Wellington’s plan to boost urban density has set off a predictable cycle of conflict and outrage – but there is a way out
It’s like a slow-moving nightmare, in which the same battle is fought over and over again, without resolution.
The city council in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, has announced plans to house an extra 74,000 people – plans that would require some low-rise inner-city villas to be replaced by dense modern apartments.
Continue reading...Rescuers search for more than 40 crew from ship carrying 6,000 cattle that went down en route from New Zealand to China
A second survivor from a cargo ship carrying 6,000 cattle that capsized off southwest Japan has died after being pulled from the water unconscious on Friday.
The Japanese coast guard said the man had been unresponsive when he was found about 120 km (75 miles) north-northwest of Amami Oshima island and transferred to a hospital.
Continue reading...Green party leader came under fire from many quarters over the project, including supporters who asked how he could make such a mistake
When Green party leader, James Shaw, apologised for backing the use of public funds for a private school last week, he ventured down a well-trodden path of the political mea culpa to save his own skin before October’s election. While he’s not the first person to row back a policy in New Zealand politics, or during this Covid pandemic, whether he survives may have as much to do with how he manages the public’s perception of him as a leader, as it does with the nature of his mistake.
Continue reading...‘Woeful’ result puts country in bottom 15% for overall child wellbeing which Ardern says reflects previous government’s underinvestment
Unicef says New Zealand is failing children after a new report revealed the country’s poor childhood obesity and suicide statistics have pushed it to near the very bottom on child wellbeing.
The latest Unicef Innocenti report card shows that, out of 41 developed countries in the OECD and European Union, New Zealand ranks 35th.
Continue reading...Lifeboat spotted but strong winds and rain hamper rescue of crew from Philippines, New Zealand and Australia
The Japanese coastguard is looking for a cargo ship carrying livestock and dozens of crew members that went missing after issuing a distress signal during typhoon Maysak.
The Panamanian-registered vessel, called Gulf Livestock 1, sent the distress call from the East China Sea, to the west of Amami Oshima Island in south-western Japan, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
Continue reading...More than 90 people – the wounded, the mourning, the defiant – spoke at the sentencing hearing for the gunman responsible for New Zealand’s most deadly terrorist attack, explaining how the massacre changed their lives forever. Here we document their evidence
Continue reading...A buyer was willing to part with huge sum to secure the variegated minima amid a houseplant boom fuelled by the pandemic
An indoor plant with just four leaves has sold for more than NZ$8,000 (£4,000) in New Zealand, as the public’s passion for horticulture surges during the pandemic.
Houseplants have become especially popular among millennials, experts say, many of whom are unable to nurture babies or pets due to financial and property constraints.
Continue reading...New data shows the richest 1% are worth 68 times more than a typical New Zealander
The extent of wealth inequality in supposedly egalitarian New Zealand has been laid bare by figures showing the wealthiest individuals have over NZ$140bn (US$93bn) stashed away in trusts – and overall have nearly 70 times more assets than the typical Kiwi.
The new data, drawn from the 2017-18 Household Economic Survey, are likely to underestimate true inequality, as the ultra-wealthy are generally reluctant to take part in such surveys.
Continue reading...Masks will be compulsory on public transport and strongly encouraged elsewhere, says prime minister, as restrictions wind back on Monday
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has thanked Aucklanders who come out of lockdown after Sunday night for their commitment to suppressing the latest coronavirus flare-up.
Two new cases of Covid-19 have been reported on Sunday, both in the community and linked to the latest Auckland cluster. Ardern thanked the residents of New Zealand’s largest city for their adherence to the stringent lockdown requirements.
Continue reading...Wardens in south Auckland say pensioners living alone are among the most vulnerable to Covid-19, fearful even of leaving their home
Wai Allan was leaning on crutches in front of her government flat when the Māori wardens pulled up in a van loaded with food, hand sanitiser and face masks.
“Oh, fruit and veg! That’s good for you,” the pensioner exclaimed, as two big boxes were unloaded and carried inside.
Continue reading...Intelligence cyber crime agencies called in to help after chaotic week of distributed denial of service attacks
The New Zealand government has activated national security systems after the nation’s stock exchange was disrupted by cyber attacks for a fourth day.
There was no clarity on who was behind the “offshore” attacks, but the failure to stop them has raised questions about New Zealand’s security systems, experts said.
