Category Archives: New Zealand

Researchers in New Zealand are developing a new warning system that tracks shaking within volcanoes and could one day provide two to four days notice of whether an eruption is more likely.

After the deadly Whakaari eruption in 2019, researchers at the University of Canterbury set out to determine whether patterns in seismic frequency (the shakes felt in the volcano) could help forecast eruptions and prevent the loss of life.

Natural Resources Engineering postdoctoral fellow Dr Alberto Ardid studied recordings from GeoNet seismometers an instrument that measures ground noises and shaking prior to 18 eruptions across six active volcanoes around the world, including three in New Zealand; Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Whakaari.

A machine-learning algorithm allowed Dr Ardid to sift through thousands of recordings and highlight particular frequency patterns that occurred regularly before an eruption.

The findings, which are published in Nature Communications, showed that in the three weeks, and then the few days before an eruption, there were similar changes in frequencies within some of the volcanoes.

The shakes would become slower suggesting there was a blockage in the shallow part of the volcano and that a seal or lid had formed, which traps hot gas, builds pressure, and sometimes triggers an explosion.

This pattern started to emerge, in our experience, around three weeks before the eruption and it peaks around two and four days before the event, Ardid said.

However, it is important to point out that we have observed this sealing mechanism without any eruption related, he said. Sometimes the pressure will passively release, and other times it can explode. Thats when it is dangerous.

The research has picked up that Mount Ruapehu, an active volcano in the countrys North Island, is showing signs of a seal forming, Ardid said. At this point, were able to say that an eruption is much more likely to happen now.

Over the past month, strong tremors are becoming more frequent, hot gas and liquid is flowing into the crater lake and sulphur slicks are appearing on the battleship grey water near Mount Ruapehu. GeoNet, which monitors New Zealands geological hazards, has issued a warning over elevated volcanic unrest, saying the activity in the last four weeks is the longest period of tremor recorded over the past 20 years. It cannot predict if the volcano will blow unrest does not always lead to an eruption.

A tool to definitively predict if a volcano is going to erupt does not exist. As Ardid puts it: the holy grail of volcanology is trying to anticipate when an eruption is going to happen. But what this research does is allow scientists to determine with greater accuracy the probability, or likelihood, an eruption will occur.

The researchs co-author, Dr David Dempsey, a Civil and Natural Resources Engineering lecturer at the University, said once the warning system has been through enough testing, and the scientists are confident enough in its accuracy levels, it could be used across the world.

Dempsey hopes they can get the tool to a stage where scientists can say there is a 10-20% chance of an eruption in the next 48 hours. That would be considered a very, very high level of certainty.

Determining the relative risk of eruption is important for example, determining if there is a one-in-10 chance of eruption versus a one-in-1000. With that information you may or may not decide to delay your visit to a mountain.

New Zealand has 12 active volcanoes and in many cases, including Mount Ruapehu, are popular tourist destinations, or are bordered by residential areas.

Active volcanoes, including Whakaari, Ruapehu, Tongariro, and others around the world where visitors and skiers are likely to be nearby, are unpredictable and sometimes hazardous, Dempsey said. Early warning systems could save lives and avoid debilitating injuries.

Link:

New Zealand scientists find tremor link that could predict volcanic eruptions - The Guardian

The New Zealand sharemarket ended the holiday-shortened week with a whimper, but held up better than offshore markets as the spectre of rising interest rates loomed.

The benchmark S&P/NZX40 Index closed on Friday down 0.3%, or 45 points, at 11,908, following a flat finish on Thursday.

Shane Solly, Harbour Asset Management portfolio manager, said the market had not managed to hit positive territory, following a weaker performance from global markets overnight.

Were actually holding up relatively well, but its all about Air New Zealand and index change today.

READ MORE:* NZX50 Index down 0.1%, recovers after inflation hits 6.9%* NZX50 slips 0.3%, Meridian down 2% after low lake levels affect generation* S&P/NZX50 rises 0.5%, Air New Zealand shares up 4.9%

Globally weve seen airline stocks performing better on the back of better load factors, so planes are fuller and suggestions that ticket pricing is able to pass on the higher fuel price. The Air New Zealand share price has reacted to that today.

Air New Zealand shares were up 4.6% at 89.5 cents while the rights soared 15.3% to 73.8c on volume valued at $5 million.

In the United States, American Airlines gained 3.8% after telling investors it expects to turn a profit in the second quarter as more people return to travel.

AIR NEW ZEALAND

Air New Zealand shares were up 4.6% at 89.5 cents while the rights soared 15.3% to 73.8c.

Travel technology business Serko also had a better day, up 4.1% at $4.80, benefiting potentially from the expansion in travel around the world.

At the other end were electricity generators and retailers Meridian Energy and Contact Energy, heavily traded as their weightings were reset in a global clean energy exchange trade fund.

Meridian was down 1.4% at $4.83 on turnover of 14 million shares, worth $70m. Contact fell 0.4% to $8.11 on turnover of 10 million shares, worth $88m. The shares remained in the index, but their weighting was reducing to make way for other stocks.

Top stock Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 1.3% at $22.29, Auckland Airport fell 0.6% to $7.85, Mercury Energy was down 0.6% at $5.91 and Mainfreight slid 1.2% to $80.50.

