Is Prime Minister Christopher Luxon finally on the way out? A Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll out today reportedly puts the National Party on only 28% support. And rightwing commentator Matthew Hooton says today in the Herald that the senior leadership of the party “need to set up a conference call amongst themselves this weekend” to start the process of replacing him. Hooton says that after Luxon’s extremely poor performance over the US-Iran War,…

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 has confirmed that the government’s pandemic response frequently overstepped its bounds and suppressed legitimate dissent. The Free Speech Union says the report proves that the state used censorship as a primary tool to manage the public. "The 'single source of truth' has been exposed as a single source of silence," says Jillaine Heather, CEO of the Free Speech Union. The Commission confirms that…

Sun, Sails, and Steel Guitars: Your Ultimate Guide to the 2026 Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival - If you’re planning a trip to the "Winterless North," there is no better way to see it than when the Bay of Islands Country Rock Festival is in full swing. The term "winterless" is a bit of a local secret, while the rest of New Zealand is starting to feel the first real bite of May , Northland stays famously mild. In May, you’re looking at…

If you want to understand what will happen on 7 November, forget the polls for a moment. Forget the horse-race coverage, the personality contests, and the pundit predictions. Instead, read Danyl McLauchlan’s cover story in this week’s Listener magazine. It’s the sharpest piece of political analysis I’ve read this cycle – and probably the most important you’ll read before voting day McLauchlan’s article draws on the 2023 New Zealand Election…

The United States has carried out what is clearly an illegal bombing of Iran, a brutal theocracy with a long record of repression at home and proxy warfare abroad. So how should New Zealand respond? The Luxon-Peters Government put out a joint statement on Sunday that has been variously described as “balanced,” “careful,” and “a disgrace.” It is relatively positive towards the US actions and condemnatory towards Iran, but it doesn’t fully…

Friday’s Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll was a political earthquake. National at 28.4%. Christopher Luxon’s net favourability in freefall. The centre-left, for the first time in this polling series, able to form a government on the numbers. Senior figures in the National Party reportedly told the Prime Minister to go home for the weekend and seriously consider whether he was the right person to lead them into November. · Luxon said he was…

Aly Cook, board member of the New Zealand Outdoors & Freedom Party (NZOFP), says the time for inquiries and "lessons learned" is over. Following the release of the Royal Commission’s Phase Two report, Cook is calling for immediate criminal investigation against the officials who suppressed evidence of harm from the novel mRNA vaccine and those who continued to promote it, despite being aware of the risks of myocarditis, pericarditis and other…

On the heels of a significant rise in the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll—which now places the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party (NZOFP) at 1.7%, the party has officially unveiled a cornerstone of its 2026 General Election platform: the ACC Justice & Accountability Statement. Launched today by NZOFP List Candidate and policy development lead Aly Cook, the two-pronged strategy is designed to fundamentally dismantle the "adversarial culture"…

Stuff’s Quarantine Nation podcast sells itself as sober reflection on the Covid years. Read through the lens of Edward Bernays, it looks more like a second wave of propaganda: regret without reversal, fear and heroism without accountability, and a tightly controlled story about what we’re allowed to question. Quarantine Nation presents itself as a reflective oral history of New Zealand’s Covid years. It’s marketed as “a mostly serious history,”…

New Zealand’s media-politics-lobbying revolving door keeps spinning. The latest turn is the most brazen yet. · On Monday, NZME announced that Hamish Rutherford would chair its Editorial Advisory Board. The news was first reported by Shayne Currie in the NZ Herald’s Media Insider column, which described the appointment alongside other editorial changes as a “real coup” for the company. The Herald announcement itself was revealing for what it…

Who said getting older means slowing down? · At Acacia Cove Village, retirement isn’t about winding down — it’s about opening up a new chapter filled with freedom, friendship, and fun. · With practically everything taken care of, residents enjoy more time to focus on what really matters: engaging in activities, socialising with neighbours, relaxing in beautifully maintained surroundings, and living life with a genuine resort-style feel. · …

It happens in a split second. · A crunch. · A scrape. · That sinking “Uh ohh…” feeling in your stomach. · Whether it’s a car park mishap or a serious collision, the stress can be overwhelming. But in Pukekohe, there’s one simple piece of advice: · Keep calm and call the experts. · For more than 30 years, Classic Auto Body Panel & Paint Ltd has been the trusted name in collision repair across Pukekohe and the greater Franklin region. What began…

Published by Tyler Durden - Via Rabobank, · Anybody thinking US payrolls, even at -92K, matters much in the current environment is probably at the head of the queue to be replaced by an AI soon. That data series is always volatile and 2.5m undocumented workers are estimated to have left the US since Trump was re-elected: 394K foreign-born workers lost their jobs in the reported month while the native-born series rose 877K, albeit after a…

Frank Bergman · The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing to release another explosive batch of 47,635 additional documents connected to convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein, adding to the millions of records already made public. · Officials say the new batch of files is expected to be released by the end of the week, raising expectations that more bombshell revelations about Epstein’s network could soon surface. · The…

Multi-omic evidence shows mRNA gene-transfer shots fundamentally reprogram human gene expression across multiple biological systems — warranting immediate suspension of the entire mRNA platform. · by Nicolas Hulscher, MPH · Our newly published peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons titled, Gene Expression Alterations Induced by mRNA Vaccines, presents compelling evidence that mRNA vaccines operate through a…

He will succeed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes · Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been named as his successor as Iran’s supreme leader. · [RT] Ali Khamenei led Iran from 1989 until his death during the opening wave of US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28. · Iran’s Assembly of Experts, tasked with vetting and selecting the supreme leader, announced…

