Category Archives: New Zealand

Two months after my family and I fled Afghanistan, writing and even thinking about our journey to New Zealand is still very hard for me. My experience seems like a dream.

When the Taliban came to my city, Kabul, it felt like our lives just stopped. We were all in shock. We had no hope for the future.

Some wealthy, powerful and well-connected people were able to leave the country. Many others were left behind and felt abandoned by the international community.

My family was in danger because of my fathers profession, so for weeks we hid from the Taliban. Fortunately we were given visas by the New Zealand government.

READ MORE:* Taliban names caretaker Afghan government as protests grow* New Zealander and family inside Kabul airport after five terrifying days braving Taliban and desperate crowds* 'I cannot do anything': Afghan man in Wellington watches homeland helplessly

It was very hard for us to leave Afghanistan, but we had no choice. I had to say goodbye to friends and relatives. My heart felt broken.

One morning a driver came to our house and drove us to Pakistan. I was scared when we saw Taliban checkpoints on the way.

Supplied

Yousef Obidi, 10, fled Afghanistan with his family for a new life in NZ. Pictured at Aucklands Piha.

At the border there were many Taliban. One asked my family, Why are you trying to leave the country? We told him my mother was ill and needed hospital treatment in Islamabad.

When we were allowed to cross the border I felt a mix of happiness and sadness. I was happy because we were no longer in danger but sad because we were leaving our beloved homeland.

For three weeks we stayed in a guesthouse while our paperwork was processed. Louise, a diplomat from New Zealands foreign ministry, talked to us and helped us a lot.

A week after we arrived in Pakistan, a Taliban commander called my father from Kabul. He told my father that the Taliban were looking for him and they had seized our home.

That was a very dark day.

Supplied

Yousef Obidi outside MIQ.

Finally all our paperwork was finished by the New Zealand officials, and my family and I went to Islamabad airport. I was excited but also nervous because we were questioned a lot.

When we landed in Doha I was more relaxed. For the first time I started to believe that everything would work out. I told my mum that it felt like a miracle.

The trip to Auckland was very long. We stopped in Brisbane for an hour, and I thought about New Zealand while we waited. I had read on the internet that its a very peaceful country.

It was an incredible feeling when we landed in Auckland. We arrived at 1am and it was really cold, but my body felt full of energy.

A police officer met us when we walked of the plane. I said Kia Ora to him. He smiled and greeted me in the Mori language and asked if I was OK.

New Zealand Defence Force/Supplied

A Defence Force Hercules on its first flight into Kabul's international airport as part of a coalition effort to evacuate foreign citizens and Afghans at risk of the Taliban's takeover.

My family and I were taken to an MIQ hotel. For two weeks I focused on improving my English and learning more about life in New Zealand.

The hotel staff were friendly and helpful. The food was a bit unusual for me and my mum and sisters, but my father thought it was good.

We were happy when we passed our Covid tests. After 14 days, one of the MIQ staff told us, You are free!

When we left the hotel and went into Auckland I saw a new world. I saw hills and trees and the Auckland harbour. It was very beautiful.

Im excited about the future and looking forward to school. My goal is to be a doctor because I want to help people.

I want to thank the officials and the people of New Zealand for everything theyve done for us especially Louise, the diplomat. We will never forget her kindness.

After many years of war we are living free of danger. Our nightmare is finally over.

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'You are free': What it felt like to flee Afghanistan for a new life in New Zealand - Stuff.co.nz

Monday, 29 November 2021, 2:45 pmPress Release: Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand has today announced it will move to sellonly activities and attractions awarded a Qualmarkendorsement for their commitment to quality, safety andsustainability from 31 March 2022.

The airlinesdedicated website,developed in partnership with Bookme, currently promotesover 465 Qualmark-endorsed New Zealand visitor activitieswith the ambition to increase that number as more businessesachieve a Qualmark award.

To become a Qualmark-awardedactivity, businesses are assessed on four key criteria:economic, social and people, environment and culture, andhealth and safety. Following the evaluation, a Qualmarkbusiness will receive a Bronze, Silver or Gold award basedon their performance under the Sustainable Tourism BusinessAward Criteria.

