New Zealand

“We’re pleased to announce that RSE workers from Vanuatu can begin arriving into New Zealand from 4 October, with Samoan and Tongan workers arriving from 12 October,” Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor said.

“This will provide much needed certainty for our growers as they gear up for summer and autumn harvesting.”

In a statement the Health Ministry said there are now a total of 1177 community cases associated with the latest outbreak of the Delta variant of the virus.

All of the latest cases were identified in Auckland.

The ministry said one of today's community cases had previously been under investigation and is now confirmed and linked to the current outbreak. "The case has now recovered. The case spent 14 days in a quarantine facility along with household members who also tested positive for Covid-19."

The men were charged with breaching the country's tough COVID-19 rules.

Under Auckland's strict Level 4 lockdown, all restaurants, including take-away services, remain closed.

Police said the men, aged 23 and 30, had travelled from Hamilton, about 75 miles south of Auckland.

A police spokesperson told the BBC that officers made the arrest after they noticed a suspicious looking vehicle travelling on a gravel road on the outskirts of the city.

Greenpeace Aotearoa made the criticism after the vote at the International Union for Conservation of Nature's World Congress last week.

The motion received support from most countries, but Greenpeace Aotearoa seabed mining campaigner James Hita said New Zealand's government continued to fall behind the rest of the world in preserving oceans.

Delegates at this year's congress also voted overwhelmingly for reform of the International Seabed Authority, the UN-mandated body tasked with regulating this activity

The change was announced by, New Zealand's COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today.

“We want to provide certainty to the horticulture industry that we are moving forward with safe quarantine-free travel for RSE workers in time for the upcoming picking season,” Damien O’Connor said.

The first drive-through event which coincides with Tonga Language week - runs from 8.30am-4pm, Thursday to Saturday at the Free Wesleyan Church Of Tonga.

As of this week, 56 percent of the eligible Pacific population 12+ years have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Pacific Response Co-ordination Team chair Pakilau Manase Lua said Tonga is a proud nation with community spirit and hopes to capture 12-30 year-olds who are yet to be vaccinated.

Geonet says the quake was centred 5km north of the town at a depth of 36km.

It occurred just before 5pm (local time).

Within 15 minutes more than 6000 people had registered their ratings of the quake on the Geonet website.

The All Blacks had chosen not to travel to Perth due to the uncertainty surrounding the Rugby Championship, a decision Rugby Australia described as "unilateral", with boss Andy Marinos essentially accusing his New Zealand Rugby counterpart Mark Robinson of deceit.

"It's incredibly disappointing to be informed of this decision via the media, despite having a conversation with the CEO moments before and there no mention that this was the intention," Marinos said in a statement after NZ Rugby announced it would not travel for the August 28 fixture.

The New Zealand Herald has reported that one case of it was seen in MIQ in late June and the variant did not enter the community, according to the Ministry of Health.

The new variant, known as C.1.2, was first detected in May and has now spread to most South African provinces and to seven other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania, according to research which is yet to be peer-reviewed.

Breaking the Paralympic record a total of four times, Lisa eventually triumphed with a best of 15.12m, which she achieved in both the fifth and sixth rounds of the women’s F37 shot put final on Saturday (28).

“It’s a euphoric feeling,” Lisa told Athletics New Zealand. “Happy, relief, proud. Very emotional.”

That emotion could be seen as she celebrated her win with her sister, with Valerie – the two-time Olympic and four-time world shot put champion – watching in the stands of the stadium where she had won her fourth Olympic medal in a competition won by Lijiao Gong.