Retirement village operator Ryman Healthcare was a bit stronger on the day, up 2.7% at $9.20, recovering after a dip below $9 this week.

It has been quite weak, people are taking a bit of a view that it could come out of an index globally as well, so that stocks got to the point where its quite low-priced compared to how the business has normally been priced basically over the last 10, 20 years, Solly said.

A2 Milk continued to slide, losing 1.7% to $5.03 while Spark was down 0.4% at $4.92. Trading in the telco was heavy on Wednesday, worth $22m, but it had returned to a more normal level of $12m on Friday.

Despite the softer day, Spark was trading at the top of its range, with investors attracted to a stock that had relatively solid earnings and dividends they could rely on particularly as economic headwinds appeared, he said.

Definitely the potential sale of the cellphone towers is being seen as quite a positive thing, potentially realising value that had been underestimated by the stock price.

Across the Tasman, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index fell 1.5%, or 115 points, to 7477 in late afternoon trading, dragged down by resource stocks.

Solly said recent weak quarterly production updates from miners had prompted a cut in analysts forecasts.

In many cases people are thinking about wheres a good defensive place to be, and that's where our New Zealand gentailers and some of our other stocks come back to the fore.

Shares fell across Asia, including a nearly 2% drop in Tokyo.

Earlier on Wall Street, stocks slipped after United States Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated increases in interest rates must be faster to fight inflation.

The S&P 500 closed 1.5% lower at 4393.66 after having been up 1.2% in the early going. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1% to 34,792.76 and the Nasdaq slid 2.1% to 13,174.65.

- With AP

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NZX50 Index eases 0.3%, Air New Zealand shares and rights soar - Stuff

Deserted international departures retail stores at Auckland International Airport during the Covid-19 Level 3 lockdown. Photo / Brett Phibbs, File

OPINION

In a recent article (Weekend Herald, April 16) John Roughan wrote that the pandemic has been an anticlimax.

Surprisingly, he acknowledges Covid-19 has killed about 25 million people worldwide, so hopefully he was referring to New Zealand's 600 deaths. He goes on to ask how many lives we in New Zealand have saved and states that it's "not the 80,000 based on modelling from the Imperial College London that panicked governments everywhere in March 2020".

I beg to differ. It is because governments panicked everywhere that the number of deaths so far is "only" about 25 million.

A recent comprehensive assessment of the Covid-19 infection fatality proportion the proportion of people infected with Covid-19 who die from the infection found that in April 2020, before most governments had "panicked", the infection fatality proportion was 1.5 per cent or more in numerous high-income countries. Included were Japan, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Without stringent public health measures, Covid-19 is likely to have spread through the entire population, and an infection fatality proportion of 1.5 per cent multiplied by 5 million (New Zealanders) equals 75,000.

That's close to the estimated 80,000 New Zealand lives likely to have been saved because our "panicking" Government, like many others, introduced restrictive public health measures.

What Roughan fails to appreciate is that public health successes are invisible. Unlike deaths, you cannot see people not dying. Without the initial public health measures and then the rapid development and deployment of highly effective vaccines (unconscionably largely to high-income countries) there would have been far more deaths.

Roughan asks "is this a pandemic?" He states that 25 million Covid deaths are only 0.3 per cent of the world's population ("only" 16,000 New Zealand deaths).

How many deaths make a pandemic? In 2020, Covid-19 was the number one killer in the UK, responsible for causing about one in 10 deaths in every age group, with each person who died losing on average about 10 years of life expectancy.

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In the US, more than 150,000 children have lost a primary or secondary caregiver to Covid-19.

So, has our pandemic response been proportionate?

Stringent public health measures were highly effective pre-Omicron, but are unsustainable long term.

We are incredibly fortunate that highly effective vaccines were developed so rapidly.

Even the less severe Omicron variant is a major killer of unvaccinated people, as demonstrated in Hong Kong, where the equivalent of 6000 New Zealanders have been killed by Omicron in the past couple of months, due to low vaccination rates.

Unfortunately, despite our high vaccination rates, we are unlikely to be out of the woods, and it is likely a new Covid-19 variant will be back to bite us. The only certainty is that the next variant will need to be even more contagious to overtake Omicron.

As long as Covid-19 passes to a new host before killing you, there is no selection advantage to a less fatal variant. We are just lucky that Omicron was less virulent than Delta.

Pandemics over the centuries have often taken several generations to change from being mass killers to causing the equivalent of a common cold.

What response will we accept as proportionate to shorten this process with Covid-19 without millions of additional deaths?

As immunity from vaccination or infection wanes, we will need updated vaccines to prevent regular major disruptions to society.

Unlike the flu, which has a natural R-value of less than two (one person on average infects fewer than two others), Omicron appears to have an R-value of at least 10. That means in the time it takes flu to go from infecting one person to two, to four, to eight people, Omicron (without a proportionate response) could go from infecting one to 10 to 100 to 1000 people.

There is no way that endemic Covid will be as manageable as endemic flu.

The only sustainable proportionate response to Covid-19 is for New Zealanders to embrace universal vaccination.

It is likely that vaccine passes will be required again if we want to live more normally and for society to thrive. It cannot be difficult to make the use of vaccine passes more seamless.

