ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on January 28, 2026.
What can Australia learn from Europe’s housing plan?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hal Pawson, Emeritus Professor of Housing, UNSW Sydney Liene Ratniece/Pexels, CC BY-SA The European Commission recently released its first-ever Affordable Housing Plan. Property prices have outpaced incomes across Europe over the past decade. Home ownership has been pushed out of reach for many. But for economically successful
Pacific delegates warn against US fast-tracking seabed mining
By Mark Rabago, RNZ Pacific Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas correspondent Pacific delegates in the United States Congress are warning efforts to fast-track deep-seabed mining could sideline island communities and cause irreversible damage to fragile ocean ecosystems. The concerns were raised at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing in Washington last week, held a day
Great white sharks grow a whole new kind of tooth for slicing bone as they age
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Hunt, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney Ken Bondy/iNaturalist, CC BY-NC A great white shark is a masterwork of evolutionary engineering. These beautiful predators glide effortlessly through the water, each slow, deliberate sweep of the powerful tail driving a body specialised
New fear unlocked: runaway black holes
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Blair, Emeritus Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, OzGrav, The University of Western Australia A runaway black hole leaving a streak of new stars in its wake. James Webb Space Telescope / van Dokkum et al. Last year, astronomers were fascinated by a
Should I take a fish oil supplement for my heart, joints or mood?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Bushell, Clinical Associate Professor in Pharmacy, University of Canberra Fish oil, also known as omega-3, is one of the most popular dietary supplements. It’s often promoted to protect the heart, boost mood, reduce inflammation and support overall health. But how much of this is backed by
Swap muesli bars for homemade popcorn: 5 ways to pack a lower-waste lunch box
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Neha Lalchandani, Research Fellow, Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition, Deakin University, Deakin University Antoni Shkraba Studio/ Pexels If you pack school lunchboxes for your children, you’ll know it can sometimes feel like a real slog. It needs to be easy to prepare, nutritious and something
A new company tax mix has been proposed. We need to be careful how we assess it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janine Dixon, Director, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University Steven Wei/Unsplash Australia has a problem. Across the economy, business investment has been sluggish for the past decade, leaving policymakers reaching for solutions. Weak business investment can leave the economy stuck in low gear, operating without enough equipment
Rocket or arugula? How a salad vegetable mapped the Italian diaspora
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Absalom, Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies, The University of Melbourne sheri silver/Unsplash If you watch American cooking shows, you’ve likely experienced “salad confusion”. You see a chef preparing what looks like rocket, but they call it arugula. It’s the same plant (Eruca sativa). It has the
NZ’s sodden January explained: what’s driven this month’s big wet?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Renwick, Professor of Physical Geography (Climate Science), Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images It has been a month of umbrellas rather than sunscreen across much of New Zealand, with persistent rain, low sunshine and deadly storms dominating headlines and daily life.
In Gaza, university scholarships are now a matter of survival
By Haya Ahmed In Gaza today, university scholarships have taken on a whole new meaning. No longer are they a step towards self-development, educational attainment or an academic experience in a different country. For a whole generation of Gazan students, a foreign university scholarship has become a lifeline and one of the few remaining legal
View from The Hill: Dysfunctional federal opposition is in gridlock
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A week out from the resumption of parliament, the federal opposition is in a state of paralysis. The Liberals have a full-blown leadership crisis. A majority of the party believe Sussan Ley can’t survive for long. But leadership contenders Angus
Where did southern Australia’s record-breaking heatwave come from?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Kevin Chen/Pexels, CC BY-NC-ND Millions of people in southeastern Australia are sweating through a record-breaking heatwave. The heat this week is likely to be one for the history books. The heat began on Saturday January 24th. On Australia
Red flowers have a ‘magic trait’ to attract birds and keep bees away
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Dyer, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Monash University Joshua J. Cotten For flowering plants, reproduction is a question of the birds and the bees. Attracting the right pollinator can be a matter of survival – and new research shows how flowers do it is more intriguing
5 years on from the junta’s coup, Myanmar’s flawed elections can’t unite a country at risk of breaking apart
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Simpson, Senior Lecturer in International Studies in the School of Society and Culture, Adelaide University Five years ago, on February 1 2021, Myanmar’s top generals decapitated the elected government. Democratic leaders were arrested, pushed underground or forced into exile. Since then, the economy has spluttered and
Jakarta at crossroads – can President Prabowo connect with Papuan hearts?
ANALYSIS: By Laurens Ikinia in Jakarta The logbook of presidential flights in Indonesia reveals an unusual pattern — from the Merdeka Palace to the Land of the Bird of Paradise. By 2023, then President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had set foot in Papua at least 17 times — a record in the republic’s history, surpassing the
