Thursday, March 19

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Australia joins defence exercise in contested South China Sea
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
World News

Australia joins defence exercise in contested South China Sea

Crew members of China's South Sea Fleet take part in a logistics supply drill near the James Shoal area on South China Sea. Photo: AFP Australia, the US, Canada and the Philippines will hold a joint exercise in the South China Sea. The ABC understands the Australian Defence Force has sent a surveillance aircraft to join the exercise. The exercises are almost certain to draw an angry response from Beijing, which claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea as its own territory. Australia will join another combined military drill in the contested waters of the South China Sea, where there have been a series of increasingly dangerous confrontations between China and the Philippines. The latest joint maritime exercise will be conducted alongside Canada, the Philippines, and the Unite...
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Hunar Hale: ‘Makers prefer newcomers for monetary reasons’
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Entertainment, Movies

Hunar Hale: ‘Makers prefer newcomers for monetary reasons’

On her way to the première of her latest short film, The Beginning, Hunar Hale gets on a call with us to talk all things career. She has been part of the television industry for 14 years and has had a few successes, including Sasural Genda Phool (2010), Chhal—Sheh Aur Maat (2012), Thapki Pyar Ki (2015), and Patiala Babes (2018). But now, she admits the industry is changing. Newcomers are preferred, an actor’s social media following determines their standing, and seasoned artistes are transitioning to digital entertainment. So, where does Hale stand amid this shift? She talks about exploring short films, and fronting the TV show, Deewani, while hoping to make inroads into the web world.      Edited excerpts from the interview. What is your short film, The Beginning, about?It is about fema...
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International shares propel best-performing KiwiSaver manager
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Business

International shares propel best-performing KiwiSaver manager

(file image) Photo: 123RF Kernel's Global 100 fund, which owns 100 blue chip companies across major equity markets, was the best performing KiwiSaver fund of the June quarter, returning 8.9 percent. Morningstar has released its latest KiwiSaver survey, which shows KiwiSaver assets up $3.5 billion over the quarter, and average fund returns ranging from 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent. Kernel founder Dean Anderson said the result was the reflection of strength in international equities compared to the New Zealand market over the past couple of years. "It is also telling that many actively managed funds struggled to beat a global index fund. The difference in fees is a big hurdle, and managers who failed to hold some of the large tech names failed to capture the full returns." The survey noted ...
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Women in business leadership make gains but disparities persist in the Pacific
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Business

Women in business leadership make gains but disparities persist in the Pacific

2023 Pacific Islands Women's Leaders Meeting. (file image) Photo: Pacific Islands Forum A new report by the Asian Development Bank has found that more Pacific women are taking up leadership roles in business, but they continue to face discrimination. The report, published in the second edition of the Leadership Matters series, found the average proportion of women directors in the Pacific rose by five percent - from 21 percent in 2021 to 26 percent in 2024. While Cook Islands, Kiribati, Samoa and Tuvalu have higher proportions of women directors and chief executives in the region, Fiji and Papua New Guinea are yet to meet the regional average. The report's author Sarah Boxall told RNZ Pacific Waves higher education is key. "We are seeing in the Pacific women are increasingly well educ...
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Paper milling company Oji considers closing recycling mill in Auckland
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Business

Paper milling company Oji considers closing recycling mill in Auckland

Rising energy costs were a contributing factor to three years of losses at the Penrose mill, the company said. Photo: AFP The country's largest paper and pulp company is considering closing its paper recycling mill in Auckland because power prices are too high. In a statement, Oji Fibre Solutions says its Penrose mill has suffered three years of losses caused by a number of issues including rising energy costs. Chief executive Dr Jon Ryder said the company has looked at improving technology to save money but it hadn't worked. The company could manage its supply of recycled paper for box making and wastepaper collection with other assets, he said. But closing the Penrose mill would reduce capacity to produce recycled paper and increase wastepaper sent offshore. Oji would begin consultati...
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Hamas names Yahya Sinwar as new overall leader
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
World News

