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In a landmark ruling, the Waitangi Tribunal on 18 March 1983 found that the Crown’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi included a duty to protect Māori fishing grounds. · One of the early claims to the tribunal (Wai 6) was made by Te Āti Awa of Taranaki, who opposed the construction of an outfall to discharge waste from the Motunui synthetic fuels plant, 6 km east of Waitara, into the Tasman Sea. · The tribunal found that industrial waste…

While we're not short of divisive topics in 2025, there are valid reasons as to why we're turning to chatbots for emotional support – and why people are also very much against it. So how willing are you to embrace this new form of therapy? · With the technology developing and evolving faster than the academic community can study and publish evidence-based studies on it, there's nonetheless a growing body of expert commentary surrounding AI…

Just because a mine has been exhausted of its ore, that doesn't necessarily mean it has no value. A 2023 study suggests that the shafts of such abandoned mines could serve as energy-storing gravity batteries. · First of all, just what is a gravity battery? · Well, in a nutshell, it's a system in which electricity is generated by releasing a heavy load, allowing it to drop. That electricity can then be used at times when demands on the…

Honesty & Action · That’s what the average voter wants from their elected government! · What have we got from the current government? · Inaction on the things that voters had expected as a result of the election changes they had voted for. The National Party led coalition government in their first 18 months in office have not delivered on many of the issues that encouraged New Zealanders to vote for change. · They have made progress on…

Across the US, egg prices have slowly come down, thanks to both supply and demand issues leveling out and a reprieve in avian influenza outbreaks. But it's a volatile industry and one unlikely to stay consistent. So, it's a perfect time to look at protein alternatives that can even offer more bang for your buck. · After the price of eggs in the US climbed to a 45-year high in February, there was understandable panic about the cost and the…

On March 14, 1951, Albert Einstein was sitting in the back of a car, getting ready to leave his 72nd birthday party at Princeton University. Photographers had been asking Einstein to pose for the camera all evening, and when UPI photographer Arthur Sasse turned his camera on him, the theoretical physicist playfully stuck out his tongue. · The lighthearted photo Sasse captured pleased Einstein so much that he ordered multiple prints to send to…

The motorcycle world is super hot on semi-automatic and automatic transmissions. The likes of KTM's AMT, Yamaha's Y-AMT, and Honda's E-Clutch are just the tip of the iceberg. With a patent application for a parallel-twin engine coupled to a belt-operated CVT, CFMoto now looks set to join the party. · A continuously variable gearbox permits an infinite number of effective gear ratios within a specified range, in contrast to traditional…

Prosecutors called them the “Amazon” of organised crime. · The thieves, most of them from Chile, allegedly raked in millions of dollars as they criss-crossed the US, stealing Rolex watches, Gucci handbags, iPads and debit cards on what one source described as the “road-trip from hell”. · According to a federal complaint filed last year, the operation was run out of a Los-Angeles car dealership where ringleaders of the gang provided vehicles for…

The opening shots of the first Taranaki War were fired on 17 March 1860 when British troops attacked a pā built by Te Āti Awa at Te Kohia, Waitara. · A minor Te Āti Awa chief, Te Teira Mānuka, had offered to sell Governor Thomas Gore Browne land in 1859. The rangatira Te Rangitāke (also known as Wiremu Kīngi) denied the validity of the sale and his supporters erected a flagstaff to mark their boundary. · Gore Browne overturned previous policy…

Michael Wood’s attempt to paint businessman Jim Grenon as a threat to editorial independence met the axe. · In an ongoing exchange over NZME’s future, Grenon dismissed accusations from the former Labour minister, calling them a “clumsy deception” designed to mislead. · “I note the union has changed what it actually said in my release… That is just clumsy deception,” Grenon said, pointing out how Wood and the E tū union misrepresented his…