Monthly Archives: August 2021

Issued on: 22/08/2021 - 11:22

Sydney (AFP)

Australia has threatened to pass on a multi-million dollar bill to New Zealand if they fail to show up for a Bledisloe Cup Test in Perth, a report said Sunday, as Queensland was firmed up as host for the pandemic-hit Rugby Championship.

The All Blacks failed to travel to the West Australian city as scheduled this weekend for the August 28 clash against the Wallabies, citing uncertainty around coronavirus restrictions.

The decision sparked fury from Rugby Australia, whose chief Andy Marinos claimed he only heard about it through the media as talks with the state government around securing an exemption to mandatory quarantine were progressing.

He said Sunday he now hopes to lock in September 4 for the Test and New Zealand Rugby (NZR) had been asked to provide written assurance they will not bail out again.

"I want it in writing. We have an email, but we need a letter for both the government and the stadium as well," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "That should be forthcoming pretty soon."

The newspaper said that if the All Blacks fail to turn up, the West Australian government intended to recoup the Aus$5 million (US$3.56 million) they paid to Rugby Australia to play the game in Perth.

Marinos indicated his organisation would duly pursue financial compensation.

"I've made New Zealand very aware that we have a contract and they've made a commitment," he said.

The All Blacks have five Tests remaining in the Rugby Championship, one against Australia and two each against South Africa and Argentina.

NZR have said their two Tests against South Africa next month would no longer be played at home after government advice that the Springboks would not be able to enter due to a Covid-19 lockdown.

The Argentina Tests had already been moved to Australia.

South Africa has offered to host the remainder of the games if teams cannot travel to Australia, where states including New South Wales and Victoria are in lockdown to tackle outbreaks of the Delta variant.

Europe has also been touted as a potential host, but Marinos said Queensland was the priority.

"Queensland is absolutely a priority for us. Until such time that we cannot make it work, that's the priority," he said.

The newspaper said Queensland had fast-tracked a proposal to approve South Africa and Argentina's entry into the country and into "managed isolation", with the plan advancing to the point of venues being secured.

"We are working very hard to get all the approval and assurances done. The Queensland government have been fantastic in working alongside us," said Marinos.

"There was never any doubt about whether we could play there. It was just doubt that we could get South Africa and Argentina through managed isolation."

2021 AFP

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Australia threatens to bill New Zealand in rugby row - FRANCE 24

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Cheryl Simpson was supposed to be celebrating her 60th birthday over lunch with friends but instead found herself confined to her Auckland home.

The discovery of a single local COVID-19 case in New Zealand was enough for the government to put the entire country into strict lockdown this past week. While others might see that as draconian, New Zealanders generally support such measures because they worked so well in the past.

Im happy to go into lockdown, even though I dont like it, said Simpson, owner of a day care center for dogs that is now closed because of the precautions. She said she wants the country to crush the latest outbreak: Id like to knock the bloody thing on the head.

Elsewhere around the Pacific, though, Japan is resisting such measures in the face of a record-breaking surge, instead emphasizing its accelerating vaccine program. And Australia has fallen somewhere in the middle.

All three countries got through the first year of the pandemic in relatively good shape but are now taking diverging paths in dealing with outbreaks of the delta variant, the highly contagious form that has contributed to a growing sense that the coronavirus cannot be stamped out, just managed.

Professor Michael Baker, an epidemiologist at New Zealands University of Otago, said countries around the world are struggling to adapt to the latest threat: With the delta variant, the old rules just dont work.

The differing emphasis on lockdowns versus vaccines and how effective such strategies prove to be in beating back the delta variant could have far-reaching consequences for the three countries economies and the health of their citizens.

Japan has never imposed lockdowns against the coronavirus. The public is wary of government overreach after the countrys fascist period before and during World War II, and Japans postwar constitution lays out strict protections for civil liberties.

Before the delta variant, the country managed to keep a lid on coronavirus outbreaks in part because many people in Japan were already used to wearing surgical masks for protection from spring allergies or when they caught colds.