Hamas names Yahya Sinwar as new overall leader

By Rushdi Abualouf and Tom Bennett, BBC News Yahya Sinwar, pictured in 2022. Photo: AFP / MAHMUD HAMS After two days of lengthy negotiations in Doha, Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as its new overall chief, replacing Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Tehran last week. Since 2017, Sinwar has served as the group's leader inside the Gaza strip. He will now become leader of its political wing. The Hamas leadership unanimously chose Sinwar to lead the movement, a senior Hamas official told the BBC. The announcement comes at a moment of soaring tensions in the Middle East, as Iran and its allies threaten retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh, which they blame on Israel. Israel has not commented. Over the course of two days in Doha, intensive meetings involving Hamas's leading figures h...
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Lyttelton Port Company’s mandatory fitness test for staff concerning, Maritime Union says
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Business

Lyttelton Port Company’s mandatory fitness test for staff concerning, Maritime Union says

Lyttelton Port. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon The Maritime Union is concerned about Lyttelton Port Company in Christchurch's approach to mandatory fitness tests for employees The assessments were introduced at the end of July, recommended by accident investigators after a staff member was killed on the job in 2022 Lyttelton Port Company says it has undertaken consultation with staff and unions The Maritime Union is concerned about Christchurch's Lyttelton Port Company's approach to mandatory fitness tests for employees. The assessments have been brought in following the death of a staff member, Don Grant, while on the job in April 2022. Grant died when he was struck and killed by coal being moved from the port via a conveyor belt and loaded onto a cargo ship by a jet-slinger. At the time...
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Young worker told to take breaks at desk, made to come to work to prove she was sick
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Business

Young worker told to take breaks at desk, made to come to work to prove she was sick

By Marty Sharpe of The Employment Relations Authority said Japanese Car Parts Ltd must pay a former employee more than $50,000. Photo: SUPPLIED A large Auckland car parts company must pay a former employee more than $50,000 after its director unfairly targeted her. Courtney Brooker resigned from Japanese Car Parts Ltd after saying she "simply couldn't take it anymore". Among numerous other breaches, the company told Brooker to take lunch breaks at her desk and made her come to work to prove she was ill. A young worker who was told to take meal breaks at her desk and to come to work to prove she was sick will be paid $50,290 by the company that constructively dismissed her. Courtney Brooker, 21, was employed by Japanese Car Parts Limited (JCP) in Auckland from 1 Au...
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Tinos, a sleepy gem of a Greek island
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
Life Style

Tinos, a sleepy gem of a Greek island

Though you probably won’t want to leave the hotel, Tinos, while somewhat barren in terms of greenery to those of us from a more rain-lashed isle, is a delight to explore. Best known by pilgrims for the Church of Panagia Evangeslistria, also called the “Greek Lourdes” for its perceived healing powers, the ancient hills are covered in the most intricate dovecotes or pigeon houses that were built during the Venetian period of 1207-1715. Unique to the island, they give the area an incredibly distinctive appearance, as do the windmills, some also dating back centuries, that dot the horizon. Source link
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Good as gold: Olympic athletes who couldn’t make the cut today are quick enough for gold decades earlier
7Aug By Raayan ThompsonNo Comments
World News

Good as gold: Olympic athletes who couldn’t make the cut today are quick enough for gold decades earlier

This year's Olympic gold medallist in the men's 100m freestyle, Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle. Another 19 swimmers in this year's event swam fast enough for gold at the 1996 event. Photo: AFP When you reflect on Zoe Hobbs' achievement as the first Kiwi to run in an Olympic 100m sprint in nearly 50 years, also consider this: Zoe Hobbs ran fast enough to win gold at every Olympics until 1964. The world's attention during the Olympics rightly falls on medalists - who is fastest, who is strongest, who can throw an object the furthest, who can leap the highest (assisted or unassisted). Olympic 100m sprinter Zoe Hobbs Photo: AAP/Photosport But for every gold medalist, there are dozens of other athletes who have trained for years or even decades, who don't even make it past the preliminarie...
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