新西兰英语 88 Problems in Fiji

Relations between Fiji and New Zealand are very tense at the moment. Two years ago, Commodore Bainimarama got rid of the Prime Minister and took over the government of Fiji himself in a coup. He established martial law, which is rule by the army. New

新西兰英语 515 Rugby quarter-finals

Now all the pool games have finished in the Rugby World Cup. It is time for the quarter-finals. The winner of Pool A plays the second place in Pool B while the winner of Pool B plays the second in Pool A. The same happens with Pool C and D. So these

新西兰英语 522 Pike River anniversary

It is one year since the explosion at the Pike River coal mine which killed 29 men. Greymouth held a memorial service today to remember the men. About 2000 people attended the service. The Governor-General, the Prime Minster, the Mayor of Greymouth a

新西兰英语 521 Minor Political Parties

Dont forget to vote next Saturday if you are eligible to vote. Did you receive your voting package last week? The envelope contains a list of all parties and candidates as well as your voting card which you take to the polling booth. Are the minor po

新西兰英语 520 Election Party Lists

If you are eligible to vote on Saturday, you will have a list of candidates. Each party lists their candidates in order, from number 1 to 65 or less. You do not vote for these candidates. You vote for a candidate in your electorate and you also vote

新西兰英语 519 Pike River Mine Inquiry

Phase 3 of the Inquiry began 14th November and will stop for one week until December 5th. This part of the inquiry will look at the causes of the explosion, safety at the mine and the rescue attempts. 29 men died in the explosion at the Pike River Mi

新西兰英语 518 Election Results

As was expected, National won the most seats in the election and will form the government for the next three years. National won 48% of the party vote and 60 seats. The Prime Minister, John Key, plans to form a coalition with ACT party MP John Banks

新西兰英语 517 Voting in the election

Only 73% of registered voters chose to vote on Saturday. This is the lowest percentage since 1887. 3,053,705 people are registered to vote but only 2.2m people voted. Although it is too early to know all the details, it seems that young people are no

新西兰英语 516 Credit Rating Downgrade

Two rating agencies, Standard and Poors (S P) and Fitch downgraded New Zealands credit rating from AA+ to AA. This is the first downgrade in 13 years. A credit rating gives some idea of whether the economy is stable and whether the government can pay

新西兰英语 513 Oil Spill in the Sea

A cargo ship, the Rena, is leaking oil into the sea near Tauranga. The ship hit a reef at 2.20am on Wednesday, about 20km outside Tauranga harbour. The 47,000 tonne ship is 236m long. It is 21 years old. It is carrying 1351 containers. The tanks have

新西兰英语 512 More oil in the sea

The ship Rena which hit a reef near Tauranga is now leaking much more oil. Listen to October 9th 2011 to hear background to this. The sea has been rough today with waves as high as five metres. The ship is now lying at an eighteen degree angle. Early

新西兰英语 511“Rena” Disaster

Listen to the last two items on this website for background to the Rena disaster. The disaster from the broken ship Rena is getting worse. There is a crack in the middle of the ship which means it will sink. Salvage workers hope the back part the ste

新西兰英语 510 The cost to Tauranga

The Managing Director of Greek company, Costamare, which owns the Rena, apologised for the leaking oil. The company has to pay for the salvage and at least $12m for the oil clean-up costs. That may not be enough. The captain and the navigation office

新西兰英语 509 Royal Commission on Canterbury Earthquake

Today the hearings began into the February 22nd earthquake to find out why buildings collapsed and why so many people died. The hearings are like a court with a judge and two other people. Their job is to listen to experts and witnesses, and at the e

新西兰英语 508 Bad weather in Tauranga again

Bad weather meant that oil could not be pumped out of the ship the Rena today. The waves were too high. Pumping the oil is slow work because the oil is cold and thick. The pipe from the Rena to the oil barge is nearly 200m long and quite narrow, 7.5c

新西兰英语 514 Rugby Sponsorship

Two players have been fined $10,000 each for using a mouth guard with a sponsors name on it during the Rugby World Cup, the RWC. The rules for the RWC are that teams may not show any sponsors advertising for those seven weeks of the RWC. The reason i

新西兰英语 537 School finishes

Most primary schools finish today although a few finished yesterday or the day before. High school students finished earlier. Junior high school students Years 9 and 10 usually finish school in the second week of December while senior high school stu

新西兰英语 536 Ship in Antarctica needs help

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules flew to Antarctica on Saturday evening to drop emergency equipment to the Russian ship Sparta. The ship hit ice on Friday morning and got a 30cm hole in the side. The crew tried to fix the hole but were not succ

新西兰英语 535 Nelson floods

The floods in Nelson from the rain on Wednesday and Thursday are still causing problems. Some roads are still closed including the road to Cable Bay, just 15 minutes east of Nelson. Supplies of food and fresh water were dropped by helicopter; boats a

新西兰英语 534 Christchurch had more earthquakes

Christchurch had a number of earthquakes today. The first big one was 5.8 on the Richter scale just before 2pm. It was 20km north-east of the city and 8km deep. Then this was followed by another big one which was 6.0 on the Richter scale. This was cl