A campaign to increase New Zealand's refugee quota started two years ago, when I completed a documentary: "Stepping up: NZ's response to the refugee crisis" https://www.luciadore.com/blog/stepping-up-nz-s-response-to-the-refugee-crisis.
Amnesty International then endorsed it. In it, I point out that while I agree with increasing the refugee quota, any increase should also go hand-in-hand with an increase in government funding. Refugees will only do well if they have employment, have educational prospects, overcome any language barrier and have good access to healthcare. The Canterbury Refugee Resettlement and Resource Centre (CRR&RC), formerly, the Canterbury Refugee Council (CRC) and I are about to embark on a study to investigate these issues further.
In the meantime, Tracey Barnett, has written this great article about NZ's response to the refugee crisis so far.
Amidst the frenzy of President Trump's first two week's in office, and of his phone calls with other world leaders, including the prime minister of NZ, Bill English, the plight of refugees has been forgotten. What does the new American vision mean for refugee policy and for New Zealand in particular? In this article, Tracey Barnett, founds out.
It would appear that America is no longer the country of the "free", with immigration being curbed and a ban on Muslim immigrants in particular, and a crackdown on the media. No longer can journalists say what they know to be true; it is clearly better to present "alternative facts".
The volume of oil reserves in Saudi Arabia has interested me, ever since I covered oil and gas in the Middle East. There were often disputes about the oil reserves in the region, and that the current estimates were not believable. How much does Saudi Aramco administer? How much will it fetch for its planned IPO? This article that appeared in the Wall St Journal, on 26 January, sums up recent activities.