Latest news with #NewZealand
RNZ News
an hour ago
- General
- RNZ News
Country Life: Nick Roskruge - promoting Māori horticultural knowledge
Nick Rahiri Roskruge Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Nick Rahiri Roskruge has gone from working in a cropping gang to academia, and around the world teaching and learning about indigenous foods, but - as he says - he's never really left the paddock. His PhD in soil science led to a position as Professor of Ethnobotany at Massey University, a Fulbright award, and spending time with indigenous people and their crops in the Americas and the Pacific. Retired from his professorship, he said he was busier than ever and chatted to Country Life at his extensive māra in Manawatū about keeping traditional Māori horticultural knowledge alive. Follow Country Life on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts. Several varieties of kūmara drying after harvest Photo: RNZ/Sally Round Nick Roskruge's collection of Indian corn cobs Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Club World Cup is both blessing and curse for amateur club Auckland City
Adam Mitchell knows he is going to lose money this month. The Auckland City defender left his job selling houses in New Zealand to take part in the Club World Cup, where the eventual champion will pocket a staggering $125 million — while his amateur team plays for pride and an appearance fee still under negotiation. "My business runs on a commission basis only," Mitchell said Thursday after his side's humbling 10-0 defeat against European giant Bayern Munich at the expanded Club World Cup. "If I'm not back working, there's no income coming in. But a tournament like this, you have to be willing to make sacrifices and that's what a lot of us have done." The Club World Cup's new, lucrative format has attracted criticism for its schedule congestion at the end of a long European season. Mitchell and his teammates — many of whom work as teachers, delivery drivers, and tradesmen — are effectively paying out of their own pockets for the privilege of competing on this stage. It is not just Mitchell's earnings that are taking a hit. New Zealand's labor laws typically grant around four to five weeks of annual leave per year — most of which, for Auckland's players, was already used up during last year's Oceania qualifying tournament. "The players that went to the qualification for this tournament, well, we played in the Solomon Islands," Mitchell explained. "That was three weeks. "Some people have run out of annual leave. People are kind of in negative days and taking unpaid leave. So, it's nice for people to know the sacrifices we make to be here." While the tournament offers prize money tiers based on performance, Auckland City, representing one of soccer's smallest confederations, will receive the lowest payout — a fraction of the $3.58 million meant for Oceania. Even that amount, Mitchell noted, is still subject to ongoing negotiations between the club and New Zealand Football. On the pitch, the gulf between part-time amateurs and global superstars was on brutal display. Bayern Munich, ranked among the world's elite, named a starting lineup packed with internationals, showing no mercy en route to a double-digit victory. "Conceding 10 goals isn't a nice feeling,' Mitchell admitted. "But I think we have to realize the caliber of team and caliber of players we were up against. "The fact that they did put their strongest team out and they didn't take the pedal off the metal at all, they just kept going and going and going, which, it's not great for us, but in a way that's a sign of respect." The heavy defeat has not dampened spirits within the Auckland camp. With two more games to play in their group against Benfica and Boca Juniors, Mitchell said he and his teammates are determined to leave their mark. "If you watched the (Bayern) game, you could see we never give up regardless of the scoreline," he said. Back home, Mitchell juggles the demands of a commission-based real estate job with evening training sessions and coaching duties at the club. His typical day starts early, squeezing in gym sessions before work, and ends late at night after training. "It's not ideal for my wife," he joked. "I don't get to see her that often, but she really respects the fact that this is a sacrifice that we have to make, and she also has to make. "(For her) just seeing myself and the whole team on the stage and obviously against the best players in the world, I think it's a really proud moment." Mitchell admits that while the financial hit stings, the exposure could pay off in other ways. "Maybe if someone was watching on TV and they realized I was in the industry, maybe they just want to have a chat and that's the way you can build some rapport," he said. To the critics who have questioned Auckland City's inclusion in a competition of this scale, Mitchell remains unapologetic. "We don't bother too much about critics," he said. "We've earned the right to be here. People have to realize we are semi-professionals, but we do treat training and we treat our club like a professional club, with the resources we have." "We earned the right to be here and we're proud to be here, and we're going to give it all on the pitch."
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Update on investigation into Brisbane baby coffee attack
Queensland police have revealed they have not given up on finding the man responsible for pouring scalding hot coffee on a baby boy last year. The random attack on nine-month-old Luka at a Brisbane park in August sparked a public outcry and a police manhunt for the assailant, who is believed to have fled the country. On Thursday, Acting Commissioner Shane Chelepy told radio station 4BC that investigations into the 'horrible incident' were ongoing almost one year on. 'This isn't something we've parked in a corner; this was a very serious offence, and we're working hard on it,' he said. 'What I can say is we're still working with our international partners to progress this matter and to get a resolution here. 'We've got a range of investigative strategies.' Acting Commissioner Chelepy said the incident 'struck our investigators pretty hard' and paid tribute to their efforts in finding the culprit. The man is believed to be a 33-year-old Chinese national who left Australia and returned to China via New Zealand shortly after the incident. Radio host Peter Fegan asked the acting commissioner if Queensland Police had sent detectives to China, which he declined to answer. 'I don't want to compromise investigative strategies,' he said. Luka sustained burns to 60 per cent of his body when the man tipped a thermos of hot coffee onto the boy's face during a picnic at Hanlon Park on August 27. The man was captured on CCTV footage fleeing the scene but authorities were unable to track him down before he left the country. It is believed the man had been in Australia on multiple visas and worked at various sites along the East Coast, according to Chinese media reports. Luka's mother told the Courier Mail in November that her little boy had become 'a bit wary of people' since the incident. 'In those first few weeks, we had no idea what his future was going to look like, especially because the burns were so significant,' she said. 'He's healed really well and baby skin is amazing and the synthetic skin graft that they did worked really well.' His father said the prominent burns seen on Luka's body after the incident had healed 'better than we ever thought'. 'Hopefully by the time he becomes a teenager you won't even be able to see the scars anymore,' he said.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Zealand PM Luxon meets China's Xi Jinping
(Reuters) -New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Friday he and China's President Xi Jinping discussed the role of business, education and science to help boost relations between the two countries. "I raised the importance to New Zealand of the international rules-based system, as well as the key role that China can play in helping to resolve global challenges," Luxon said in a statement after meeting Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon talks trade in meeting with China's Xi
BEIJING (AP) — The prime minister of New Zealand stressed the importance of his country's trade ties with China in a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday. Christopher Luxon, on his first visit to China since becoming prime minister in late 2023, flew to Beijing after two days of meetings with officials and business leaders in Shanghai, China's commercial center. He wants to maintain healthy trade relations with China, an important market for New Zealand products, despite differences over regional and global security issues and China's growing divide with the United States. 'Our trade and economic links are complementary and contribute to prosperity in both countries,' he was quoted as saying in a news release following his meeting with Xi. Luxon said he raised the necessity of reducing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region and the importance of what he called 'the key role' that China can play in helping to resolve global challenges such as the war in Ukraine. 'In a complex world, open dialogue is more important than ever,' Luxon said in a post about the meeting on X. His exchange with Xi came one day after revelations that New Zealand had suspended millions of dollars in aid to the Cook Islands over concerns about the latter's deepening ties with China. China accounts for more than 20% of New Zealand's exports of goods and services.