This war might be about to get a lot uglier. · Andrew Korybko · Residents of the Iranian capital of Tehran awoke on Sunday to an apocalyptic scene after the US and Israel bombed Iran’s oil storage facilities. A sky-high flaming pillar emerged in the aftermath, toxic smoke clouded out the sun, and blackened rain fell on this city of around 10 million people. The environmental consequences alone could push Tehran to the breaking point after…

Trump might be receptive to Putin’s speculative peace plan for ending the Gulf and Ukrainian Conflicts at once in order for the global energy market to recover in time for early November’s midterms. · Andrew Korybko · Trump and Putin spoke for the first time this year on Monday in a conversation that touched upon the Third Gulf War, the content of which Putin’s senior aide Yury Ushakov described as “very substantive” and “useful”, among other…

The bloc has given Kiev €195 billion in aid since 2022, top diplomat Kaja Kallas has said · EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas speaks during the EU Ambassadors Conference in Brussels, Belgium, on March 9, 2026. ©  EU COUNCIL / POOL / HANDOUT · [RT] The European Union has spent €195 billion on Ukraine since the escalation of its conflict with Russia four years ago, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas. She…

The regulation targets all third-country nationals who are staying in the bloc illegally · FILE PHOTO: Migrants escorted by police to Brezice refugee camp, Rigonce, Slovenia, October 23, 2015. ©  Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images · [RT] The European Parliament is expected to vote this month on a proposal streamlining the deportation of migrants who are staying in the bloc illegally, including rejected asylum seekers, visa…

Washington has rapidly warmed up to Caracas after kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro and forcing his administration to comply with US demands · FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump. ©  Global Look Press / Jim LoScalzo · [RT] The US has “formally recognized” the interim Venezuelan government, President Donald Trump has stated. He has also touted a new “deal” with Caracas on the nation’s gold. · Trump drastically changed his…

David Lindfield · A migrant from the African nation of Eritrea who was once celebrated by German media as a “model migrant” is now accused of beheading and dismembering his wife, in a case that has shocked the country. · Authorities say 41-year-old Asmerom G. is the prime suspect in the killing of his wife, 31-year-old Weghata A., the mother of his infant daughter. · Investigators say parts of her body were found along a German…

Hostilities in the Middle East pushes the world toward a harsher global order By Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and research director of the Valdai International Discussion Club. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/fyodor-lukyanov/Russia in Global AffairsRGA on Telegram · ©  Contributor / Getty Images · The United States…

Governor Gavin Newsom has downplayed the alert, saying he is “not aware of any imminent threats at this time” · FILE PHOTO. © Getty Images · [RT] The FBI has warned the authorities in California that Iran has planned drone raids launched from an unidentified vessel off the West Coast, according to an alert reviewed by US media outlets. Local officials, however, have cast doubt on the warning, saying it is unverified. · According to…

The US-Israeli strikes expose the “evident crisis of international law,” the prime minister has said · Giorgia Meloni ©  Antonio Masiello / Getty Images · [RT] Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has criticized the US-Israeli war on Iran, branding it part of a dangerous trend “outside international law.” She also condemned a deadly strike on an Iranian school widely attributed…

Alex Krainer · Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining journalist Mario Nawfal for an interview focused on the possible disruptions stemming from the regional war in the Middle East and which escalated very significantly with Donald Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Iran on 28 February 2026. · The interview hasn’t been published yet but Mr. Nawfal was curious about the way I saw this war impacting Western economies and…

The lack of any meaningful economic relationship with Iran predetermined that most countries would support any resolution against it if unofficially forced to choose between the Islamic Republic and the Gulf Kingdoms to whom they’re dependent to some degree on energy imports. · Andrew Korybko · The UNSC just adopted a resolution condemning Iran for its attacks against the Gulf Kingdoms, including against civilian and residential areas, after…

Reflections on an ancient and timely concept. · John Leake · During the COVID-19 pandemic, shortly before Dr. Peter McCullough gave his first Senate testimony about the official pandemic response, he had a conversation with his church pastor, Andrew Forrest, about medical centers refusing to administer certain safe and effective treatments to desperately ill patients. · “It’s as though, for the first time in history, our medical…

The first more softly criticizes them and conveys “politically inconvenient” realities with a bit more tact while the second is much harsher and comparatively uncouth. · Andrew Korybko · Rubio’s speech at this year’s Munich Security Conference was loudly cheered by the Europeans, some of whom sharply contrasted it with Vance’s from the year prior, which they considered insulting. Vance had chastised them for their embrace of…

The outcome could redefine US dominance – and leave Europe and Ukraine scrambling · By Valentin Loginov, a Russian journalist specializing in political processes, sociology and international relations · RT composite. ©  Getty Images/Eduardo Parra; Contributor · Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and his European partners have plenty of reasons to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East.  · It’s not just because US…

Gazprom has reported drone strikes on the TurkStream pipeline infrastructure in Krasnodar Region · FILE PHOTO. Russkaya compressor station, part of the gas pipeline system that supplies gas to the Turkish Stream. Krasnodar Region, Russia. © Getty Images / Vitaly Timkiv;  RIA Novosti · [RT] Kiev has been deliberately attacking the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline in an…

Brussels looks set to bypass Hungary’s block on the €90 million “aid” package via accounting shenanigans By Rachel Marsden, a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English. https://www.rt.com/op-ed/authors/rachel-marsden/rachelmarsden.com · Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky ©  Sean Gallup / Getty Images · [RT] Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian leader…