New Zealand

Now New Zealand Immigration Minister Michael Wood says he will try and meet some of the workers at the centre of it.

Wood said he was “very open” to meeting the RSE workers whose allegations formed the basis of a damning report by the Human Rights Commission into the scheme.

Sumeo said the Human Rights Commission had found too many stories akin to modern-day slavery and this indicated the problems were far greater than usually appreciated.

The proposal suggests stopping regional contestable grants and removing some of the community, social, innovation and economic development programmes, which would save a total of 28 million NZ dollars.

RNZ Pacific reports on Thursday, councillors agreed on the budget items that will go out for public consultation early next year - with just one councillor voting against, Josephine Bartley.

She questioned why assets like golf courses were not affected.

The "core services" were part of the fabric of the city, she said.

“Previously, visa conditions were granted specific to the individual’s circumstances for travel, and therefore varied. Following requests from Pacific nations we recognise the need to consider consistent visa conditions for frequent travellers.

The changes for officials and diplomats recognise the need to provide greater consistency to our Pacific Island Forum Country and Kiribati counterparts with visa validity conditions and assurance of our commitment to an efficient process,” says Minister Woods.

As of Sunday midnight, 418 cases were hospitalised and 10 were in intensive care.

Of the 40 people with the virus who died, two were from Northland, 14 were from Auckland region, four were from Waikato, one was from Bay of Plenty, four were from Lakes, one was from Hawke's Bay, three were from MidCentral, three were from Whanganui, one was from Wellington region, one was from Nelson Marlborough, three were from Canterbury, two were from Southern.

The woman, a Korean-born New Zealander, arrived in South Korea in 2018 and had no record of departure since then, a police officer told Reuters.

Her whereabouts and whether she had other relatives with her when she arrived in South Korea were not immediately known.

"New Zealand police had requested confirmation whether the person who might be related to a crime case was in South Korea," the police officer said, adding that given her past address and age, she could be the mother of the kids.

Under the orange setting you must wear a mask in most indoor settings. However, you can visit cafes and bars, attend gatherings and events, and go to gyms and hairdressers with no capacity limits or distancing requirements.

There are to be no changes to rules for case isolation and household contact quarantine requirements - and the next review setting will be in September.

Minister for the Covid-19 Response Dr Ayesha Verrall said significant pressure on hospitals meant current measures were still required.

Auckland Airport's flight board showed 18 inbound and six departure flights have been cancelled today.

Many are between the city and Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin.

Air New Zealand is offering credit to anyone who wishes to cancel their booking this month.

Flights between Dunedin and Christchurch have also been cancelled.

It is not clear whether the flights were cancelled due to heavy demand adding pressure to Covid-affected crews as the second week of the school holidays begins or weather problems.

The Junior All Blacks scored two tries in the first 10 minutes to lead 14-0.

Down 26-0, things got worse for the Australians when both Jayden Blake and Mason Gordon were sent off within minutes of each other, allowing New Zealand to score two more tries immediately after each infringement, ending the half 40-0.

The onslaught continued in the second half though the Australians did manage to get on the scoresheet.

Australia finished third after Argentina's victory against Fiji.

In a statement, the Ministry of Health, said 522 people were now in hospital, and 10 of those were in intensive care or a high dependency unit.

The seven-day rolling average of community case numbers today is 7951 - up 661 on yesterday.

Today's death toll covers a period back to 1 July.

One person was in their 60s, three in their 70s, five in their 80s and three were aged over 90.

The Ministry of Health announced 9629 Covid-19 cases and 24 deaths, just over 3000 more cases than Monday’s figures.

It also announced new Omicron subvariant BA.2.75 was detected in the community for the first time.

“Both cases had recently travelled from India, where this subvariant has been detected,” the ministry said.