Search crews gather before heading out to look for missing tramper Connor Purvis.Supplied / NZ Police
New radar technology will be used for the second time this week to help locate a missing tramper, as crews continue to search for Connor Purvis.
Police are continuing to appeal to anyone who had recently climbed near Lake Ōhau, in the South Island’s Mackenzie Basin, where the 20-year-old went missing.
Connor Purvis.Supplied / NZ Police
About 50 people on Tuesday probed the upper South Temple Valley, Mt Huxley and the Huxley River South Branch, both on foot and with helicopter.
Teams will be using the Recco device tomorrow with the Mount Cook Alpine Cliff Rescue team assisting the search.
Aerial shots from the search for Connor Purvis.Supplied / NZ Police
The technology is used to locate people lost in the outdoors, detecting items such as head-torches and cellphones.
Aerial shots from the search for Connor Purvis.Supplied / NZ Police
Senior Sergeant Blair Dalton said authorities remained closely connected with Purvis’ family.
“We continue to feel for them, and support them, as our search efforts continue.
“Police are interested to hear from anyone who has climbed Mt Huxley in the past several weeks. Police thank all those involved in the search efforts in this difficult and rugged terrain.”
Aerial shots from the search for Connor Purvis.Supplied / NZ Police
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The first kākāpō breeding season in four years could be the biggest in decades, the Department of Conservation (DOC) says.
The season had officially begun after remote monitoring technology – used to track the critically threatened bird – detected mating activity from 29 December.
DOC Operations Manager for Kākāpō Recovery Deidre Vercoe said the milestone felt particularly significant for the species this year.
“It’s always exciting when the breeding season officially begins, but this year it feels especially long-awaited after such a big gap since the last season in 2022,” she said.
“Now it is underway, we expect more mating over the next month, and we are preparing for what might be the biggest breeding season since the programme began 30 years ago.”
Through its longstanding Kākāpō Recovery programme, DOC had worked with Ngāi Tahu to rebuild the population from 51 manu (31 males, 20 females) through 12 breeding seasons.
The population peaked at 252 in 2022.
The flightless, nocturnal parrots breed once every two to four years, when the rimu trees mast.
The kākāpō are among the most intensively managed species in the world.
Prior to the breeding season, the total population sits at 236, including 83 breeding-age females.
This year would be the 13th breeding season in the 30 years since the programme began.
It could also see the most chicks since records began, although success could no longer be measured in mere numbers, Vercoe said.
“Kākāpō are still critically endangered, so we’ll keep working hard to increase numbers, but looking ahead, chick numbers are not our only measure of success.
“We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kākāpō that are thriving, not just surviving. This means with each successful breeding season, we’re aiming to reduce the level of intensive, hands-on management to return to a more natural state.
“We’re working towards the goal of returning them to their former range around New Zealand so that one day, hearing a kākāpō boom might be a normal part of naturing.”
A range of lower-intervention strategies would be introduced this season, across the three protected offshore breeding islands.
These include prioritising checks for genetically valuable eggs and chicks, leaving more eggs to hatch in nests rather than incubators, reduce nest interference for mothers raising multiple chicks, and reducing supplementary feeding.
The Kākāpō Recovery Group’s Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu representative Tāne Davis said growth brought both advantages and challenges.
“As part of the more hands-off approach to enhance the mauri of the species, a Ngāi Tahu aspiration is also for a percentage of the chicks hatched this year to remain nameless, acknowledging the beginning of returning the manu to their own natural ways,” he said.
“The predicted scale of this season also reminds us of the need for more safe homes, like a predator-free Rakiura, for this taonga species.”
The first chicks were expected to start hatching from mid-February.
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Amid widespread condemnation of the United States over its brazen weekend attack on Venezuela around the world and in the UN Security Council today, Senator Bernie Sanders has posted on social media six reasons why the operation to kidnap President Nicolás Maduro on Venezuela was very wrong.
Abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro told a packed New York City courtroom that he was “innocent”, a “decent man”, and that he had been “kidnapped”, in his first public comments since the US attack, reports Al Jazeera.
Members of the 15-strong UN Security Council (UNSC), including key US allies, condemned Washington and warned that the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife by US special forces could be a precedent-setting event for international law.
The reasons Senator Sanders (Democrat-Vermont) has given why Trump’s actions were wrong are:
It is illegal and unconstitutional. Congress did not authorise or even know about this military action.
It will make the world less safe. If international law is ignored, any nation or terrorist organisation can justify violent attack by pointing to Trump’s actions in Venezuela. This was Putin’s logic in Ukraine.
It is blatant imperialism. Powerful nations do not have the legal or moral right to invade smaller countries to steal their natural resources. Venezuela’s oil belongs to the people of Venezuela, not US corporations.
At a time when the entire world is moving away from fossil fuels for cheaper and non-polluting sustainable energies, protecting the interests of Big Oil is bad for the climate and bad economics.
Maduro is corrupt and anti-democratic. So is MBS of Saudi Arabia. So are many other leaders around the world. Just because we do not like a country’s leader does not mean we have the right to overthrow their government.
Trump ran for president as a “peace candidate” who believed in “America First”, not someone who was going to “run” another country. At a time when 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, maybe he should try doing a better job running this country [United States], not taking over Venezuela.
USA’s Venus Williams during her singles match at the 2026 ASB Classic Women’s Tennis Tournament at Manuka Doctor Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
[xh ]New Zealand’s only hope knocked out of ASB Classic
The drawcards continue to fall at Stanley Street.
Day two of the ASB Classic in Auckland saw the sole Aotearoa singles hope and superstar Venus Williams both join second seed Emma Navarro in early elimination.
New Zealand’s only representative in the women’s singles came in the form of Monique Barry, who met Ella Seidel of Germany, with Barry conceding almost 600 places in the world rankings and the heavy underdog position.
The gap proved too great and Barry was defeated, 6-2, 6-1, with her service game badly letting the hometown favourite down.
An emotional Barry was unable to contain her tears following the disappointing defeat.
“It was tough, I had to try get in there and find my rhythm but it just didn’t happen. I know my level and it didn’t show today, I love playing here but it just didn’t feel like anything was working which is a little bit frustrating.”
Barry said she wanted to produce a better performance in front of her home fans.
“The expectation of yourself, you’re representing New Zealand, especially with Lulu (Sun) being our number one, I want to follow in her footsteps.”
Beaten in the opening round of the doubles alongside Elyse Tse, American icon Venus Williams was also pipped in the opening round of singles against fifth seed Magda Linette of Poland.
It was a hard-fought win as the match went to three sets, eventually going to Linette 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Williams, the 45-year-old seven times grand slam champion, who was given a wildcard entry, was also knocked out of the first round of the double’s draw while second seed Navarro was eliminated in singles action on day one.
Linette said it was a draining battle against the veteran.
“I managed to turn things around, I felt a bit sharper at the end, I just decided to step a little back and give myself more space against such a powerful hitter.”
Kicking off the day’s action on centre court, Britain’s Katie Boulter got past Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3, 6-3.
Boulter said Starodubtseva was a “tricky opponent” but she stuck to the game plan.
“I have new coach. It’s going to take time, last year was tough, but for first match of the season I am very pleased.”
Tomorrow begins the round of 16.
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EB Games is proposing to close its New Zealand stores.Supplied
EB Games is proposing to shut down its New Zealand business and close all its stores, according to a letter sent to employees.
In a note to employees seen by RNZ, managing director Shane Stockwell said: “This proposal is not final, and no decision will be made until we have completed a full consultation process in good faith with affected team members.
“This proposal includes the closure of all remaining EB Games New Zealand stores and the New Zealand Distribution Centre.
“If the proposal were to proceed, it would mean that all roles within EB Games New Zealand would be disestablished.”
EB Games is an Australian-based video game and pop culture merchandise retailer, owned by GameStop since 2005.
In November, six Democratic lawmakers recorded a video directed at members of the US military and intelligence agencies. In it, they issued a blunt reminder:
The laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders. […] You must refuse illegal orders.
The lawmakers were issuing the warning against the backdrop of US airstrikes on boats off the coast of Latin America the Trump administration claims are suspected drug runners. Many Democrats and legal experts, however, argue these strikes, as well as the subsequent arrest of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, are illegal.
Since returning to office, Trump has successfully expanded his power over his own party, the courts and the American people. Now, like many autocrats around the world, he’s trying to exert control over the military.
In the final episode of The Making of Autocrat, Joe Wright, a political science professor at Penn State University, says:
I am very concerned that getting the military to do illegal things will not only put US soldiers at more risk when they do engage in international missions in the future […] it’s a first step to using the military to target domestic political opponents.
That’s what really worries me.
Listen to the interview with Joe Wright at The Making of an Autocrat podcast, available at Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode was written by Justin Bergman and produced and edited by Isabella Podwinski and Ashlynne McGhee. Sound design by Michelle Macklem.
Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feedor find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.
Joe Wright has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Minerva Research Initiative, and private foundations.
The chief executive of beleaguered patient portal Manage My Health says he is open to standing down if required after it “dropped the ball”.
Vino Ramayah told RNZ hackers who have seized hundreds of thousands of files from more than 120,000 patients “got in through the front door”.
He takes full responsibility, he said.
“That’s something for after the dust settles, whether I’m the current or continue to be the CEO,” he said.
“I’m not unprepared to step down if there’s a better person who can do a better job than I did.”
Ramayah described the major breach as a “password accessed intrusion”.
Manage My Health CEO Vino Ramayah.Screenshot / YouTube
“They came in through the front door using a valid user password.”
The deadline for a $60,000 ransom was initially thought to expire early on Tuesday morning, but Ramayah confirmed that deadline has now shifted.
“From what we have understood from the tracking and the kind of announcements in the dark web which we are monitoring the deadline is 5am on Friday.”
But he said deadlines had come and gone “many times” and out of principal he would not comment on what people put up on the dark web.
“And we really don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t telling the truth. But our intention is to do the right thing.”
The chief executive would not be drawn on whether Manage My Health has discussed internally whether it was prepared to pay the ransom.
“I am not inclined to make any statement in that regard because it’s an ongoing investigation, I don’t want to jeopardise any investigations and I will make no comment in that regard,” he said.
When asked again, Ramayah said: “As I have said here, I’m not going to comment on that”.
He also would not say if Manage My Health had been in any negotiations those who took the patient data.
“As I said, I do not wish to comment on this investigation or any activities with any nefarious people, so I’ll leave it at that.”
Ramayah said Manage My Health was itself the victim of crime.
He said patients should trust the company “even though we have dropped the ball”.
Ramayah told RNZ he personally was aggrieved and distressed by the breach.
His own medical records were among those impacted, he said.
“And so is lots of my friends and families. I am deeply distressed that this is out there and this has happened.”
“The doctor – patient relationship was sacrosanct,” he said.
“I think the main point is there has been a crime, we have tried to do our best, as you know, we’ve had staff working around the clock since this incident with very little sleep and we are trying our best to contain the damage and the pain and anxiety patients feel – that is pretty hard for us as an organisation.”
In its latest online update, Manage My Health said it had started contacting GP practices which have affected patients.
Information on appointments and prescriptions were not accessed and the portal is now secure, it said.
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University
Iran’s Islamic regime is once again faced with nationwide popular protests and a potential confrontation with Israel and the United States.
Protesters have flooded Tehran and many other major cities in recent days, calling for the downfall of the regime. The US and Israel have also voiced strong support for the protesters.
Despite the regime’s increasing vulnerability, though, it might be too early to write its obituary.
Why Iranians are so angry
Public discontent with the Islamic regime has been building for years.
The current wave of protests was triggered in late December by the collapse of the Iranian currency and the rising cost of living. However, the public’s fury is rooted in wider societal grievances. These include:
the regime’s theocratic impositions, such as the mandatory headscarf (hijab) rule that women are increasingly flouting in public
widespread corruption and mismanagement of the economy under severe US-led sanctions
the costly support for a network of proxy militant groups in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Yemen, and
the regime’s top-down approach to water governance that has left the country increasingly vulnerable to drought.
