workers – including America’s Cup sailors – and partners of New Zealand citizens to enter the country.

The move comes after 21 days with no new Covid-19 cases across the country and no current live cases.

Continue reading...

City of Hamilton in New Zealand removes statue of British naval captain

Posted on by

City council says memorial to Captain John Hamilton comes down after Māori elder calls him a ‘murderer’ and threatens to remove by force

A statue of a British naval captain has been removed by the city council in Hamilton, New Zealand after a local Māori elder threatened to take it down by force.

The statue of Captain John Hamilton, after whom the city in the central North Island is named, was gifted to the city by a local company in 2013.

Continue reading...

Pacific countries plead for inclusion in ‘trans-Tasman bubble’ as travel restrictions ease

Posted on by

Many Pacific nations are Covid-free but have been devastated by the economic impacts of the virus

Pacific Island nations are urging Australia and New Zealand to include them in a planned travel “bubble”, as flights across the region resume.

Pacific governments face a delicate balancing act, weighing the devastating economic impact of border closures and travel restrictions on their tourism-dependent economies, with the risk of widespread and uncontrollable Covid-19 infections if the virus is introduced.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Argentina records more than 1,000 daily cases for first time

Posted on by

WHO official walks back asymptomatic transmission comments; world faces worst food crisis in 50 years; UK NHS waiting list could hit 10m

Japan’s lower house of parliament has approved an emergency budget worth nearly over £230bn, doubling the scale of measures to pep up the world’s third-biggest economy after the coronavirus tipped it into recession, AFP reports.

Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.

New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.

Related: 'Like a Stephen King movie': feral chickens return to plague New Zealand village

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Africa passes 200,000 confirmed cases after Burundi president dies of suspected Covid-19

Posted on by

Asylum applications in Europe fall to lowest level for a decade as borders closed; world faces worst food crisis in 50 years

Louise Taylor and David Conn report:

Premier League clubs should be braced for a collective £500m loss of revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic, Deloitte has warned.

Related: Premier League clubs set for £500m collective loss due to coronavirus

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak so far today include:

Continue reading...

‘Like a Stephen King movie’: feral chickens return to plague New Zealand village

Posted on by

Lockdown may have vanquished Covid-19, but it has enabled the birds to make an unwanted comeback

Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb. 

New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland. 

Continue reading...

Minneapolis has vowed to defund its police. New Zealand needs to have that conversation | Julia Amua Whaipooti

Posted on by

Dropping the armed police trial is a good step but we need transformational change to show black lives actually do matter

“We honour him today because when he took his last breath, the rest of us were able to breathe.” These were the words spoken at George Floyd’s funeral that I felt directly in my bones, here, on my whenua, or land, of Aotearoa New Zealand. On Tuesday, the New Zealand police commissioner told the country a trial of Armed Response Teams (ARTs) – frontline officers who routinely carry guns – will not continue, and the teams will not be a part of the country’s policing model in the future. 

The United States is 400-500 years deep in a history of colonisation and slavery. In Aotearoa New Zealand, we are 200 years into our colonial history, and the way in which colonisation functions here is also rooted in white supremacy. Colonial structures, by design, take powers away from indigenous people and people of colour, putting them into the hands of the colonisers. 

Continue reading...

‘Call it out!’: global voices from George Floyd protests – video

Posted on by

Floyd’s death in Minneapolis has been the trigger for a global wave of activism against prejudice and police brutality that has spread to more than 50 countries, becoming a mirror for racism and inequality in societies around the world. In Australia and Papua people protested for indigenous rights, as people took up the cry against injustices in New Zealand, Ghana, France, Germany and the UK

Continue reading...

‘I did a little dance’: PM Ardern declares New Zealand Covid-19 free – video

Posted on by

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern, at parliament in Wellington, says there are no active cases of Covid-19  in the country. Ardern says she did a 'little dance' when she found out the news. 'I showed (my daughter) Neve. She was caught a little by surprise but she joined in, having absolutely no idea why I was dancing around the lounge,' she says.

Continue reading...

Five ways New Zealand can keep Covid-19 cases at zero | Michael Baker and Nick Wilson

Posted on by

Modelling shows it is very likely New Zealand has eliminated coronavirus. Keeping it that way is the next big challenge

Today, for the first time since 28 February, New Zealand has no active cases of Covid-19.

According to our modelling at the the University of Otago, it is now very likely (well above a 95% chance) New Zealand has completely eliminated the virus. This is in line with modelling by our colleagues at Te Pūnaha Matatini (a research centre based at University of Auckland).

Continue reading...

Astronomers warn ‘wilderness’ of southern night sky at risk from SpaceX satellites

Posted on by

Stargazing under threat as pristine skies over New Zealand and Australia are clogged with hundreds of Starlink satellites

Astronomers in the southern hemisphere have warned that the wonders of the night sky are at risk from hundreds of satellites that have been shot into space by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

The night skies of Australia and New Zealand are globally renowned for their clarity, drawing tourists from across the world to dark-sky sanctuaries such as Tekapo on New Zealand’s South Island and the Warrumbungle national park in New South Wales.

Continue reading...

Thousands in New Zealand protest against George Floyd killing

Posted on by

Speakers highlight racism against Indigenous people and call on Ardern to denounce killing

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders have come out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, after the death of George Floyd in the US.

At least four solidarity gatherings were held in the country on Monday afternoon, with massive crowds taking to their knees in the Auckland demonstration.

Continue reading...