New Zealand to boost electric car sales

WELLINGTON — New Zealanders who trade in their gas-guzzling car will get financial aid towards buying a cleaner alternative, in one of a raft of climate change initiatives announced by Jacinda Ardern's government Monday.

The country's first Emissions Reduction Plan, costing nearly 3 billion NZ dollars (1.88 billion US dollars), outlined spending for the next 4 years to help meet its goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050.

A "scrap and replace" pilot scheme will initially give 2,500 low-income families financial support towards an electric or hybrid vehicle if they replace their petrol- or diesel-powered car.

Transport Minister Michael Wood said the scheme's details were yet to be finalized but he envisaged it would expand rapidly to include "tens of thousands" of New Zealanders.

He said the government's ultimate goal was for less reliance on all cars by 2035 by getting people to switch to public transport or other alternatives.

The government also allocated 650 million NZ dollars to help cut fossil fuel use in the industrial sector over the next 4 years.

There will also be an investment in developing agricultural technology -- regarded as critical in an economy heavily reliant on farming exports.

Conservationists noted the timing of the investment, coming on the same day scientists announced they had recorded a mass bleaching of sea sponges in New Zealand waters for the first time ever.

An ocean heatwave damaged the sponges in the normally cold waters off Fiordland, in the country's southwest, raising concern about the impact climate change is having on marine ecosystems in the region.

Agence France-Presse

New Zealand's Delta outbreak tops 100 cases

WELLINGTON - New Zealand on Monday reported 35 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of infections in its current outbreak to 107.

The health ministry said in a statement that 33 new cases are in Auckland and two are in the capital Wellington.

-reuters-

New Zealand moves a step closer to new flag, possibly

WELLINGTON - New Zealanders could be a step closer to getting a new flag after the first phase of a two-part referendum wrapped up on Friday but many people are not in the mood for change.

The current flag features Britain's Union Jack in the corner and four red stars in a Southern Cross formation, indicating New Zealand's location in the South Pacific.

Those seeking change say the flag is too closely tied to New Zealand's history as a British colony and looks far too much like Australia's flag.

But people opposed to change say wars have been fought and New Zealanders have died under the current flag.

"I think it's an absolute waste of tax-payers money and I can't see any benefit to it," said Wellington resident Sue Parrott.

"I have no problem with the current flag, it's part of our heritage."

Prime Minister John Key announced a referendum this year to settle the question and called for designs.

More than 10,000 entries, including flags bearing the native kiwi bird and sheep, were whittled down to a short-list of five and the vote on Friday is aimed at settling on the favourite.

It will then face off against New Zealand's existing flag in the second phase of the referendum in March.

Preliminary results show a flag featuring a white fern on a black and blue background with four red stars is likely to win Friday's ballot. The result is expected on Tuesday.

A 3 News/Reid Research poll in November showed that 65 percent of people want to keep the flag as is, and only 28 percent want to change it.

"I did vote, but I don't agree that we need to change the current flag," said primary school teacher Emily Osborn, who said she had chosen a flag featuring a black and white koru, or unfurling fern frond.

"I didn't pick it because I liked it. I chose it because I thought it would be the one that wouldn't stand a chance against our current flag," she said.

Voter turnout was about 1.5 million people - or 48 percent of registered voters, the Electoral Commission said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Strong quake shakes central New Zealand

Limited damage but widespread fear in capital, Wellington

WELLINGTON - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck south of New Zealand's capital on Friday, sending panicked Wellington workers and residents into the streets, but caused little major damage just weeks after a similar size quake shook the harbourside city.

The quake, which hit near the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island, was dangerously shallow at a depth of about 8 km (5 miles), similar to a deadly tremor that shattered the south island city of Christchurch in 2011.

"The building just shook and it went on and on and on. There's a lot of police out here and fire sirens going off. It's pretty frightening," said Chris Birks, General Manager of the Hotel d'Urville in Blenheim, near the quake epicentre.

Fire authorities said it was too early to assess the impact fully. There were reports of superficial damage to buildings from the quake, which shattered windows and sent items tumbling from supermarket shelves.

The U.S. Geological Survey originally measured the quake with a magnitude of 6.8 but later revised that figure down to 6.5. New Zealand quake monitoring service GNS Science put the magnitude at 6.2.

The quake did not trigger a widespread tsunami alert, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, although there was a series of strong aftershocks.

Some people were trapped in lifts in Wellington, a city of 400,000 that sprawls across hills along a major geological fault.

Air, rail and bus services were suspended while officials checked tracks, runways and roads for damage, and trading on New Zealand's NZX stock exchange was halted temporarily.

The quake sent the New Zealand dollar tumbling around a third of a U.S. cent to $0.8067.

There were also widespread power outages across the north of the South Island.

"It's very, very frightening and concerning for people, but it's been keep calm and carry on," said GNS Science's Bill Fry.

Fry said the impact of the quake had been concentrated on the capital, despite its epicentre being around 75 km (45 miles) to the south near the town of Seddon.

At a building site in central Wellington, construction workers hugged a dazed-looking colleague as he came down a scaffolded staircase from a 15-storey crane.

"It just rocked. It was rugged," said crane operator Dion Paki. "I saw that the elevator shaft nearby looked like it was ready to fall so I was hanging out the window yelling at people to get out of the way.

"When you're all the way up there, you can't do nothing."

New Zealand has been hit by a string of quakes since a shallow, 6.3 magnitude tremor devastated the Canterbury region in 2011, killing nearly 200 people and causing $30 billion in damage to Christchurch, the country's second largest city.

Earthquakes are common in New Zealand, whose two islands lie along the Australia-Pacific tectonic plate boundary.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

6.2-magnitude quake rattles New Zealand

WELLINGTON - A 6.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the New Zealand capital of Wellington on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties.

The quake hit at a depth of 236 kilometres (146 miles) at 1036 GMT around 173 kilometres northwest of the city, USGS said. The quake was strong enough to be felt by residents in the city.

A 6.3-magnitude quake hit New Zealand's second largest city of Christchurch in February last year, flattening office blocks and toppling buildings onto lunchtime crowds and leaving 185 people dead.

The sparsely populated country sits on the so-called "Ring of Fire", the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year.

source: interaksyon.com