The current wave of protests was initially sparked by bazaaris (traditional business owners and shopkeepers). However, in the last week, it has swelled to include university students and those from the “Women, Life and Freedom” movement that took to the streets following the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police in 2022.
The regime severely cracked down on those protests, but they have continued in other forms over the past few years.
More threats from Trump
The regime is also facing external pressure from the US and Israel.
US President Donald Trump has warned the Iranian government not to kill protesters, saying the US was “locked and loaded” to act.
In recent days, both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have also threatened another round of military action if Tehran rebuilds its nuclear capability and refuses to curtail its missile industry.
Netanyahu, who has relentlessly castigated the regime as an existential threat, initiated a 12-day war with Iran last June. The US briefly entered the war by bombing Iran’s three main nuclear sites, after which Trump claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
Many experts and the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have since cast doubt on this claim.
The foundations of the Iranian program reportedly survived the US and Israeli bombings. Some 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, still missing, could potentially enable Tehran to assemble a few nuclear bombs in moments of desperation. There also haven’t been new talks between Iran and Western powers to negotiate a new nuclear deal, either.
In recent days, Trump has accused Tehran of seeking new nuclear sites and attempting to replenish its missile stocks, threatening to “eradicate that build-up”.
These include the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the well-equipped and well-trained Basij paramilitary force used to crack down on dissent. The regime also has intelligence services, revolutionary committees and a network of clerical circles.
The fortunes of these forces are closely tied to the survival of the regime. Many of them are headed by figures who were involved in setting them up following the toppling of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s pro-Western monarchy in the revolution of 1978–79. They are fully cognisant of the fact that if the regime goes down, they will, too.
The regime has also prepared to defend itself long-term against any foreign threats. It has invested heavily in an asymmetrical warfare strategy and developed a potent defence industry. Since the end of the war with Israel, it has reportedly focused on rebuilding its missile capabilities and acquiring fresh supplies of arms and air defence systems from Russia and China.
Yet, the Islamic government still faces a critical situation, especially following the Trump administration’s toppling of Venezuela’s leader in recent days.
Many Iranians both inside and outside the country want to see the fall of the clerical regime and Reza Pahlavi, the son of the last shah, to return from exile to head a transitional government to democratise Iran.
However, Trump has reportedly not favoured regime change in Iran, possibly fearing the political transition may not be orderly and could be as bloody and disruptive as the one that followed the shah’s fall in 1979. He has also made clear his focus is on the Western hemisphere.
Iran is a very complex country with a diverse population of 93 million people. It is also strategically placed, with the longest coastline on the oil-rich Persian Gulf in a traditional zone of major power rivalry. These considerations should be on Trump’s mind when deciding how to handle Iran.
Amin Saikal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
School bags lined up at a Kelvin Heights bus stop in Queenstown.RNZ / Katie Todd
The Ministry of Education has been reviewing its school bus services in Queenstown with seven routes set to be redesigned from Term 2, 2026, one cancelled, one added and 11 retained on an ‘interim’ basis.
One principal says about 90 students in Fernhill will lose access to their bus.
Otago Regional Council says the public network may not have the capacity at peak times.
Emails released under the OIA show schools and parents warned public buses were not a safe or practical alternative.
The Ministry of Education has decided to keep most of Queenstown’s school buses for now, despite finding most students are not eligible for the free services.
The ministry said seven routes would be redesigned and 11 would continue on an interim basis from Term 2, 2026, until it found a long-term fix.
One school bus route to KingsView School and Remarkables Primary School would be cancelled, and one new route would be added servicing Shotover School, it said.
Ministry of Education school transport group manager James Meffan said many students using ministry-funded services in Queenstown were not eligible, either because there was public transport already available, or they were not attending their closest school.
“We are continuing to work with Otago Regional Council on a longer term, sustainable solution for these students and expect to provide an update next year,” he said.
The interim services would support a “smooth transition” for those ineligible students, he said.
However, Queenstown Primary School principal Fiona Cavanagh said the changes would leave dozens of students living in the suburb of Fernhill without access to a school bus.
Their bus route had been redesigned to pick up students in the Bob’s Cove area instead, she said.
Cavanagh said she had asked the ministry to revisit that decision, saying the bus could collect Fernhill students with only a small diversion.
“We have approximately 90 students that are currently catching a school bus from Fernhill. Fernhill is on a hill, and the roads are very busy and public transport would be busy as well,” she said.
“So for our students to catch a bus, a public bus in that area, it just wouldn’t work.”
The public buses stopped in central Queenstown rather than taking students directly to school, she said.
“We are asking the ministry to consider them being dropped off outside our school, rather than in town, because we’re a very unique community in terms of nightclubs, people around in the main city centre, all hours of the day. I don’t want my students to be exposed to that.”
Meanwhile, Otago Regional Council said it did not believe there was enough capacity on the public bus network at peak times, based on its understanding of the number of students affected by the proposals.
It was urging parents in the Queenstown district to plan ahead when using public transport to get their children to school.
Regional Planning and Transport general manager Anita Dawe said the council would work closely with the ministry and affected schools to make sure parents had information about the availability of public buses.
The council was not able to replace school bus services as they were currently delivered, she said.
“Some schools are not on public bus routes; so we expect to receive requests to redesign routes or add in special school term bus services. Currently, we’re not in a position to do this, due to resource constraints, both financially and in terms of the availability of buses and drivers,” she said.
Parents raise safety and cost concerns
The ministry’s review of Queenstown school bus services sparked at least 22 emails to Education Minister Erica Stanford and Southland MP Joseph Mooney from concerned community members last year.
The emails, released under the Official Information Act, showed parents were nervous about their primary-aged children using public buses without adult supervision – especially those without mobile phones.
One parent detailed concerns about their children crossing two busy highways to reach a public bus stop, while another said public buses were often cancelled.
“This will leave students on the side of the road with no way of knowing where the bus is or with means to contact their parents,” they wrote.
Another writer said paying for public buses would place extra financial pressure on families.
“Families with two children are paying $6 a day on transport to and from school. Over the course of a year, this adds up to $1140, which is an unreasonable cost for many households,” they said.
Taking time out of work to drive children to school was no better, other parents wrote.
“I need to work to survive and how can I do that if the alternative to the public bus is driving them in and out for school every day? That is just not possible!” one said.
“Less time working means less tax revenue. Are we really saving by cutting the school bus?” another said.
One parent said the changes could also worsen traffic congestion, already a major issue in Queenstown.
Mooney summarised the concerns he had received and wrote to Stanford seeking her support “in ensuring that the Ministry fully understands the implications of any decision to remove school buses in Queenstown”.
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US President Donald Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has taught me a lesson: that if you think you have a scoop, you file it immediately, not only to get the story out first but to warn the world if it’s about something bad that might be coming.
Shortly after Trump bombed Nigeria on Christmas day, I wrote an article that said his real aim was to send a message to Maduro and that among the options he was entertaining was a SEAL-type operation to capture or kill Maduro.
How did I come to this conclusion? I have no assets in the US intelligence community. I was completely running on instinct, and my instincts told me that the egomaniac Trump wanted to eclipse Obama’s feat in sending in the SEALS to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad in 2011, just as he wanted badly to get the Nobel Peace Prize that Obama got.
But it was the holidays and, out of consideration for the folks that run my stories, who deserved a New Year’s break to be with their families, I sat on it after I finished it on December 27 and only sent it to Foreign Policy in Focus on January 2, eight hours before the Caracas operation that kidnapped Maduro, in violation of all the norms of civilised conduct among states.
But though out-scooped by Trump, I still think that there are elements in the unfiled article that could be useful in helping us anticipate what could unfold in the days and weeks ahead. So here’s the scoop that wasn’t.
Trump strikes Nigeria but real target is Venezuela The Trump regime’s air strikes on Islamic State targets in Nigeria on Christmas Day may have had symbolic significance but no strategic value. There will likely be no impact on the efforts of the militant group called Lakurawa, allied to ISIS, to establish a base in Sokoto state.
Many have been puzzled by the attacks that involved the use of Tomahawk missiles, especially given the relatively minuscule space given to Africa in the recently released National Security Strategy (NSS) 2025. That brief section focuses on transforming the US relationship with Africa from one based on aid to trade, though it does say, “we must remain wary of resurgent Islamist terrorist activity in parts of Africa while avoiding any long-term American presence or commitments.”
It is likely that the attacks were carried out for reasons unrelated to Africa. One is to appease Trump’s Christian evangelical base. As Joshua Keating, an expert in crisis areas, has noted, “Trump’s sudden interest in Africa’s most populous country was likely motivated less by any particular event there — these are all longstanding issues — than by developments in Washington. Though it doesn’t get a ton of mainstream media attention, the plight of Christians in Nigeria has been a galvanising issue for evangelical Christians in the US in recent years.”
On his internet platform Truth Social, Trump has cited figures from the international Christian rights NGO Open Doors, claiming that of the 4476 Christians killed for their faith globally in 2024, 3100 were in Nigeria.
In her recent book on the key groups that make up the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, Furious Minds, Laura Field says that non-establishment Christian groups have an outsized influence in the Trump administration.
With the Republicans struggling in the lead-up to the mid-term elections in 2026, these groups’ muscle on the ground can determine whether the Republicans will continue to control the House of Representatives.
The main target: Venezuela However, the main goal of the strikes, in my view, had to do mainly with developments thousands of kilometres away. It was to signal to the government of Nicolás Maduro that it will face not just attacks on Venezuelan boats at sea but also air attacks on ground targets. This interpretation would be consistent with NSS 2025.
NSS 2025 is an iconoclastic document. It literally dumps the 80-year-old strategy of liberal containment that guided the United States from the post-Second World War years through the Cold War years to the post-Cold War years, which was to meet challenges to global capital wherever and whenever the US state saw its interests threatened or challenged.
Next to its overthrowing the 80-year-old American “Grand Strategy,” the most significant departure in NSS 2025 is its break with the key assumption of US security policy since the presidency of George W. Bush (2001-2008), including the first Trump administration (2017-2021): that Washington must focus its resources on containing China, which was defined as the principal US strategic competitor.
Replacing China and the Asia Pacific as the main US concern in the Western Hemisphere, the document comes out with a reiteration of the Monroe Doctrine, but one fortified with what it calls the “Trump corollary.”
It states that Washington “will deny non-hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our hemisphere.” There is no more stark expression of the rude replacement of the liberal containment doctrine by a “spheres of influence” approach.
Meantime, the debate goes on in Trump administration on whether a ground invasion of Venezuela is the best way to implement the Western-Hemisphere-first strategy. Air strikes are one thing, boots on the ground are another, and one opposed by much of the MAGA base that is tired of the “forever wars”.
The “Molotov Cocktail” throwers in that base have made known their opposition or disquiet regarding a Venezuelan adventure.
Laura Loomer, an influential firebrand, has challenged Trump’s rationale for the attacks on Venezuelan boats, which is to prevent the opioid fentanyl and other drugs from being shipped to the United States.
“Fentanyl isn’t being manufactured in Venezuela,” she said, urging that the Pentagon target the Mexican drug cartels responsible for most shipments instead. She has also criticised María Corina Machado, the Nobel Peace Prize awardee for 2025 and the leader of the opposition in Venezuela, for “actively stoking and promoting violent regime change”.
Steve Bannon, a key official in the first Trump administration, said “neoconservative neoliberals” like Secretary of State Marco Rubio are pushing for a Venezuelan intervention that would derail the administration from its domestic priorities. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the volatile Georgia congresswoman, has posted on X that “People voted in 2024 against foreign intervention and foreign regime change as we have seen far too many times how that’s turned out, it’s not good, and people are so sick of it.”
My fearless forecast Trump will limit attacks on his perceived adversaries globally to air strikes or naval bombardments to keep them off balance and not risk triggering another forever war with a ground invasion.
Of course, Trump’s people are probably weighing a SEAL-type special op — like then-President Obama’s killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad in 2011 — to murder or capture Maduro, but Maduro is likely to be already very well prepared for such a contingency. He’s not stupid.
