Everything you need to know about the world today, curated by 95bFM and VICE NZ.
LOCAL NEWS
New TPP Agreement Goes Ahead
Countries including New Zealand have reached agreement on the trade deal formerly known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP]. With a new name and without the United States, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership will be signed in Chile, on March 8. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the deal is not perfect, “but we’ve improved it vastly, in our view, from where it was before.” National Part trade spokesperson Todd McClay also defended the deal, telling 95bFM that “exporters in NZ will be celebrating this as a success because they’ll get better access and greater certainty and guarantees in those markets.” Critics of the deal, such as University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey, have described the new deal as simply a “rebranding” of the old TPP. Ministers in the UK have reportedly been holding informal talks on joining the agreement.
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Kiwis Scammed Out of $10 Million
A NetSafe report from 2017 shows New Zealanders lost more than $10 million to online scams last year. The average loss was to those scams was $10,000, and the largest single loss was $480,000. Chief Executive of Net Safe Martin Cocker says the total loss is probably millions more —he says many people don’t report the losses as they are embarrassed or simply resigned to what happened.
Something in the Water in Queenstown
The Queenstown District Lakes Council has been fined $37,000 for allowing raw sewage to be discharged into the protected Kawarau River. The sewage had been deposited on land before being picked up and entering the river through a blocked stormwater drain. Environmental Court judge Brian Dwyer said the wastewater system was deliberately designed so that overflow of wastewater would go into the stormwater system. Over two days, approximately 43 cubic meters of sewage was discharged.
Something in the Water in Christchurch Also
Christchurch City Councillors will decide today whether chlorine will be added to the city’s water. South Island councils are moving to chlorinate water supplies following a gastro outbreak in Havelock North last year. Christchurch City Council admitted yesterday that its water wells could become contaminated during heavy rain or a flood. Timaru District Council has added $200,000 dollars to their budget to chlorinate their water supplies. While Geraldine and Pleasant Point’s water is currently being treated with ultraviolet light, there are concerns about what happens when it sits in reservoirs and pipes. Timaru infrastructure group manager Ashley Harper says the introduction of chlorine would mitigate any potential risks.
Schools Start Banning ‘Voluntary’ Donations
A Taranaki high school is the latest to scrap voluntary fees. Waitara High School is among the first to make the change, along with several other schools in the Manawatu and Wellington. Principal Daryl Warburton said axing the fees would lighten the burden on families who may already be struggling. Principals’ Federation president Whetu Cormick says he’s delighted with the school’s move and added it might be a response to the Labour Party’s campaign pledge to end voluntary donations. The Labour government is yet to push this move through cabinet in time for the 2018 Budget.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Nassar sentenced to up to 175 years in Prison For Sexual Abuse
Former US Olympic gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar has been sentenced to 175 years in prison. This comes following a seven-day hearing in which testimonies from more than 150 women were heard in a court in Lansing, Michigan. At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina opened the courtroom to the women and made Dr. Nassar sit through the testimonies, despite protests from Nassar. She responded, “You’ve done nothing to deserve to walk outside a prison again.” Dr. Nassar submitted a letter to the court earlier last week where he complained about his treatment in a separate federal child pornography case and wrote that his accusers in this case were seeking media attention and money.”Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” he wrote in the letter. Dr. Nassar was previously accused of molesting girls under the guise of giving them medical treatment—some were as young as six and many were Olympic gymnasts. In November, he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing seven girls. He had already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for child pornography convictions.
German Alt-Right Leader Resigns, Converts
A leading member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Arthur Wagner, has resigned from his position and converted to Islam. Wagner has been a member of the anti-Muslim party since 2015 and stepped down citing personal reasons. The AfD entered the German parliament for the first time after receiving 12.6 percent of the vote in the September 2017 federal elections. They were the most aggressive anti-refugee voice in 2015 following the arrival of nearly one million asylum seekers in Germany. The deputy leader was banned from Facebook and Twitter for posting Islamophobic posts, and the party has sought to ban the construction of mosques in Germany.
Nigeria Looks to Halt Yellow Fever
A yellow fever prevention campaign is being launched by the government of Nigeria tomorrow. The country is set to immunise more than 25 million people in 2018. This is part of an effort, supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), to eliminate yellow fever epidemics by 2026. The haemorrhagic disease is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and is vaccine-preventable. WHO is training thousands of healthcare workers on how to administer the vaccine as well as helping to track cases of yellow fever and providing logistical and coordination support for the entire operation.
Avalanches in Tibet
Two major avalanches in Tibet in 2016 have been studied for their strange nature and are being attributed to climate change. The avalanches are described as a hybrid between the collapse of Steep and Flat Glaciers, which typically act in different ways. The combination of the two however, resulted in large movements of snow at speeds of up to 300km per hour. Glaciologists had not seen such events before. The study suggests that known effects such as rising sea levels are not the only threats posed by the warming climate.
In Saudi Arabia, Camels Disqualified for Botox
Fierce competition at a camel beauty pageant in Saudi Arabia has resulted in the disqualification of 12 camels due to the use of Botox on the animals by their owners. The King Abdulaziz Camel Competition includes camel racing and camel milk tasting, but also sees thousands of camels paraded to be judged on their beauty. Large lips and noses are the sign of a good-looking camel, and judges discovered a handful of owners cheating by injecting botox into their prized animals’ faces. The festival has a combined competition prize money of $40 million.