Now, almost everyone on public transportation wears a mask during commuting hours. But late at night, people tend to uncover in restaurants and bars, which has allowed the variant to spread. Hosting the Tokyo Olympic Games didnt help either.

While strict protocols kept infections inside the games to a minimum, experts such as Dr. Shigeru Omi, a key medical adviser to the government, say the Olympics created a festive air that led people in Japan to lower their guard.

New cases in Japan have this month leaped to 25,000 each day, more than triple the highest previous peak. Omi considers that a disaster.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday expanded and extended a state of emergency covering Tokyo and other areas until at least mid-September, though most of the restrictions arent legally enforceable.

Many governors are urging the prime minister to consider much tougher restrictions. But Suga said lockdowns have been flouted around the world, and vaccines are the way to go.

Daily vaccinations in Japan increased tenfold from May to June as thousands of worksites and colleges began offering shots, but a slow start has left the nation playing catch-up. Only about 40% of people are fully vaccinated.

In Australia, a delta outbreak hit Sydney in June, after an unvaccinated limousine driver became infected while transporting a U.S. cargo air crew from the Sydney Airport. State authorities hesitated for 10 days before imposing lockdown measures across Sydney that have now dragged on for two months.

Early in the pandemic, Australias federal government imposed just one nationwide lockdown. Now, amid the delta outbreak, it is pursuing a strategy it calls aggressive suppression including strict controls on Australians leaving the country and foreigners entering but is essentially letting state leaders call the shots.

New infections in Sydney have climbed from just a few each week before the latest outbreak to more than 800 a day.

Its not possible to eliminate it completely. We have to learn to live with it, Gladys Berejiklian, premier of Sydneys New South Wales state, said in what many interpreted as a significant retreat from the determination state leaders have previously shown to crush outbreaks entirely.

That is why we have a dual strategy in New South Wales, Berejiklian said. Get those case numbers down, vaccination rates up. We have to achieve both in order for us to live freely into the future.

The outbreak in Sydney has spilled over into the capital, Canberra, which has also gone into lockdown. Government worker Matina Carbone wore a mask while shopping on Friday.

I dont know that anyones ever going to really beat delta, she said. I think we just have to try and increase our rates of vaccinations and slowly open things up when we think its safe to do so.

But Australia lags far behind even Japan in getting people inoculated, with just 23% of people fully vaccinated.

Last year, soon after the pandemic first hit, neighboring New Zealand imposed a strict, nationwide lockdown and closed its border to non-residents. That wiped out the virus completely. The country of 5 million has been able to vanquish each outbreak since, recording just 26 virus deaths.

It went six months without a single locally spread case, allowing people to go about their daily lives much as they had before the pandemic.

But this month, the Sydney outbreak spread to New Zealand, carried by a returning traveler.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern promptly imposed the strictest form of lockdown.

By Sunday, the number of locally spread cases in New Zealand had grown to 72, and the virus had reached the capital, Wellington. Officials raced to track 10,000 more people who might have been exposed.

Ardern has been steadfast.

We have been here before. We know the elimination strategy works. Cases rise, and then they fall, until we have none, she said. Its tried and true. We just need to stick it out.

Baker, the epidemiologist, said he believes it is still possible for New Zealand to wipe out the virus again by pursuing the burning ember approach of taking drastic measures to stamp out the first sign of an outbreak.

That remains to be seen.

New Zealand doesnt have much of a Plan B. A recent report by expert advisers to the government noted the nation has comparatively few intensive care hospital beds and said an outbreak could quickly overwhelm the health system.

And New Zealand has been the slowest developed nation to put shots in arms, with just 20% of people fully vaccinated.

___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo and McGuirk from Canberra, Australia.

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Lockdowns or vaccines? 3 Pacific nations try diverging paths - Associated Press

OPINION: Last Christmas I sent a picture to my family in the UK of my children and me in a pool enjoying a summer of freedom that was the envy of the world.