Frankly, if you ask me, Washington has dug itself into a hole with its focus on Venezuela, one from which there is no easy exit.
If one gives a broad interpretation to Che Guevara’s dictum that the best way to defeat the United States was to create “two, three many Vietnams,” then Venezuela has the potential for becoming the third phase of the death rattle of the empire, Vietnam being the first and bin Laden’s dragging Washington to eventual defeat in the Middle East the second.
Dr Walden Bello is co-chair of the board of the Bangkok-based research and advocacy institute Focus on the Global South and senior research fellow at the sociology department of the State University of New York at Binghamton. He is also author of Global Battlefields: My close encounters with dictatorship, capital, empire, and love (2025). This article was first published by Foreign Policy in Focus and is republished with permission.
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What is autistic burnout? And what can you do about it? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Arnold, Senior Lecturer in Psychological Sciences, Western Sydney University Many autistic people face challenges in their daily life while navigating a world made for neurotypical people. Think about a trip to your local cafe. You might have patrons crammed into small spaces, bright lights, strong odours
Women have fought hard to be recognised as farmers. There’s still more work to be done Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucie Newsome, Lecturer, Business School, University of New England pixdeluxe/Getty When we think of an Australian farmer, we often still conjure up an image of a bloke in a hat, perhaps leaning on a fence post. If women make an appearance at all in this picture, it’s
Not just a ‘woman’s hobby’ – why more men are picking up sewing, and why you should too Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jye Marshall, Lecturer, Fashion Design, School of Design and Architecture, Swinburne University of Technology Unsplash/Wiktoria Skrzekotowska, CC BY Men have started sewing up a storm, driving a culture shift that challenges the traditional notion of sewing as a “women’s hobby”. The COVID pandemic drove a resurgence in
Johannesburg has failed its informal traders: policies are in place, but action is needed Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mamokete Modiba, Senior Researcher, Gauteng City-Region Observatory Johannesburg’s inner city is a bustling hub of economic life – a dense, dynamic web of informal traders, adjacent businesses and other users. Informal trading remains an essential survival strategy for many households. It is also a key source of
With the Gaza genocide, the world changed – sovereignty died and thuggery became a system COMMENTARY: By Sameer Barghouthi The road from Beijing to Taiwan no longer seems impossible. Nothing appears to prevent Moscow — should it decide — from abducting the Ukrainian president from the heart of Kyiv. There is no longer any real immunity protecting political leadership anywhere, including Iranian leaders. The reason is not international chaos. The
Fiji journalists condemn police over lack of courthouse security after another reporter attacked Pacific Media Watch The Fijian Media Association (FMA) has demanded better police protection after a journalist working for the state broadcaster Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) was violently attacked outside a courthouse In a statement today, the FMA again called for police to be more vigilant in managing security and threats outside the Suva High Court
Tel Aviv offers to train Australian police officers in Israel after Bondi Asia Pacific Report The Israeli government has offered to train senior Australian police officers in Israel as part of efforts to combat terrorism and antisemitism, reports OnePath Network. In a letter to Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said his government was “ready and willing to assist” following the
Before toppling Maduro, the US spent decades pressuring Venezuelan leaders over its oil wealth Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Trapani, Associate Lecturer of History and International Relations, Western Sydney University After US special forces swooped into Caracas to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and topple his government, US President Donald Trump said the United States will now “run” Venezuela, including its abundant oil resources. US
Trump’s intervention in Venezuela: the 3 warnings for the world Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University The January 3 US military operation in Venezuela seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Adela Flores de Maduro, was in equal measure audacious and illegal under international law. It’s even more breathtaking that the Trump administration
Polymetallic nodules in the western Atlantic Ocean. This image was captured on a deep sea research mission in 2019.NOAA Ocean Exploration
More than 3,000 people from U.S. territories have signed a petition opposing proposed deep seabed mining in waters near the Mariana Islands and American Samoa, warning of irreversible environmental damage and the exclusion of Indigenous communities from decision-making.
In a letter addressed to Guam Senator Therese M. Terlaje, the petition’s authors said the federal government was pursuing mining proposals without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous peoples who would be most affected.
They argued the plans highlight the limited political power of residents in US territories, where local voices were often sidelined in decisions that directly affect land, ocean, and livelihoods.
The petition claims deep sea mining is incompatible with a healthy marine environment and threatens biodiversity, cultural heritage, and traditional ocean stewardship.
It adds, Pacific Islander communities depend on the ocean for their survival and identity, and that the permanent extraction of seabed minerals would amount to a one-time loss of resources that have existed “since the dawn of time,” especially as climate change accelerates environmental pressures.
The waters around the Pacific Ocean territory are estimated to contain large amounts of potato-shaped rocks known as polymetallic nodules filled with the building blocks for electric vehicles and electronics.Impossible Metals
Drawing parallels with past extractive industries in both the Pacific and the Caribbean, the signatories said such activities have brought long-term environmental harm while undermining self-determination and Indigenous governance.
They are calling on the US government to immediately halt any plans for deep seabed mining in the Marianas and American Samoa and to commit to inclusive, community-led decision-making.
The petition also questions why island communities continue to bear the risks of resource extraction for the global energy transition, while investments to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels remain limited.
Organizers said they would continue collecting signatures until the public comment period closes on 12 January and plan to formally submit the petition on the deadline.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Internationally, we are marking the 2025 Human Rights Day at a time of extraordinary retreat from human rights protection across the World. Every human right, every breach of human right and every advance in the protection of human rights must matter equally to us.
The frameworks for human rights protection are well established internationally reflecting the genesis of the international system in the horrors of the Second World War. Social, cultural, political, women’s, indigenous, children’s, and all fundamental human rights are well protected in international laws that have evolved since then.
What may seem like a paralysis in protection of fundamental human rights internationally today does not arise from the absence of protections in international law but from the fractures that characterise the international interstate system in a phase of severe disruption.
Fiji’s former ambassador to the UN Dr Satyendra Prasad . . . “When the Blue Pacific discusses human rights impacts of climate change, it is shaped by our lived realities..” Image: Wansolwara News
The significant advances in protection of human rights internationally arose from a rare postwar geopolitical consensus. That global consensus is dead.
Though the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have their origins in this context, it was not until 2008 that the UN made an explicit resolution on human rights and climate change stating that climate change posed a real and substantial threat to the full enjoyment of human rights.
The Pacific’s human rights story When the Blue Pacific discusses human rights impacts of climate change, it is shaped by our lived realities. The fundamental right to life in the Pacific is persistently harmed by heat stress.
It is estimated that more than 1200 deaths annually are now attributed to heat stress.
The fundamental right to health is eroded by growing illnesses and diseases arising from rising temperatures. Across the Pacific, well in excess of 1000 deaths are already attributed to climate change related illnesses annually.
The fundamental right to water faces worsening pressures arising from sea water intrusion into ground water, more frequent and prolonged droughts and sewage contamination of water systems as a result of floodings.
The fundamental right to food is persistently harmed by rising surface and ocean temperatures and experienced through failed crops, subsistence farms destroyed by winds and rains, collapse of coral reef systems and with that oceanic foods.
Indigenous people’s rights are similarly persistently harmed as communities across Melanesia undertake climate change induced migration without corresponding transfer of land and other social and cultural rights.
In Tuvalu and atoll states these are likely to lead to more unsettling outcomes as their small and culturally compact communities get thinly dispersed across larger countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.
Policy choices are needed to respond to worsening human rights protection that are a consequence of climate change.
Climate change and human rights in Pacific education The right to education is one of foundational rights in international law. Having access to continuous, safe and quality education is the foundation for the enjoyment of this right.
Every time a student misses school because the river that she crosses is flooded or at risk of flooding, that student is denied the full enjoyment of this right. Learning days lost are increasing in Fiji and Melanesia generally. This has lifelong consequences.
The more painful reality is that learning loss is felt so unevenly. It is often people in our poorest households who stay in most flood-prone areas.
In Fiji’s case it is also the case too many I-Taukei settlements/villages are in flood prone areas or in areas more likely to be cut off from school access roads and bridges.
The average day time surface temperatures has increased between 1-3 degrees Celsius across the Pacific within a space of four decades. It may be much higher in schools in urban areas. The safe classroom temperatures for children are 24-26 degrees Celsius at the upper end.
In many schools, classroom temperatures are well above 30C for days on end. The health impacts of prolonged exposure to these temperature are seen through general weaknesses, fainting, headaches and fatigue.
I know of no school that systematically monitors classroom temperatures. I have heard of schools closing down for a day or two when the risks of flooding are high. I have not heard of schools being closed when temperatures are in the mid-30s during periods of high humidity.
Quite shockingly, school building and major repairs are still being carried out in so many schools in exactly the same way as they were done 4-5 decades ago.
The human rights context in education is profoundly gendered. Some of these simply arise from the fact that decisions are made by male leaders.
When reconstruction of several schools in Vanua Levu happened a few years back, boys’ and girls’ hostels needed to be rebuilt following one of the recent cyclones.
The boys’ hostels were reconstructed within a year of two back-to-back cyclones. A 100 percent of the hostel boys were back in school.
The girl’s hostel took another year to be up and running. Only one girl returned to school from those who were resident in hostels during the cyclone year.
A whole generation of girls in the middle to high schools from one of the most disadvantages regions of our country and from some of the most economically disadvantaged communities had simply dropped out of school.
This is a story that repeats itself in so many ways each across the Pacific.
Health, human rights and climate change As with education, universal access to the sufficient health care constitutes yet another core human right.
One of the worst and least understood aspects of the health and climate change interface in the Pacific is its impacts on mental health.
Following extreme weather events — mental health consequences linger for long periods and most intensely among young children. When winds pick up ever so slightly, many children in schools get frightened — scared — quietly reliving their trauma in full view of teachers who are poorly trained to understand what is happening.
But the health consequences of climate change are far broader. Influenza, dengue including in off seasons, leptospirosis are profoundly impacting our communities. Loss of concentration, performance and worsening learning outcomes are some of these harsh trendlines inside classrooms.
Growing food insecurity The right to food is a core part of our global human rights architecture. A few years back I had the great pleasure of visiting several schools in Vanua Levu.
I have taught in Fiji’s high schools. I know what I am talking about in a deeply personal way. Nothing prepared me for this.
The numbers/percentages of children who came to schools without lunch was just shocking. Nearly a third of students in one the classes that I visited came to school without lunch that morning.
Rates of stunting rates of children in primary schools (in peri and urban areas) in Fiji can be as high as 10 percent. Stunting rates are much higher in PNG at nearly 50 percent — one of the highest in the world.
Nutritional deprivation leads to delayed cognitive development and over time harms performance. Damage from stunting has life long and intergenerational consequences. How does climate change feature in this?
The most obvious one is that global warming impacts on our coral reef systems. There is a near collapse of oceanic foods across so many Pacific’s coastal communities.
Equally on the high lands of PNG, delayed precipitation, prolonged rains and droughts harm and overtime irreversibly erode food security. This has widespread consequences.
Food insecurity, gender violence and inter-community conflict are a growing part of the Blue Pacific’s climate story.
Human rights, climate change and cultural and political rights Nowhere does climate change demonstrate the scale of its destructiveness as in our closest atoll state neighbour.
Tuvalu may be uninhabitable within 4-6 decades even with the adaptation measures underway. It is forced to contemplate the real prospects of near total loss of land. The state has taken protective measures by amending its constitution to preserve sovereignty under any scenario.
Fiji and fellow PIF members have undertaken to respect its sovereignty under any climate scenario.
Compared with PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji where communities are being relocated, the human rights and climate story of Tuvalu is of a different order altogether. Land rights, cultural rights are rooted and grounded. They do not move when communities are relocated. Relocations are deeply disrespectful of all rights — including cultural, social rights.
It is indeed possible that its whole populations in time may come to be dispersed outside of Tuvalu — in Australia through the Falepili Treaty, in Fiji and in New Zealand. Small and dispersed communities will over time lose their language. They are over time likely to lose many elements of their Tuvaluan identity.