Almost every financial transaction today is electronic and it must be possible to link transactions to valid vaccine passes when required.

Almost 1 million eligible New Zealanders haven't had their third vaccine dose, yet few are anti-vaccination. Rather, thanks to vaccination and other public health measures, the pandemic has been an anticlimax for many New Zealanders and the third dose has not been a priority.

As already demonstrated, for the vast majority of New Zealanders, a vaccine pass is sufficient to make vaccination a priority.

Professor Rod Jackson is an epidemiologist with the University of Auckland.

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Covid-19: Rod Jackson - was New Zealand's response to the pandemic proportionate? - New Zealand Herald

The Aloha Dance Club will showcase Polynesian culture during the groups spring semester showcase Saturday. Credit: Courtesy of Selesitila Harvey

The Aloha Dance Club will showcase dances from several Polynesian islands during its spring semester showcase Saturday.

The Aloha Dance Club, established in April 2021, is finishing its first full year as a student-run Polynesian dance club focused on spreading awareness of Polynesian cultures through traditional dances, Devon Harvey, a fourth-year in medicine and co-president of the club, said. The showcase will take place at 6 p.m. at the US Bank Conference Theater in the Ohio Union.

The group aims to spread the Spirit of Aloha the breath of life throughout Columbus in the form of dance, according to its student organization page.

For the showcase, the group will present dances from Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand and Samoa, Selesitila Harvey, a graduate student in social work and co-president of the club, as well as Devon Harveys wife, said. According to the groups Instagram, the showcase is called E Tumau Le V Faaleu, or How firm thy friendship in Samoan.

All of our dances are traditional to each of the islands that were representing,Grace Maae, a first-year in athletic training and social media director for the organization, said. In the Polynesian culture, our dances mimic whatever the lyrics kind of like storytelling with the music.

In addition to dances from the organization, the performance will also showcase live Tongan music, Columbus-based Polynesian dance troupe Mahana Productions and a kids class performance, Devon Harvey said.

Its kind of a big collaboration, and were excited to be able to show that and spread the Aloha with everyone, he said.

Aside from its spring showcase, the organization has several performance opportunities for members throughout the year, Devon Harvey said. The dancers held a fall semester showcase in December and also performed at events within the Columbus community such as at Ronald McDonald House in March, according to the groups Instagram.

Due to the number of traditional dances and cultures touched on by the organization, preparations for showcases begin from the first week of the semester, Devon Harvey said. They take each dance in turn, waiting until everyone knows the dance before continuing on to another, he said.

Its been nice to be able to use those dances that [my dad] taught me and to teach it to other people to keep those dances alive, Selesitila Harvey said.

Costuming is another aspect of the showcase that takes much of the semester to complete, Devon Harvey said. The dancers make their own costumes with money from dues, and they learn how to make them together, he said. However, having to ship materials from the Polynesian islands the costumes originate from which involves customs and the potential for added fees makes this feat even more difficult, Selesitila Harvey said.

Although we arent able to get everything we need, we try to keep it as traditional as we can, she said.

Devon Harvey said in addition to traditional garments, the dancers aim to incorporate other traditional costuming elements into their garb in the future, including the kwhaiwhai, which is a pattern that represents a fern, and drawn-on face tattoos.

Anyone is welcome and encouraged to join the club and enjoy its performances, Devon Harvey said. The main goal of the organization is to share and teach others about Polynesian cultures, he said.

We all come from Polynesian descent, Selesitila Harvey said. So this means a lot to us, but we love to share with everyone.

Admission to E Tumau Le V Faaleu is free, and cookies will be provided.

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Aloha Dance Club to showcase island dances from New Zealand to Hawaii - OSU - The Lantern

Demand for travel agents on the rise, RSA turns focus on young veterans and civilians trapped in Mariupol in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald

A sprawling multimillion-dollar church organisation is facing a string of misconduct allegations from former members.

Churchgoers who interned as part of a ministry course and volunteered their services claim they felt used, underappreciated, overworked and burned out by the church.

Independent journalist David Farrier, today's guest on the Front Page podcast, has been investigating these issues and reporting the accounts of congregation members on his Webworm blog.

Follow the Front Page podcast here.

"For the last six months, I've been hearing from members of Arise saying: 'Look, this church has a darker side and there are people being spat out on the other side that have really been broken by what's gone on,'" Farrier says.

Farrier says it's important not to confuse this with a tiny church group that meets over the weekends to worship.

He says the church has over 10,000 members, spread over 12 campuses across New Zealand. The members are encouraged to tithe, which entails a donation of 10 per cent of your salary to the church.

"It's a multimillion-dollar business. It isn't a small church service on a Sunday. This is like every Sunday putting on a big show, with LCD screens, a whole music team, lights, cameras and everything. It's big business and they won't want this thing to fall over."

Doing that requires an enormous amount of effort, and at least some of the weight of that responsibility fell on the interns working within the organisation.

The personal stories being shared with Farrier paint a troubling picture of people being pushed to breaking point at the church.

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"They have an internship programme that you pay $2500 to do. Interns get a certificate and a small qualification at the end of it, but they are pushed to the extreme. They're working incredibly long hours, while also tithing 10 per cent of their salaries.