Air New Zealand Chief Customer andSales Officer Leanne Geraghty says the pandemic hasaccelerated the airlines commitment to becoming moresustainable and we are committed to supporting businessesthat share the same goals.

Aotearoa has a lot toshow off to the world including our stunning landscapes andwildlife - its what we are known for and its ourresponsibility to look after it.

Thats also whywere committed to supporting New Zealand operators whoare contributing to Aotearoa becoming a world-classsustainable visitor destination. This is not just about AirNew Zealand its about future-proofing our key exportand tourism industries from impacts ofclimatechange weare seeing every day.

General Manager QualmarkSteven Dixon welcomes Air New Zealands commitment toshowcasing the best of New Zealands tourismexperiences.

Qualmark endorsed businesses havedemonstrated a commitment to providing quality experiencesto their guests, providing a valuable assurance toconsumers. This includes actions by the business to considerand address their impact on the environment and thecommunities they operate in - something consumers areincreasingly looking for."

RealNZ ChiefConservation Officer Paul Norris says the companys visionis to become a conservation business enabled bytourism.

Were proud to be a Qualmark endorsedorganization and are incredibly supportive of Air NewZealands announcement as it will encourage more NewZealand tourism businesses to turn their focus to becomingsustainablyendorsed.

Scoop Media

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Air New Zealand Supports Sustainably Endorsed Tourism Businesses In New Zealand | Scoop News - Scoop

Shubman Gill was dismissed for 1 in the second innings of the 1st Test against New Zealand AFP

Shubman Gill's Test career continues in its blow hot, blow cold form as the opener was dismissed for just 1 run in India second innings in the ongoing 1st Test against New Zealand. India were given a good lead by its bowlers and the batsmen needed to consolidate the position but the top order failed to fire. It all started with Shubman getting clean bowled on the third day by Kyle Jamieson. His dismissal was quite similar to that in the first innings. Shubman, who is rated very highly, has played some good knocks in India and away from home but is yet to establish himself. He has four half centuries to his name but is yet to get a big score under his belt.

After his dismissal, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan spoke about the technical glitches that Shubman needs to iron out."It is not easy at all. The lights are on, the ball moves and you know that you have to go back not out. Opening batsmen usually get out because of the pressure to go back not out. But Shubman Gill will have to definitely work on his technique," Pathan said on Star Sports.

Pathan, who was a talented left-handed batter in his days, pointed out what he feels is the exact problem in the young opener's technique.

"His hands come in a roundabout fashion, especially against pitched-up deliveries. If he works on that, he has a lot of ability. Here both his feet remained at the same spot and till the time the bat came down, it was very late," Pathan said.

Even former India opener Aakash Chopra had pointed out that Shubman's technique is more suited for the middle-order than while opening the batting in Test cricket.

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"Whenever I see him play, he doesn't look like a Test opener to me. The way he plays inside the line, the outside edge and inside edge are both exposed.

In my opinion, he is a middle-order batter, he has been made to open. He has done well as an opener but his true color and form will be seen when he bats in the middle order, said Chopra.

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India vs New Zealand: Irfan Pathan Explains Why Shubman Gill Will Have To "Work On His Technique" - NDTVSports.com

Shreyas Iyer is the man of the moment in Indian cricket as his efforts with the bat have put India in a commanding position at the end of the fourth day's play in the 1st Test against New Zealand. Things were not all rosy for the hosts through the course of the day as the balanceswung in favour of both teams. After the Indian bowlers helped their team take a crucial first innings lead on day 3, the top order failed to fire as Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson reduced India to 51/5 before Shreyas started a rescue act in the company of Ravichandran Ashwin (32) and Wriddhiman Saha (61*).

Shreyas, who had slammed a century on debut in the first innings, showed nerves of steel and the temperament of a seasoned batter as he stitched togethertwo important partnerships to get India to a strong position. He was dismissed for 65 but Saha carried on the good work along with Axar Patel (28*) as India eventually declared the second innings on 234/7, setting the Blackcaps a target of 284 runs to win the match.

Speaking about the discussion with Rahul Dravid on the fourth day, Shreyas revealed what the head coach told him to do.