Two days later, my brother, his wife and son in England all had COVID-19.

My parents, who are in their 70s, began what turned out to be a six-month lockdown as England battled with its latest outbreak.

I regretted being so glib about how we were spending the festive season.

Friends of mine in England started to message me about moving over here, such was the positive publicity around the success of New Zealand's elimination of the virus.

Those friends endured a miserable winter in the northern hemisphere, locked down for many months.

Today the tables are somewhat turned, as we are in our second level 4 lockdown, the UK is emerging from its COVID winter of discontent largely vaccinated and seemingly in a new phase of dealing with the virus.

My parents are so confident they have booked a cruise, albeit around the British Isles but it is something a few months ago they were wondering if they would ever do again.

As long as they give a negative COVID test and are both fully vaccinated they can board the ship.

And that is the key, they have both been fully vaccinated for a few months now. All of my family, including my teenage nieces and nephews have received both doses of the vaccination.

Earlier this year, I was told I would be getting my first dose of the vaccine in April. My age and an underlying health condition meant I would be among the first in the queue.

May came and went and no dose.

The information then changed and I was then told I could book in July, not be jabbed but book. So when I got another email saying I was eligible I tried to book online, except the website crashed so I called instead.

I was given a date of September 12. Five months after I was originally told I could get the jab.

I know there were issues securing doses of the vaccine, but when the Prime Minister begins a press conference by saying "I have good news," and then telling us the record number of people who were vaccinated on Friday is something to cheer, it's not good news, it's just catching up.

Putting the country back into lockdown was the right move from Ardern, there was little option once the Delta variant was discovered in the community.

Her management of the crisis has been generally excellent, but stop spinning the vaccination programme.

It has so far not been a success. We are not at the bottom of the list of countries that have vaccinated their populations, but we are a long way from the top.

It doesn't matter how many people have booked for their vaccine, a booking won't protect you. What is important is how many people have been vaccinated twice.

I am at risk from COVID-19, males in my age group have some of the worst survival rates. I would really like the vaccine but won't be fully vaccinated until October.

Meanwhile the Delta variant is in the community and many of us who are at risk shouldn't be.

I would hardly call that good news.

Mark Longley is the managing editor of Newshub Digital

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Opinion: Stop putting a spin on New Zealand's vaccination numbers, we are woefully behind - Newshub

Max Guilford is in Indiana for the NOS Energy Drink Indiana Midget Week series from now until next Saturday. Image / Facebook

A rape charge against a New Zealand race car driver in the United States has been dismissed.

Max Guilford, 19, was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Blackford County in Indiana, but the charge was dismissed Thursday, (yesterday New Zealand time), Muncie Star Press reported.

The charge he faced was a level 3 felony that carries up to 16 years in prison.

"The state declines to prosecute," Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joelle Frieburger wrote in the motion.

The charge was dropped after Guildford was able to produce a Snapchat conversation between the accuser and a friend which acknowledged the sexual conduct had been consensual, his attorney Zaki Ali of Anderson said.

Ali said the case should never have been filed.

The woman had told police she was on a third date with Guilford when he carried her into a bedroom and forced her to have sex.

"She advised at no time did she ever want to have sex with Max," a Hartford City officer wrote.

She said after the assault they went to a Starbucks Cafe where they disagreed over whether he would pay for her beverage.

The woman said Guilford then drove her home, where she showered and "went for a run".

She reported the alleged assault a few days later.

It is understood Guilford is in Indiana for the NOS Energy Drink Indiana Midget Week series, and was staying in Blackford County this spring and summer.

Link:

Rape charge against New Zealand motorsport driver Max Guilford in the US dismissed - New Zealand Herald

Sunday, 22 August 2021, 4:13 pmPress Release: CHASNZ What's new since the last lockdown?COVID-19Construction Protocols

The COVID-19 Deltaoutbreak can evolve rapidly and businesses shouldfamiliarise themselves with official Government requirementswhich supersedes all industry guidance.

