Blog - Viral News

What ‘Jack and Jill’ can teach us about the (un)fairness of capital gains taxes

29Sep

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Business

What ‘Jack and Jill’ can teach us about the (un)fairness of capital gains taxes

By Richard Meade* of Inland Revenue is consulting the public on how to address long-term challenges like superannuation and healthcare funding and capital gains taxes have been put forward as one option. Photo: AFP Opinion - In New Zealand, capital gains tax debates spring up like zombies. Each time they get killed off, back to life they come. New Zealand already has some types of capital gains taxes - such as the bright-line test (which taxes residential land bought and sold within two years) and taxes on other various activities. So the debate is more about expanding taxes on capital gains, rather than introducing a new tax. ANZ's chief executive Antonia Watson triggered the latest furore this week when she argued since people invest in housing for the purpose of...

Kylie Jenner, Victoria Beckham, Wizkid — inside Paris Fashion Week’s glitziest bash

29Sep

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Life Style

Kylie Jenner, Victoria Beckham, Wizkid — inside Paris Fashion Week’s glitziest bash

Inside, three decadent rooms were stuffed with the cream of the fashion designer crop alongside their muses. Some extravagant looks made the journey from a banquet room, complete with an explosion of flowers and canapes, to the smoking area, where the Eiffel Tower glistened on demand, somewhat treacherous. The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri, who opted for a straight-off-the-catwalk hooped, floral dress from Loewe making her her two-metres wide, said she had found herself stuck while trying to hunt down a vodka cocktail. Others attempted to give Jenner, who wore a Miu Miu crystal embellished mini-dress, a wide birth so as not to catch their lace creations in her bling. Source link

Far right wins Austria election, adding to European rightwing surge

29Sep

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World News

Far right wins Austria election, adding to European rightwing surge

Freedom Party of Austria leader Herbert Kickl waves to supporters after election exit polls were announced. Photo: APF / APA / Roland Schlager Freedom Party (FPO) seen beating conservatives Far-right figure could become chancellor if FPO win is confirmed Other parties have ruled out working with FPO leader Kickl Austrian voters handed a first ever general election victory to the far-right Freedom Party on Sunday, vote projections showed, illustrating rising support for hard-right parties in Europe fueled by concern over immigration levels. The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO held a slim lead in opinion polls for months over Chancellor Karl Nehammer's ruling conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP) in a campaign dominated by immigration and worries about the economy. Led by the 5...

Kiribati to vote for president on 25 October

29Sep

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World News

Kiribati to vote for president on 25 October

Photo: AFP / RAIMON KATAOTAO The date for the Kiribati presidential - or beretitenti - vote has been set for 25 October. Notices were published by electoral districts across the country on Friday. There will now just be three candidates - all from the same party, the ruling Tobwaan Kiribati Party (TKP) - after one TKP candidate, Riteta Iorome, was dropped. There had been no public indication as to why he was not on the ballot. The three still in the race were the man who has been beretitenti for the past eight years, Taneti Maamau, along with Bauntaake Beia and Kaotitaake Kokoria. The TKP used its numbers to block any opposition candidate from standing, prompting Tessie Lambourne - the opposition leader in the last parliament - to say the people were being denied a right to have a bereti...

The Detail: Guam locals pay the price for US security

29Sep

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World News

The Detail: Guam locals pay the price for US security

Guam Legislature generic Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon Why America's muscling up of might in Guam will have a ripple effect in the Pacific, including on NZ's peace-making efforts The tiny island of Guam is known as the tip of the US military spear. It is closer to Beijing than to Hawaii, and is a hugely valuable strategic asset for that reason - especially now there are rising tensions around China's presence in the Pacific, and surrounding North Korean missile testing. Right now there is a massive build-up going on there of the already significant American military presence as it gets ready for a decade of twice-yearly missile weapons testing. By 2028, the US will spend $9 billion to relocate 5000 marines from Japan, build an integrated missile defence system, and add command func...