"In the end we have to win the match, and that would be the most important thing for me. Rahul sir said that I need to stay out in the middle for as much as possible and build on the score. Mindset was to play the session and play as many balls as possible. I wasn't thinking too far ahead, was just focusing on the present," Iyer said.

India now need 9 wickets to win the match on the final day after Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed New Zealand opener Will Young before stumps on Day 4. Iyer said that India need to have faith on its experienced spin trio to deliver.

"To be honest, there wasn't much happening on the wicket. We needed to get to a competitive total, maybe around 275-280.We have to have faith in our spinners and know they can really put them under pressure on the final day," Iyer said.

"I thought 250-odd including the lead was more than enough on this wicket, and fortunately we got some more," he added.

His innings bailed the team out from 51 for five in the second innings. He had faced a similar situation during a make-or-break Ranji fixture against UP at the same venue seven years ago. He had prevailed then, and he prevailed on Sunday, too.

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"I have been in these situations before, but not with the Indian team. I used to do this in Ranji games. The idea was to play session by session. I was aware I am the first Indian to score a century and a fifty," Iyer added.

(With PTI inputs)

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Shreyas Iyer Reveals What Rahul Dravid Instructed Him To Do On Day 4 Of Kanpur Test vs New Zealand - NDTVSports.com

"This is still a system that will be very good at picking up any infected people so we have the ability to keep out this virus if necessary - any emerging Covid-19 variant."

New Zealand's border controls remain unchanged, though the government laid out plans to open up, using self-isolation, from early next year.

Prof Baker said that was a different proposition to the UK, where controls have already been loosened considerably.

"Really the UK in the past has done this but they know it's only a holding action, because they're still having people physically traveling in from most of the world and people do not follow very simple travel itineraries, and viruses even less so.

"There's already, I think, a detection of this virus in Hong Kong, it almost certainly will have a very wide global distribution by now and it's just a matter of time before it's picked up in other places."

The worst-case scenario for New Zealand was that the vaccines would not be as effective at curbing the new variant, he said, but mutations would not allow the virus to evade the public health measures New Zealand has used in the past.

"Quarantine is a very simple blunt instrument because it doesn't really matter what you're infected with - you're just kept apart from people in New Zealand for a period of time ... and you're tested along the way.

"The worst-case scenario is that our vaccines don't work very well on this variant, and we'd have to actually wait till people got revaccinated, or boosted with a vaccine that covered this virus."

He warned the new variant could be a problem partly because it showed a large number of genetic differences, which could indeed reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

"They had 30 changes, which was a large number - 30 mutations of interest - so that's the first thing, and the second thing is you look at is that variant behaving differently in human populations.

"This variant appears to be increasing in incidence in the area around Johannesburg in South Africa and it's displacing the Delta variant.

"That's very unusual because the Delta variant has absolutely taken over the world because it's so infectious, and so that immediately rings alarm bells that this should be watched closely."

Variants that could evade vaccine effectiveness were also likely to become more of a problem as time went on.

"Because there's so many vaccinated people in the world ... there's evolutionary pressure favoring variants that can escape their protection to some degree."

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, speaking at the 1pm Covid-19 briefing today, said New Zealand had not had any advice to consider a ban on travel from southern Africa, but New Zealand does have a list of high-risk countries and would take advice on it.

He said the virus was a strong reminder that the global pandemic was far from over, noting that the World Health Organisation was meeting overnight and there was still some debate about transmissibility of this variant.

Prof Baker said the WHO committee would likely report back on its assessment of the virus fairly soon.

RNZ

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COVID-19 expert explains why New Zealand is 'well-placed to manage threat' of new South African variant - Newshub

India-New Zealand matches have always garnered the interest of cricket fans. Be it Tests, One-Day Internationals or T20Is, fans have loved watching the two teams take on each other. New Zealand and India recently played a three-match T20 series in India, which the latter won by 3-0. Currently, a two-match Test series between these two teams is underway.

It will be interesting to see if New Zealand can pose a challenge against India in their conditions. Both the teams have performed exceedingly well at home, however, the two teams have found it tough to win the away games.

