Heavy Weather: Government Extends Drought Areas In North Island
A state of drought has been officially declared in the South Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay regions today by the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy.
The area covered includes the Auckland Council area south of the Harbour Bridge, and all of the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay Regional Council areas – including Coromandel and Taupo.
“This is recognition that farmers across the North Island are facing extremely difficult conditions, and follows on from the announcement of drought in Northland last week. More>>
News Alerts
RSS
News Alerts
Greens: NZ Govt Must Put Pressure On Fiji Over Torture
6 March 2013 NZ Govt must put pressure on Fiji over torture The New Zealand Government needs to put pressure on Fiji to launch a truly independent inquiry regarding the torture of civilians by Fijian officials, the Green Party said today. More>>
Pre-Registration Begins: Mighty River Shares Readied For Sale
Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the Government will offer the public up to 49 per cent of Mighty River Power in the second quarter of this year – subject to market conditions. More>>
Share Pre-Registration From Today: Mighty River - We Are Being Ripped Off
Bottom line this is not about benefiting anyone other than share-brokers, merchant bankers, company directors and investors. More>>
Total $425,475.33 Before Tax: Lesley Longstone Severance Payment Released
State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie today released the amount paid, by way of severance payment, to Lesley Longstone, the former Chief Executive of the Ministry of Education. More>>
Scott Pickering, currently a regional Chief Executive Officer for one of the world's largest insurance brokers, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer for the Accident Compensation Corporation. More>>
Shearer On Labour's Canterbury Policy: From Recovery To Legacy
We will: • Commit to establishing a CERA board so that local independent voices are heard • Call for fresh elections for ECan in 2015 • Establish an independent insurance commissioner to help residents resolve disputes • Commit to funding some test insurance cases Cantabrians have been forced to take themselves More>>
Wellington.Scoop: Kapiti Expressway Gets Go-Ahead From EPA
The Environmental Protection Authority announced today that the Kapiti Expressway has been given formal approval, subject to conditions, by its board of inquiry. More>>
Gordon Campbell: On What John Key Could Learn From His Latin American Hosts
In Brazil, Key could benefit from seeing the steps this economic powerhouse is taking to protect its local manufacturing sector from the impact of cheap imports... Brazil has urged active interventions to limit the damage caused by the influx of cheap money on the Brazilian currency. More>>
Werewolf: Cool Capital, Cold Comfort
Presumably, Wellington elected a Green-leaning mayor and several centre left councillors because they wanted an alternative to service rollbacks, job cuts, increases in fees and charges and outsourcing. Yet this route appears to be the one being taken, regardless... More>>
Werewolf Satire:
Texts From My PM
In which Lyndon Hood notes an increase in spam messaging and wonders why these people haven’t run out of credit. More>>
TPPA: Academic Slams Report PM Used To Claim $3.5bn Gains
Professor Kelsey says ‘the assumptions that underpin the report’s computerised modelling belong on an alien planet’. More>>
RSS
RSS
News Alerts
RSS
News Alerts
Environment: Smith Green-Lights Tauranga Port Dredging Plan
Conservation Minister Nick Smith has given the green light for Port of Tauranga to widen and deepen its shipping channels, creating space to let in bigger vessels. More>>
Not Rupert's Happy Place: New Corp Completes $815.3M Sale Of Sky TV Stake
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp completed the $815.3 million sale of its stake in local pay-TV operator Sky Network Television. More>>
Scoop Business: World Week Ahead - Relentless Headwinds
Investors will eye February’s jobs report on Friday for fresh signs that the US economic recovery remains on track despite a range of headwinds – including the budget-cut debate in Washington and the political impasse in Rome. More>>
AA PetrolWatch: Fuel Prices Reach 6-Month High
Motorists received a rude shock during late January and February, with petrol prices rising 11 cents a litre, or over 5 percent, in the space of a fortnight. More>>
Scoop Business: NZ Terms Of Trade Sink To 3-Year Low As Dairy Prices Fall