Indigenous and cultural rights are rooted to land and oceans in such deep ways. These rights are recognised as fundamental human rights internationally. Global warming and rising seas treat these rights with callous disregard.
From a 1.5 to 2.8C world The Blue Pacific has to fight the battle of our lives to return the planet to a 1.5C pathway. No one will do this for us. All our economic forecasting today are based on 1.5C temperature increase. But the reality is that we are on course for a 2.8C or perhaps even a post 3.0C world.
The consequences of a 3.0C future on human rights of people across the Pacific Islands are unimaginable. For a start, most of the existing infrastructure, school buildings , health centres, data centers are simply not built to withstand 450 km/h winds.
Most of the Pacific’s towns and settlements are coastal. Our entire tourism infrastructure is barely a few metres above sea level. In Melanesia alone there are more than 600 schools that need to be relocated and/or rebuilt.
Several hundred health centres need to be moved. These are estimates based on 1.5C — not twice that. The near total collapse of coastal fisheries is almost a foregone conclusion at anywhere above 2.0C. The silliest thing we can do as a region and as a people is to not prepare for a 3.0C world.
Shaping our story of hope On the 2025 Human Rights Day, I have reflected on the broad and deep impacts on human rights that directly result from climate change. Ours is a story of hope.
Members of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change movement. Image: Wansolwara News
On this day, then let me celebrate the extraordinary leadership shown by Pacific’s students who took the world to court — to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and won.
We owe such an extraordinary gratitude to Fiji’s Vishal Prasad, Cynthia Houniuhi, Solomon Yeo from Solomon Islands and that small group of university students at USP who decided to take on the world. We celebrate Vanuatu’s leadership on all our behalf. Collective action matters.
We make a difference as individuals. We make a difference as a people and as large ocean states. I urge that we deepen our shared understanding of the unfolding universe of elevated human rights vulnerabilities across the Pacific.
Sharing our stories, deepening our understanding of interlinkages between human rights and global warming and beginning honest conversations about things taboo are foundational starting points.
In universities, this may mean adding climate change and human rights legal studies so that graduates leave with a firmer understanding of the world they will enter into.
At medical schools, this means integrating climate change into how human health is studied and researched.
In social science schools, that means advancing our understanding of the rapid evolution of kinship, leadership and culture in traditional Fijian and Pacific societies in a climate changed context.
In communications and journalism programmes, this may mean preparing students to communicate climate crisis with humility, sensitivity and empathy.
As responsible employers, we may be able to lead by ensuring that human rights protection arising from climate change are as mainframed as is possible. Being able to provide the level of sociopsychological support to students and staff bearing the silent scars of slow onset or climate catastrophes would be another great start.
This may include, as well, the simplest of things such as allowing paid compassionate leave for staff to recover from climate change related extreme weather events. In the longer term, the employment laws of Pacific Island states will need to catch up.
I have advised many Pacific island countries to take a hard look at even their school calendar. Few schools measure class room temperatures today.
Our colonial legacy has shaped the school year. We today subject our students to their final examinations when the temperatures inside class rooms are the highest. We today pressure students to prepare for their exams in the months when the chances of catastrophic events are the highest and the chances of illness that are climate change induced are the highest.
A school calendar that is climate informed and that protects human rights in the education context is more likely to commence the school year in September (third term) and conclude exams by August (end of second term).
All of these things are within our gift. We do not need international conferences or even international assistance to do all of these as the changes needed are so simple and so basic.
Building blocs for advancing human rights in a climate changed world:
First is that individual and communities need to know how their fundamental rights are impacted by climate change. This is a task for all of us — not governments alone.
Across the region, so many laws and legislative frameworks need to be revised to reflect how climate change and human rights play out. How many hours should an agricultural worker or road construction worker be working when temperatures are higher than 1.5C.
For employers and service providers, what are the human rights obligations in a climate changed context? What does the waiting room in a health care facility look like in a 1.5C temperature increase and in a 3.0 degree world? They surely cannot be the same.
National human rights and legal settings need to pay systematic attention to human rights and climate change. This means ensuring that national human rights agencies and courts build up their capabilities to provide the necessary jurisprudence; and our citizens both supported and empowered to approach courts and relevant agencies.
Internationally, the Pacific Island states including Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) are well advised to ramp up their presence internationally. The next decade must be the decade when the region pushes the boundaries of international law. The decade following that may just be too late.
A Pacific Pre-COP31 I am delighted to have been invited to deliver my remarks so soon after COP30 and well in time for reflections for Pacific’s preparations for Pre-COP31. This climate conference to be held in the Pacific next year will be a great opportunity to bring a consolidated understanding of how fundamental human rights are being harmed by runaway climate change.
Shape this well — together, respectfully and with humility. We can present our agenda for advancing human rights protection in the Pacific powerfully at this Pre-COP.
As a region, we need to begin to win the argument about climate change in the theatres of international public opinion. Lobbyists and interests groups — including much of the global mainstream media — so wedded to petro interests appear to be winning.
We need to tell our stories with clarity and with impact. We need to back that with strategic bargains in all our international relations. A Pre-COP in the Pacific gives us a real chance of doing so.
Thank you for marking the 2025 International Human Rights Day in this way.
This speech about climate change and human rights was delivered by Dr Satyendra Prasad, the climate lead at Abt Global and Fiji’s former ambassador to the United Nations, during the 2025 Human Rights Day on December 10 at the University of Fiji. It is republished from Wansolwara News as part of Asia Pacific Report’s collaboration with the University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme.
Many Australian parents of school-age children will be looking forward to a break from the routine of packing school lunch boxes over the summer holidays. But in some other countries, lunch boxes are increasingly being replaced by school lunch programs.
Around 80% of primary school children in high-income countries globally receive school meals. This includes almost all primary school children in countries such as Finland, Sweden, Japan and South Korea. It’s around three-quarters of primary school children in the United States and 40% in New Zealand.
School meal programs may provide breakfast, lunch, snacks or food to take home, but in many countries they include a school lunch.
Australia is one of the few high-income countries that’s not part of the School Meals Coalition, a global alliance of national governments that aims to ensure all children get nutritious school meals by 2030.
That’s despite many Australian families struggling to afford enough nutritious food. Around 16% of Australian families with dependent children (including students aged 15–24) experienced food insecurity in 2023. It was 34% in lone-parent households.
With so many ultra-processed foods – such as chips and biscuits – in lunchboxes, a well designed school lunch program could make a difference.
Improving diets and academic performance
A growing number of countries are introducing free school lunch programs to tackle food insecurity, increase the quality of children’s diets and improve student performance.
Some school lunch programs provide free meals to children with the highest levels of disadvantage, such as programs in Canada.
Universal free school lunch programs, on the other hand, provide free meals to all children in particular year levels or regions. This means all children get the benefits, and it can reduce the stigma of participating in lunch programs aimed at disadvantaged children.
An evaluation of the first five years of the program found children who received free school lunches had higher educational attainment and fewer absences from school.
The UK government also funds free school lunches for older children in England experiencing disadvantage. It is expanding eligibility for free school meal programs.
Environmental and economic benefits
Some governments are using free school meal programs to deliver broader environmental, social and economic benefits.
Sweden provides free school lunches to all school children. Its national school meal guidelines say meals should be “eco-smart” as well as nutritious.
A program is underway in Sweden to explore how environmentally sustainable school meals could encourage a broader transformation of food systems.
School lunch programs can transform food systems by encouraging children to adopt healthy and sustainable diets, and by using sustainably produced food bought from local farmers.
Brazil provides nutritious free school meals to all school-age children. At least 30% of the funds provided for the program must be used to buy food from local family farmers, meaning the system supports regional economies as well as healthy eating.
Can Australia afford a school lunch program?
One challenge of introducing a free school meal program is the potential cost.
The average cost of a school meal program in high-income nations globally was around US$900 (A$1,345) per child per year in 2022.
But evidence suggests the benefits outweigh the costs.
A cost-benefit analysis for expanding England’s free school meals program estimated that every pound invested would generate a return of 1.3–1.7 times this investment.
This is made through savings to the national healthcare system, lower food bills for families, and increased lifetime earnings for students.
Another challenge of implementing a school lunch program is that most Australian schools don’t have catering kitchens or dining rooms.
But in some school lunch programs, such as the one in France, meals are made off campus in centralised kitchens run by municipal governments or private companies and delivered to schools.
Tasmania has launched a free school lunch program that delivers healthy school lunches to children in around 45 schools.
Multiple federal and state government inquiries into food security have recommended the introduction of school meals programs in Australia.
Australia can learn from the experiences of other countries to introduce a universal free school lunch program that benefits children, their families, local farmers and the health of the planet.
Rachel Carey leads the research project Foodprint Melbourne, which is funded by the Greater Melbourne Foundation. She is a co-lead of the international FLOW Partnership which investigates regional food systems and is funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She was a Research Fellow on the project ‘Regulating Food Labels: The case of free range food products in Australia’, which was funded by the Australian Research Council. She was an advisor on the Australian Institutional Food Procurement Project, which was funded by the Macdoch Foundation.
Netsafe chief online safety officer Sean Lyons.RNZ
Netsafe is warning people to be extra cautious with emails they receive including their private information, as hackers threaten to release more than 400,000 stolen health documents.
They took the files from the online portal Manage My Health, and 120,000 people are affected.
The Tuesday morning deadline for Manage My Health to pay the US$60,000 ransom passed without the files being publicly shared, but unverified reports appeared to put a new deadline at 5am on Friday.
Manage My Health has identified general practices whose patients have had their private health information breached, but it is not yet clear when those patients will be told.
Netsafe chief online safety officer Sean Lyons said it’s difficult to know what to watch out for while it’s unclear what’s been stolen.
But he said people should have a “raised level of suspicion” about any communication containing their private data.
“Even names, addresses, dates of birth, family members, we hear talk about maybe even scans of passport details,” he said.
Hackers could include that information in an email and claim to be their GP, Manage My Health, or another agency, Lyons said.
“So that kind of … ‘I must know who you are because I hold your NHI number, or I know your address and date of birth, therefore I must be from the agency that I say I am’,” he said.
“So it really is being extra cautious around anything that contains your personal information and asking for more, for money, for more information.”
Lyons said dodgy emails may also apply pressure on people, like giving deadlines for a response or payment, or threatening people that they’re at risk of prosecution or breaking a law.
“Don’t give in to that pressure, contact the agency that somebody says they’re from directly, don’t use any of the communication methods, numbers, email addresses, whatever that they give you.”
People could also contact Netsafe for advice if they are unsure, he said.
Anyone who Manage My Health says has been affected by the data breach has the right to ask the company for more information, Lyons said.
“It’s important that we know what it is that we should be looking out for, to what extent that information of ours has been breached, and what we might need to do to … shore up our privacy position based on it.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The organ of the UN that plays the main role maintaining peace and security is the UN Security Council.
Under the rules established by the UN Charter, military action – the use of force – is only lawful if it has been authorised by a resolution from the UN Security Council (as outlined in Article 42 of the Charter), or if the state in question is acting in self-defence.
Self-defence is governed by strict rules requiring it to be in response to an armed attack (Article 51). Even then, self-defence is lawful only until the Security Council has stepped in to restore international peace and security.
The Security Council is made up of 15 member states:
five permanent (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – also known as the P5)
ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
Resolutions require nine affirmative votes and no veto from any permanent member, giving the P5 decisive control over all action on peace and security.
This was set up expressly to prevent the UN from being able to take action against the major powers (the “winners” of the second world war), but also to allow them to act as a balance to each other’s ambitions.
This system only works, however, when the P5 agree to abide by the rules.
Could the UN veto system be reformed?
As aptly demonstrated by the Russians and Americans in recent years, the veto power can render the Security Council effectively useless, no matter how egregious the breach of international law.
As one of us (Tamsin Paige) has explained previously, however, self-serving use of the veto power (meaning when a member state uses its veto power to further its own interests) may be politically objectionable but it is not legally prohibited.