India, over the years, have won several Test matches against New Zealand. However, its also important to know that most of the victories came at home. Nevertheless, those wins were special too and are still etched in the hearts of the cricket fans.

In this article, we have compiled 5 Test victories India have registered against New Zealand in the history of their Test Cricket rivalry.

India toured New Zealand for an all-format series in 2008. They were set to play a three-match Test series against New Zealand for the first time in five years. And, the Men in Blue put on a sensational show with both bat and ball in the first Test and outplayed New Zealand in all departments.

Ishant Sharma picked 4 wickets, while Munaf Patel picked three to bundle out New Zealand for 279 runs in the first innings. In reply, India notched a gigantic 520-run total, thanks to a sensational 160-run knock from Sachin Tendulkar.

New Zealand, in reply, managed 279 runs and India had to score only 39 runs to win the Test. India chased down the score without losing a wicket.

The Men in Blue made a rollicking start to the Test series as they won the game by 10 wickets. The next two matches resulted in draws and therefore India took the series 1-0.

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India's 5 Biggest Wins vs New Zealand In Tests - Cricket Addictor

About 20,000 travellers looking to cross the Tasman before Christmas have had their flights cancelled amid continued uncertainty over quarantine-free flights between Australia and New Zealand.

Auckland will come out of a three-and-a-half-month lockdown on December 3 as the country gives up on wiping out the Delta variant and instead starts to live with the coronavirus.

But with no sign of when quarantine-free travel would be resuming with Australia, Air New Zealand on Monday afternoon announced the cancellation of more than 1000 flights.

The flights between now and December 31 are the latest to be scrapped since New Zealand suspended the so-called travel bubble in July amid Delta outbreaks in New South Wales and Victoria.

"This will be particularly tough news for families and friends who were hoping to catch up over Christmas.... But our hands are tied until border restrictions ease, and we receive further clarity from the New Zealand Government," Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said, in a statement.

Currently, fully vaccinated travellers can fly from New Zealand to Australia without going through quarantine by presenting a negative PCR test.

But Australians need to apply for an exemption to enter New Zealand and with only a few exceptions all arrivals, including citizens, need to spend two weeks in quarantine.

From 11.59pm on December 2, New Zealand will bring in a new traffic-light system that will block unvaccinated residents from venues such as bars, gyms and restaurants.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the system was simpler and would allow businesses to stay open at each level.

"While no country to date has been able to eliminate Delta completely once it's arrived, New Zealand is better positioned than most to tackle it," Ms Ardern said.

Auckland would open up under red-level restrictions, with status of the rest of the country to be determined by vaccination rates.

"The number one thing every New Zealander can do to prepare for the new system is to get vaccinated," she said.

"If you're due your second shot, get it as soon as possible.

"Vaccine passes will operate in the traffic light system and if you aren't fully vaccinated, you'll find you're unable to access a range of places like bars, gyms and restaurants."

The country will fall short of an ambitious target Ms Ardern last month set of getting 90 per cent of all eligible people across each of 20 health districts fully vaccinated before moving to the new system.

The traffic-light system is designed to indicate where outbreaks are putting pressure on the health system. A green designation would impose few restrictions, orange would require more mask wearing and distancing, while red would limit gathering sizes even with vaccination certificates.

She wanted to avoid lifting and then re-imposing restrictions and said the government would be "careful and deliberate" around border decisions to avoid uncertainty.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said the risk from even fully vaccinated arrivals especially in high volume was "not trivial".

"If you can imagine in our situation, people travelling in and if they were if they were self isolating even, in different parts of the country, and there were cases there, and each one of those is in fact seeding another little outbreak, which is different from our current situation," Dr Bloomfield said.

"We have most of our cases, of course, well, they're all coming from known cases and most of those many of those, we can still epidemiologically link."

The pause on quarantine-free flights from Australia was last extended in September.

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Air New Zealand cancels more than 1000 flights as New Zealand shifts to living with COVID-19 - 9News

New Zealand's government has issued a statement expressing deep concern over rioting and unrest in the Solomon Islands, but saying no requests for assistance have yet been received.

