New Zealand

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a second term in office Saturday in an election landslide of historic proportions.

With most votes counted, Ardern’s liberal Labour Party was winning 49% of the vote compared to 27% for its main challenger, the conservative National Party.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — In the final days of campaigning before New Zealand holds an election on Saturday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is being greeted like a rock star.

Hundreds of students are crammed into a common area at the Victoria University of Wellington to hear her speak, and her message of hope is being punctuated by thunderous applause. One student volunteer looks on the verge of tears while others are shrieking or singing.

It’s an unusually emotive display in a country where people often pride themselves on keeping things low key.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern cast her vote in Auckland on Saturday for the 2020 General Election.

On Saturday morning, Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern cast her vote with fiancé Clarke Gayford in Auckland. Ardern later confirmed to the public that she voted for the Labour Party.

New Zealand Green Party co-leader James Shaw cast his vote on Saturday morning in Wellington.

Wellington, Sep 21 (AP/PTI) All remaining virus restrictions will be lifted across much of New Zealand from late Monday with the exception of the largest city, Auckland, which will continue to have some restrictions for at least another 16 days.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement on Monday after meeting with top lawmakers. The nation of 5 million people reimposed some restrictions last month after the Auckland outbreak, which now appears to be under control.

WELLINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government has committed to investing 27 million NZ dollars (18.3 million U.S. dollars) in COVID-19 vaccine development through the global COVAX Facility, Deputy Prime minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Monday.

"The COVAX Facility is a key part of our COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy to obtain safe and effective vaccines. It allows us to invest in a high-quality, diversified portfolio of COVID-19 vaccine candidates. This will ensure we are spreading risk and keeping our options open," Peters said in a statement.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The first U.S. flight into Antarctica following months of winter darkness arrived Monday with crews taking extra precautions to keep out the coronavirus.

Antarctica is the only continent without the virus, and there is a global effort to make sure incoming scientists and workers don’t bring it with them.

The U.S. Air Force flight left Monday from the gateway city of Christchurch carrying 106 passengers and crew, said Tony German, the U.S. Antarctic program’s representative in New Zealand.

(Reuters) - New Zealand’s general election campaign began on Sunday, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern seeks to ride popularity for the nation’s COVID-19 response and compassionate handling of a massacre at two mosques to a revived mandate.

Parliament was dissolved in a brief ceremony, the official start of campaigning for the Oct. 17 election. In August, Ardern delayed the poll by a month as Auckland, with nearly a third of New Zealand’s 5 million people, was in lockdown due to a coronavirus resurgence.

WELLINGTON, Sept 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — New Zealand recorded its first coronavirus death in more than three months on Friday when a man in his 50s died due to the virus.

Health officials said the man was part of a second-wave cluster of infections that emerged in Auckland last month, ending a spell of 102 days free of community transmission in the South Pacific nation.

The death at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital on Friday afternoon takes New Zealand’s death count from the virus to 23, with the most recent previous fatality on May 24.

WELLINGTON, Sept 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) – New Zealand confirmed two new cases of COVID-19 today, including one in the community and one imported case in managed isolation.

The community case has been epidemiologically linked to the Auckland cluster, according to the Ministry of Health.

The case in managed isolation is a woman in her 30’s, who arrived from the Philippines via Hong Kong on Aug 29. She has been in managed isolation at the Distinction Hotel in Christchurch and tested positive around day 3 of her stay, said a ministry statement.

WELLINGTON, Sept 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The offender responsible for the Christchurch terror attacks on Mar 15, 2019, has been designated as a terrorist entity, New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, said.

“Designating the offender is an important demonstration of New Zealand’s condemnation of terrorism and violent extremism in all forms,” Ardern said in a statement.