The UN Charter imposes no enforceable limits on veto use.
Nor is there any possibility of a judicial review of the Security Council at the moment.
And herein lies one of the most significant and deliberate design flaws of the UN system.
The charter places the P5 above the law, granting them not only the power to veto collective action, but also the power to veto any attempt at reform.
Dissolving and reconstituting the UN under a new charter is the only structural alternative.
This, however, would require a level of global collectivism that presently does not exist. One or more of the P5 would likely block any reform or redesign that would see the loss of their veto power.
An uncomfortable truth
It does, therefore, appear as though we are witnessing the collapse of the UN-led international peace and security system in real time.
The Security Council cannot – by design – intervene when the P5 (China, France, Russia, the UK and US) are the aggressors.
But focusing only on the Security Council risks missing much of what the UN actually does, every day, largely out of sight.
Despite its paralysis when it comes to great-power conflict, the UN is not a hollow institution.
The Secretariat, for instance, supports peacekeeping and political missions and helps organise international conferences and negotiations.
UN-administered agencies coordinate humanitarian relief and deliver life-saving aid.
The UN machinery touches on everything from health to human rights to climate and development, performing functions that no single state can replicate alone.
None of this work requires Security Council involvement, but all of it depends on the UN’s institutional infrastructure (of which the Security Council is an integral part).
The uncomfortable truth is we have only one real choice at present: a deeply flawed global institution, or none at all.
The future of the UN may simply be one of sheer endurance, holding together what can still function and waiting for political conditions to change.
We support it not because it works perfectly, or even well, but because losing it would be much worse.
Should we work towards a better system that doesn’t reward the powerful by making them unaccountable? Absolutely.
But we shouldn’t throw out all of the overlooked good the UN does beyond the Security Council’s chambers because of the naked hypocrisy and villainy of the P5.
Tamsin Phillipa Paige received an Endeavour Fellowship from the Department of Education in 2014 (in effect through 2015 and 2016), funding her work on the UN Security Council.
Juliette McIntyre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
It appears the deadline given by the Manage My Health hackers demanding a US$60,000 ransom for hundreds of thousands of stolen medical files could now be later in the week.
A timeline had been set for about 5am on Tuesday, but the hackers have not released any further data.
Unverified reports now appear to put the new deadline at 5am on Friday morning.
RNZ has approached police for comment.
Manage My Health said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.
The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.
“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”
It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martina Linnenluecke, Professor at UTS Business School; Centre for Climate Risk and Resilience, University of Technology Sydney
When writer Cory Doctorow introduced the term enshittification in 2023, he captured a pattern many users had already noticed in their personal lives.
The social media platforms, e-commerce sites and search engines they were using had noticeably deteriorated in quality. Many had begun to prioritise content from advertisers and other third parties. Profit became the main goal.
Doctorow frames this decline as a death spiral: the online platforms once offered value to their users, but slowly shifted their focus to extracting value, with little regard for consequences.
But our recent research, published in Organization, shows that enshittification isn’t just confined to the online world. In fact, it’s now visible in academic publishing and occurs in five stages. The same forces that hollow out digital platforms are shaping how a lot of research is produced, reviewed and published.
The big business of commercial academic publishing
Academic publishing has grown substantially over recent years.
In this sense, academic publishing rivals the music and film industries. Some publishers report profit margins comparable to tech giants such as Microsoft and Google.
This expansion has brought signs of enshittification. The rise of large open-access and predatory journals prioritise profit over scholarly integrity. This has led to a surge in low-quality publications. Many of these are disguised as contributions to “special issues”.
These trends mirror the degradation seen in online platforms, where user value is sacrificed for financial gain. The parallels prompted us to investigate the forces reshaping scholarly communication.
Research as a commercial commodity
Since the 1980s, academic publishing has become increasingly commodified. It is now shaped by profitability, competition and performance metrics. Universities have adopted market-based management practices and rely more and more on performance metrics to assess their staff.
Science is bought and sold, and is increasingly shaped by corporate funding and managerial logic. Scholars have described this shift – exemplified by commercial academic publishing – as “academic capitalism”. It influences what research gets done, how it is evaluated and how careers progress.
The open access movement was originally meant to make knowledge more widely available. However, major publishers including Wiley, Elsevier and Springer Nature saw it as a way to push their production costs onto authors – and earn extra money.
Publishers introduced article processing charges, expanded their services, and launched new titles to capture market share. When the highly prestigious journal Nature announced its open access option in 2021, it came with a per-article fee for authors of up to €9,500 (roughly A$17,000).
The shift to “article processing charges” raised concerns about declining research quality and integrity. At the other end of the spectrum, we find predatory journals that mimic legitimate open access outlets. But they charge fees without offering peer review or editorial oversight.
These exploitative platforms publish low-quality research and often use misleading names to appear credible. With an estimated 15,000 such journals in operation, predatory publishing has become a major industry and is contributing to the enshittification of academic publishing.
These trends intensify (and are intensified by) the long-standing “publish or perish” culture in academia.
Academic enshittification
Based on these trends, we identified a five-stage downward spiral in the enshittification of academic publishing.
The commodification of research shifts value from intellectual merit to marketability
The proliferation of pay-to-publish journals spreads across and expands both elite and predatory outlets
A decline in quality and integrity follows as profit-driven models compromise peer review and oversight
The sheer volume of publications makes it difficult to identify authoritative work. Fraudulent journals spread hoax papers and pirated content
Enshittification follows. The scholarly system is overwhelmed by quantity, distorted by profit motives, and is stripped of its purpose of advancing knowledge.
Reclaiming academic publishing as a public good
Our research is a warning about enshittification. It is a systemic issue that threatens the value and development of academic publishing. Academia has become increasingly guided by metrics. As a result, research quality is judged more by where it is published than by its intrinsic worth.
But why are users (and academics) not simply leaving their “enshittified” experience behind? The answer is the same across various online platforms: a lack of credible alternatives makes it hard to leave, even as quality declines.
Countering this trend demands interventions and the creation of alternatives. These include a reassessment of evaluation metrics, a reduced reliance on commercial publishers, and greater global equity in research.
Some promising alternatives already exist. Cooperative publishing models, institutional repositories and policy initiatives such as the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment all advocate for broader and more meaningful assessments of scholarly impact.
Reclaiming academic publishing as a public good will require a return to not-for-profit models and sustainable open-access systems. Quality, accessibility and integrity need to be put ahead of profit.
Change is needed to help protect the core purpose of academic research: to advance knowledge in the public interest.
Martina Linnenluecke receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as well as the Australian Investment and Securities Commission (ASIC) for the project “Climate Related Financial Disclosure – External Capacity Building”.
Carl Rhodes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Australia is getting hotter. Climate change is driving more frequent and prolonged extreme heatwaves and our homes are struggling to keep up. Alarmingly, many Australian houses – especially older ones – weren’t designed for these harsh conditions.
During a heatwave, large parts of the country’s interior can soar above 40°C. That’s not only uncomfortable but also dangerous, as extreme heat puts residents at serious health risk.
Heatwaves have caused more deaths in Australia than any natural disaster combined.
That’s where smart materials come in. They can significantly change some of their properties in a controlled manner in response to external stimuli, such as temperature. And they are being incorporated into materials such as bricks and roof cladding to make homes more resistant to heat fluctuations.
Air-conditioning can’t save us
The default fix? Turn on the air conditioner. But cooling our homes with machines comes at a cost. Our growing reliance on air conditioning creates a dangerous feedback loop: more heat leads to more energy use, which ultimately drives up carbon dioxide emissions if no solar power is available.
You might be surprised to learn that buildings are responsible for around 40% of global energy use and nearly one-third of carbon dioxide emissions. In Australia, up to 50% of household energy is consumed for heating and cooling depending on the climate zone – and demand peaks during heatwaves.
To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, we need more than just efficient appliances and rooftop solar. We need to rethink how homes interact with heat – and that’s where smart materials can make a real difference. Instead of simply blasting air-conditioning, we can build homes that actively respond to their environment.
Imagine a material that passively absorbs excess heat during the day and releases it back into the home when temperatures drop at night, with no switches, no electricity and no noise. That’s the magic of phase change materials, a type of smart material. They are made from materials such as waxes, salts, fatty acids and plant-based oils, and come in the form of thin panels, microcapsules, and liquid-filled pouches.
These materials absorb heat as they melt and release it again when they solidify, acting like a thermal battery embedded in your roof tiles or walls. A thermal battery stores energy in the form of heat instead of electricity. This means your home can “charge” with heat when it’s warm and “discharge” that heat when it’s cool.
In summer, phase change materials absorb indoor heat during the day, which keeps living spaces cooler. At night, as outdoor temperatures drop, they release that stored heat. In winter, it’s the opposite.
Phase change materials can offer even greater thermal mass than traditional materials like brick, stone or concrete. And studies show they can reduce average building energy use by around 37% across various Australian cities.
But they do have a limitation under extreme or prolonged heat. If overnight temperatures remain high – as often happens during multi-day heatwaves – the material may not cool down enough to solidify. Once fully melted, it can no longer absorb heat, making it temporarily ineffective.
Reflective coatings
Like slipping on sunglasses on a sunny day, reflective coatings shield homes from the sun’s harsh rays. When applied to rooftops, they can lower indoor temperatures by up to 4°C. This means less reliance on air conditioning and lower energy bills – a simple, cost-effective way to beat the heat.
But there’s a catch: what works brilliantly in summer can backfire in winter. These reflective surfaces also bounce away the warmth you want during colder months. And instead of absorbing heat, your home gets chillier.
To build homes for a warming world, we need solutions for all seasons – smart materials that respond to their environment by blocking heat when it’s hot, and absorbing it when it’s cold.
The future is adaptive
Our homes need layered strategies. Imagine a roof that not only reflects intense summer heat but also works with phase change materials to absorb and regulate indoor temperatures year round.
In a recent study, led by this article’s lead author, Md Jaynul Abden, reflective roof coatings combined with phase change materials embedded in roof tiles and gypsum board were found to significantly improve home performance during simulated Australian heatwaves.
The results were striking: indoor temperatures dropped by 7.9–9.7 °C across cities, and energy savings reached up to 80.6%. Most importantly, indoor environments remained significantly more comfortable. This is a critical benefit during heatwaves, especially for vulnerable communities without air-conditioning.
By carefully balancing the reflection and absorption of materials, we can ensure they perform optimally. These solutions aren’t mainstream yet, but as heatwaves intensify and the demand for energy efficiency grows, adaptive roofing systems are likely to become common in new builds and retrofits within the next decade.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Graham Garnett, 66, was meant to return on 30 December.Supplied / NZ Police
The radar technology being used to search for a tramper lost in the Kahurangi National Park has long been used on ski-fields, but is now increasingly also used for other searches, the Mountain Safety Council says.
Garnett was expected to return from a tramp in the Baton/Ellis River area of Kahurangi National Park on 30 December.
Police will use a helicopter-mounted RECCO technology radar to assist with search efforts, and have asked other people to steer clear of the search areas.
Mike Daisley, chief executive officer of the Mountain Safety Council, said the radar picked up on people with the specific Recco strips in their gear. The system had long been used in ski fields and alpine environments, particularly to find people caught in an avalanche, he said.
“Within New Zealand, using it in a wider land based [search], that’s a fairly new thing.
“That’s mainly based on the different types of clothing and equipment manufacturers now putting this in more general items, rather than just in very specialist alpine clothing.”
Daisley said the radar would easily pick up the gear with the specific RECCO strips, but could also pick up other metal.
“Small parts of backpacks have often got little pieces of aluminium and other metals, or even in your rain hood of your rain jacket, and they may be detected. That’s why police are asking other people to stay out of the area.”
Drone used in second search
Another search is underway near Lake Ōhau in the Mackenzie Basin for 20-year-old Connor Purvis, who has not been seen since he went to climb Mt Huxley on Tuesday last week.
