The Government has confirmed plans for a brand-new cycling and walking bridge across the Waitematā Harbour – at an estimated cost of $685 million.Transport Minister Michael Wood will today announce the project, which features…
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Covid 19 coronavirus: Auckland vaccination centre metres away from MIQ facility
Experts are divided about the risk posed by a Covid-19 vaccination centre metres away from a quarantine facility’s exercise area. While one expert expressed concern about the arrangement in central Auckland, another expert was confident…
Fish and chip company linked to former real estate agent Aaron Drever liquidated
A fish and chip company with links to struck-off real estate agent Aaron Drever is in liquidation and officials plan to refer allegations of potential wrongdoing to police and the Official Assignee.Liquidators are trying to trace…
'Predatory': Napier Port's play for CentrePort's container operations
Documents reveal more about the play Napier Port recently made for CentrePort’s container operations, to which Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has said thanks, but no thanks.GWRC owns 77 per cent of CentrePort, with Horizons…
Herald morning quiz: June 4
Test your brains with the Herald’s morning quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz at 3pm for the afternoon quiz. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.
Covid 19 coronavirus: Kiwis in Melbourne relieved quarantine-free way home is near
News that Kiwis stuck in Melbourne will be able to fly home in less than a week has come as a relief to New Zealanders stranded in the locked-down Australian city. Wellington resident Lizz Santos was only meant to be in Melbourne…
Hunt for mystery cases continues as second week of lockdown begins
Contact tracers continue the hunt for genomic clues linking three mystery cases to the rest of Victoria's coronavirus outbreak as the state begins its second week of lockdown.
Tying the missing dots together, and hoping no more unlinked cases of COVID-19 emerge appear key to the prospects of restrictions potentially lifting before the 11.59pm, June 10, deadline imposed by the state government.
It adds to good news late on Thursday as two of the state's cases said to have been caught in "fleeting exchanges" were reclassified as false positives.
READ MORE: Victorian government gets federal backing to build quarantine facility
Victoria's Department of Health confirmed a woman who visited a display home and a man who visited Brighton Beach Hotel would no longer be considered positive coronavirus cases after expert analysis.
The reclassifying of the two cases is expected to reignite debate on the lockdown situation and the suspected contagiousness of the variant in question, given the significance of fears it was being spread between strangers.
"These cases will be reclassified and no longer considered confirmed cases. Primary close contacts who are linked only to these cases and not to other exposure sites will be released," the department said in a statement.
"Any exposure sites linked only to these cases will be stood down, including every exposure site in Anglesea."
At least four venues in Anglesea, including the only supermarket, an IGA, were listed as exposure sites this week.
Brighton Beach Hotel and the Metricon display home site will remain exposure sites because they are linked to other cases.
The department said individuals need to wait for formal clearance before they leave isolation, adding the cases were listed out of an abundance of caution.
"Moving fast and early to contain and isolate a positive case and test and trace their contacts is a fundamental part of Victoria's COVID-19 response," the statement read.
"Out of an abundance of caution, the Department will always enact immediate public health measures in response to the notification of any positive case.
"Cases continue to be reviewed as further information comes to hand."
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton on Wednesday said the lockdown would be reviewed day-by-day, adding he had "great confidence" the restrictions could ease by the end of next week.
Professor Peter Collignon told Today it was normal for case numbers to be relatively higher earlier in the outbreak before they begun to taper off and decrease.
"I hope we see decreasing numbers over the next week," he said.
"It is possible it may not go for seven days, depending if no community cases are found that are unlinked or mystery cases because they're a real concern."
Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said three unlinked cases remained after a fourth mystery case living in South Melbourne was linked to a case from an existing exposure site.
Biden Will Donate 25M Doses of COVID Vaccine Abroad During June
The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will donate 25 million coronavirus doses abroad, with most of them allocated to the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative.
In a fact sheet, the White House said it will donate about 19 million doses to COVAX; about 6 million directly to countries in need, including Mexico, Canada and South Korea; and for United Nations front-line workers.
“We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concessions. We are sharing these vaccines to save lives and to lead the world in bringing an end to the pandemic, with the power of our example and with our values,” President Biden said in a statement.
Pressure has been growing on the White House to develop a plan to donate its excess vaccines to countries that have been hit hard by the virus without the same access to vaccines as wealthier nations. The concern is that without vaccinations, new variants of the virus may arise in those countries that could threaten the rest of the world.
Thursday’s announcement, which comes ahead of the Group of Seven Summit next week, stops short of the 80 million total doses promised by the administration last month. Instead, it focuses only on the 20 million authorized vaccine doses from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Biden has said the U.S. will donate “at least” 20 million of those by the end of June.
He has also pledged to donate 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is not authorized for use in the U.S., but that effort has been hamstrung by manufacturing safety concerns and a related Food and Drug Administration review.
The Biden administration has been facing growing calls to help bolster the global vaccination effort as demand and enthusiasm for vaccines wane in the U.S. while other countries face a crisis.
