Can Indonesia avoid repeat of 2015 haze crisis? SHARE
Michael Taylor -
As another outbreak of forest fires in Indonesia sends harmful smoke drifting across parts of Southeast Asia, researchers and environmental activists have urged Jakarta to step up efforts to prevent a repeat of the last major haze crisis in 2015.
Emergencies were declared in six Indonesian provinces on Sumatra island and in Kalimantan last week as fires raged, while neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia issued health warnings about the air pollution that is heading their way. Arie Rompas, a Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner who is from Kalimantan on Borneo island, said that with no rain since July, peatland fires were intensifying in areas burned in the 2015 disaster.
Anchor AIMS Games is back after annual event cancelled last year
5 May, 2021 07:00 PM
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AIMS Games tournament director Vicki Semple. Photo / George Novak
September will bring thousands of young athletes from around the country to the Bay of Plenty, giving it a much-needed boost as the annual Anchor AIMS Games returns. This time last year, the heartbreaking decision was made to cancel the intermediate-aged sports tournament, held in Tauranga, due to Covid-19 and the need to make national safety a priority.
Registrations for 2021 were looking really good , tournament director Vicki Semple said, and were on par with the 2019 games which hosted more than 11,000 athletes 2.3 per cent more athletes than were in the Rio Olympic Games.
Tourism bosses say $200m recovery package will get industry back on track
6 May, 2021 12:30 AM
4 minutes to read
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash. Photo / George Heard
Tourism industry bosses have praised the announcement of a $200 million support package from the government.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash made the announcement at the TRENZ Hui 2021 in Christchurch on Thursday.
Some businesses will be eligible for a $5000 grant to help them plan for the future; they could also receive a further $5000 to help put those plans in action.
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Tourism export council chief executive Lynda Keene wlecomed the announcement. We met with the minister [Nash] early on in the year and we picked up that more education was needed about the critical role that inbound tour operators play particularly with international tourism.
Chinese rocket likely to plunge to Earth this weekend
6 May, 2021 01:57 AM
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Long March-5B Y2 rocket carrying the core module of China s space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29. Photo / Getty Images
Long March-5B Y2 rocket carrying the core module of China s space station, Tianhe, blasts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on April 29. Photo / Getty Images
AP
The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of China s first permanent space station into orbit is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as Sunday (NZ time) at an unknown location.