Connor Purvis.Supplied / NZ Police
Police said they would be deploying a drone to assist search efforts, as long as weather conditions held.
Daisley said drone use was also increasingly common by LandSAR and police in searches.
“Overseas they have been used for some time, but as drone technology has become a bit more approachable in price and the range of this equipment has increased, it is growing in its use.”
Drones could be easier to deploy than a small plane or helicopter, but still had limited range and were much more impacted by the weather conditions, he said.
Daisley said the main bit of advice for people heading out on tramps, particularly for those doing longer trips, was to take some form of emergency communication device and not just rely on cell phone technology.
A video shows a number of fish found dead in the water near Great Barrier Island (file image).RNZ/Carol Stiles
Fisheries NZ is investigating a complaint after a number of fish were found dead in the water near Great Barrier Island.
A video posted to social media shows some upset fisherman making the discovering.
One of the fisherman calls the sight “just bloody terrible”.
Fisheries NZ regional manager Andre Espinoza said they had identified a fishing vessel operating in the area and were investigating.
“Fisheries New Zealand has received a complaint, and we are looking into it to establish whether any fisheries offence has occurred,” he said.
“Illegal discarding of fish from commercial vessels is relatively rare because of the prevalence of on-board cameras on many vessels and because we are able to track the movements of vessels in near real time. However, we do receive complaints from time to time and follow up on each on.”
Espinoza said they would review the vessel’s onboard camera footage, catch reporting and GPS vessel tracking.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey.RNZ / Mark Papalii
Four organisations are set to receive more funding through the government’s Mental Health Innovation Fund, to scale up the support they offer.
For the second round of the fund, the government lowered the $250,000 matched funding threshold to $100,000.
The initiative was funded $10 million over two years to support non-government organisations or community providers.
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said the funding would remove barriers to support, help people access the right support earlier, and ensure communities and workplaces could get mental health support when and where it was needed.
“I have been very clear that this government is not only focused on ensuring the right support is in place to treat mental health issues, but also on preventing Kiwis from reaching that point,” he said.
“That’s why we are investing more in prevention and early intervention, and we know grassroots organisations play a vital role in increasing access to support.”
Among the new recipients is support co-ordination service Hearts and Minds, which will expand early intervention services in Auckland’s Waitematā.
Christchurch community hub The Loft would receive funding for a new digital service, which would assist an additional 200 people.
MATES in Construction, which also received funding in the first round of the fund, would get extra funding to reach an additional 3000 construction workers across 19 regions.
Finally, Asian Family Services, which provides culturally-tailored health support for Asian New Zealanders, would receive funding for its mental health and addiction practitioners in Auckland and Wellington, as well as its nationwide telehealth service.
In November, Barnardos, Netsafe, the Graeme Dingle Foundation, Ki Tua o Matariki, and Whānau Āwhina Plunket were announced as recipients of second round funding.
MATES in Construction, The Mental Health Foundation, YouthLine, Wellington City Mission, Rotorua Youth One Stop Shop, and the Sir John Kirwan Foundation all received funding in the first round.
Organisations wanting to access the fund have to match the amount they are seeking.
Sexual violence and family harm victims will be living in terror that their private details could be among a cache of hacked medical information, an advocate says.
More than 400,000 files have been stolen from the Manage My Health platform.
It was a shocking data breach of highly sensitive information involving about 15,000 patients’ records, independent advocate Claire Buckley said.
“The problem with that is that anybody who has used that system will now be vulnerable and potentially re-traumatised and potentially unnecessarily re-traumatised because their data may not be part of the hack. And so that’s the harm that’s being caused – it’s not just to the people that have been hacked and whose data is vulnerable. It’s also to anyone who uses that system whose data may not have been hacked, but they are living [with] the terror that it could have been.
“And I mean terror. People who have been through these kind of horrific traumas are not people who are feeling secure at the best of times. And so something like this, where their personal data could get out there is something that is more terrifying than to your average person who may have their medical records out there. There’s a really big difference between, oh, ‘did you know that this person was on statins?’ versus, ‘this person had an horrendous sexual assault, and they have permanent damage in this way’, which would all be documented within those doctor’s notes.”
Buckley said abusive ex-partners could find their family’s addresses, or other criminals could track down their victims.
“This kind of information may be able to lead their partners to find them, so that will be terrifying for them. And then anyone who’s had any kind of severe trauma in the family relating to a homicide, for example, all of that’s documented in their health records. Often they need counselling. And so all of those things are now going to be, you know, on the dark web, accessible to people who have the nefarious means to access that.
“And it’s just so re-traumatising to anyone who’s been through any kind of severe trauma, particularly one that may be ongoing in terms of a case that may still be pending and in terms of someone who is still trying to keep away from an abusive spouse.”
“Everyone who has been through that kind of trauma, whether it be family harm or sexual assault will be saying ‘pay the ransom – it is completely worth it to protect my privacy’. And that’s the problem. A lot of companies do pay it specifically to try and avoid the harm that can be caused.
“The problem, of course, is that the bad guys who are doing the hacking know that companies are willing to pay now because of the level of harm that they are causing. And so it becomes this kind of vicious cycle. If we pay them, then they know they can be paid. Therefore, they will keep trying to get into these systems and take the data for ransom again.”
A worrying possibility would be that it could make people think twice about what they tell their doctor.
“And that would be the worst part of the situation, would be people who are in desperate need not wanting their information to be stored on the system. Because you can imagine if you have been the victim of a sexual assault and it is quite graphic in nature, you are not going to want your doctor to be documenting that in a system that is not considered reliable enough to ensure that your personal security and privacy is protected.”
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
The hackers, calling themselves ‘Kazu’, posted on Sunday morning that unless the company paid a ransom within 48 hours, they would leak more than 400,000 files in their possession.Supplied
Patients are anxious to know whether they’re affected by the Manage My Health hack – and there’s a pressing need for the company to tell people if their data’s been stolen, GP owners say.
The hackers, known online as ‘Kazu’ have not leaked any further data after the deadline for the ransom had passed.
General Practice Owners’ Association chairperson Angus Chambers told Morning Report GPs don’t know who’s affected, or what information’s been taken.
General Practice Owners’ Association chairperson Angus Chambers.Supplied
“There’s a lot of patients who are worried that their privacy’s been breached, and they still don’t know, and there’s people who have had their privacy breached, and they don’t know either,” he said.
“There’s a lot of anxiety, and it’s actually creating a lot of work for GPs, because there’s a lot of queries, a lot of explanations, so we feel that we need to get that anxiety put to bed.”
That was Manage My Health’s job, he said.
“GPs are involved to a degree, but … it looks like it’s their responsibility, their fault, we feel it’s on them to be doing informing.”
Chambers said practices must be prudent about cyber security and protecting their patients, but it was not as simple as switching platforms.
In many practices, Manage My Health was closely connected with practice management software, and changing that was a massive job, he said.
Manage My Health said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.
The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.
“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”
It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.
Tennis clubs are among those who need to register.RNZ / Bridget Tunnicliffe
Fewer than half of New Zealand’s incorporated community sport organisations (ICSOs) have registered under new legislation, with the deadline just 13 weeks away.
The New Zealand Amateur Sport Association said Companies Office data showed just under half of the around 7000 ICSOs were registered under the 2022 Incorporated Societies Act.
By 5 April, sports clubs need to register under the 2022 Act or experience involuntary dissolution and loss of incorporated status, which exposes members to personal risk and limits a club’s ability to raise funds and enter into contracts.
Before re-registering, clubs have to rewrite their constitutions and include additional procedures like dispute resolution processes and submit it with the Registrar of Incorporated Societies.
The registrar will reject it if it is non-compliant and clubs would have to start over again.
Over the next 13 weeks, the association estimated the average daily registration rate (based on the actual registration rate over the eight weeks to 31 December 2025) needed to increase three-fold, for all ICSOs to continue to have a legal identity.
If the current registration rate was maintained between now and “dissolution day”, it estimated 36 percent of currently registered ICSOs would cease to have incorporated status, affecting many sporting codes and communities.
The association believed many ICSOs were still unaware of their legislative obligations or oblivious to their impact, with many ICSOs likely to continue operating in an unincorporated state once they had been involuntarily dissolved by the Registrar of Incorporated Societies in April.
While there had been an increase in registrations over the past eight weeks, since the association undertook its last analysis, most sport codes had fewer than half of their clubs registered under the new act.
Lawn and Indoor Bowls had achieved the greatest compliance, with around three-quarters of all clubs registered. Only one in 10 equestrian clubs had taken the necessary steps to remain registered.
Some of the country’s biggest codes – cricket, netball, and rugby union – all languish among the sports with lower rates of registration.
The association has asked the minister for commerce and consumer affairs to extend the deadline by at least a further 12 months to avoid the unintended consequences for local communities, which relied on volunteers to deliver sport throughout New Zealand.
“It’s a quick turnaround between games so recovery will be key, and hopefully the body just keeps improving as we keep going,” he said.
The T20 World Cup, hosted by India and Sri Lanka, will start a week after New Zealand’s final T20 international against India.
“The preparation side of it is going to be fantastic, but it is going to be about staying as fresh as possible for the biggest event of the year.
“The conditions may be a little bit different to what we actually get in the World Cup, you never quite know what pitches will be produced especially if we are playing subcontinent teams.
“They tend to produce something that is a bit more spin-friendly [for World Cups] but in the T20 and ODI tour they tend to produce pitches that are really quite good.
“Chennai could spin quite a bit, whereas in Ahmedabad it could be a lot flatter and a lot faster, so it is about getting as much information as possible heading into the World Cup.”
A number of the Black Caps could be away as long as two months if the team progresses deep into the World Cup, and while there will not be much time for anything else other than training and playing, Phillips said he had packed his computer games – including his flight and golf simulators.
Otago Volts Glenn Phillips batting against Central Stags, 2025.www.photosport.nz
“It is definitely about keeping that life balance as much as possible. Stay fresh, stay happy with the boys getting around each other to make sure that we’re all in good places and making the most of our time together and enjoying each other’s company off the field.”
Phillips said they were not always seen as the enemy in India, as many of the locals viewed New Zealand as their second-favourite team.
“There is a lot of support, even though first and foremost they’re cheering for their Indian side. We do get a lot of love, which is fantastic.”
Black Caps schedule in India
1st ODI 9pm Sunday 11 Jan, Baroda
2nd ODI 9pm Wednesday 14 Jan, Rajkot
3rd ODI 9pm Sunday 18 Jan, Indore
1st T20 2:30am Thursday 22 Jan, Nagpur
2nd T20 2:30am Saturday 24 Jan, Raipur
3rd T20 2:30am Monday 25 Jan, Guwahati
4th T20 2:30am Thursday 29 Jan, Vizag
5th T20, 2:30am Sunday 1 Feb, Trivandrum
T20 World Cup India and Sri Lanka, 7 February – 8 March
Police urged motorists to avoid the area and expect delays (file image).Pretoria Gordon / RNZ
Debris is blocking a major road in Stratford after it fell from a truck.
Police said on Tuesday morning the northbound lane of Broadway/State Highway 3 through the Taranaki town was blocked, and would be for “some time” while it was cleared.
No one was injured, they said.
Police urged motorists to avoid the area and expect delays.
Kenepuru Community Hospital in Porirua.Google Maps
The senior doctors union says Health NZ needs to better staff Porirua’s Kenepuru Accident & Medical Clinic (KAMC), after it was left without a doctor overnight on Sunday.
Health NZ said the accident and medical clinic was without a doctor between 10.30pm on Sunday and 7am on Monday because the rostered staffer was sick, and they could not find anyone to cover the shift.
Instead, nurses assessed patients and decided whether they could wait until the morning, or needed emergency care.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton said it was unfair on the communities serviced by the clinic.
“Of course people get sick, but the question is why the employer is running the service in such a way that it’s impossible to cover… particularly at short notice,” she said.
“We think that the people in those communities have the same entitlement to after-hours care as people who live just 20 minutes further south or across in the Hutt Valley, both of which have fully commissioned emergency departments available to them.”
