News | Latest Breaking News Stories & Headlines

A man throws a desk onto a fire as the protest camp was set alight

New Zealand protesters burn camp after police move in

New Zealand anti-vaccination demonstrators set alight their own protest camp outside parliament after riot police moved to end their weeks-long occupation of the legislative precinct.

Coronavirus • 02 Mar 22

Passengers and loved ones reunite in the arrivals hall at Auckland international airport

Hugs, reunions as New Zealand eases border restrictions

New Zealanders stranded overseas by the pandemic have returned home to tears and hugs, as the country begins dismantling some of the world's toughest Covid-related border restrictions.

World • 28 Feb 22

Demonstrators appeared to dig in after a heavy snowfall, playing cheerful music and waving Canadian flags at the ends of hockey sticks

Police move in to clear trucker-led protests in Canada

Canadian police have begun a massive operation to clear the trucker-led protests against Covid health rules clogging the capital for three weeks, with several arrests made and trucks towed away.

World • 18 Feb 22

Protesters resist police after refusing to leave parliament grounds during the third day of demonstrations

New Zealand police clash with Covid protesters

Police and anti-vaccine protesters have clashed on the grounds of New Zealand's parliament, with more than 120 arrested after demonstrators who camped outside the legislature for three days were ordered to move on.

World • 10 Feb 22

Vaccinated New Zealanders in Australia can travel home from 27 February without a requirement to stay at state-managed quarantine facilities

New Zealand delays full reopening until October

New Zealand has announced a phased reopening of its border that has been largely closed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but travel bodies have said self-isolation rules need to be removed to revive the struggling tourism sector.

Coronavirus • 03 Feb 22

Members of the Taliban pictured standing on the Wazir Akbar Khan hill in Kabul on 10 January

New Zealand relents on woman offered refuge by Taliban

A pregnant New Zealand journalist who claimed to have nowhere to go but Afghanistan will be allowed to return home, after officials granted her an exemption from strict Covid-19 entry restrictions amid public outcry.

World • 01 Feb 22

The measures will make New Zealand's retail tobacco industry one of the most restricted in the world

New Zealand to introduce major crackdown on smoking

New Zealand plans to ban young people from buying cigarettes in their lifetime in one of the world's toughest crackdowns on the tobacco industry, arguing that other efforts to extinguish smoking were taking too long.

World • 09 Dec 21

Tracey Malee with her family - she is overjoyed that New Zealand borders will reopen next year

'I just want to go home' - joy for New Zealanders here

New Zealanders living in Ireland react to today's news that the country will reopen its borders to them from early next year for the first time since the pandemic.

World • 25 Nov 21

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand lifted the official cash rate a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75% in the final policy meeting of 2021

New Zealand hikes rates again, warns on more to come

New Zealand's central bank raised interest rates for the second month in a row today to keep surging consumer prices in check and warned homeowners in the country's red hot housing market to get ready for more hikes.

Business • 24 Nov 21

Fully vaccinated international travellers can return to New Zealand from 30 April (File image)

New Zealand sets date for reopening to tourists

New Zealand will keep its borders closed to most international travellers for a further five months, the country's government has said, outlining a cautious easing of coronavirus border curbs that have been in place for nearly two years.

Coronavirus • 24 Nov 21

29 white crosses and helmets are pictured on the access road to the Pike River Mine

Bodies found 11 years after New Zealand mine disaster

Eleven years after a New Zealand mine disaster claimed 29 lives, investigators said they had found the remains of at least two of the victims but were unlikely to launch a recovery operation.

World • 17 Nov 21

People wait at the vaccination waka, or campervan on in Kawakawa, New Zealand

New Zealand seals off region over fears of Covid spread

Authorities planned to seal off the northern tip of New Zealand with police cordons, as they enforce a lockdown in the region over fears of an undetected community transmission of Covid-19 there.

Coronavirus • 02 Nov 21

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the new UK trade deal will serve the country's exporters well

UK agrees new trade deal with New Zealand

Britain and New Zealand have reached agreement in principle on a free trade deal designed to reduce tariffs and improve services trade.

Business • 21 Oct 21

Lockdown continues in Auckland as new Covid-19 case numbers rise

New Zealand sees its highest number of Covid cases

New Zealand has recorded its highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic as a Delta-variant outbreak that dashed the nation's Covid Zero hopes showed no signs of easing.

Coronavirus • 19 Oct 21

Jacinda Ardern said the Delta variant had proved a "game-changer" that could not be eliminated

New Zealand drops Covid zero goal after Delta outbreak

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has admitted that New Zealand's widely praised "Covid zero" strategy had failed to halt a stubborn outbreak in Auckland and said a new approach was needed.

Coronavirus • 04 Oct 21

The city of Auckland, home to two million people, has been in lockdown for nearly seven weeks

New Zealand widens Covid lockdown as Delta spreads

New Zealand's Delta variant outbreak has spread beyond Auckland, prompting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, to put additional regions into a snap five-day lockdown.

World • 03 Oct 21

The new measure, which kicks in on Saturday, was approved by the Dutch Parliament

No Covid pass, no inside toilet visit - Dutch minister

Dutch patrons at cafes are not required to show a so-called "Covid pass" when dining outside on a terrace, but would have to do so for visiting the restroom, the country's health minister has said.

World • 20 Sep 21

Forensic investigators at the scene of the family home in Timaru, New Zealand

Woman charged with three child murders in New Zealand

A woman charged with murdering her three young daughters, just weeks after the family arrived in New Zealand from South Africa, appeared in court today.

World • 18 Sep 21

A sign for a vaccination clinic in Melbourne, Australia

Australia buys one million Covid vaccine doses from EU

Australia has purchased an additional one million doses of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine from the European Union, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said, as the country accelerates its inoculation programme to fight record high infections.

World • 12 Sep 21

Police outside the shopping mall in Auckland

'Extremist' shot dead as six hurt in NZ market attack

New Zealand police have shot and killed a knife-wielding "extremist" who was known to authorities, after he stabbed and wounded at least six people in a supermarket.

World • 03 Sep 21

A drive-thru vaccination centre at Trusts Stadium in Henderson, Auckland

New Zealand Covid-19 cases drop for second day

New Zealand's government has reported that new Covid-19 cases fell for a second day, down to 49, amid the tight lockdown the country undertook during the latest outbreak this month.

Coronavirus • 31 Aug 21

New Zealand reports first death linked to Pfizer jab

New Zealand has reported its first recorded death linked to Pfizer/BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, the health ministry said, after a woman suffered a rare side effect leading to inflammation of her heart muscle.

Coronavirus • 30 Aug 21

An empty Customhouse Quay during level 4 lockdown in Wellington, New Zealand

Does New Zealand need to rethink its Covid-19 strategy?

New Zealand's response to the Covid-19 pandemic has drawn much attention in recent times. The country has the slowest vaccination rate among developed nations and is experiencing the economic pressure of prolonged isolation. But many believe elimination is still the right strategy.

Coronavirus • 28 Aug 21

People queue to enter a supermarket in Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand extends national Covid lockdown

New Zealand has extended a national lockdown sparked by a Delta virus outbreak into next week but warned restrictions would last longer in the infection epicentre of Auckland.

Coronavirus • 27 Aug 21

The level 4 national lockdown was extended by three days until midnight on 27 August

New Zealand extends Covid-19 lockdown

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has extended New Zealand's coronavirus lockdown, saying the current outbreak has not peaked, as criticism mounts of her strategy to eliminate Covid-19 amid the slow roll-out of its vaccine programme.

World • 23 Aug 21