Continue reading...Justice has been seen to be done and the stories of his victims and those left behind will live on
They called him a mouse. A sheep. A coward. A loser. A peasant. A terrorist. A nothing. The latter two accusations made against Brenton Tarrant in the high court of Christchurch this week were the most factual; convicted of 51 counts of murder and an act of terrorism, his sentence of life without parole has consigned him to the void. He will cease to exist.
Good. He was bad rubbish, sentenced with all the beautiful and solemn efficiency of English law as practised in New Zealand, but the thing everyone will remember about the past few days is the testimony from those who survived the attack and the families of the victims.
Continue reading...The Australian man who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch has received a life sentence without parole sentence. It is the first time under current New Zealand law that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole has been imposed.
Outside the court Muslims and non-Muslims gathered together to mark the end of three days of emotional victim impact statements during which more than 90 of those bereaved or wounded in the attacks addressed the court. Many asked Mander to bar the gunman from ever walking free from jail.
Continue reading...New Zealanders and media embody Jacinda Ardern’s approach to deny gunman publicity, muting coverage until life sentence delivered
On the first day of sentencing, New Zealand’s public broadcaster TVNZ put out its nightly news bulletin. The legal process unfolding in Christchurch made it to fourth spot, behind three domestic Covid-19 stories.
Radio New Zealand (RNZ) focused its attention on the victim impact statements. The gunman himself barely warrants a mention, beyond the briefest physical descriptions from journalists in the room.
Continue reading...Australian terrorist did not oppose the unprecedented sentence, which comes after three days of emotional victim impact statements
The terrorist who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, will spend the rest of his life in jail, a judge has ruled. It is the first time under current New Zealand law that a sentence of life without the possibility of parole has been imposed.
Dozens more were wounded in the attacks in March last year in the country’s worst peacetime massacre. It prompted an outpouring of grief and unity in New Zealand and around the world, and generated debate about how to deal with white supremacist terrorism.
Continue reading...Terrorist does not intend to speak at Thursday’s hearing but will have a lawyer make a brief statement on his behalf
Over a period of three days, 91 of his victims read statements to him in court. But the terrorist who attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand – killing dozens of Muslim worshippers at prayer – told a judge on Wednesday that he would not address the court himself.
There had been fears the Australian man would use the sentencing hearing as a platform to spread his anti-Islamic and extremist views. Brenton Tarrant, 29, a self-professed white supremacist, broadcast his massacre at the two mosques live on Facebook and published an extremist manifesto.
Continue reading...Hamimah Tuyan, the widow of the 51st and final victim of 2019's Christchurch shooting, addresses the gunman, Brenton Tarrant, in court, telling him his death elevated him from hero to martyr. Zekeriya Tuyan battled for 48 days after 18 surgeries before succumbing to his injuries. Tuyan's statements come after three days of family members of victims addressing Tarrant and the court
Continue reading...Victims and the bereaved describe how their lives have been changed since the Australian terrorist’s massacre
“Good afternoon to everyone except you,” Wasseim Alsati Daragmih told the terrorist. There was a ripple of laughter in the courtroom and a smile from the Australian man who had shot him.
It was the afternoon of the second day of sentencing for the man who stormed two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March 2019, killing 51 people and wounding dozens more – including Darragmih.
Continue reading...More than half a century ago, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first men to summit Everest. Now a collection of rare photos from Hillary’s life is up for auction in New Zealand, featuring scenes of the climbers tackling the world’s tallest peak
Continue reading...A 10-week trial of Anders Breivik afforded him publicity, and underground infamy, but the openness benefited the victims too
Terror wouldn’t work if no one wrote about it. Terrorists crave our attention, our anger and our tears. Norway and New Zealand have both been struck by attacks from violent extremists inspired by ideas from the same root – white supremacy and Islamophobia – but the two countries have chosen different paths in how to deal with it. Norway chose openness and full exposure, while the case around the Christchurch shooter seems dimly lit.
In 2011, the then Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, sat in his home office to work on a speech he was going to give the following day at the summer camp of the Labour party youth when a loud bang sounded. Anders Breivik had dressed as a police officer and detonated the bomb outside the prime minister’s office in downtown Oslo, killing eight. He then travelled to the island of Utøya where the camp would be held and shot and killed 69 people, mostly teenagers.
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