New Zealand Herald: Google fails to deliver campaign promise to fix Māori pronunciation on Google Maps. “Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission) told Te Ao with Moana this week that Google didn’t have the right technology to fulfil promises made in a 2017 campaign to improve Māori pronunciation in the Google Maps app.”
Scoop NZ: New Zealand’s First Database On Youth Leadership Opportunities Launches During Youth Week 2022. “Whether it’s becoming a youth MP, joining a youth advisory panel, or partaking in youth leadership conferences locally or abroad, the Rangatahi Leadership Opportunities Database seeks to level the playing field by making access to information on youth leadership more transparent, fair, and equitable for all young people.”
Radio New Zealand: Coroner signals social media’s role in mosque terror attacks a priority for inquest. “The coroner’s inquest into the mosque terror attacks, in which 51 people were killed, will look into the role of social media in the killer’s radicalisation, and the emergency response on the day.”
1 News New Zealand: Spate of ram-raids driven by social media – police. A “ram-raid” is when a vehicle is crashed into a target location with the intention of robbery. “Police say social media is a key driving force behind the spike in ram raids across the country. Detective Inspector Karen Bright told reporters on Wednesday that offenders as young as 11 years old were posting their exploits online.”
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA): Easy access to environmental research data. “New Zealand’s seven Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) have created the National Environmental Data Centre (NEDC) website to make the environmental information held by CRIs more accessible to all New Zealanders. The datasets include a huge range of information from climate and atmosphere, freshwater, land and oceans, including biodiversity and geological data.”
MIT Technology Review: A new vision of artificial intelligence for the people. “In the back room of an old and graying building in the northernmost region of New Zealand, one of the most advanced computers for artificial intelligence is helping to redefine the technology’s future. Te Hiku Media, a nonprofit Māori radio station run by life partners Peter-Lucas Jones and Keoni Mahelona, bought the machine at a 50% discount to train its own algorithms for natural-language processing. It’s now a central part of the pair’s dream to revitalize the Māori language while keeping control of their community’s data.”
New York Times: After the Protesters Left, an Illicit Weed Began Growing in Parliament’s Garden. “When anti-vaccination protesters finally cleared out of New Zealand’s Parliament grounds after a three-week occupation, they left behind a scene of destruction and disorder — the charred remains of a children’s playground, camping equipment and human waste, among other items. This week, a man eating lunch in the Parliament garden spotted something else left behind by protesters — cannabis seedlings nestled among the brassicas and marigolds.”
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: New Zealand moves to crack down on corporate secrecy after Pandora Papers. “A proposed law to establish a public beneficial ownership register would build on post-Panama Papers reforms to end use of the country as a tax haven.”
BBC: New Zealand scraps outdoor masking, some Covid vaccine mandates. “New Zealand is set to significantly relax its Covid-19 restrictions with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern calling it a ‘new beginning for the country’. Key changes include scrapping masking outdoors and easing vaccine mandates for employment in some sectors.”
BBC: New Zealand border to reopen from next month, PM Ardern says. “New Zealand has brought forward plans to reopen its borders to international travellers after a Covid lockout of more than two years. Australians will be allowed to enter the country without needing to quarantine or isolate from 13 April. Fully vaccinated travellers from about 60 countries on a visa-waiver list will be able to arrive from 2 May. Those nations include the UK and US.”
Stuff New Zealand: Covid 19 NZ: The strange story of a man who has found fame in the anti-vaccination ecosystem. “This is the strange story of the man who went from complaining about “bullet-hard” lentils to becoming a leading voice in New Zealand’s anti-vax movement. Keith Lynch looks at how an alternative online ecosystem allows someone with seemingly little or no relevant background in vaccination to position themselves as an expert.”
National Library of New Zealand: Living history while documenting it . “…after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake the teams within the Library, being mostly based in Wellington, were able to come together quickly to start documenting the impact of this earthquake on the city of Christchurch, and its communities. More recently, we have found ourselves documenting events while also personally experiencing them, the COVID-19 pandemic being one such example. Another example is the recent 2022 Wellington protests, where we found our building to be within the cordoned-off protest area and witnessed standoffs between police and protestors on our front steps.”
The Guardian: Fires and clashes break out at New Zealand parliament as police move in to clear protest. “Fires burned across parliament grounds, and violent clashes broke out between protesters and police at an anti-vaccine mandate demonstration on New Zealand’s parliament grounds, in extraordinary and chaotic scenes rarely seen in the country.”
Newshub (New Zealand): ‘Got dysentery’: COVID anti-mandate protesters mocked in Google reviews of Parliament. “Protesters in Wellington are being mocked in Google reviews of Parliament after revelations some had thrown human waste at police officers and allegations of raw sewage being emptied into the stormwater system around the Beehive. ”
BBC: Covid: New Zealand unveils phased border reopening plan. “New Zealand has announced a phased reopening of its borders, as the country starts to ease some of the world’s toughest Covid restrictions. Vaccinated citizens in Australia can go home from 27 February without needing to undergo state mandatory hotel quarantine. Jabbed citizens elsewhere will be allowed in from 13 March, said PM Jacinda Ardern.”
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