"I spoke to an incredible number of people who were just burned out. Some became suicidal."

Farrier says that responsibilities included personal services for the pastors, such as babysitting, chauffeur driving and gardening.

"It's deeply unusual," says Farrier.

The journalist says that it isn't an accident that so many young people are drawn into this specific church.

"A big part of Arise's success is planting new churches in university towns," he says.

"University students are looking for belonging and they're looking for family, and a church offers that to them. It will draw them in with prizes or really slickly made music and performances.

"And then once you're in, the pressure comes. It's spiritual pressure but also other types of pressure. And suddenly you're tithing 10 per cent of your income as a student. And you're sort of trapped in this system that can be incredibly hard to escape."

After Farrier's earlier reports, Arise church founding pastor John Cameron said in a statement that he was broken and devastated after students of the Ministry School alleged they were overworked and overwhelmed.

Arise Church has said it would conduct an independent review of the culture of the church.

John Cameron and his brother Brent have also resigned from their roles on the Arise Church board, but Farrier notes this doesn't mean their involvement has ended.

"When John Cameron put out a press release saying he is stepping aside I assumed he had resigned, but Arise then put out another statement saying he's merely stepping aside and he's still a member of the Arise family," says Farrier.

"So, amid all of these allegations and investigations still going on, John Cameron is still very much involved."

Farrier says that it has taken long for these experiences to come to light because the people who leave the church often feel isolated.

"They've lost their whole church family. They think they're alone in it. They don't know that this is happening to multiple other people with the business."

Farrier says that he currently has more than 500 pages of email correspondence with people who have been associated with the church, and he is currently working on how best to tell more of their stories.

"What I've written so far is the tip of the iceberg. There's so much there. I just need to figure out how to be able to accurately report it in a way that does justice to the people talking about this stuff."

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.

You can follow the podcast at nzherald.co.nz, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The Front Page podcast: Inside the scandal rocking Arise church - New Zealand Herald

Dave Letele is a former professional New Zealand boxer turned health coach and community leader. His story is one of overcoming the odds, having been at the top, forging a successful rugby league career, owning a couple of supermarkets and more, and then losing everything, including not being able to see his kids. He became depressed and overweight, and upon a return visit to his hometown Auckland, was faced with a harsh reality of do or die.

His boxing character Brown Buttabean was a smack-talking loudmouth that fans loved to hate. His circus act of a boxing journey started at 178 kilos (over 390 lbs) and burst onto the New Zealand boxing scene in 2014 where he fast developed a cult-like following as he called out local tough guys all over the country.

After a string of wins, and losing half his body weight thanks to his dedication to the gym, he has turned his life around and is now helping hundreds of thousands of Kiwis become fitter, healthier, and putting food on the table for many in need through his charitable organisation Buttabean Motivation.

We caught up with the recently crowned New Zealand local hero of the Year 2022 to hear more about his boxing journey and other amazing achievements.

Q: How did you get into boxing?

DL: I got into boxing really by accident I guess. I was over in Germany for a Joseph Parker fight against Marcelo Nascimento - my friend and Duco Events owner David Higgins brought me over as he was so worried about my life, as he didnt like leaving me alone at that time as I was very depressed.

Over in Germany, the head of German boxing had never seen such a large, tattooed Islander before. He wanted to see what I weighed - and I did too as every time I jumped on a scale back home it said ERROR, so I wanted to know what I weighed. They dragged me up like an elephant by the trunk, threw me on the scale and I was 178 kilos. Everyones reaction was like wow this guy is so fat, but I was just so happy as I had realised how much weight I had lost since my return home to New Zealand from Australia.

So while I was on stage, I was so happy I started showing off saying yeah, Im the man, Im the man, Ill take on anyone! Everyone else was laughing but Higgins had an idea. He said Heres what were going to do, were going to call you the Brown Buttabean after Eric Esch the American boxer.. Eric Butterbean Esch was a large white guy, and I was a large brown guy, so they called me the Brown Buttabean. And thats how I got into boxing - really just as a way to get my health back.

Q: Did you have a say in your new alias Brown Buttabean?

No. I actually wanted to change it early on after a few fights, I didn't like the name but Higgins said no as it had built brand equity so we couldnt change it. Who wouldve ever thought it would lead to what I am doing now, the group called Buttabean Motivation that is literally helping hundreds of thousands of people.

Q: How has boxing changed and influenced your life?

Boxing really just gave me a focus. My life was a mess, I was in very bad shape physically but even worse mentally. I was very depressed and boxing gave me an outlet and something to focus on in order for me to get my life back together. Boxing really did save my life. It gave me a positive outlet, something to focus on other than how much my life sucked at the time.

Boxing itself was amazing but what came with it in the character I played wasnt so amazing - but I used it to my advantage. It was the only way I could earn money, it was my job and I played this character to the best of my ability inside and outside the ring. My why was to get my children back and thats all I was thinking about. I didnt care if everyone hated me, I thought so be it.

Its more so now when I look back I cringe at some of the videos and wish I could delete these, but it really is part of the journey, and Im not embarrassed as from that was born this amazing group (BBM).

Q: Are you still boxing and what else do you do to keep fit?

