Despite domestic and foreign criticism, the Ardern government’s early lockdown strategy works.
![New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster speak during a press conference in Wellington on September 4, 2021, after the country recorded its first COVID-related death in six months [Mark Mitchell/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9M83KE.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)

Johnson is a New Zealand reporter who worked as a foreign correspondent for more than a decade, mostly out of the Middle East and North Africa.
Despite domestic and foreign criticism, the Ardern government’s early lockdown strategy works.
![New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Commissioner of Police Andrew Coster speak during a press conference in Wellington on September 4, 2021, after the country recorded its first COVID-related death in six months [Mark Mitchell/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/000_9M83KE.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
On October 17, Kiwis will make a choice between Ardern’s good-faith brand of politics and Collins’s casual nastiness.
![National Party leader Judith Collins and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speak during the TVNZ's Leaders' Debate on September 22, 2020, in Auckland, New Zealand [File: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/1274819008.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Amid a new outbreak, New Zealand’s opposition is once again trying to leverage misinformation for political gain.

The New Zealand government’s COVID-19 response was a success story, national media’s coverage of it was not.

Years after Turkish municipal authorities demolished their historic neighbourhood, Roma musicians look to move forward.
![Members of the Sulukule Youth Orchestra say music is in their blood [Italo Rondinella/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014591483569580_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
As Syria’s civil war escalates along the Turkish border, many in Turkey are questioning the country’s involvement.
![Syrian soldiers initiated a counter-offensive after rebels took over the Armenian-Syrian town of Kassab [EPA]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/20144157479189734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Domestic violence has soared in the past decade, but shelters for abused women remain scarce.
![Turkish women have protested against high rates of violence against women [AFP/Getty Images]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/201426122914512734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
A spate of kidnappings over the past year adds a new dimension to the devastating civil war.
![The kidnapping of civilians has increased as the Syrian civil war rages into its third year [Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/20131014131524609734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Grim existence for 4.5 million internally displaced people struggling to survive in the war-torn country.

East African ivory and rhino horn continue to be in high demand, despite international efforts.
![Western tourists will pay to see live elephants, not rotting carcasses [Glen Johnson/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/201362915413599734_20.jpeg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)