New Zealand’s terms of trade unexpectedly fell to a three-year low in the fourth quarter as prices of dairy exports extended their slide and fish export prices fell. More>>
ETS Subsidies: Steel Mill, Smelter Top Free Carbon Credits List
The Glenbrook steel mill and the Bluff aluminium smelter were the big winners in last year’s hand-out of free carbon credits to industrial emitters. More>>
Scoop Business: New Tools For Central Bank By Mid-2013, Says English
The Reserve Bank will get an expanded range of tools to shore up financial stability, including the ability to set loan-to-value ratios on residential mortgages and force banks to hold more capital against risky lending, by the middle of the year, Finance Minister Bill English says. More>>
Scoop Business: NZ Posts January Trade Deficit As Exports Fall, Led By Dairy
New Zealand recorded a trade deficit in January, reflecting a larger-than-expected decline in exports led by dairy products, while imports rose. More>>
Price Of Cheese: Fonterra Affirms Forecast Payout, Issues Bonus Shares
Fonterra Cooperative Group, the world's biggest dairy exporter, has held its forecast farmgate payment on expectations of higher global prices in the second half of the season, and wants to grow its winter milk supply, meaning a tinkering with the capital structure. More>>
RSS
RSS
RSS
News Alerts
I dread airports. I dread border crossings. Since I love travelling, they’re quite difficult to avoid. On the basis of being a non-criminal, atheist New Zealander, it’s something I naively assume I can get over with as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the border officials frequently don’t share my desired efficiency. More>>
Recently Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson [pictured left] was in New Zealand with West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda, as part of her work in an organisation called International Lawyers for West Papua... More>>
Ramzy Baroud: Photographing Tragedy: What Victims Actually Want
When one looks at scenes of fleeing refugees from Syria via images of their squalid refugee camps and hears their pleas for solidarity, mercy or for God’s help to end their suffering, one finds eerie similarities between their experiences and those ... More>>
David Swanson: Hubris Isn't The Half Of It
As our government was making a fraudulent case to attack Iraq in 2002-2003, the MSNBC television network was doing everything it could to help, including booting Phil Donahue and Jeff Cohen off the air. The Donahue Show was deemed likely to be insufficiently ... More>>
Suzan Mazur: Steve Benner: Let's Discuss Origin Of Life On Charlie Rose
Steve Benner describes himself as a "crackpot synthetic biologist to some extent" (i.e., he thinks outside the box). Benner pioneered synthetic biology, for example, and in 1984, generated the first synthetic gene to encode an enzyme. More>>
Joshua Brollier: No More Truthless Heroes
On February 11, 2013, the New York Times reported about the funeral of retired Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle, portraying him as a “warrior and family man.” The highly politicized and massive public funeral, held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, ... More>>
Amir Murtaza: Pakistan's Legislation On Infant Formula Milk Manufactures
The year 2013 brings fresh hopes for the children of Pakistan’s Sindh province as Members of the Provincial Assembly have passed into law the “Sindh Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Bill 2013”. More>>
Gordon Campbell: On The Politics Of Papal Selection
The very public physical deterioration of his predecessor John Paul II during his final years may well have been a factor in Benedict XVI‘s shock decision to resign. Certainly, the steely temperament and intellectual prowess of the former Cardinal Josef Ratzinger as the Church’s doctrinal watchdog in the 1980s would have made any similar decline seem a fairly intolerable prospect. More>>
WWF: Thai Premier Accepts Half-Million Signature Petition From
Media Release Immediate Release – 27 February 2013 Thai Premier Accepts Half - Million Signature Petition From WWF To Ban Ivory Trade More>>
AHRC: Pakistan: Polio, Taliban, And Media
Resistance to polio vaccination has been going through a constant phase of evolution in Pakistan, and with every passing day, it goes one notch up from its previous level involving people from conservative camps to enlightened ones as well. More>>
UN Watch: Turkey's Erdogan Calls Zionism "Crime Against Humanity"
Turkey's Erdogan to UN Conference: "Zionism is Crime Against Humanity" Ban Ki-moon Stayed Silent, Must Speak Out Contact: media1@unwatch.org Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan (podium, right) and Ban Ki-moon (seated second from left) GENEVA, ... More>>