Yes, I still do boxing training a couple of times per week. Boxing is like an anchor to our training, and is something we always do. Its still really tough, not only physically but mentally. My coach John The Rebel Conway always says Bean, go into that uncomfortable place and get used to it - just be comfortable being uncomfortable. I feel like boxing is one of the only sports that can really get you there.

Its also great for our bigger crew because its low impact on our knees and our joints but its still really tough. Boxing still plays an integral part in our training routine at BBM.

Q: How do you integrate boxing into the BBM program and what changes have you seen in others because of this?

Boxing is a big part of our training programmes, especially for our From the Couch programme which is a programme helping people with long term health conditions, who are 200-300+ kilos. The cool thing about boxing is that you can setup a seat next to a boxing bag and train, so we have people sitting down doing boxing and as they progress then suddenly theyre up doing boxing - not only on the bags, but on the pads. Its a great way to start your fitness journey, and you can gradually build it up.

Q: Tell us more about all of the initiatives that youre working on.

There is a whole host of things that we do at BBM. We have a youth programme which focuses on youths that are not at school or work, who are at a crossroads - like many people who start boxing when they are at a crossroads in their life - so we help surround them with positivity.

We then have an employment programme, again to help people who havent worked for a long time and who have lost all motivation. We try to get them into healthy habits, to get them up and going into work, to help them focus on a positive mindset.

We also have our From the Couch programme for our 200 - 300 kilo plus community members, getting them to just start some form of fitness by just moving. And our Food Share, which has literally fed hundreds of thousands of people, especially through Covid lockdown.

So there is so much that we do and then we have our regular boot camps which is where we started, just running a fitness group which has now morphed into a total wrap around group with all of these different social services and is something that is helping so many people.

Its like all the people who were around me in the beginning, helping me out - now I am paying it forward and helping others.

Q: How do you find the energy to do everything you do?

I dont do it alone. I have a great wife, a great family and an amazing team and our why is always our people. My why when I started was getting my children back and being a great example for them. Providing for my family and my wife is still my why now, but it has extended to helping as many people as I can. Living with that purpose is really what drives me everyday.

Q: Tell us something we may not know about you?

Most people know everything about me as Im pretty open with my life. However I have just taken up dancing [laughs].

Q: Tell us about your Dancing with the Stars journey.

Its a great mainstream platform to highlight the issues that are going on which is what I am doing it for, to raise awareness for our work and to raise funds for the work we do. There are also so many other great charities that are being supported through this (Dancing with the Stars) and thats what its all about.

Q: Is there a similarity between the footwork in dancing to the footwork in the ring?

[laughs] That is a common mistake that everyone is making , especially with me because they say youre a good boxer so you should have good footwork but then I tell them that I wasnt a good boxer [laughs]. But one thing I do have is a great work ethic, as I did with boxing - even though I was a circus act I took it very seriously and trained really hard, which is the same as I am doing now with dancing, just applying myself.

Q: As a boxer and fight fan, what has been the most exciting fight that youve watched?

I only really watch Joe Parker or Tyson Fury. I really enjoyed the Tyson Fury fight with Wilder and the Joseph Parker fight against Chisora.

I should also say the Joshua v Parker fight which I went to over in Cardiff, it was unbelievable. I still play the song Seven Nation Army at boxing training and sing Ooh Anthony Joshu-aaah [laughs].

Q: What has being a professional athlete taught you that you can take into everyday life?

Just never giving up and having the work ethic. For me, I always meet people who are strong, fitter, faster, but I never want to be outworked. Thats what I say to all of our group members - some of our members have lost over 100 kilos plus, just like myself - and you can never replicate what it takes to do that, so there will never be anyone that can outwork us. That is the attitude that we take into life which has come from all types of different training, both rugby league and boxing, and I live that way with NO EXCUSES.

Q: We have two exciting fights coming up in May, Taylor vs Serrano and Canelo vs Bivol. Who are you rooting for and why?

I definitely like Taylor, I think shes amazing and shes been great for the sport. It will be great to see her on the main stage at Madison Square Garden.

Read more:

New Zealand star Dave Letele praises 'amazing' Katie Taylor: 'I think she's great for the sport' - dazn.com

Talanoa

20 Apr, 2022 11:15 PM4 minutes to read

The Ma'ohi Nui exhibition at Auckland War Memorial Museum. Video / Brett Phibbs

When Covid-19 hit the shores of Aotearoa, it meant the Tahitian diaspora of New Zealand were unable to return home during border closures.

The M'ohi Nui exhibition, called Te Tanga, was put together in hopes to help mitigate the physical separation from the homeland and lessen the emotional impact of being separated from home.

But it's also said to make Kiwis aware that Tahitians are very much part of the fabric of Aotearoa.

"When I moved to New Zealand, I saw a lot about Samoan and Tongan culture, and even the little islands like Tuvalu and Kiribati," M'ohi Nui acting director Vaihiria Poetai Kei told the Herald.

"But I don't see Tahitian culture reflected in NZ. The exhibition really started up that fire."

"We wanted to share and express that we are here, we are part of the Pacific, we are a part of Aotearoa."

