Cabinet ministers have been meeting with gang leaders as the country targets an ambitious vaccination rateSee all our coronavirus coverageAfter the needle entered his right arm, the man raised his left fist in a brief salute. Surgical mask covering par…
Spotify’s new Podcast Subscriptions expand to global markets
Just a few months after launching support for podcast subscriptions to U.S. creators, Spotify today is making the service available to creators in global markets. The company says the service, which allows creators to mark episodes as “subscriber-only” content, will now become available in 33 new markets worldwide. When podcast subscriptions publicly launched in the […]
Twitter acquires Threader, an app that compiles and shares threads
Twitter announced today that it’s acquiring Threader, an app that lets people compile Twitter threads and share their favorites, making it easier to help people find long threads on the platform. When users reply to a thread, tag Threader’s profile and write the word “compile,” the Threader bot creates a link that presents the thread […]
Coronavirus live: Germany sees highest ever seven-day Covid incidence rate; Auckland lockdown set to end
Germany’s Robert Koch Institute records incidence rate of 201.1; Lockdown of New Zealand’s largest city likely to end this monthJapan records zero daily Covid deaths for first time in 15 monthsUS opens borders to some foreign tourists‘Get the vaccine’:…
Tonga reports first Covid case since start of pandemic
Traveller who had arrived on a flight from New Zealand on Wednesday tests positiveCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe island nation of Tonga has reported its first case of Covid-19 after a traveller from New Zealand tested p…
Coronavirus news live: African Union to buy 110m Moderna vaccines, NZ to set vaccine mandates for 40% of workforce
AU vaccine deal arranged in part by the White House; New Zealand will announce sweeping vaccine mandates for workers in cafes, bars, hairdressers and gymsEU medical body approves Moderna Covid booster vaccine for all adultsPapua New Guinea approves mas…
New Zealand opposition leader Judith Collins’ struggle for relevance
Routinely outshone in the polls by Jacinda Ardern, Collins now faces a challenge from a rival right-wing party“There are three ways in which opposition leaders end being opposition leaders,” the National party’s leader, Judith Collins, says: “one, they…
‘Perfect storm’: how Covid is compounding New Zealand’s existing social crises
Experts say the pandemic is multiplying longstanding problems linked to housing and racial inequalityLike clay pressed into a mould, Covid outbreaks tend to conform to the contours of a country’s existing inequalities and cracks, replicating them over …
New Zealand Covid elimination strategy to be phased out, Ardern says
Prime minister says the use of vaccines means country now has ‘more options’ on how to control virus See all our coronavirus coverageNew Zealand’s elimination strategy will be phased out in favour of a new model that takes into account vaccination rate…
‘Clearly not working’: How New Zealand’s consensus on striving for Covid zero is finally cracking
As Auckland grapples with Delta outbreak, opposition leaders dare to break with Jacinda Ardern on pandemic plan“Things have changed,” Judith Collins declares, sitting in her Beehive government office. New Zealand’s National party leader is fresh off la…