Government: Details Of Interest Deductibility Rules Released
The Government has released the draft legislation outlining the details of the policy limiting the deductibility of interest costs on residential property investments.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the interest limitation proposals... More>>

ALSO:

• National - Government’s Own Tax Experts Hate Government’s Tax Policy
• Government - Tenancy Measures Introduced To Further Support COVID-19 Impacted Businesses And Tenants
• ACT - Labour’s $800 Million Housing Tax

Wellington Council: Mayor Suggests UK-style Arts-sector Insurance Scheme
It’s time New Zealand thought about an arts and events sector insurance scheme, not unlike that in the United Kingdom, says Wellington Mayor Andy Foster. His call follows the cancellation of the World of WearableArts 2021 show... More>>

Government: Next Steps To Improve Safety In Wake Of Whakaari White Island Tragedy
The Government is moving to improve safety in light of the Whakaari White Island tragedy and has released proposals to reinforce safety standards in registered adventure activities... More>>

Commerce Commission: Mercury Cleared To Acquire Trustpower’s Retail Business

The Commerce Commission has granted clearance for Mercury NZ Limited to acquire Trustpower Limited’s retail business. Deputy Chair Sue Begg said the Commission is satisfied that the acquisition is unlikely to substantially lessen competition in any New Zealand market.... More>>


Consumer NZ: Buy-now, Pay-later Raking In $10m+ In Late Fees Annually
A Consumer NZ survey has found buy-now, pay-later services are costing shoppers more than $10 million a year in late fees. Close to four out of 10 Kiwi consumers use buy-now, pay-later services, such as Afterpay, Laybuy and Zip... More>>

Westpac: Catherine Mcgrath Appointed New Zealand CEO

Westpac Group CEO Peter King and the Westpac New Zealand Board today announced the appointment of Catherine McGrath as Chief Executive Officer, Westpac New Zealand... More>>

Keith Rankin: Vaccination Rates And The Population Denominator
We are learning that, in the absence of high levels of natural immunity to Covid19, New Zealand will need extremely high vaccination rates before it can repudiate its growing 'hermit kingdom' status. (It is important to note that the expression 'hermit kingdom' dates to a book title from 1882 – 'The Hermit Nation', by William Elliot Griffis.... More>>

Globetrotter: How AUKUS May Damage NATO
The fallout over the AUKUS deal, as we are now seeing, has been a severe rift in relations between two historic allies, the U.S. and France. And the collateral damage may also include NATO. Only weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden courageously ended the war in Afghanistan—in the face of bitter opposition from the media and Congress... More>>

ANZUS without NZ: Why AUSUK might not be all it seems
We live, to borrow a phrase, in interesting times. The pandemic aside, relations between the superpowers are tense. The sudden arrival of the new AUKUS security agreement between Australia, the US and UK simply adds to the general sense of unease internationally... More>>

UN: With Region ‘at A Crossroads’, Palestinian President Calls On UN’s Guterres To Convene International Peace Conference
The President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas on Friday called on the UN Secretary-General to convene an international peace conference and said that to ensure that this initiative is not open-ended, Israel must withdraw from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem within one year...More>>

Myanmar: Human Rights ‘Catastrophe’; UN Calls For Urgent Action

Urgent action is needed to prevent the situation in Myanmar from escalating into a “full-blown conflict”, the UNHigh Commissioner for Human RightsMichelle Bachelet warned on Thursday. Ms. Bachelet’s alert came in a new report from her office OHCHR...
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Afghanistan: Healthcare System On Brink Of Collapse, As Hunger Hits 95 Per Cent Of Families

Afghanistan’s health system is on the brink of collapse, the head of the World Health Organisation, WHO, warned on Wednesday, while on the streets of Kabul, the hunger families are suffering is as acute in urban areas as the drought-stricken rural parts of the country... More>>

Focus On: UN SDGs

Howard Davis: Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman'

The Guardian needed not one, but three reviews to do justice to Fennell's unsettling approach, which indicates exactly how ambiguous and controversial its message really is. More>>

Howard Davis: Jill Trevelyan's Rita Angus

Although Angus has become one of Aotearoa’s best-loved painters, the story of her life remained little known and poorly understood before Jill Trevelyan's acclaimed and revelatory biography, which won the Non Fiction Award at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2009, and has now been republished by Te Papa press. More>>

Howard Davis: The Back of the Painting

Painting conservators are the forensic pathologists of the art world. While they cannot bring their subjects back to life, they do provide fascinating insights into the precise circumstances of a painting's creation, its material authenticity, and constructive methodology. More>>


Howard Davis: Black Panthers on the Prowl

A passionate and gripping political drama from Shaka King, this is an informative and instructive tale of human frailty that centers around the charismatic Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was murdered at the age of twenty-one during a police raid. More>>

Howard Davis: Controlling the High Ground

Stephen Johnson's raw and angry film not only poses important questions with scrupulous authenticity, but also provides a timely reminder of the genocidal consequences of casual bigotry and xenophobia. More>>

Howard Davis: Dryzabone - Robert Conolly's The Dry

After the terrible devastation caused by last year’s bushfires, which prompted hundreds of Australians to shelter in the ocean to escape incineration and destroyed uncountable amounts of wildlife, The Dry has been released during a totally different kind of dry spell. More>>

Howard Davis: Hit the Road, Jack - Chloé Zhao's Nomadland

Nomadland is perhaps the ultimately 'road' movie as it follows a group of dispossessed and disenfranchised vagabonds who find a form of communal refuge in camp sites and trailer parks after the economic contraction of 2008. More>>