CoveragePost
February 24, 2023
RNZ Pacific Indonesian security forces were about to launch a rescue operation for a pilot held hostage in Papua before New Zealand intervened, reports ABC News. The ABC quoted Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security, Mahfud Mahmodin, as saying his forces knew the exact location of New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was ... <a title="NZ government ‘intervened’ to stop operation to save pilot, says Jakarta" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/24/nz-government-intervened-to-stop-operation-to-save-pilot-says-jakarta/" aria-label="Read more about NZ government ‘intervened’ to stop operation to save pilot, says Jakarta">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 22, 2023
REVIEW: By Jenny Nicholls Peacemonger is a collection of essays about the much travelled Aotearoa peace activist and researcher Owen Wilkes, who died in May 2005. Wilkes was an extraordinary peace campaigner who discovered a foreign spy base at Tangimoana and was once charged with espionage in Norway and again while on a cycling holiday ... <a title="Tribute to a human comet who lit everything he touched" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/22/tribute-to-a-human-comet-who-lit-everything-he-touched/" aria-label="Read more about Tribute to a human comet who lit everything he touched">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 20, 2023
RNZ News The historic shot tower in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Auckland suburb of Mt Eden which caused concern that it could fall during the worst of Cyclone Gabrielle last week will be demolished from tomorrow. Residents from about 50 housing units surrounding the former Colonial Ammunition Company Shot Tower on Normanby Road were evacuated last ... <a title="Cyclone Gabrielle: Historic shot tower to be demolished as storm risk" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/20/cyclone-gabrielle-historic-shot-tower-to-be-demolished-as-storm-risk/" aria-label="Read more about Cyclone Gabrielle: Historic shot tower to be demolished as storm risk">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 18, 2023
Jubi News in Jayapura An indigenous Papuan negotiation team has traversed rugged highlands forests in the Indonesian-ruled Melanesian province in search of the New Zealand pilot Philip Mehrtens, who was taken hostage by rebels last week. The crisis over the captive pilot held by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) led by Egianus Kogoya ... <a title="Indigenous Papuan negotiators walk to forest hideout to seek release of pilot" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/18/indigenous-papuan-negotiators-walk-to-forest-hideout-to-seek-release-of-pilot/" aria-label="Read more about Indigenous Papuan negotiators walk to forest hideout to seek release of pilot">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 16, 2023
RNZ News As a huge effort ramps up in Aotearoa New Zealand to restore essential services to thousands of people in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay, police hold “grave concerns” for some reported missing. Five people have been confirmed killed in the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle. In Hawke’s Bay, a child was caught in rising water ... <a title="Cyclone Gabrielle: NZ death toll rises, ‘grave concerns’ for several missing" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/16/cyclone-gabrielle-nz-death-toll-rises-grave-concerns-for-several-missing/" aria-label="Read more about Cyclone Gabrielle: NZ death toll rises, ‘grave concerns’ for several missing">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 16, 2023
BACKGROUNDER: By David Robie Papuan independence rebels are playing a desperate game of cat and mouse with Indonesian authorities over their hostage taking last week with a New Zealand pilot caught in the middle. Christchurch-raised Philip Mehrtens, 37, a pilot for the national feeder airline Susi Air owned by a former cabinet minister and with ... <a title="Papuan cat-and-mouse over NZ pilot taken captive by ‘freedom’ rebels" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/16/papuan-cat-and-mouse-over-nz-pilot-taken-captive-by-freedom-rebels/" aria-label="Read more about Papuan cat-and-mouse over NZ pilot taken captive by ‘freedom’ rebels">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 13, 2023
ANALYSIS: By Camellia Webb-Gannon, University of Wollongong “Phil Mehrtens is the nicest guy, he genuinely is — no one ever had anything bad to say about him,” says a colleague of the New Zealand pilot taken hostage last week by members of the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPN-PB) in the mountainous Nduga Regency. How ... <a title="Why a NZ pilot is a pawn in the West Papua conflict that the world ignores" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/13/why-a-nz-pilot-is-a-pawn-in-the-west-papua-conflict-that-the-world-ignores/" aria-label="Read more about Why a NZ pilot is a pawn in the West Papua conflict that the world ignores">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 9, 2023
RNZ News Indonesian police and military have launched a joint mission to rescue a New Zealand pilot who was seized by rebels as a hostage in Indonesia’s Papua region on Tuesday, media reports say. The Jakarta Post reports that authorities have set up a joint search and rescue operation to try and locate Susi Air ... <a title="Rescue mission underway for NZ pilot held hostage in Papua, say reports" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/09/rescue-mission-underway-for-nz-pilot-held-hostage-in-papua-say-reports/" aria-label="Read more about Rescue mission underway for NZ pilot held hostage in Papua, say reports">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 9, 2023
By Finau Fonua and Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalists A researcher at Human Rights Watch in Jakarta is calling for the immediate release of the six hostages — including a New Zealand pilot — being held by a rebel group in Indonesia’s Papua region. The rebels in Highlands Papua are threatening to execute Susi Air ... <a title="Human rights researcher pleads for West Papuan rebels to free NZ pilot" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/09/human-rights-researcher-pleads-for-west-papuan-rebels-to-free-nz-pilot/" aria-label="Read more about Human rights researcher pleads for West Papuan rebels to free NZ pilot">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 7, 2023
PNG Post-Courier PNG Defence Force Commander Major-General Mark Goina says “appropriate force” will be dealt to the gunmen who ambushed and wounded two soldiers in Saugurap, Enga Province, last week. In a statement Major-General Goina said: “A section from the PNGDF contingent deployed in Enga Province were on routine duty, conducting clearance patrol to Laiagam ... <a title="PNG military ‘won’t sit back’ after soldiers ambushed, warns chief" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/07/png-military-wont-sit-back-after-soldiers-ambushed-warns-chief/" aria-label="Read more about PNG military ‘won’t sit back’ after soldiers ambushed, warns chief">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 3, 2023
Airstrikes ordered against civilian targets, destruction of thousands of buildings, millions displaced, nearly 3000 civilians murdered, more than 13,000 jailed, the country’s independent media banished, and the country locked in a deadly nationwide civil war. Myanmar civilians now ask what else must happen before they receive international support in line with Ukraine, writes Phil Thornton. ... <a title="Myanmar’s military has ‘turned whole country into a prison’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/03/myanmars-military-has-turned-whole-country-into-a-prison/" aria-label="Read more about Myanmar’s military has ‘turned whole country into a prison’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
February 1, 2023
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand-based professor in comparative politics says the Fiji constitution needs to clear up the role of the military. Dr Jon Fraenkel of Victoria University, formerly of the University of the South Pacific, says the 2013 constitution revived the provision that existed in the 1990 constitution which gave the military responsibility for ... <a title="Sort out the uncertain Fiji military constitutional role, says professor" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2023/02/01/sort-out-the-uncertain-fiji-military-constitutional-role-says-professor/" aria-label="Read more about Sort out the uncertain Fiji military constitutional role, says professor">Read more</a>