Sarah Dalton.LANCE LAWSON PHOTOGRAPHY / Supplied
Kenepuru Hospital, and KAMC service about 120,000 people in Porirua, Tawa, and the Kāpiti Coast.
They are major urban areas being treated the same way as a remote and hard to staff centre like Dargaville, Dalton said, a d ASMS members had become used to making do with “substandard” staffing levels.
“Normal staffing levels or budgeted staffing levels are not sufficient to allow for sickness, leave, other things that pop up in the normal line of people’s lives.”
She worried that inadequate staffing at Kenepuru’s overnight clinic could increase pressure at Wellington Hospital’s already squeezed emergency department.
Health NZ Capital Coast & Hutt Valley operations director Jamie Duncan said people could still access the clinic for lower-level care on Sunday night, and it was staffed again on Monday night.
“It has had stable coverage of the overnight shift for 18 months,” he said.
“The KAMC is an after-hours clinic for urgent care, which would escalate all emergencies to Wellington Regional Hospital ED and Hutt Hospital ED regardless of staffing of the clinic.”
It was difficult to staff the clinic at short notice during this time of year, said Duncan.
There was “no noticeable increase” in people seeking care at the Wellington or Hutt Hospital emergency departments on Sunday night, he said.
There has been no sign of 20-year-old Connor Purvis since he went to climb Mt Huxley on Tuesday last week.
Police say the Search and Rescue team are working to refine the search area, and are being supported by teams from the greater South Island and the Alpine Cliff Rescue team.
They are also planning on deploying a drone to assist search efforts, as long as weather conditions hold.
On Sunday, Otago coastal search and rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Matt Sheat said helicopters had scoured the area.
They have been looking through huts and camp sites but have found no sign of Purvis.
“We ask anyone who has climbed Mt Huxley or has been tramping or hunting in the Huxley River South Branch between 28 December and 2 January to make contact with Police if they haven’t already,” Sheat said.
“We also want to hear from anyone who may have seen or spoken to Connor in the South Temple, Ahuriri or Huxley valleys in that same timeframe.
“It’s a large-scale search over a large area, and the smallest piece of information could make all the difference.”
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Neighbourly was temporarily shut down on New Year’s Day after the breach was uncovered.Screenshot
The owner of a hacked social media platform says they have a court injunction to stop private information being released.
Stuff Digital owns Neighbourly and co-owns the Stuff news website, which is reporting they have been granted a High Court injunction to stop the information being shared.
The Neighbourly website was temporarily shut down on New Year’s Day when the breach was discovered but is back online.
Neighbourly was temporarily shut down on New Year’s Day after the breach was uncovered.Screenshot
The owner of a hacked social media platform says they have a court injunction to stop private information being released.
Stuff Digital owns Neighbourly and co-owns the Stuff news website, which is reporting they have been granted a High Court injunction to stop the information being shared.
The Neighbourly website was temporarily shut down on New Year’s Day when the breach was discovered but is back online.
An IT security expert has previously told RNZ that [] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/583175/be-very-very-suspicious-neighbourly-breach-makes-users-vulnerable-expert the hack has included GPS details which could identify people’s homes].
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Patients are anxious to know whether they’re affected by the ManageMyHealth hack – and there’s a pressing need for the company to tell people if their data’s been stolen, GP owners say.
The hackers, known online as ‘Kazu’ have not leaked any further data after the deadline for the ransom had passed.
General Practice Owners’ Association chairperson Angus Chambers told Morning Report GPs don’t know who’s affected, or what information’s been taken.
General Practice Owners’ Association chairperson Angus Chambers.Supplied
“There’s a lot of patients who are worried that their privacy’s been breached, and they still don’t know, and there’s people who have had their privacy breached, and they don’t know either,” he said.
“There’s a lot of anxiety, and it’s actually creating a lot of work for GPs, because there’s a lot of queries, a lot of explanations, so we feel that we need to get that anxiety put to bed.”
That was ManageMyHealth’s job, he said.
“GPs are involved to a degree, but … it looks like it’s their responsibility, their fault, we feel it’s on them to be doing informing.”
Chambers said practices must be prudent about cyber security and protecting their patients, but it was not as simple as switching platforms.
In many practices, ManageMyHealth was closely connected with practice management software, and changing that was a massive job, he said.
ManageMyHealth said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.
The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.
“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”
It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.
The Christmas holiday road toll is still down from 15 the previous year, and 22 in 2024.
The director of road policing, Superintendent Steve Greally, said police were not celebrating the drop in deaths over the past few years, because even one death is one too many.
“We’re not going to celebrate until we have zero deaths on our roads, but this is trending in the right direction.
“We want everyone to keep in mind that one death is one too many.”
Greally said police will continue road policing operations and patrols, especially in higher risk crash areas.
“We’re all responsible for road safety, and while our officers are doing all that they can on the roads to reduce the number of serious crashes, we need drivers to do their part.
“Make sure you are always driving free from alcohol, drugs, and fatigue.”
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Kenepuru Community Hospital in Porirua.Google Maps
The senior doctors union says Health NZ needs to better staff Porirua’s Kenepuru Accident & Medical Clinic (KAMC), after it was left without a doctor overnight on Sunday.
Health NZ said the accident and medical clinic was without a doctor between 10.30pm on Sunday and 7am on Monday because the rostered staffer was sick, and they could not find anyone to cover the shift.
Instead, nurses assessed patients and decided whether they could wait until the morning, or needed emergency care.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton said it was unfair on the communities serviced by Kenepuru Hospital.
“Of course people get sick, but the question is why the employer is running the service in such a way that it’s impossible to cover… particularly at short notice,” she said.
“We think that the people in those communities have the same entitlement to after-hours care as people who live just 20 minutes further south or across in the Hutt Valley, both of which have fully commissioned emergency departments available to them.”
Sarah Dalton.LANCE LAWSON PHOTOGRAPHY / Supplied
Kenepuru Hospital services around 120,000 people in Porirua, Tawa, and the Kāpiti Coast.
They are major urban areas being treated the same way as a remote and hard to staff centre like Dargaville, Dalton said, a d ASMS members had become used to making do with “substandard” staffing levels.
“Normal staffing levels or budgeted staffing levels are not sufficient to allow for sickness, leave, other things that pop up in the normal line of people’s lives.”
She worried that inadequate staffing at Kenepuru’s overnight clinic could increase pressure at Wellington Hospital’s already squeezed emergency department.
Health NZ Capital Coast & Hutt Valley operations director Jamie Duncan said people could still access the clinic for lower-level care on Sunday night, and it was staffed again on Monday night.
“It has had stable coverage of the overnight shift for 18 months,” he said.
“The KAMC is an after-hours clinic for urgent care, which would escalate all emergencies to Wellington Regional Hospital ED and Hutt Hospital ED regardless of staffing of the clinic.”
It was difficult to staff the clinic at short notice during this time of year, said Duncan.
There was “no noticeable increase” in people seeking care at the Wellington or Hutt Hospital emergency departments on Sunday night, he said.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carolina Quintero Rodriguez, Senior Lecturer and Program Manager, Bachelor of Fashion (Enterprise) program, RMIT University
Summer means sunshine, beach days, and afternoons by the pool … which means wearing swimwear and looking after it. But while we enjoy those carefree summer days, pool chemicals, UV rays from sunlight, sweat and salt water are quietly damaging the delicate fibres of our swimwear.
The good news is a simple habit can make a big difference. You may have heard you should rinse out your swimmers after you’ve been in the pool so they don’t fall apart. Here’s the science behind this advice.
What swimwear is made of
Modern swimwear isn’t just fabric. It’s an engineered material made of a sophisticated blend of synthetic fibres designed to perform under demanding conditions.
Polyester and polyamide dominate swimwear fabrics because they ensure the swimwear will hold its shape when wet, and dry faster than other types of fabrics would.
However, it’s the elastane that helps to ensure swimwear stays on our body during swimming and lets us move with comfort.
All these fibres respond differently to environmental conditions. While polyester generally resists chlorine really well compared to polyamides, elastane remains the most vulnerable component in any swimwear fabric. At the same time, elastane is absolutely essential for achieving the body-hugging fit that makes swimwear comfortable.
Chlorine, sun and saltwater can all do damage
Pool chlorine might keep the water safe and disinfected, but it wages chemical warfare on fabrics.
Chlorine exposure causes severe and progressive degradation of swimwear materials. After 300 hours of exposure to chlorine and sunlight – equivalent to approximately 35 days of summer – the strength of swimwear fabrics may drop by 65%.
The rate of polyamide (nylon) degradation depends on the acidity of the water, with degradation most pronounced at pH levels below 5.0. This pH sensitivity means pool chemistry matters – improperly balanced pool water will speed up how fast your swimwear breaks down. The acceptable range for pool water pH is between 7.0 and 7.2.
UV radiation from the Sun also increases degradation. Elastane fibres are easily damaged by heat, light, atmospheric contaminants such as humidity, moisture and temperature, and chlorine.
Elastane is known to lose strength when exposed to UV radiation for long periods, and direct sunlight while the garment is drying can break down the fibres, leading to loss of stretch and faded colours.
Salt and UV exposure together make the swimwear fibres degrade faster. Kindel Media/Pexels
How can I make my swimwear last, then?
Given the constant contact with chlorine, saltwater and UV rays, proper care becomes essential to extend the life of your swimwear.
The single most important tip for keeping your swimwear in good condition after the pool or the ocean is to rinse it immediately in cold or lukewarm water. This removes chlorine, salt water, sunscreen and body oils that would actively degrade fibres.
After rinsing, the best way to wash your swimwear is by hand, with a mild detergent. Avoid highly acidic or alkaline detergents, and never use bleach, as elastane fibres will lose stretch and turn yellow.
Fabric softeners should also be avoided, as they leave a coating that clogs fabric pores, trapping odours and bacteria while also degrading the elastane.
Air-drying is essential to extend the life of swimwear. Dry your swimwear in the shade away from direct sunlight, as UV rays continue breaking down elastane and fading colours even after swimming.
Remember to lay garments flat to prevent the stretching and deformation that occurs when hanging wet fabric.
Finally, never use machine dryers, as heat causes elastane fibres to become brittle, causing swimwear to lose shape and become loose or saggy.
Can swimwear be made better?
You may have seen swimwear marketed as chlorine-resistant, long-life, or made from newer materials such as PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), Econyl, Repreve, FishTale, EcoLux or others.
Although these innovations claim to improve durability and performance, they’re not invincible. Even the best fabrics still need proper care to achieve their longevity potential.
It may not seem like much, but your swimwear is actually a sophisticated piece of textile engineering designed to stretch, support and survive water exposure.
To make it last, treat rinsing as a non-negotiable part of your routine. That quick 30-second habit could help your swimsuit stay bright, stretchy and supportive for many summers to come.
Carolina Quintero Rodriguez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Many autistic people face challenges in their daily life while navigating a world made for neurotypical people.
Think about a trip to your local cafe. You might have patrons crammed into small spaces, bright lights, strong odours and sounds of noisy coffee machines, scraping chairs on hard surface floors, and crockery and cutlery clattering.
This escalating cacophony can easily become overwhelming for someone with sensory processing sensitivities, which are a common characteristic of autism.
Social interactions can also be draining for autistic people. A simple conversation may require complex, rapid decision-making. They must work to interpret non-verbal cues, manage their own emotional expressions, and may feel they have to “mask” or “camouflage” their autism.
These stressors can mount up over time and result in fatigue or periods of “autistic burnout”.
Burnout is different to a meltdown
A meltdown can occur when an autistic child or adult becomes overwhelmed and has an outpouring of energy that is relatively short-lived.
The person might first feel intense emotional dysregulation, irritation, frustration or sensory overload.
Some autistic people can be very literal. If they say “That music is just too loud, I feel sick, it’s too much, I need to get away”, they probably feel like they’re going to vomit or need to flee.
The meltdown might then involve crying, flapping or pacing, zoning out, lashing out or running away. Most people would have seen depictions of autistic meltdowns on TV shows and movies.
