Until yesterday, the Ukrainian city of Lviv has been a safe place for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.
Ukraine says up to 30 Russian missiles have been fired at the Yavoriv military training base near the border with NATO member Poland.
Officials say at least 35 people were killed, and 134 were critically injured in the attack.
A few days before this horrific attack, I spoke with Victoria Vasyliuk, a resident of Lviv who has been hosting refugees from Kyiv.
We discussed what it has been like on the ground for internally displaced people in Ukraine. She also gave a personal account of Russia's aggression against her country.
Please note this interview took place prior to the recent tragedy in Lviv.
The Abel Tasman National Park is currently coming alive to the sound of young kākā following a successful breeding season for the park’s resident birds. Collaborators on the breeding programme including Project Janszoon, DOC and the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust are all celebrating the successful fledging of eight chicks from three nests in the Bark Bay and Torrent Bay areas.
In 2015, Kākā were virtually extinct in the park with only a few wild male birds surviving there. Since then a total of 35 captive-bred birds have been released, with the last release happening in 2019. Most of these birds came from captive South Island kaka but about a third were raised from eggs or chicks collected from Nelson Lakes and Kahurangi National Parks. This year’s chicks were all banded and fitted with a transmitter before they left their nests. They are particularly vulnerable in the period between leaving the nest and learning to fly, which can take up to a week, but most are now competent flyers and adding their tunes to the chorus of the park.
This week on the Wire, Frances speaks with ornithologist Ron Moorhouse and Project Janszoon’s Project Director Bruce Vander Lee about the much loved birds and conservation in the area.
Earlier this week, the government announced the date of the border reopening. The country’s border is set to open for tourists and others from Australia without residence visas from midnight 12 April, and travellers from visa waiver countries such as the US and UK will come in May 2, with mandatory vaccination and a negative pre-departure test. Joe spoke to Dr. David Welch, a Senior Lecturer from the Centre for Computational Evolution and School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland
On this weeks Top 10: Callum is joined by musician and friend Finn Johansson to count down the biggest songs of the week. We listen to some terrifying music from the Resident Evil 4 soundtrack, as well as songs from Gorillaz, The Units, Kath Bloom and Prince.
Recently, the Herald revealed that a woman, who was a student at the University of Auckland, had been sexually assaulted by another student from her university of hall of residence. The perpetrator was reprimanded and prohibited from contacting the victim, but eight months on, he remains enrolled at the university.
Christina spoke to Vivien Whyte and Lily Chen from Thursdays in Black about the incident. They discussed rape culture on campus and the university’s response.
The Government has recently announced their bringing forward of the Aotearoa border opening to the 31st of July.
This includes a newly implemented two tier system for migrant workers, allowing professional industry workers to gain permanent residency quickly.
As this pushes back other workers in industries with high turnover rates, the Migrant Workers Association of New Zealand have publicly condemned the new system.
Liam had a chat with Anu Kaloti from the association about their frustrations, first asking her to summarise the scheme new government scheme
Last week The Green Party released a statement addressing the proposed imigration changes by the government, and how they could fail to guarantee pathways to residency workers in the types of jobs deemed essential throughout the pandemic, by prioritising high income earners - instead of focusing on the wellbeing of workers and enabling migrants to put down roots.
Joe spoke to Green Party spokesperson for immigration, Ricardo Menedez March, on the proposed immigration changes from the government.
$300 million was allocated in the new budget under education spending towards replacing the school decile system with a new Equity Index The decile system currently governs how much government funding is given to each school based on a socio-economic evaluation of the area the school resides in.
Casper spoke to the President of the New Zealand Principals’ Association, Cherie Taylor-Patel, about the issues with the decile system, how it will be replaced, and the effect of the education budget overall.
On May 10th New Zealand’s employment court reached a landmark decision against the Gloriavale religious community, classifying the work members do as employment, going against the claims that residents were volunteers.
This comes after years of allegations against the group exposed kiwis to a world of physical abuse and workers violations, with children as young as 6 being made to work long hours at Gloriavales many businesses’.
Jack spoke with Dr Bill Hodge, an employment law expert about the decision, and what it could mean for the future of the secretive community.
The allegations against Gloriavale have also re-ignited demands for the community to lose its tax exempt status, I talked to professor of Law Michael Littlewood about the possibility of this, however I started by asking him why they are tax exempt in the first place.
In the past few months, following Auckland's long lockdowns, residents saw a boom in graffiti on public structures.
This has led to a lot of discussion about the artform, and its place in the cultural zeitgeist.
While everyone from artists to politicians to locals agree that graffiti on private residential property is vandalism, the conversation of painting on public structures like bridges and trains has been more divided.
Jack Horsnell spoke with Graffiti artist, CAPO, street art expert, Dr Reuben Woods and Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson to understand why this discussion is taking place.
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