Photo: RNZ/ Dom Thomas

Police were overrun last night in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara as people swarmed into town in defiance of a 36-hour lockdown.

Buildings were still burning today hours after the government curfew ended at 7am local time, with some people continuing to loot shops.

It followed political protests earlier in the week against Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. In a public address today, Sogavare said he had been asked to step down, but would not.

This afternoon, New Zealand's Trade Minister David Parker issued the release as acting Foreign Affairs Minister, with Nanaia Mahuta overseas on her first official trip.

"New Zealand is a long-standing partner of Solomon Islands, and there are deep and enduring connections between our two countries," Parker said.

"Our engagement in Solomon Islands is guided by the principle of ttou ttou, or all of us acting together for the common good. We stand with the government and people of Solomon Islands through this difficult time."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed Australian police and defence force personnel had begun arriving there after a request from Sogavare.

Parker said New Zealand welcomed the generosity shown by Australia, but no requests for assistance had been received at this point.

However, New Zealand had a long-standing partnership with the country including through the police, he said.

The New Zealand High Commission was providing safe travel advice for New Zealanders in the Solomon Islands, Parker said.

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New Zealand 'deeply concerned' over Solomon Islands riots - RNZ

Aaron Smith of the Highlanders during Super Rugby Aotearoa last year. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand's transtasman sporting competitions have been thrown into major doubt following the Government's border announcements for next year.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins revealed on Wednesday that New Zealand citizens and residents returning from Australia will get to bypass MIQ from January 17 but would still be required to complete seven days isolation at home.

From February 13, fully vaccinated Kiwis can travel from all other countries, Hipkins said.

From the end of April, all other fully vaccinated travellers can come into New Zealand without needing to go into MIQ.

If teams are subject to the seven day isolation stipulations it will be virtually impossible for Super Rugby Pacific to launch its inaugural season, unless it is based in one country.

The situation will create immediate headaches for New Zealand Rugby as it prepares to launch a new competition, with round two of Super Rugby Pacific scheduled for all 12 teams to play three days of double-headers from February 25-27 in Melbourne.

The Breakers and Wellington Phoenix face similar predicaments. The Warriors' plans to play their first home game at Mt Smart Stadium in two years on June 18 are less likely to be affected. Those three teams, all of which compete in Australian competitions, have been based outside of New Zealand for large parts of the last two years.

Minister for Sport Grant Robertson indicated there would be no isolation exemptions granted to sporting teams.

"Of course I want the Super Rugby competition to take place but we're always led by the health advice and this has been the case all the way through there hasn't been a shift in the length of time," Robertson said.

"The Ministry of Health's advice has been consistently not to have shortened isolation times so if sports teams are going to use this it will be the same length of time.

24 Nov, 2021 07:41 PMQuick Read

"It's certainly one of the issues we're looking into. What this does do is free up a significant amount of MIQ space, so if that needs to be used by sporting teams it can be.

"Sporting teams have been able to train while they're in MIQ so the difference between being in MIQ or a bespoke arrangement isn't actually that significant."

NZ Rugby's general manager of high performance Chris Lendrum conceded next year's Super Rugby schedule may have to be drastically altered.

"Like many other national sports organisations and businesses, we have been waiting for some direction around what the plan is for the re-opening of New Zealand's borders," Lendrum said in a statement.

"We are now digesting today's Government announcement and what it means for New Zealand Rugby and our competitions in 2022. Today's news has the potential to specifically affect the Super Rugby Pacific competition given it is scheduled to kick off on February 18.

"We now need to see more detail from Government and continue working on our existing contingency planning with key partners including Rugby Australia, Sanzaar and our teams."

Barring an unlikely backflip from the Government, Super Rugby may be forced to revert to the respective domestic Aotearoa and Australian competitions used earlier this year, with the additions of Moana Pasifika in New Zealand and the Fijian Drua in Australia.

Sport New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said in a statement: "Sport NZ is aware of the challenges faced by franchises and National Sporting Organisations who are part of transtasman competitions. We intend to work with them to understand the implications of the border restrictions on their teams and players, and to determine next steps."