The protocolsare updated to reflect Government requirements as and whenthese change happen so please check regularly that you havethe most up to date versions of the protocols.

COVID-19Construction Protocols

COVID-19Government Requirements

Support yourself and your team during thistime

We hope you are all doing okay. These timesimpact us all differently, so we want to make sure that youknow help is always available.

Mental Health Support is available foreveryone

Call the MATEShelpline 0800 111 315 24/7 or text 5353

Free phone ortext 1737 to communicate immediately with a counsellor (MentalHealth Foundation).

In an emergency dial 111 ifyou think they, you, or someone else is at risk ofharm.

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Thesis meets antithesis again, this time in the pages of the New Zealand Herald. A week ago, Liam Dann wrote a column pondering how in contrast to the death and suffering Covid is wreaking all around the world, New Zealanders are living in an open and thriving economy - with sports events, theatre, music and all the rest. This reality and the wider work required to address social inequality, Dann felt, are being drowned out by the Covid complainers... More>>

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All Of New Zealand Remains | Scoop News - Scoop.co.nz

He wasn't the only teenager at the Auckland site. With people aged 12-15 now eligible for the Pfizer shot, 15-year-old Annabel Patterson also rolled down her window and rolled up her sleeve.

The vaccination centre was set up in two days, and on Sunday it accommodated those who had their jab appointments cancelled during the lockdown.

This includes essential workers such as bus drivers and supermarket employees who will get their chance to get their shot.

"We know it's been a really fluid environment and dynamic over the last couple of days and we just want to apologise to people who've been inconvenienced," Northern Region Health Coordination Centre's Matt Hannant told Newshub.

Staff hope to be doing 2000 jabs a day, with the potential to increase in the future.

"So you come through, get screened, check those symptoms, then you get registered then you go through to the tents to get your jab," Hannant says. "The vaccinator comes around the car - does everyone individually."

Once people get their vaccinations, it's over to an observation area where they sit in their car for 15 minutes.

If everything is okay then they're good to go but if there are any issues they honk their horn, flash their lights and medical staff will be instantly there.

Watch full story above.

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13yo becomes one of New Zealand's youngest COVID-19 vaccine recipients at drive-through vaccination centre - Newshub

A new survey from Finder reveals that more than half of respondents subscribe to at least one streaming service. Of the 28,547 adults across 18 countries surveyed, 56% say they have at least one streaming service subscription, with the highest adopting country being New Zealand where 65% of respondents subscribe to streaming.

The U.S. ranked sixth in terms of streaming service adoption, with 59% reporting to have at least one subscription. Canada ranked just ahead of the U.S. with 61%, while the lowest of the 18 countries was Pakistan at 45%,

According to the survey, Netflix is the most popular streaming service in the U.S. with 45% of Americans saying they have a subscription. The second most popular service is Amazon Prime Video with 33%, and Hulu which is in 22% of U.S. homes according to survey results.

Over the last decade weve seen a real boom in streaming services and the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have only accelerated the trend, Dampney said. With people spending more time at home during the pandemic, its no surprise these providers are so popular.

Tmera studied journalism at Utah State University where her career began as Senior News Writer for the campus publication. After a few stops along the way, her love of writing and media led her to Cord Cutters News where she reports on breaking headlines, device updates, programming highlights, and more. Before joining the CCN team, Tmera worked in broadcast news, freelance writing, and radio.

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New Zealand has the Highest Adoption of Streaming Services, The US Ranks Sixth - Cord Cutters News

A super proud Paul Coll has created history by becoming the first New Zealand man to win the prestigious British Open squash title.

The 29-year-old third seed beat world champion Ali Farag (Egypt) 6-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 in 65 minutes turning a 1-13 win/loss record on its head to win his biggest title of his career in Hull on Sunday (Monday morning NZ time).