According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. and other high-income countries have secured almost 90 percent of the available coronavirus vaccine supply.
The administration had initially been reluctant to send any doses overseas, saying the extra doses could be a backstop for possible manufacturing issues in the U.S., used to vaccinate children or serve as booster doses if necessary to fight against variants of the virus.
To date, most of the U.S. international support has come in the form of money, with the administration committing $4 billion to COVAX.
The administration earlier agreed to give 4.2 million doses of vaccines to Mexico and Canada — the only U.S.-owned doses that have been sent abroad.
The post Biden Will Donate 25M Doses of COVID Vaccine Abroad During June appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Twitter launches $4.49 subscription service in Australia and Canada
What price to take back that tweet you regret sending?
Well, Twitter has decided: $4.49 per month.
Being able to "undo" a tweet is one of three new functions available on Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service launched today by the social media heavyweight.
As reported by 9news.com.au two weeks ago, Twitter was planning a subscriber-based model, and Twitter Blue has now been rolled out in two test markets, Australia and Canada, with the company eager to monitor feedback and uptake.
In what Twitter describes as its "first iteration of Twitter Blue", subscribers can undo sent tweets, bookmark tweets and read tweet threads more easily.
Twitter Blue was "the same price as a cup of coffee," Smita Gupta, senior product manager at Twitter, told 9news.com.au.
"It's about seeing how this lands in the market so we can build on it."
The tech giant confirmed the free version of Twitter will remain and is "never" going away.
What will Twitter Blue subscribers get?
Of most interest is an undo tweet function, which gives users 30 seconds to edit a tweet before it is published, allowing a brief window to reconsider wording.
Tweet threads, which have become a popular way to write beyond a tweet's 280-character limit, will now be easier to read thanks to Reader Mode, the company said.
Screenshots of Reader Mode seen by 9news.com.au show tweet threads formatting on a smartphone the same way an online news article would.
READ MORE: Deepfake nudes change face of cyber threats, revenge porn and scams
A bookmark function will let subscribers "manage content" and find old and interesting tweets more "easily and efficiently".
Subscribers can also customise app icons on their device's home screen and have some control over colour themes of their Twitter app.
Ms Gupta said Twitter selected Australia as a testing ground because it was a "mature, digitally savvy consumer market" where people had shown a willingness to take up paid subscriptions.
Australians have taken out 37 million subscriptions to entertainment services, a figure tipped to reach 58 million by 2024, according to Telsyte's latest emerging technology insights.
Twitter did not have a target number of users they estimate will shift to a pay model, Ms Gupta said.
READ MORE: The first-ever tweet sold as an NFT for $3.8 million
"We don't have revenue expectations at the moment, this is a long-term endeavour in terms of diversifying revenue streams and we are still in the very early stages of this.
"Our immediate goal is to find product-market fit with this group of people who are super engaged and leaned into Twitter and finding out what they would be willing to pay extra for."
She called it a "test and learn" approach.
Twitter Blue follows hard on the heels of the platform's relaunch of its blue tick verification system last month.
It is estimated Twitter has over 300 million monthly active users.
READ MORE: How to tell if your smartphone is spying on you
Contact: ms******@******om.au
FOLLOW: Mark Saunokonoko on Twitter
'I told the girls to follow me … before we all die'
A South Australian man has recalled the moment he smashed open the second-floor window of a burning Adelaide massage business to save himself and workers trapped inside.
Another worker made a desperate dash through a wall of fire, which police believe was deliberately lit.
Customer Ramzi Assaf said he hit the glass "10 or 12 times" when the building erupted in flames.
READ MORE: Woman arrested after allegedly failing to stop at border checkpoint
"I told the girls to follow me, all of them, before we all die," Mr Assaf said.
He was inside the massage business off Rundle Street when the fire broke out about 6pm on Wednesday night, trapping five people inside.
"They were all crying and screaming and sitting at the corner at the end of the corridor," he said.
Mr Asaff rushed to find a way out as the building filled with thick smoke.
"I went out, there is no way we can leave … because the main entrance was all fire, all over it outside," he said.
Onlookers were quick to help from below, pushing industrial bins against the wall.
Dale Thompson from the Metro Fire Service said there weren't "too many injuries".
"There was a little bit of smoke inhalation and one gentleman escaped with minor cuts to his arms where he broke a window," he said.
One woman who escaped the building was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Police have charged a 37-year-old woman of no fixed address with arson.
The business, which suffered $200,000 in damage, will be closed for weeks.
READ MORE: 'Don't touch the ball' plea from South Australian doctor
https://twitter.com/ellakduffy/status/1400238125209640963?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The workers are still shaken by the ordeal.
"They feel still very shocked and panicked because they don't know what to do," owner Princy Diaosurin said.
Police are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the fire, including reviewing security video from neighbouring businesses.
The 37-year-old woman appeared via video link at Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday.
She made no application for bail and will remain in custody until she faces court again next month.