The ability to bypass MIQ will, however, be welcome news for many of New Zealand's individual sporting athletes including UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, Olympic bronze medallists Michael Venus, Hayden Wilde, Tom Walsh as well as surfers Billy Stairmand and Paige Hareb and golfer Ryan Fox, all of whom have endured major struggles attempting to return home amid the global pandemic.

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Good and bad news for New Zealand sport after Government's MIQ announcement; Super Rugby Pacific in doubt - New Zealand Herald

Facing decades-high cheese prices, cheddar-loving New Zealanders are being forced to chase specials, downgrade their flavour expectations, or abandon the blocks entirely in favour of grated substitutes.

A mixture of inflation, Covid-19 supply pressures and high milk prices was sending prices for hunks of cheddar through the roof, with blocks ranging from $11 (5.70, US$7.64) to over $20 a block.

In online budgeting and community groups, New Zealanders were brainstorming how to overcome the price hikes, and eke out their cheese a little longer. We started using the really small side on the grater its amazing how far it goes now, one user said. Others had abandoned hope of buying the blocks entirely. Blardy [sic] disgusting. Have resorted to buying grated cheese, one commenter wrote.

Another speculated that consumers could create their own Tasty cheese referring to the sharp aged cheddar that costs more by simply keeping it longer. Just wondering in view of the fact that Tasty becomes Tasty by ageing, would mild or Colby become Tasty if I just stored it for 18 months? they asked.

Go nice and mouldy, came a response.

On one community social media page, users alerted one another to cheese discounts at the local supermarkets. Others called for a brief boycott to try to force prices down. One Maungaturoto business used the headlines to tout their own cheesemaking classes: What better time now to come and learn to make your own cheddar this is just getting completely ridiculous.

A block at the high end of the cheddar range the much-beloved Tasty brand of aged cheddar had been selling in recent months for more than $20 a kilogram. At the lower end, a kilogram of mild the cheapest and least flavoursome of the cheddars was selling for an average of over $11, its highest point in a decade, according to Stats NZ data published by the Herald.

Were not talking about fine imported French brie here were talking about stock standard kiwi edam, colby and tasty. If thats been priced out of the reach of a significant sector of society, then we have a real problem, says Jon Duffy, chief executive of Consumer NZ, an independent nonprofit which researches and advocates for consumers.

Supermarkets bear some responsibility for that, Duffy says, but the general cost of living and the income gap between not even wealthy, but middle class New Zealanders and those in precarity or hardship is something we should be really concerned about at a societal level its really visible through the lens of what used to be a common staple, a block of cheese.

Just why cheese prices have risen so high is a complex question, Duffy says. Inflation has helped drive up food prices across the board. Most of New Zealands milk is exported, and the international milk price is now high that means prices also go up domestically. Those factors are exacerbated, he says, by the countrys lack of competition among supermarkets. New Zealands grocery market is dominated by two huge supermarket conglomerates, Foodstuffs and Woolworths, which control about 85% of the total market. In July, the government announced it would consider breaking up the effective duopoly, or create third competitor. Consumer affairs minister David Clark said at the time that the businesses were making extraordinary profits.

Emma Wooster, corporate affairs manager for Foodstuffs New Zealand, said a lack of competition was not affecting prices. Any suggestion that a lack of competition results in high prices is simply wrong, she said.

Wooster blamed the price rise partly on Covid. The impact of Covid-19 has added complexities to food prices, which are largely responsible for the continued rise over the past six months, she said in a written statement. Covid-19 knock on effects include an exponential rise in commodity prices, global demand, fuel and power prices worldwide, an international shipping crisis and a skills shortage in New Zealand We expect the knock-on effects of Covid-19 to continue for some time and, like other commodities, we can anticipate the price of cheese to be impacted too.

The international cheese market is booming, Wooster said, and we are competing for the same in-demand stock.

A spokesperson for Countdown, the chain owned by Woolworths, said in a written statement: We have not increased cheese prices because of lockdown, but there are a number of factors putting additional pressure on the price of cheese here in New Zealand including global milk supply, rising labour costs and high farmgate milk prices.

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Whey too expensive: New Zealand cheese lovers forced to eke out supplies as prices jump - theguardian.com