Te Tanga is the name of the exhibition for two reasons. In te reo Mori it means "the landing place", but it also expresses the idea of a harbour where one can feel protected and safe. It reflects the relationship between Mori and M'ohi who have strong ancestral ties.

M'ohi Nui is made up of Tahiti and its five neighbouring archipelagos - Tuha'a Pae (Austral Islands), Mangareva (Gambier Islands), Henua Enana (Marquesas), Ni'a Mata'i and Raro Mata'i (Society Islands) and Tuamotu.

The artefacts invite the M'ohi Nui community and other Kiwis to connect with the ai'a (homeland) and give New Zealanders an insight to M'ohi culture.

"Opening this exhibition has been a highlight of living in New Zealand since I moved here in 2014," Vaihiria said.

"Seeing all the different artefacts made me think, 'oh I remember that', or 'my grandmother did that'."

The exhibition captures a Tahitian lifestyle that is slowly becoming diluted as a result of colonisation and capitalism. During a pandemic where people are oceans away from their homelands, it signifies the importance of keeping your culture alive.

"It made me cry; it made me want to go home."

Te Tanga is also a safe space for other diasporic communities who share the same experiences of nostalgia or missing their native lands.

"This is a unique historical and cultural platform that showcases who we are, where we are from, and where we are going. We are the descendants of unequalled sailors who, with stellar navigational skills and resilience, have crossed the vast uncharted ocean of Te Moana Nui a Hiva [the Pacific Ocean] in search of new lands. We are from Havaiki Nui, our mythical motherland and we will go back there after our passage on Earth."

The tifaifai (patchwork quilts) represents knowledge sharing. The display of hoe (paddles) is recognition of the ancestors as the greatest celestial and ocean navigators on Earth, this also connects the rest of the Pacific.

The two pou (pillars) standing at the entrance to the gallery represent the tia (guardians). They are the ti'i/tiki (statues) who are entrusted with spiritual mana (power) and whose role is to watch over humans and their creations.

Te Tanga also explores the 30-year nuclear testings throughout M'ohi Nui which ceased in 1996 due to protests.

Nearly 200 nuclear tests were conducted on Fangataufa and Moruroa atolls by the French government. It caused contamination of the environment and exposed the population to dangerous radiation levels.

French military scientists found high radiation levels in fish, water, air and soil samples. In 1998, the French government admitted that the population of the islands within M'ohi Nui (Tureia, Reao, Pukarua, Mangareva and Tahiti) were affected by radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests.

Tahiti's airline Air Tahiti Nui is offering flights for New Zealanders to Tahiti starting May 5.

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M'ohi Nui exhibition explores the Tahitian diaspora in New Zealand - New Zealand Herald

When New Zealand's haka was performed on the Hollywood red carpet at the 2018 premiere of Aquaman, a YouTube video of the performance amassed almost nine million views. Of course, the haka is also displayed by the mighty All Blacks before each game and is by now widely synonymous with the world's most successful rugby team as well as New Zealand's traditional Mori culture.

It was Aquaman star Jason Momoa who performed New Zealand's indigenous war dance alongside renowned Kiwi actor Temuera Morrison, who plays his father in the film, as a nod to subtle Mori influences underpinning the movie's plot, from the way Momoa's character wields his trident, echoing the warrior taiaha in Mori culture, to colloquial phrases such as "ana tokai" meaning "take that!".

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Themed kaitiakitanga, the New Zealand pavilion was designed to be an immersive experience that conveyed our 'Care for People and Place' and was inspired by the Whanganui River.

Expo 2020 Dubai presented New Zealand with an opportunity to elevate and expand this indigenous narrative onto a global stage, allowing people to connect at a deeper level to the culture and values of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Themed kaitiakitanga, the New Zealand pavilion was designed to be an immersive experience that conveyed our 'Care for People and Place'. Inspired by the Whanganui River, which became the world's first river to be recognised as a legal person in 2017, called Te Awa Tupua, kaitiakitanga represents the Mori philosophy of our deep connection to the natural environment. This kaitiakitanga was evident across the broad range of programmes, youth involvement, speakers and cultural events including Kahurangi Mori Dance Theatre, Ngti Rnana London Mori Club, and Dubai-based kapa haka group Ngti Koraha.

Unrivalled in its scale, duration and visitor numbers, and designed to celebrate the achievements of nations, each Expo represents the world's largest gathering of commerce, culture and industry. Opening one year later than planned due to Covid-19, Expo 2020 hosted 192 participating countries and 24 million visitors from October 2021-March 2022. The New Zealand pavilion's 143 staff included a mix of locally-hired employees, six staff seconded from New Zealand plus 15 young Kiwi ambassadors, chefs and matre d's.

Inspirational Kiwi speakers and key business leaders invited to speak at Expo 2020 Dubai included Young New Zealander of the Year 2017 and lawyer Rez Gardi, who captivated the audience at ChangemakeHER to mark this year's International Women's Day on March 8, while top chef Sid Sahrawat, MasterChef NZ winners Kasey and Krena Bird, and Dubai-based New Zealand chef Jesse Blake delighted food lovers over three weeks of Taste New Zealand in January.