With the autonomy of adulthood, some autistic people can better identify when a meltdown might be approaching and may have the opportunity to mask or move to a private area, given the social cost of a meltdown in public. But a child may not be able to leave the situation.
There is little literature on meltdowns from the perspective of autistic people themselves. But some notableexceptions highlight the shame of having a meltdown. As one autistic doctor explained, “even the word meltdown is humiliating”.
While a meltdown is an outpouring of energy, our researchshows autistic burnout is a dearth of energy.
Masking autism is exhausting
Autistic people often have difficultly understanding the unwritten social rules. They may monitor themselves to try and meet these social rules, for example, making eye contact when talking (but not too much), waiting for their turn to talk, standing still and relaxed, not moving their hands too much, or engaging in small talk before making large requests.
Masking is a key stressor for autistic people. A long day at work can be exhausting for anyone, but long days of work that also require continuous masking can lead to autistic burnout.
Masking can be especially taxing if a social faux pas earlier in your life led to embarrassment, bullying or worse, causing an additional layer of stress during unexpected social interactions.
Autistic people might find it easier to interact with other autistic people, around whom they don’t feel they need to mask their autistic traits and can communicate authentically and discuss topics of interest.
Interacting with non-autistic people can be more difficult as there’s a greater likelihood of misunderstandings and communication breakdowns.
Burnout occurs when a person has been cognitively overloaded and overwhelmed, and the person’s energy levels have depleted to the level of physical and mental exhaustion.
In our research, we identified commonalities across autistic adults’ experiences of burnout. The person may have difficulty communicating, be confused, experience memory problems and find their autistic traits may become more intense. They may experience extreme fatigue and withdraw socially.
They may lose their ability to work or study, and may lose relationships in the process.
A burnout can last days, weeks, months, or even years. Some people never completely recover or reach their level of functioning before their burnout.
Autistic burnout is a new area of research. We still need to answer questions such as how long an autistic person needs to feel fatigue before it becomes burnout, or whether autistic burnout is a type of depression – so far it appears not to be, but more research is needed.
What if you’re in burnout now, or supporting someone who is?
If a person is experiencing autistic burnout, our research suggests they may benefit from having time alone, away from the demands and expectations of others and away from over-stimulating environments.
In our study, participants found rest and relaxation helped initially. This meant more sleep, spending time with pets and getting out into nature.
As the person’s energy rebuilds, they may gradually spend more time engaging with their passions, establishing routines and reconnecting with the world, their way.
To help manage meltdowns and avoid burnout, young autistic people also recommend:
open communication (talking through the emotions)
collaborative regulation (being sensitive to each other’s emotions and using strategies to regulate emotions)
individualised coping strategies (which can range from moulding clay and hanging out with a pet, to reading, playing music, sports, deep breathing or spending time alone).
Connecting with the online autism community, at places such as Wrong Planet, can also help.
Non-autistic carers and family can work with the person to enable these things. But if an autistic person says “I just can’t take this anymore”, be the ally who listens deeply and with an open mind to understand their experience.
Work together to problem-solve: would time off work, a change of environment, or extra support around the house reduce their stress? If they want, help connect them with an autism-informed mental health practitioner.
If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Samuel Arnold previously received funding from the Autism CRC.
Julianne Maree Higgins previously received funding from the Autism CRC.
When we think of an Australian farmer, we often still conjure up an image of a bloke in a hat, perhaps leaning on a fence post. If women make an appearance at all in this picture, it’s usually as a support to the male farmer.
Women’s labour has long been central to the success of Australian farming. But farming itself is still largely seen as a “masculine” job. That’s why the Australian women in agriculture movement has fought hard to change this perception.
Our research has reviewed the story and impacts of this movement over the past 40 years.
There have been some big wins for women – particularly in terms of cultural recognition. But they still do not have equal access to the economic rewards of farming.
Not just the farmer’s wife
Australian farmers get much less government support than in other advanced economies, including very low subsidies for agriculture.
The viability of farming in Australia has long been reliant on the flexible and often underpaid work of family members, including wives, daughters-in-law and daughters.
Even so, this contribution hasn’t always been visible or officially recognised.
In the 1990s, rural women started meeting and formulating agendas for change at what were known as the “Women on Farm Gatherings”.
Recognition as farmers was at the top of the list. But before making demands to be recognised as farmers, they first needed to self-identify in this way.
As one participant, Elaine Paton, is quoted as saying:
I went to a Woman on Farms Gathering as a farmer’s wife and I walked away a farmer.
In 1994, the movement was successful in challenging the existing legal status of women on farms as a “sleeping partner, non-productive”.
This impacted women’s position in divorce and injury settlements, impinging on their claims that they were contributors to the farm business and deserved recognition as such.
The movement was making gains in disrupting the masculine idea of what it was to be a farmer. But it also faced backlash.
For example, when Tasmanian Women in Agriculture formed in 1994, it was reportedly “seen in some circles as either a threat or a joke”.
Progress stalls
Like many Australian women’s movements, the momentum of the rural women’s movement stalled from the late 1990s onward.
The movement had been supported by the establishment of rural women’s units in state and federal government departments from the 1980s onward. These were focused on building the skills, recognition and confidence of women in agriculture.
But access to policy makers in the government via these organisations became constrained. Agriculture itself was undergoing a policy-driven economic restructuring at this time. Government supports, subsidies and services for farmers all declined.
Effectively making claims on the government depended on rural women’s groups supporting the broader agricultural policy of economic restructuring.
The rural women’s movement argued it was a “valuable, Australian resource” that could help the agriculture sector and rural communities adjust to this change.
Policies targeted at women in agriculture and women in rural areas focused on tapping into rural women’s potential to make farms professional and less reliant on government support.
This included building skills related to the farm office. These programs helped to legitimise the policy of economic restructuring, as it was seen to be empowering for women.
These programs did little to improve women’s access to the economic rewards of agriculture. Key politicians still appeared to see women as secondary farmers.
For example, in 2013, then federal agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce said agriculture would “fall flat on its face without the prominent and incredible role that women play”, but then described that role as “basically as the assistant farm labourer, with the partner or with the husband”.
Where we are today
Women’s on and off-farm labour is crucial for family farm viability in Australia, but they still do not share equally in the economic rewards of farming.
The flexibility and underpayment of family labour is arguably one of the key reasons Australian farming remains largely in family rather than corporate hands.
Our research has explored how contemporary Australian government policies targeting women in agriculture present women in three ways:
the supportive wife holding the farming family together
the entrepreneurial farm partner
the builder of resilient rural communities.
This does not recognise women as independent farmers in their own right. It also reinforces and normalises women’s contribution to agriculture and rural communities as underpaid or unpaid.
It also fails to recognise the diversity of Australian agriculture and the role of the construct of the white middle-class farming woman in colonisation.
Future proofing the Australian agricultural sector will rely on governments recognising that the sector is reliant on women’s work and introducing policies that aim to strengthen women’s economic positions.
Danielle Miller is affiliated with QUT Online as Academic Delivery Lead.
Lucie Newsome does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jye Marshall, Lecturer, Fashion Design, School of Design and Architecture, Swinburne University of Technology
Men have started sewing up a storm, driving a culture shift that challenges the traditional notion of sewing as a “women’s hobby”.
The COVID pandemic drove a resurgence in home economics, with many people – including many men – picking up skills such as sewing and knitting.
This trend has since grown, even as lockdowns have ended. And it disrupts the dominant narrative that men stick to stereotypical masculine identities – particularly in rural Australia, where social pressure to behave a certain way can feel amplified.
The rise of mens’ sewing
The term “performative male” has been used to describe a sub-group of men who try really hard to appear “non-masculine” – usually for the purpose of attracting women. Is picking up the sewing just another performative male trick?
The research suggests not. Instead, it reveals a subculture of men who are genuine fashion enthusiasts taking up the skill.
Globally, men’s sewing groups have also been established as a way to foster community and improve mental health.
Gen Z’s members in particular are not shying away from personalising their style – and finding ways to customise their wardrobes on a budget.
These young men are not as strongly influenced by trends flowing down from runways. Instead, they leverage social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to share their passion and influence others, bringing more young men into the fold.
The rise of men mending and sewing clothes has also been linked to broader societal awareness of sustainability and overconsumption issues.
Tailoring influences
While sewing has long been (and arguably still is) viewed as a typically feminine pursuit, there is some historic precedent for the rise of sewing among men today.
Throughout history, tailoring and suit-making have been seen as acceptable professions for men – and still are in many cultures such as in Pakistan, South Korea, Italy and Hong King.
In London, Savile Row and its famous menswear tailoring businesses have been operating for almost 200 years. These establishments have dressed many royals and celebrities. Savile Row was also the starting place for many famous designers such as Alexander McQueen.
In Australia, Rip Curl founders Doug Warbrick and Brian Singer were both driven to clothing production as a result of surf culture.
Australian designers such as Christopher Esber, Martin Grant and Toni Maticevski have all been influenced by complex tailoring practices which have supported their broader fashion practice.
Women shaping fashion
So how did making clothes end up being labelled as women’s work? Well, Australia does have a long history of women in fashion. Even today, the fashion sector is made up of 77% women.
From the 1800s, and becoming widespread in the 1920s, we saw the rise of a bundling manufacturing system in which prominent brands would send bundles of garment pieces to home sewers to sew and return. The sewers were often paid per bundle, or per garment.
Then in the 1940s and 1950s, the second world war created economic conditions (including clothing rations) that led to most Australian women learning dressmaking skills, with many sewing their own clothes.
Female textile employees sewing garments on industrial sewing machines in the 1950s. Museums Victoria, CC BY
As women were tasked with filling labour shortages left by the war, sewing was considered “simple” work women could easily undertake. Of course, anyone who does it themselves will know this isn’t quite true. Sewing has always required a complex set of skills, and has historically been undervalued.
Local manufacturing and home sewing by women declined between the 1970s and 1990s due to the removal of government tariffs, and the industry’s inability to compete with the low-cost fast fashion market.
How to start
If you’re looking to pick up sewing as a hobby this summer, don’t worry about finding a fancy machine with lots of features.
All you need is a machine that sews straight lines; you might even find one collecting dust in a cupboard. Start simple with some basic up-cycling, before jumping onto your first garment from scratch.
Depending on where you live, you might have access to in-person beginner sewing lessons. But if you don’t, don’t worry – surveys suggest some 48% of Gen Z members have taught themselves a new skill through TiKTok, and 42% through YouTube. So that could be your first point of call.
Great Britain’s Francesca Jones during the 2026 ASB Classic Women’s Tennis Tournament.Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Second seed Emma Navarro has been beaten in the first round of the ASB Classic in Auckland.
The American was beaten in three sets by Francesca Jones of Great Britain (7-5, 2-6, 6-4).
For 72nd ranked Jones, beating 15th ranked Navarro was the biggest win of her career.
“Of course, she’s a phenomenal player, and I love her game style, but I think more so, because it’s the first match of the year as well,” Jones said.
“So to come out to here and play with that level is amazing.
“Obviously Emma will have stuff that she’s still working on. First match of the year, everyone’s a bit rusty, but I’m just proud to start the year like that.”
Jones tried to stay aggressive against Navarro and also mixed up her shots, throwing in powerful crosscourt forehands, with deep slices to put the American under pressure.
“I couldn’t have asked for more really, but obviously, the result is amazing,” Jones said.
“For me, the main thing is just trying to start the year with a good attitude, which is always difficult. Everyone’s nervous and not feeling their best.”
Navarro wasn’t the only name player to be beaten with former ASB Classic champion Sloane Stephens of the United States beaten by Mexico’s Renata Zarazua (5-7, 6-4, 6-2).
Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion.
In the doubles, Elina Svitolina and Venus Williams were beaten along with the New Zealand pairing of Monique Barry and Elyse Tse.
In action on Tuesday is singles top seed Svitolina and the doubles top seeds of Asia Muhammad of the USA and Erin Routliffe on New Zealand.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
