https://www.rnz.co.nz/assets/news_crops/113618/eight_col_000_PW8UH.jpg?1606240690 The New South Wales government is expected to ease coronavirus restrictions, including the number of people allowed to visit a home. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian Photo: AFP The easing of restrictions will be agreed at the government’s weekly Covid-19 meeting this morning and will be implemented in time for Christmas and New Year celebrations. From Tuesday 1 December up to 30 people will be able to visit a home – an increase from 20. The NSW government will also allow up to 50 people to gather outdoors in a public space. Previously this was 30. Small hospitality venues of up to 200 square metres in size will be allowed to have one person per 2 square metres indoors, up to a maximum of 50 customers. This doubles the amount of customers venues will be able to accommodate. The public health order requiring employers to allow employees to work from ...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/assets/news/194426/eight_col_orr.jpg?1557345216 Analysis – The government is asking the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) to change from arsonist to firefighter in the housing market. Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas As part of a suite of measures to try to cool the political, social, and financial flames caused by a 20 percent rise in house prices in the past year, Finance Minister Grant Robertson is suggesting the RBNZ explicitly consider the effect its monetary policy measures has on the housing market. “I am concerned that the recent rapid escalation in house prices, and forecasts for this to continue, are affecting the government’s ability to meet the economic objectives set out in the Remit,” he said in his letter to RBNZ governor Adrian Orr. The RBNZ has copped much criticism for the surge in house prices, with fingers pointed at its moves to force interest rates lower through its $100 ...

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2017-11/beehive-red-og_0.png New Zealand’s stronger-than-expected economic performance has flowed through to housing demand, so the Government will review housing settings to improve access to the market, the Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “Our focus is on improving access to the housing market for first home buyers and ensuring house price growth does not distort the effectiveness of our overall economic rebuild – which we want focused on the productive side of the economy.   “We have been clear about the policy responses that we are not prepared to consider, but there are other options that need to be investigated. “Overly restrictive planning rules are one of the causes of high house prices and the replacement of the RMA is a priority to address that. We will build on the National Policy Statement on Urban Development and examine other potential barriers to affordable housing. Minister Woods is working on new and innovative ...

https://www.elanka.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/a-feast-of-Serendib.jpg   Source: WORT FM  With Thanksgiving on the horizon and feasting on our minds, today we spend the hour with professor and food blogger Mary Anne Mohanraj, who recently published A Feast of Serendib, one of the first Sri Lankan American cookbooks. Mary Anne Mohanraj is a clinical assistant professor of literature at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a fiction writer, and a food blogger at Serendib Kitchen. She is the founder and executive director of Speculative Literature Foundation and DesiLit. She is the author of many books, including the short story collection Bodies in Motion and the novel The Stars Change. Her latest publication is the cookbook A Feast of Serendib: Recipes from Sri Lanka (Mascot Books, 2020). Listen to the Interview below Source link ...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/assets/news_crops/113601/eight_col_000_8VP99M.jpg?1606199884 The world’s largest maker of latex gloves will shut more than half of its factories after almost 2500 employees tested positive for coronavirus. A worker inspects disposable gloves at the Top Glove factory in Shah Alam on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur on August 26, 2020. Photo: Mohd Rasfan / AFP Malaysia’s Top Glove will close down 28 plants in phases as it seeks to control the outbreak, authorities said. The company has seen record profits this year as demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) surged around the world. Shares in Top Glove fell by 7.5 percent on Tuesday after the announcement. Malaysia’s health ministry has reported a sharp rise in cases in areas where Top Glove factories and dormitories are located. Nearly 5800 workers have been screened so far with 2453 testing positive, it said. Top Glove operates 41 factories in Malaysia with many of its workers coming ...

https://www.rnz.co.nz/assets/news_crops/113570/eight_col_Post-Cab-9Nov-6.jpg?1606179893 Finance Minister Grant Robertson wants the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) to become more involved in checking the skyrocketing price of housing in New Zealand. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Robertson has written to RBNZ governor Adrian Orr suggesting a change to the rules under which it operates, to take heed of the impact of any monetary policy on house prices. “One proposal I am seeking advice from the Reserve Bank is on whether to include stability in house prices as a factor for consideration in the remit when formulating monetary policy,” he wrote. The RBNZ is already required to look to avoid unnecessary instability in interest rates and the exchange. Robertson’s suggestion would add the words “house prices”. However, he said he was not looking to direct or instruct the RBNZ, nor change its primary mandates of managing inflation and maximising employment. “I want to be clear I am not ...

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2017-11/beehive-red-og_0.png The Minister of Justice has received the Law Commission’s recommending changes to the law governing the way DNA is used in criminal investigations. The report, called The Use of DNA in Criminal Investigations – Te Whahamahi I te Ira Tangata I ngā Mātai Taihara, recommends new legislation to address how DNA in criminal investigations is collected, used and stored, while also respecting tikanga Māori and te Tiriti o Waitangi. Minister of Justice, Kris Faafoi, thanked the Law Commission and all involved for their work on the report and acknowledged the fundamental questions it has raised about the use of DNA in the criminal justice system. The Minister noted that the report would shortly be tabled in Parliament, in keeping with the requirement under the Law Commission Act 1985. “I take note of the Law Commission’s point that it is 25 years since the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act came ...