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News of Zealand

News of Zealand: Breath Tests Are Down and NZ Police Don't Like It

New charter schools target Māori youth, Nigeria's AWOL president and more in your daily NZ news bulletin.
Image via Wikimedia Commons.

All you need to know about the world this morning, curated by 95bFM and VICE NZ.

LOCAL NEWS

Police Say Poor Funding Has Led to Fewer Roadside Breath Tests
The number of roadside alcohol breath tests conducted by police is at the lowest number in nearly a decade.
Official information figures show that last year, 1.9 million breath tests were recorded. This is 38 percent decrease from 2013, when 3 million roadside breath tests were carried out.
Police Association president, Chris Cahill, has said that the drop is due to lack of funding and that road safety is suffering as a result.

Charter Schools Are On The Way
Two new charter schools targeting Māori students in Rotorua and Taupo will open in the first term of the 2018 school year. The Rotorua school will combine a science and technology focus with Kaupapa Māori aspirations, and will be run by local iwi.
The Blue Light Senior Boys High boarding school in Taupo will have a strong focus on the outdoors and is connected with the police.
Under-Secretary to the Minister of Education, David Seymour says that charter schools have the flexibility to meet the specific needs of their students in different ways than the mainstream education system, offering an alternative option.

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Labour Announces New Family Package
Labour announced plans to ditch National's proposed tax cuts, in a major policy announcement yesterday. The Families Package will however keep pledged increases for services that provide for low income families, such as Working For Families and the Accommodation Supplement.
The policy also includes a 'Best Start' payment, which is a $60 weekly payment for families with babies and toddlers. Families on low and middle incomes will be able to receive the payment until their child turns three.
Deputy Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern, told 95bFM that the package will use about $890 million of the $1.5 billion saved from scrapping the tax cuts.

Auckland's Gonna Get That Housing Money
The government have announced a $30 million infrastructure loan to help fast-track the construction of 10,000 houses in Auckland.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff hinted that more funding is still to come, indicating it would be more than the $300 million allocated under the current Housing Infrastructure Fund.
In June, Goff said his council needed help to pay for roads, sewerage, and water infrastructure for new housing projects after reaching its borrowing limit.
The infrastructure bill for 140,000 homes in new developments is estimated to cost $19 billion over the next 30 years.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Donald Trump Junior Releases Emails Of Potential Collusion.
Donald Trump Jr has released an email chain that shows he was eager to accept information from the Russian government that would damage Hillary Clinton's election campaign.
Emails released by Donald Trump Junior are the first confirmation that any Trump associate attended a meeting with Russian officials.
The emails between Trump Junior and music promoter Rob Goldstone from June 2016 show that the president's son was offered official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton and her dealings with Russia.
Trump Junior eagerly accepted the offer, saying, "if it's what you say, I love it."
The email chain was forwarded to President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort, who attended the meeting at Trump Tower on the June 9th, 2016.
The disclosure raises questions over whether US campaign laws were broken and why senior Trump associated failed to report a hostile act by a foreign power.
It is against US law to accept help from a foreign government.
President Donald Trump has released a statement calling his son a high quality person and applauding his transparency.

China Continues To Lockdown The Chinese Internet.
China has reportedly ordered all internet providers in the country to block VPNs starting in 2018.
A VPN, or 'virtual private network', is a tool used to access restricted sections of internet, which has been especially helpful in the past for Chinese citizens.
China boasts the largest censorship program in the world, blocking access to thousands of websites including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Chinese businesses and academics are already criticising the ban, fearing that a lack of access to international data will leave them lagging behind the rest of the world.

Nigeria's Missing President Causing Turmoil
Hopes that current Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari will serve a second term in office are fading fast as he has been missing from the country for months.
Coming into the middle of his first term, Buhari has spent over a third of 2017 abroad on medical leave, with aides refusing to say what is wrong with him.
In the beginning of his presidency he was often on long 'holidays', not admitting that he was seriously ill until March of this year.
The absence of the president has placed strains on the country which continues to deal with a recessive economy and frequent terrorist attacks.

Australia Gets Payback On Philip Morris
Tobacco giant Philip Morris has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in compensation to the Australian government over its packaging laws.
In 2012, Australia legislated that cigarettes must be sold in unappealing packets with graphic health warnings.
Philip Morris attempted to have the laws overturned, but a court dismissed the case in 2015.
The tobacco giant has now been ordered to pay the government's legal costs, which are estimated to be as high as $52 million.
In May, the World Trade Organisation decided that Australia's laws were a valid public health measure, making them more likely to be adopted overseas.

Reporting by Jack Marshall, Alessandra Nixon, Tash Aull-Timbers and Ximena Smith.