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Whanganui iwi leader Gerrard Albert blesses a toka (boulder) from Mt Tongariro, the source of the Whanganui River, in the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Chair ofWhanganui iwi, Gerrard Albert was a keynote speaker on two world environmental panels: "Our Aotearoa pavilion showed that indigenous knowledge is good for the nation and for the world. Our story showed our capacity to connect with people, share ideas and innovate as part of a global community."

Describing New Zealand's 150 year-long iwi-led battle to award Whanganui River legal status as "a ground-breaking paradigm shift", Albert highlights a misconception about the World Expo as being simply about trade: "By far the greater focus of Expo 2020 Dubai was on connection."

Working with Whanganui iwi, NZTE and Haumi Design to create the Expo pavilion, Jasmax design manager and architect Sarah Delamore set out to create an eight-minute visitor experience that conveyed the essence of kaitiakitanga, without language, and showcased New Zealand innovation.

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Jasmax design manager and architect Sarah Delamore set out to create an eight-minute visitor experience that conveyed the essence of kaitiakitanga, and also helped to design the NZ pavilions dynamic faade.

Leading a global team from Auckland across five countries, Jasmax collaborated with Kaynemaile to design the pavilion's dynamic faade, made from a double layer of black rippling polycarbonate mesh.

"It was designed to pulse with a life force emanating from a mauri stone from the Whanganui River within," Delamore says. "Visitors were invited to consider that humanity's wellbeing is innately connected with nature. The design raises global awareness of a powerful approach to sustainability.

"The overall design combined interactive digital technologies, sound, water, light, kinetic movement, and vibration to create a visceral sense of connection to nature. The immersive river room is where visitors are first introduced to the physical representation of Te Awa Tupua. In this darkened space, sheets of waterfall nine metres from the ceiling to the floor, creating a space for contemplation."

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Chefs Michael Lopesi, Rakesh Pillai, Sid Sahrawat, Laura-Jane Muller and Esther Olatunbosun were some of the Chefs representing New Zealand at Dubai Expo 2020.

Lead creative Karl Johnstone refined the New Zealand pavilion experience. "Kaitiakitanga was demonstrated emotively in the river room and kai, through [restaurant] Tiaki, is a demonstration of the hua or fruits of the natural world. The underpinning idea is that 'if nature thrives, we thrive'.

"Everything we did was referenced back to 'Care for People and Place'. While the lens was unapologetically Mori, the messages and ethos were universal. Through the iwi, we were able to tell a unique history. The enduring outcomes rest in the less tangible aspects of partnership and potential."

Recognised in three categories at the EXHIBITOR Magazine World Expo Awards, the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion's Tiaki also took home a 'highly commended' award for favourite Expo restaurant at this year's What's On Awards Dubai the region's coveted hospitality honours.

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One of several Kapa Haka groups the performed at Dubai Expo 2020.

Expo 2020 Dubai was the first to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region; it was also the first to be hosted by an Arab nation. The first World Expo The Great Exhibition was held in London in 1851. Held five-yearly, the next will take place in Osaka, Japan from April-October 2025.

To find out more about New Zealand's participation at Expo 2020 Dubai, visit New Zealand at Expo 2020 Dubai - Care for People and Place.

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Kaitiakitanga on the world stage - Stuff

Josh Storey is the kind of guy who, in a "random moment", decided to walk from Nowra to Wollongong on the New South Wales south coast.

It was an 81-kilometrewalk, but it planted the seed of achieving something much bigger.

He then walked from Newcastle to Wollongong a distance of 266 kilometres.

Now he's looking beyond the horizon. At the end of this year he will take on the Te Araroa trail from the top to the bottom of New Zealand.

"For me, it's a good sense of understanding my brain better," he said.

"I love throwing myself into situations where I have to push myself and understand how my brain works.

"It's a better way to see the world as well because you get a better understanding of where you are and how far you're going.

"It's a beautiful way of seeing things."

For Mr Storey, long walks and long skates were a major part of his childhood.

His mother did not drive and his father has Parkinson's disease, so he would have to find ways to get himself to school and his two jobs. Usually, that wasby foot or by skateboard.

"I'm an independent person and from a young age I had to be independent," he said.

"I've always been the type to do everything myself and I didn't have the easiest childhood I started working two jobs at 14, went to school and slept about four to six hours a day.

"I had to get myself from A to B and that could mean skating home at three or four in the morning, but I look back now and appreciate the time I had to myself and it helped me a lot for my future."

Mr Storey says the New Zealand walk, which he intends to do with almost no help, will be about 3,000km long and take him about four months.

Despite the enormous stamina required to traverse New Zealand, MrStorey is keeping his preparation simple.

He is working with a personal trainer to prepare his body for carrying considerable weight, but his training will not include any enormous walks.

"It's a lot of conditioning and getting my mind mentally ready," he said.

"I'm fortunate that now I'm very mentally strong, but it's about getting the body used to what it's about to encounter.

"I'm absolutely not walking in the lead-up to it.

"I'm an average bloke, but it's all mind over matter and I'll get there no matter what.

"Even if it takes me a bit longer, I'll be pushing every day."

Mr Storey will be raising money and awareness for Illawarra-based charity Talk To Me Bro.

The mental health organisation runs an early intervention program to reduce the rates of male suicide, as well as weekly social meet-ups.

"When I was looking for a new charity, I definitely wanted to keep it on the mental health side of things," he said.