Coll, from Greymouth, joins Dame Susan Devoy and Leilani Joyce, the two New Zealand womens winners of the tournament.

PSA Tour

Paul Coll, the first New Zealander to win the British Open men's squash title, raises the trophy.

Only the second New Zealand male to make the final and the first since Ross Norman lost in 1986 Coll punched the air in delight after his winning shot in the fourth game to clinch the $NZ32,000 first prize.

READ MORE:* Paul Coll becomes second New Zealander to make British Open men's squash final * New Zealand's Paul Coll brave in British Open squash semifinal defeat to world No 1* New Zealand's Paul Coll beaten by world's best in British Open squash

The worlds fourth ranked player rushed to ring his tearful girlfriend Nele in Amsterdam and his parents Julie and Michael in Greymouth after his historic win before receiving the trophy on-court.

Coll told the crowd he was super -proud and super happy to win squashs most prestigious tournament outside the world championships.

Its been a long journey for myself coming fright from juniors I had to leave home at a young age, said Coll, who moved from Greymouth to Christchurch as a schoolboy to pursue his squash dream.

This moment here makes it all worthwhile.'

PSA Tour

Paul Coll shows his delight at becoming New Zealand's first male British Open squash champion.

Coll said it was really special to have his coach and a good friend courtside, and said my parents were supposed to be here, but due to Covid, obviously they can't travel.

I just want to thank everyone in New Zealand who have helped me through my career, to get me to this stage. There are too many people to single out, but thank you all, and Id like to thank the whole of New Zealand for getting up at 2am to watch ...

Asked if he had dreamed of winning the British Open since he was a boy, Coll said his journey was probably slightly different to everyone.

I didnt start my squash till a bit later. I went through juniors with Ali [Farag] and he probably would have beaten me 3-0 11-0 in every single match [back then].

This is the pinnacle of squash, apart from the world championships, to get my first major title here against a good friend and one of the best players in the world, it means everything to me.

PSA Tour

Paul Coll stretches to make a shot in the 2021 British Open men's squash final as Egypt's Ali Farag watches.

Coll said his girlfriend Nele Gilis (a talented Belgian squash player), at home in Amsterdam, was crying when he phoned, and then he rang my parents and they were crying as well.

He was also grateful to his sponsors who had become friends to me and to tournament sponsors for putting the British Open on in such tough times.

The victory cements Colls place on the top rung of world squash after beating four-time British Open champion Mohamed ElShorbagy in the semifinals and Farag a double world champion seeking his first British Open title in the gold medal game.

In the final, Coll started slowly trying to find his length dropping the first game 6-11 and struggling to stay in the rallies.

Third seeded Coll became more aggressive in the second and third games and putting the pressure onto the Egyptian. After winning the second and third games Coll went into the fourth with confidence as Farag pushed desperately and was able to keep close to Coll after winning a number of brutal rallies.

PSA Tolur

Paul Coll during his semifinal victory at the British Open.

Coll, however, may well be the player best suited to this type of game, such is his fitness. The world No.4 was content to trade long rallies with Farag, finally taking the match, and championship, with a well-deserved 11-8 victory.

Colls victory is the biggest result in New Zealand squash for over 20 years.

Dame Susan Devoy won the British Open womens title eight times seven consecutively between 1984 and 1992, and Leilani Joyce was the womens champion in 1999 and 2000.

Ross Norman lost to 10-time champion Jahangir Khan in three games in the 1986 mens final.

Sporting success is in the blood for the Coll family. Pauls late uncle, Tony Coll, captained West Coast, the South Island and the Kiwis in the 1970s and was renowned for his physical fitness.

The womens final saw Egypts world No.1 Nour El Sherbini win her third British Open title after she came from 2-1 down to win 9-11, 13-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-2 against world No.2 and 2019 champion Nouran Gohar .