Oilprice.com: Be Careful: Russia Is Back To Stay In The Middle East
Russia is back. President Vladimir Putin wants the world to acknowledge that Russia remains a global power. He is making his stand in Syria. More>>
Peter Tatchell Foundation: Reading University Cancels "Kill Gays" Islamist Preacher
Reading University Cancels "Kill Gays" Islamist Preacher Cleric’s advocacy of murder ignored in cancellation decision Muslim Society not rebuked for hosting a murder-approving speaker London - 28 February 2013 Reading University has cancelled ... More>>
Israeli Embassy: PM Netanyahu Responds To Turkish PM Erdogan's Statement
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply condemns Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement about Zionism and its comparison to fascism. "This is a dark and mendacious statement the ... More>>
CPPA: Three Lao-Americans From Minnesota Missing In Laos
Three Lao-Americans From Minnesota Missing in Laos February 28, 2012 (Revised and Updated), Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Bangkok, Thailand For Immediate Release The Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) and the United Lao for Democracy ... More>>
Papuans Behind Bars: Update: January 2013
Papuans Behind Bars is a new project about political prisoners in West Papua. Our aim is to provide accurate and transparent data, published in English and Indonesian, to facilitate direct support for prisoners and promote wider debate and campaigning ... More>>
Abahlali BaseMjondolo: Launch Of The Sweet Home Farm Abahlali BaseMjondolo Branch
The Sweet Home Farm community will be launching its branch under the banner of Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement South Africa, this coming weekend on the 2013-03-02 @ 11:00 in their Local Community Hall next to St. Barnabas Anglican Church. One should remember ... More>>
International Transport Workers Federation: ITF Proposes Said Elhairech For Trade Union Rights Award
The ITF (International Transport Workers Federation) today proposed embattled Moroccan trade unionist Said Elhairech for the Febe Elisabeth Velasquez prize, an international award that recognises those who take personal risks to defend trade union rights ... More>>
RSS
RSS
News Alerts
US Broadcast: The Amazing Race Returns To NZ
Fans of the hit reality TV show The Amazing Race are in for a taste of Canterbury’s stunningly beautiful landscapes and adrenaline pumping activities. More>>
Time Lag Dashes Hopes: APO On Orchestral Sector Review
The review, which started in 2011, places the APO in its own category of ‘Metropolitan Orchestra’. But with no additional Central Government funding to help the orchestra meet the expanded role, the report is a disappointment. Funding to the APO is frozen at current levels until at least 2015. More>>
Scoop Photos: Dolphins In Wellington Harbour
A large pod of dolphins made its way into Wellington's inner harbour on Thursday afternoon. Scoop arrived just in time to see them heading away from the Queen's Wharf area. More>>
1931-2013: Death Of Ralph Hotere ONZ
Governor General: It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Ralph Hotere – one of New Zealand’s preeminent artists. Mr Hotere was a quiet man of great strength and character whose contributions, through his many iconic artworks, provide thought provoking commentary on the many facets of New Zealand. More>>
Stats: Bite-Sized Stories Of New Zealand Reveal The Bigger Picture
Statistics help to tell the story of New Zealand, and New Zealand in Profile: 2013, released today by Statistics New Zealand, is a graphic illustration of this. More>>
[The Aussies Won]: Fringe Fest Improv Turns Into Trans-Tasman Grudge Match
This Sunday (Feb 24) at the Fringe Bar All Star Micetro will become an epic, international battle... The cast of visiting Australian show Spider Dance will vie with a Wellington Improvisation Troupe crew for the coveted title of Micetro. Usual, non-Trans-Tasman Micetro continues 3, 10 March. More>>
Scoop Review Of Books: Setting His Sites: Review Of Gun Machine By Warren Ellis
Stylish and economically written, Gun Machine is part police thriller and part philosophy of information; it’s a darkly humorous and incisive meditation on the contemporary city scape.More>>
Scoop Images: 2013 Fringe Officially A Thing That's Happening Right Now
The 2013 New Zealand Fringe Festival officially launched with a procession down Wellington's waterfront to the Fringe Hub at Civic Square. More>>
RSS
Podcast
ACC: New Chief Executive
Werewolf: That
Werewolf: Assange At Bay