"I go pretty much every Friday for their morning session where we go for a swim, have an ice bath or go for a walk and have a coffee.

"If you have something to talk about you can, if you don't, it's perfectly alright because it's just a bunch of blokes hanging out and having a good time."

ABC Illawarra will deliver a wrap of the week's news, stories and photos every Thursday. Sign up here.

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Why an 'average bloke' from Wollongong is preparing to traverse New Zealand on foot - ABC News

22 April 2022 | There are 9,390 new community cases of Covid-19 and a further 13 deaths to report today. Video / NZ Herald

An Auckland teenager has tested positive for Covid twice in six weeks - raising questions about official health advice that people probably have good immunity for three months after infection.

The 14-year-old boy first tested positive through PCR in February, as Omicron was beginning to ramp up.

At the time he had just a mild sniffle and a cough, but his sister had Covid and his test soon came back positive as well, his dad told the Herald.

The family isolated for 10 days and the boy returned to school. Then at the start of April "he came home from school really, really quite crook, with a really mean sore throat, fever... the classic symptoms".

A Rapid Antigen Test returned an immediate positive result. This time the illness was substantially worse, his dad said.

"He had a couple days in bed, he couldn't taste anything for about a day. Definitely more severe symptoms this time around."

READ MORE Covid-19 in New Zealand: Will I be reinfected with Omicron? Omicron outbreak: How often will I need a Covid jab? NZ could see the next Covid wave by spring - but it might not be as big Third shot: Booster rates drop as demand dries up

The boy's GP suggested it all might have been part of the same infection - that the virus had stayed in his system and was causing belated symptoms. Or he could have caught different variants.

The dad admits he didn't think it was possible to get reinfected so quickly.

"I don't know why we tested him [the second time] because that's what we were led to believe. And the school's policy was once you've had it once then you don't need to worry for the next three months, even if you're a household contact."

21 Apr, 2022 06:27 PMQuick Read

He's not sure where his double-vaccinated son caught the virus - neither parent has had it and nobody has come to their house while positive.

The teen has fully recovered and there have been no lasting effects that they're aware of so they're not concerned about long Covid at this stage.

Current Ministry guidelines give a three-month exemption for household contacts after catching Covid, because "the risk of reinfection within the first three months after someone has Omicron is very low".

The dad was curious whether the Government was reconsidering its advice that people are unlikely to catch Covid again within three months of infection.

"Clearly you can get it twice. I'm sure he's not the only one."

The 14-year-old's infections were both logged on his My Covid Record.

But according to a Ministry of Health spokeswoman, the ministry is not collating reinfection data.

Reinfections had occurred during Omicron outbreaks overseas but they were usually due to catching Omicron after getting a previous variant like Delta or Alpha, she said.

"Omicron reinfections are uncommon, although it has been shown to occur."

Most reinfection cases were easy to spot because there was a long period between recovery from the first infection and the second.

"However, some people have symptoms for weeks or even months and it is difficult to know if they are due to the old infection or a new infection."

Reinfection within three months was also uncommon, especially in New Zealand where there was a low rate of infection pre-Omicron, she said.

However, "reinfection in New Zealand is likely to become more common as time goes on, which reinforces the importance of vaccination, including boosters, as our best defence against Covid-19".

The Ministry of Health advises people do not need to repeat a RAT again for 28 days after they test positive.

"The result may continue to be positive, but this doesn't necessarily mean that you're still infectious."

But if someone had new symptoms a month or more after testing positive they should do another RAT, the advice says.

Many countries are now being hit with second waves and for a clear reason, Herald science reporter Jamie Morton wrote in March.

When Omicron began washing over the globe, it was travelling in the form of its original type, BA.1.

Since then, we've seen the rise to global dominance of the faster-spreading BA.2 type, which has caused case rates to soar again in countries that were hit by Omicron earlier.

The subtype shares the same 32 mutations with BA.1 - but many others that set it apart.

"We might talk about BA.1 and BA.2 as both Omicron, but actually, they're quite genetically distinct and we may even think of them as different variants," Universityof Otago virologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan said.

"That's meant that places that only experienced BA.1 are seeing cases increase again."

The good news was that being infected with BA.1 still appeared to provide good cross-protection against BA.2 - and that reinfection with one after the other was uncommon.

In a Danish study that examined more than 1.8 million cases over three months, there were fewer than 50 instances in which people contracted BA.2 after having had BA.1.

A similar trend was observed among more than 500,000 sequenced cases in the UK, of which just 43 possible cases of BA.2 reinfection were discovered.

In another positive, boosters worked similarly against both sub-types and on an individual basis, BA.2 infections didn't necessarily make people sicker.

Because New Zealand has effectively been experiencing two Omicron waves at once BA.1 and BA.2 - Geoghegan thought it unlikely we'd see that same BA.2-powered second surge other countries are experiencing.

If we did happen to suffer another Omicron wave later this year, it might simply be because our immunity against either type has waned.

"Essentially, once you've been infected, it's thought that you're protected against reinfection, certainly with the same variant, for a good three months," said University of Auckland immunologist Associate Professor Nikki Moreland.

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Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Teen tests positive twice in two months - New Zealand Herald