Israel launches strikes on Yemeni Houthi targets

29Sep

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World News

Israel launches strikes on Yemeni Houthi targets

By Emily Rose and Maya Gebeily Yemenis lift placards and flags of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement during a rally held in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa on 27 September, 2024 in protest against Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. Photo: AFP Israel says it bombed Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday, expanding its confrontation with Iran's allies in the region after killing the Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in an escalating conflict in Lebanon. The airstrikes on Yemen's port of Hodeidah were in response to Houthi missile attacks on Israel in recent days, Israel said, amid fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and Israel's main ally the United States. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said four people had been killed and 29 were w...

29Sep

By No Comments

World News

The Detail: Guam locals pay the price for US security

Guam Legislature generic Photo: RNZ Pacific / Eleisha Foon Why America's muscling up of might in Guam will have a ripple effect in the Pacific, including on NZ's peace-making efforts The tiny island of Guam is known as the tip of the US military spear. It is closer to Beijing than to Hawaii, and is a hugely valuable strategic asset for that reason - especially now there are rising tensions around China's presence in the Pacific, and surrounding North Korean missile testing. Right now there is a massive build-up going on there of the already significant American military presence as it gets ready for a decade of twice-yearly missile weapons testing. By 2028, the US will spend $9 billion to relocate 5000 marines from Japan, build an integrated missile defence system, and add command func...

World Heart Federation urges countries to develop cardiovascular action plans

29Sep

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Health

World Heart Federation urges countries to develop cardiovascular action plans

The World Heart Federation (WHF) has launching a global petition, urging all countries to have a ‘National Cardiovascular Action Plan’ to tackle heart disease, the world’s number one killer. Improving cardiovascular health requires strategies that are tailored to the national, regional, and local context, and must take the socioeconomic environment and healthcare system into account, they argue. Marking this year’s World Heart Day with the petition launch, the WHF hopes the call to action will inspire a more robust and coordinated response to cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is responsible for more than 20.5 million deaths every year. As many as 80 per cent of these deaths from heart attacks and strokes are preventable, but early findings by WHF show that as few as 7&#37 of countr...

‘IC 814’ actor Dibyendu Bhattacharya on ‘Bhola, Shankar’ controversy

29Sep

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Entertainment, Movies

‘IC 814’ actor Dibyendu Bhattacharya on ‘Bhola, Shankar’ controversy

‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ actor Dibyendu Bhattacharya, who essayed the role of Abhijeet Kumar, a senior officer in the MEA speaks exclusively to mid-day.com on the controversy that overshadowed Anubhav Sinha’s debut web series on Netflix. He reveals how the makers only went by the book and that the questions raised over the names of terrorists in the show are baseless. Dibyendu Bhattacharya said yes to ‘IC 814’ for its ensemble cast Dibyendu Bhattacharya says, “I spoke to Anubhav Sinha, and when he offered me this role, I read the script and I saw there is not much in it because it’s an ensemble. When I came to know the people involved in it and of course the content. So, I said ‘yes’. I was willing to work with Anubhav Sinha. It was the right time.” Dibyendu Bhattacharya’s memory...

Nine dead in Russian attacks on Ukraine hospital

29Sep

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World News

Nine dead in Russian attacks on Ukraine hospital

By Pavel Polityuk, Reuters This handout photograph taken and released by the National Police of Ukraine on September 28, 2024, shows a damaged hospital building following a drone attack in Sumy. Two Russian strikes on a hospital in the Ukrainian border city of Sumy killed at least six people on 28 September, 2024, the interior minister said. Photo: Handout / National Police of Ukraine / AFP Russia attacked a hospital in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine early on Saturday, killing nine people and injuring at least 19 others, Ukrainian and UN officials said. Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said "loitering munitions" - or suicide drones - hit the Saint Panteleimon Clinical Hospital in two attacks 45 minutes apart. "Most of the fatalities occurred dur...