News from Home and Beyond Mā Te Reo Supports 21st Celebration of Radio Ngāti Porou Radio Ngāti Porou celebrates 21 years of being on air. The country’s smallest radio station at the time, back in 1987 – Radio Ruatoria spent the first week of its life doing outside broadcast. Email for more details NZ on Track for Lowest Road Toll for DecadesNZPA The weekend passed with no fatal road crashes as New Zealand looks set to record the lowest road toll in decades. Kiwis Savour World Cup Victory Fairfax Media Twenty four exhausted but ecstatic Kiwis were pinching themselves in Suncorp Stadium’s visitors’ dressing room, coming to grips with the knowledge they were now world champions. New Zealand had never won a rugby league World Cup, never even beaten Australia in a World Cup game. Read moreRobert Parker Finally Breaks Silence on NZ Wine For the first six issues of Robert Parker’s Wine Buyers guide, the world’s best known (and some might say the most controversial) wine critic declined to comment on New Zealand wine. Finally, with the release of the 7th edition, the silence has been broken. NZ School Of Dance Graduation Season Proves A Hit
The New Zealand School of Dance Graduation Season 2008 has opened to full houses and a rapturous response from the audience. Tributes Flow for Helen Clark on The Big Idea Tributes for Helen Clark, former Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, have flowed into The Big Idea, from arts leaders and the creative community. It’s Official, Taupo is New Zealand’s Most Loved Town. After a close run six-week nationwide competition, Taupo has been voted New Zealand’s most loved town. Stay tuned to www.billitees.co.nz to find out more about the ceremony. Future Scientists Of NZ Get Funding Boost Six top students from throughout New Zealand are the new beneficiaries of an environmental research scheme funded by Bayer New Zealand Ltd. The students, selected from among 45 entries, are from Auckland, Te Awamutu, Bay of Plenty, Taupo, Nelson and Otago. Read more Neil Finn Announces Seven Worlds Collide ShowsSeven years ago, Neil Finn called on a very special group of musical friends. They came from all around the world and converged on Auckland, New Zealand. Over a short few days in 2001, they formed a band and rehearsed a lengthy set, taking it to the stage of Auckland’s St James Theatre for a series of five incredible shows under the banner Seven Worlds Collide. Stage Set For Spectacular Auckland Festival 2009A spectacular programme of theatre, dance, music, and visual arts from some of the world’s most exciting arts and entertainment companies will bring Auckland alive next March in the city’s fourth biennial Festival. Tourism Pioneers Jump for JoyTwenty years to the day after the world’s first commercial bungy jump opened at Queenstown’s Kawarau Bridge, tourism pioneers Henry Van Asch and AJ Hackett tandem jumped for joy. Read more Jenny Pattrick Wins Mansfield Literary Prize
New Zealand Post and the Katherine Mansfield Menton Trust today announced Wellington author Jenny Pattrick as winner of the 2009 New Zealand Post Mansfield Prize. The $100,000 Prize, offered in conjunction with the Winn-Manson Menton Trust and administered by Creative New Zealand, covers return travel to France and living and accommodation expenses for six months. The Prize enables a New Zealand author to work at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton, France, where famed writer Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote in 1919 and 1920. Aucklands Sexiest Named ACP Media Nightline presenter Samantha Hayes and Outrageous Fortune star Kirk Torrance have been named the sexiest Aucklanders for 2008. The stars were selected for their all round sex appeal by Metro magazine, as part of its annual Best of Auckland awards. Showing Off isn’t Just for the Birds The Dominion Post Chinese palaeontologists recently unearthed an astonishing fossil – a dinosaur with long, long tail feathers. Chipping away at 160-million- year-old rock from Inner Mongolia, a team led by a Dr Fucheng Zhang uncovered this pigeon-sized reptile with four long ribbon-like feathers streaming from its tail. The creature’s body was also covered in feathers. ‘Epic’ Beatles Track Set for Release Reuters An epic Beatles improvisation more than 14 minutes long could be released 41 years after it was recorded, Paul McCartney has revealed. The track Carnival of Light – a jumble of shrieks and psychedelic effects – was never released because three of the Fab Four thought it too adventurous. Animal Welfare: Classical Music Soothes the Wanderlust of Zoo Elephants The rousing, patriotic sweep of Elgar’s Nimrod, the mournful tones of Nessun Dorma and the urgent eight-note allegro con brio opening to Beethoven’s fifth – they have all been helping animal behaviour experts to make life more comfortable for the elephants at Belfast zoo. Britain’s Water Mills Given Role in Clean Energy Generation The Guardian Britain’s iconic water mills, some of which date back to the 11th century, are to become a major force in the fight against climate change. Mill owners around the UK have started to refurbish their old buildings and install turbines in order to show that they can be used as a source of clean electricity. Government figures suggest that if the resource is fully tapped, small-scale hydropower from the old mills and weirs could provide up to 10,000GWh per year – 3% of the UK’s electricity needs. Catching the Wind in Antarctica Blog On six continents, wind energy is struggling to compete with fossil fuels. But in Antarctica, wind is carving out a big role. Renewable Energy Industry Says the Future Looks Bright NY Times We solicited comments from environmental and renewable industry leaders in the wake of Senator Barack Obama’s victory in Tuesday night’s presidential election. A few e-mailed responses – enthusiastic all – follow. We’ll post more if/when they come in: On CO2 Reduction, Obama Pledges to Stay the Course NY Times President-elect Barack Obama sent a video message to a summit on global warming organized by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, implying that despite the ongoing economic turmoil, Mr. Obama plans to keep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions a central component of his energy, environmental and economic policies. Cheap Green: Energy and Ovens NY Times Ovens of all types account for more than 6 percent of household electricity use in the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration. But there are some easy ways to save a modest amount of energy without having the turkey or casserole suffer. San Francisco Bay to be Electric Car Capital The Guardian Officials in California have unveiled ambitious plans to turn the San Francisco Bay area – home to 7.6 million people – into one of the world’s leading centres for electric vehicles. California Switches on to an Electric Future The Guardian A network of kerbside charging points in cities and ‘filling’ stations will have a major impact in reducing emissions California’s 36 million people have 21m cars between them, accounting for 40% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. So replacing 1m of those petrol cars with electric cars will make a big difference. Schwarzenegger’s Bid to Save the Rainforest The Guardian Three US governors join forces with Indonesia and Brazil to keep carbon locked up in endangered tropical forests Though it didn’t seems to make an enormous splash in the press, the deal reached this week between three US states, Indonesia and Brazil seems like a fairly big deal in terms of rainforest protection. The agreement was brokered at the climate summit convened by California’s ecosavvy governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Along with fellow governors from Illinois and Wisconsin, Schwarzenegger signed an agreement that could see carbon credits earned from forest protection in Indonesia or Brazil incorporated into US emissions trading schemes. |
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