Tag: NZealand

New Zealand says no quick membership of AUKUS tech pact

WELLINGTON, May 1, 2024 (AFP) – New Zealand’s foreign minister on Wednesday ruled out quickly joining a landmark defence technology pact with Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, but attacked AUKUS critics as outdated. Arguing the underpinnings of New Zealand’s independent-minded foreign policy have “seismically shifted”, Winston Peters said it would be “irresponsible” of the government not to explore deeper defence cooperation with allies. New Zealand’s possible participation in AUKUS efforts to develop […]

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13 hospitalised after ‘technical event’ on Auckland-bound flight

WELLINGTON, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – Thirteen passengers have been hospitalised after a LATAM flight from Sydney to Auckland experienced a “technical event” that caused serious turbulence Monday, the airline and first responders told AFP. Chile-based LATAM Airlines said flight LA800 “had a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement. The plane landed at Auckland Airport as scheduled”. Gerard Campbell of St John Ambulance New Zealand said medics were alerted to an […]

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Shock as Warner Bros Discovery shutters major N.Zealand news outlet

WELLINGTON, Feb 28, 2024 (AFP) – US entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery announced plans to shutter major New Zealand news outlet Newshub Wednesday, in what the deputy prime minister called a “disaster for this country’s democracy”. Citing cratering advertising revenues, the US firm said it was closing “all Newshub’s multi-platform news operations” in June, with a reported loss of about 300 jobs. The announcement effectively spreads the impact of massive recent US media cost-cutting beyond […]

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Leap year outage shutters New Zealand petrol pumps

WELLINGTON, Feb 29, 2024 (AFP) – Self-service petrol pumps across New Zealand were shuttered Thursday as several companies reported a leap year “software glitch” that left motorists stranded. In the capital Wellington, some stations closed completely, leaving forecourts empty and customers confronted with signs reading “Nationwide Payment Outage – Site Unavailable”. “It is a nationwide issue affecting all fuel brands and it does appear to be a software glitch with the payment provider because it […]

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Police arrest 12 after Maori activists deface Treaty of Waitangi exhibit at New Zealand’s national museum

WELLINGTON, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – A dozen protestors from a Maori activist group were arrested Monday at New Zealand’s national museum after defacing an exhibit about the country’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. Police said a man absailed from above the exhibit at the Te Papa museum in Wellington, before using an angle grinder and spray paint to damage a panel which is several metres high. The protestors were from the Te Waka […]

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Nissan hit by ‘cyber incident’ in Australia, New Zealand

WELLINGTON, Dec 7, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese car giant Nissan warned customers Thursday that its operations in Australia and New Zealand had been hit by a “cyber incident”. Nissan said it had notified the national cyber security centres in both countries, while the company’s global response team assessed the scale of the attack. It was unclear whether any personal information had been accessed, the company said in a statement. “While the extent of the incident […]

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New Zealand to ban cellphones in schools to address literacy crisis

WELLINGTON, Dec 1, 2023 (AFP) – Cellphones will be banned in schools across New Zealand, conservative Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Friday, as his fledgling government looks to turn around the country’s plummeting literacy rates. New Zealand’s schools once boasted some of the world’s best literacy scores, but levels of reading and writing have declined to the point that some researchers fear there is a classroom “crisis”. Luxon declared he would ban phones at schools […]

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Luxon sworn in as new prime minister of New Zealand

WELLINGTON, Nov 27, 2023 (AFP) – Former airline boss Christopher Luxon formally took office as New Zealand’s prime minister Monday, vowing to tame inflation and bring down interest rates. Luxon took over six weeks after his conservative National Party won national elections, ending a six-year Labour Party reign ushered in by Jacinda Ardern. Luxon, 53, once chief executive of Air New Zealand, was sworn in as head of a new coalition government by New Zealand’s […]

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N. Zealand PM contracts Covid during election campaign

WELLINGTON, Oct 1, 2023 (AFP) – New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said on Sunday that he had contracted Covid-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election. Hipkins said on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days — less than two weeks before his country’s general election. The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms […]

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Floods force evacuations on New Zealand’s South Island

WELLINGTON, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – New Zealand emergency officials have ordered about 100 people to evacuate in the tourist hub of Queenstown after heavy rain triggered floods across the South Island, officials said Friday. A cloudburst overnight dumped a month’s worth of rain on Queenstown in its wettest 24-period for more than two decades, meteorologists said. Flooding and debris washed through parts of central Queenstown as some residents had to flee their homes, officials […]

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Strong earthquake rattles New Zealand’s South Island

WELLINGTON, Sept 20, 2023 (AFP) A strong earthquake shook New Zealand’s South Island on Wednesday, startling people but resulting in no reports of injury or damage. The shallow quake, which struck at 09:14 am (2114 GMT), was measured at 5.6 magnitude by the US Geological Survey and at a downwardly revised 6.0 by New Zealand’s GeoNet monitoring service. “Nothing broke, but the lights were shaking,” said Rebecca Chapman, who was working at Cafe Verde in […]

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Police say New Zealand shooter’s death was suicide

WELLINGTON, July 24, 2023 (AFP) – The gunman who slayed two victims during a mass shooting in Auckland on the opening day of the Women’s World Cup killed himself during a shoot-out, New Zealand police said Monday. The tournament’s kickoff in Auckland last Tuesday was overshadowed when a gunman opened fire at a building site on the city’s waterfront. A post-mortem of the 24-year-old gunman showed he was injured when shots were exchanged with armed […]

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