ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 16, 2026.
Nicole Kidman is training to be a ‘death doula’. What is a death doula?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Symon Braun Freck, PhD Candidate, School of Engineering, DeathTech Research Team, The University of Melbourne This week, Nicole Kidman revealed she is training to become a death doula. She told an audience at the University of San Francisco it “may sound a little weird”, but she was
Cyclone Vaianu: First impacts could be felt Saturday amid severe NZ warnings
MetService meteorologist John Law told RNZ Checkpoint the first impacts of the system could be felt on Saturday morning with large swells for north-eastern areas. “This is a multi-hazard area of low pressure that runs down. You can imagine that these strong winds rushing over the seas help to drive large swells across the open
Iran has a powerful new tool in the Strait of Hormuz that it can leverage long after the war
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research Fellow, Middle East Studies, Deakin University The Trump administration claims its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is working, with nine ships complying with orders to turn around. One of those was a Chinese-owned tanker called the Rich Starry that turned around in the
The court ruling in Gina Rinehart’s mining dispute reveals a lot about the nation’s inherited wealth
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland In a decision described by the judge as “a half-win” for each side, mining magnate Gina Rinehart has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties to the heirs of Peter Wright, the business
Australia’s aged care algorithm is under fire. At last, someone’s listening
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Swerissen, Emeritus Professor of Public Health, La Trobe University The way Australians are assessed for home-based aged-care funding is being investigated by the Commonwealth ombudsman. Critics say assessment for funding under the Support at Home program is flawed, leaving some older people unable to access the
Deadly landslide claims 10 lives in PNG’s East New Britain, reports local media
RNZ Pacific Ten people have died in a landslide in Gazelle district in Papua New Guinea’s East New Britain Province following continuous heavy rain, according to local news media reports. The disaster occurred after the Toriu River burst its banks after intense rainfall and severe weather conditions experienced across the region over the past few
The Middle East crisis has exposed NZ to a global fertiliser shock. Where is its plan?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murat Ungor, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Otago New Zealand and Australia like to think of themselves as food powerhouses. But right now, a war in the Middle East and China’s fertiliser export restrictions are exposing a dangerous blind spot: their farms depend on imported fertiliser,
How do teens really use AI companions? With more creativity than you might think
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annabel Blake, PhD Candidate, Human-Computer Interaction, University of Sydney In 2022, the founders of chatbot startup Character.AI launched a platform where anyone could create interactive characters powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The app exploded, quickly growing to more than 20 million users who created more than 10
Trump’s naval blockade of Strait of Hormuz actually targets China
COMMENTARY: By Lim Tean Most of Iranian oil — 96.7 percent — is destined for China. If you note this figure, you will realise that the Americans are really trying to choke off the supply of Iranian oil to China by blockading the Strait of Hormuz. This is a major part of the American containment
Waking at 3am every night? Here’s what may be going on
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talar Moukhtarian, Assistant Professor in Mental Health, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick It’s 3am. The room is dark, the house is silent, but your brain is suddenly wide awake. Many people find themselves waking at roughly the same time each night and start to wonder whether
Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel-writing machines’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Beers, Professor of History, American University At some point in the next several months, I am hoping to receive a modest check as a member of the class covered in the class-action settlement Bartz v. Anthropic. In 2025, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, best known for
The secret sensory life of plants: researchers are discovering how they see, hear, feel – and even remember
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samarth Kulshrestha, Research Fellow in Molecular Biology, University of Canterbury Plants are often seen as passive organisms, rooted in one place and largely unable to react to the world around them. But a new field of research is challenging these assumptions and showing that plants are as
Thinking about acupuncture or herbs for menopause? Read this first
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, Adelaide University Hot flushes, night sweats or swinging mood changes are some of the most common symptoms of menopause – the stage of a woman’s life when menstrual periods stop permanently, and she is no
Can we consider ‘play’ to be a religion? Bluey certainly thinks so
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Lawson, Academic Registrar at St Barnabas College in the University of Divinity, PhD Candidate in Ancient Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Education, CSU, Charles Sturt University Most of us are used to thinking of “religion” in terms of a belief in God or gods. Perhaps the
The Greens are relaunching their party think tank. What do these organisations do?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Fioritti, Lecturer in Politics, School of Social Sciences, Monash University The appointment of former high profile Greens federal housing spokesperson and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s arch nemesis, Max Chandler-Mather, as executive director of the party’s think tank – the Green Institute – raises several important questions.
What can you actually put in your yellow recycling bin? An environmental scientist explains
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Bryson, Lecturer in Science, CQUniversity Australia Most of us want to recycle, but it can sometimes be hard to know exactly how. Do jar lids and bottle caps go in the yellow bin? What kinds of plastic can be recycled? And given that food residue can
Employment data shows the early signs of AI job disruption are already here
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clinton Free, Academic Director, Executive Education, Business School, University of Sydney There has been no shortage of bold claims recently about artificial intelligence (AI) and jobs — from mass unemployment to over-hyped distraction. Much of this debate is speculative. Often, coming from the tech giants promoting their
Albanese government will commit to boosting defence spending to 3% of GDP, but under a revised definition
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will increase defence spending to about 3% of GDP by 2033 in its 2026 National Defence Strategy to be unveiled on Thursday. But it is using a revised definition that, in effect, makes the defence spend appear
Gallery: Standing up for the people of Iran . . . and Palestine, Lebanon, Venezuela, Cuba . . .
Asia Pacific Report A massive Stop Wars Aotearoa coalition rally and march on the US Consulate took place in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau last Saturday, 11 April 2026. “We’re going to stand up for the people of Iran, stand up for the people of Palestine, stand up for the people of Lebanon, stand up for the
High Court takes an axe to Victoria’s political donations laws – and it will make federal MPs nervous
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor Emerita in Constitutional Law, University of Sydney The High Court has taken an axe to the Victorian Electoral Act, chopping out the entirety of Part 12. It deals with election spending, caps on political donations, three different types of public funding (for election campaigns,