Originally posted here:

Paul Coll becomes first New Zealander to win the British Open men's squash title - Stuff.co.nz

OPINION: If the fall of Kabul to the Taliban highlights anything, it is that successive American administrations since 9/11 have struggled to adapt US counter-terrorism policy to a post-Cold War security environment where the pattern of conflict goes beyond the confines of the state.

At the moment, the Biden administration finds itself taking much of blame for a devastating reverse in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban, a fundamentalist Islamic organisation that has had ties with terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State.

However, as President John F. Kennedy ruefully noted after the Bay of Pigs failure in 1961, victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan.

The Talibans recapture of Afghanistan did not come out of a clear blue sky. It was at least 18 years in the making.

READ MORE:* The Taliban wants the worlds trust: To achieve this, it will need to make some difficult choices* 'It was worth it': Soldiers speak to the fall of Afghanistan* Taliban vow to honour women's rights 'within Islamic law' after Afghanistan takeover

Shortly after the 9/11 al Qaeda terror attacks in New York and Washington DC, a US-led coalition, which included New Zealand, launched its war on terror campaign in Afghanistan to decimate al Qaeda training camps there and destroy the Taliban regime that hosted them.

Almost immediately after 9/11, New Zealand deployed an elite Special Air Service (SAS) unit to Afghanistan.

Alex van Wel/Stuff

Kiwi troops patrolling a highway in Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, in 2009.

By late 2001, the Taliban was toppled and an interim Afghan administration under United Nations auspices paved the way for a new constitution and democratic elections.

In 2003, Helen Clarks Labour government dispatched a 140-strong New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to the Bamiyan province in central part of the country.

It should be emphasised that multilateral co-operation played an important role in the early progress against al Qaeda and its Taliban allies, but the unilateral decision of the George W. Bush administration in March 2003 to lead a coalition of the willing to invade Iraq a state which had no connection to 9/11 and remove Saddam Husseins regime had disastrous long-term consequences.

Barry Iverson/The Life Images Co

The unilateral decision by the US to invade Iraq a state which had no connection to 9/11 and remove Saddam Husseins regime had disastrous long-term consequences, says Robert Patman.

Far from weakening global terrorism, the US invasion spawned a major insurgency in Iraq, provided a foothold for al Qaeda operatives in the country, fuelled anti-American sentiments in the Islamic world, and by 2006 directly contributed to a resurgence of Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the Afghanistan area.

President Barack Obama inherited two wars costing in excess of $3 trillion and largely financed by borrowing and the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. In specific terms, the Obama administration jettisoned the war on terror rhetoric, withdrew US combat troops from Iraq, and pursued an aggressive counterinsurgency effort against al Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Despite killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, that administration was unable to break the resilience of the Taliban and also saw a significant widening of the terrorist threat with the rise of Islamic State (IS) during the Syrian civil war.

Getty Images

Despite killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, the Obama administration was unable to break the resilience of the Taliban.

New Zealands SAS unit was withdrawn from Kabul in 2012 and the Defence Force contingent was withdrawn from the Bamiyan PRT in 2013.

The Obama team envisaged a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan but agreed in 2015 to delay that plan following a request from the then President Ashraf Ghani.

Condemning the Obama administrations approach to counterterrorism as weak, President Donald Trump pledged a drive against what he called Radical Islamic Terrorism, a term that appealed to anti-Muslim sentiments that surfaced in the US after 9/11.

Among other things, the Trump administration placed a travel ban on terror-prone Muslim majority states, oversaw the end of ISs territorial caliphate, backed Guantanamo Bay detention and torture, and signed a deal with the Taliban on February 29, 2020, without the consent of the Afghan government, for the complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan by May 2021.

Meanwhile, the six remaining NZDF personnel in Afghanistan were withdrawn four months ago to conclude what has been one of the longest-running military deployments in New Zealands history.

Rahmat Gul/AP

Taliban fighters patrol in Wazir Akbar Khan in the city of Kabul this week.

