Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

Apr 06, 2018 - Infestations of Harlequin ladybirds in the Gisborne district could pose a threat to the horticulture and viticulture industries. The invasive species from Asia was first reported to the Ministry of Primary Industries in Auckland in 2016 and has since been found in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki regions. It has also been discovered at Te Karaka and in the Matokitoki Valley.

As more middle-class people purchase vehicles, cities like Dhaka, Kathmandu, and Manila are getting stuck in ever worsening gridlock. This rickshaw is designed to modernize the more sustainable transportation option.

Apr 06, 2018 - New Zealand’s umbrella rural health organisation will move to shut down if it does not receive government funding next week. The Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) today agreed that it will cease operating should the government not provide some core funding support. RHAANZ first presented a funding bid to the Minister of Rural Communities Damien O’Connor and the Minister of Health David Clark back in November last year and due to unfortunate delays on their behalf, it still does not have an answer, chief executive Michelle Thompson says. “Our financial situation is now precarious. There are more than 600,000 people living in rural New Zealand, equivalent of easily being the country’s second largest city. “We feed New Zealanders three times a day, not with junk food, but with good quality protein, fresh fruit and vegetables. One in every five dollars generated in the economy either directly, or indirectly, comes from the agri-food sector. “Yet it does not feel like we get anywhere near this level of resourcing or attention. “The endless gnawing away at services for rural communities has to stop. Rural Kiwis have lost their hospitals and schools. We are facing under-funded health services, emergency services, midwives and airports.” Thompson and chair Martin London will meet O’Connor next Thursday to discuss the government’s funding offer. Thompson say for the last five years RHAANZ has become a leading health voice for New Zealand’s communities. “RHAANZ has a vital function in bringing a cross-sector rural health, rural industry and rural community voice to both enunciate rural health issues and to identify and resource solutions. “For the organisation to disappear from the scene, at a time when rural health itself is as precarious as ever, would be a terrible loss of goodwill, synergy and expertise. “There are only two other national rural health alliances in the world and both have received central funding in recognition of their value to both government and communities. New Zealand needs to follow that lead,” Thompson says.

| A Make Lemonade release  |  ||  April 06, 2018   |||

Apr 05, 2018  -  Lyttelton Port Co workers belonging to the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) will begin striking again later this month as the union and maritime hub operator remain in dispute over pay and rosters

The escalating trade spat between the US and China is threatening to upset perishables flows into the Middle Kingdom and shift trade routes as Chinese importers look for alternative sources of fruits and meat.  Perishables figure prominently in the list of US origin goods on which China is set to impose 25% tariffs. Beijing’s response to the first salvo from the Trump administration targeted a number of goods, including pork, fruit and wine from the US.

The answer to that question has just changed to at least 80,000 years older than previously thought – based on obsidian-crafted tools found 100 miles from source.  Excavations of the dry bed of the ancient Lake Olorgesailie, in southern Kenya, led by American paleoanthropologist Rick Potts, suggest that our ancestors created the first supply chain between 305,000 and 320,000 years ago, at least 80,000 years older than we previously thought.