Heavy rain and strong, damaging winds of up to 160km/h have been forecast for parts of the South Island as a front brings unsettled weather from today. MetService has issued a red alert, warning of severe and destructive northwesterly gales for the Canterbury High Country and foothills from 1pm today until 6pm tomorrow. Gusts of […]

The number of new community cases in New Zealand has dropped back to 20 cases today. The total number of cases in the current community outbreak is 922. There were also three new cases in managed isolation. Eighteen people are in hospital. Four are in ICU. Cabinet is meeting tomorrow to consider any changes to […]

The first stage of one-way quarantine-free travel with Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will commence in October, initially for RSE workers from those countries, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “We want to provide certainty to the horticulture industry that we are moving forward with safe quarantine-free travel for RSE […]

As a result of the Delta outbreak, driver licences, Warrants of Fitness (WoFs), Certificates of Fitness (CoFs), vehicle licences (‘regos’) and licence endorsements that expired on or after 21 July 2021 will be valid until 30 November 2021, Transport Minister Michael Wood has announced today. “While this extension won’t officially be in force until next […]

This week El Salvador became the first country to officially use bitcoin as legal tender. The Central American republic purchased 400 bitcoins (NZ$29 million) at the time, and another 150 on Wednesday. Cryptoasset expert Bell Gully special counsel Campbell Pentney said cryptoassets and the diverse use of blockchain technology had become part of the mainstream […]

Beef farmers across New Zealand and enjoying strong prices, currently sitting 10% above the five-year average. New Zealand beef exports for the first half of 2021 were 3% ahead of 2020 volumes. While volumes to the US and Canada were down 26% and 56% respectively, exports to China rose strongly and were up by 21% […]

More than a quarter of a million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine are on their way from Spain to New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. The additional doses will arrive in Auckland on Friday morning to help meet the current surge in demand for vaccination. The Spanish shipment is in addition to […]

A further NZ$12 million of support for Fiji’s COVID-19 response has been announced by Foreign Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta today. The package builds on previous tranches of assistance New Zealand has provided to Fiji, totalling over NZ$50 million. The new package will support ongoing equipment and supply needs, including testing capacity, oxygen supply and Personal […]

The Government is backing a $5 million project to develop a commercial-scale autonomous robotic asparagus harvester, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. The Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFF Futures) is contributing $2.6 million to the project. Project partner Robotics Plus Limited (RPL) will build on a prototype asparagus harvesting robot developed by Waikato […]

The annual World of Wearable Arts awards show has been cancelled for the second year in a row amid the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2021 show was postponed on August 30 after the country plunged into Level 4 lockdown due to the current Delta outbreak. The show was scheduled to take place […]