Thus, while the speed and ease of the Taliban victory in war-torn Afghanistan on August 15 shocked the Biden administration, it is clear that the US had not been prevailing for a long time in an $80 billion-plus counter-terrorism effort and that a number of US presidents had questioned its sustainability.

Recent events have prompted questions about the Defence Forces 20-year commitment to Afghanistan, costing an estimated NZ$300 million and 10 New Zealand lives.

It is claimed the NZDF should not be fighting other peoples wars, and that New Zealand only participated to please the US, a key partner in the intelligence-sharing arrangement known as the Five Eyes Alliance.

But the Clark government correctly recognised that 9/11 was a fundamental challenge to the international rules-based system on which New Zealand critically depends.

Supplied

Professor Robert Patman: The Taliban has to reckon with the fact Afghanistan is a very different country today from the one it previously ruled in 2001 ...

If New Zealand was simply in Afghanistan to win favour in Washington, it would have followed Australia and the UK in supporting the Bush administrations invasion of Iraq.

The Taliban has to reckon with the fact Afghanistan is a very different country today from the one it previously ruled in 2001 and New Zealand can take some satisfaction from the largely positive contribution it made in Bamiyan.

Nevertheless, the Taliban takeover is a major setback for international human rights and global security, and New Zealand and other like-minded small and middle powers will now have to look beyond the US and assume greater responsibility for safeguarding the rule of law globally from threats by Islamist or white supremacist terrorists.

Robert G. Patman is a Sesquicentennial Distinguished Chair and a specialist in International Relations at the University of Otago.

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The Taliban takeover and its implications for New Zealand - Stuff.co.nz

Britains latest triumph in talks with New Zealand should result in a fall in the price of goods including wine and apples traded between the two nations as tariffs are scrapped. And there is excitement in the Government that the breakthrough will pave the way for a speedy deal with a group of 11 Pacific-facing countries, which would allow the UK to deliver on the promise of Brexit. The New Zealand deal, now in its final stages of negotiation, should slash tariffs worth up to 20p on a bottle of sauvignon blanc or pinot noir.

It may also drive down the cost of manuka honey and apples, as well as open up a host of opportunities for UK exporters.

It is hoped it will also lead to membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

New Zealand is a leading member of this free trade area which includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

An ally of International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said: A deal with the Kiwis will boost British exporters and benefit consumers, but its wider significance is as a gateway for Britain into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which offers even greater prizes.

Its a hugely exciting prospect and Liz is working hard to make it happen. This is why we left the EU, in order to pivot Britain towards old allies and fast-growing Asian economies and strike much more ambitious and liberalising trade deals.

Its about cutting costs for families, boosting businesses across the country and making good on the promise of Brexit.

The UK imported more than 42million of apples from New Zealand in 2020 and more than 32million of honey. The produce currently carry tariffs of eight percent and 16 percent respectively.

The deal would also mean that British exporters would no longer pay tariffs of up to 10 percent on goods ranging from chocolate to gin, buses and clothes.Trade in goods between the UK and New Zealand was worth 2.3billion last year and the countrys import market is expected to grow by 30 percent by 2030.

If the final deal is secured, the UKs car industry can look forward to an important boost too.

Cars are Britains biggest export to New Zealand, with sales of 133million last year.

Buses, motorhomes and caravans should also see 10 percent tariffs removed entirely.

Ms Truss said: We are working around the clock to get this deal done in the coming weeks.We are both big fans of each others high-quality products, so this could be a huge boost that allows British shoppers to enjoy lower prices and British exports to be even more competitive.

New Zealand and the UK are natural partners united by modern values. An agreement would reflect those ideals and is a win-win for both.

Dominic Goudie, of the Food & Drink Federation, said: We hope to see the UK conclude an ambitious trade deal which removes tariffs facing UK exports of quality manufactured food and drink.

This would provide a welcome boost for producers and exporters of iconic UK products, where UK sales in New Zealand are currently 10million each year.

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Brits to enjoy cheaper wine prices after Brexit deal with New Zealand - Daily Express