Mike Houlahan

Expectant parents and midwives in Wanaka will soon have the choice to deliver a baby closer to home after confirmation a primary birthing facility will be set up in the town.

A new wave of Covid infections is sweeping New Zealand and could rival the heights of the March Omicron outbreak, when more than 1000 cases a day were being reported in the South.

NZ has signed up to a US initiative not to test ways to destroy satellites in orbit, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced at the opening of the University of Otago Foreign Policy School.

Listeners who tuned in to Morning Report on Wednesday for the show’s weekly interview with National leader Christopher Luxon would've heard Corin Dann musing, to little demurral from Luxon, there were few policy differences between the two main parties.

Severe staff shortages and "overwhelming demand" forced the SDHB to defer surgeries at both Dunedin and Southland Hospitals on Monday, and further cancellations are expected.