A decision by independent commissioners on a proposal to build up to 1000 homes and a business area in a rapidly growing Northland seaside town is expected within the next few weeks.Auckland-based Mangawhai Central Ltd has applied…
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Herald morning quiz: February 25
Test your brains with the Herald’s morning quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz at 3pm for the afternoon quiz. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.
Covid vaccine set to trigger fastest retail sales growth in over two decades
Retail sales are expected to grow this year by as much as 8.2 percent, or $4.33 trillion.
A Ted Cruz piñata brings smiles —and sales — to a Texas party store owner
“I’m always looking for something positive out of negative things so that we can all get a laugh out of it,” says Latino business owner Carlos De La Fuente, who created the item at his Dallas store.
St. Kitts and Nevis to receive additional 41,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis kicked off its COVID-19 Vaccination Programme on February 22, with some 70 frontline workers and Ministers of Government stepping forward to accept their shot.
The programme continued on Tuesday with more frontline and essential workers being vaccinated at the designated locations. The programme will be ramped up over the next several weeks as more doses of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine are expected to arrive in the Federation this month and in March.
Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, the second person in St. Kitts and Nevis to be administered the vaccine, said the Federation will receive more than 41,000 doses of the vaccine soon.
“In anticipation of the highest voluntary acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine in modern times, my Government has over 41,600 doses of Astra-Zeneca vaccines on order with delivery over the coming weeks, said Dr. Harris. “We are bringing them in and making them available free of cost to every person eligible to receive them. We thank the COVAX Facility and all benefactors like Governments of Dominica, India, and Taiwan, which have been helping us.”
Dr. Harris explained that the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Commission has made charter flight arrangements to bring 125,000 doses of vaccine by the most direct route from India to Saint Lucia, where individual distribution will be made via the Regional Security System (RSS).
“The expected arrival of the charter is on or about February 26,” said Dr. Harris. “The expectation is that the RSS plane will be in Saint Lucia awaiting the arrival of the charter plane coming from India. The cost of the charter is US $250,000 or just about EC $680,000. This cost will be met by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB). As Chairman of the ECCB Monetary Council, advised Governor Antoine to release the funds with the approval of Members of the Monetary Council.”
The 41,600 doses of vaccine St. Kitts and Nevis will receive will be in addition to the 2,000 doses the Federation has previously obtained.
The post St. Kitts and Nevis to receive additional 41,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccines appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Lucky to be Alive: Tiger Woods Recovering from Surgery After Car Crash
Tiger Woods suffered serious injuries including “open fractures” to his legs in a car crash in Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to an update posted on his official Twitter account, but is now “awake, responsive and recovering”.
The golfer was involved in a single-car accident and has undergone a “long surgical procedure on his lower right leg and ankle after being brought to the hospital”, his team said in a statement that included a detailed update from Woods’ surgeon.
Änish Mahajan, who is the chief medical officer and interim chief executive officer at Harbor-UCLA medical centre, said: “Mr Woods suffered significant orthopaedic injuries to his right lower extremity that were treated during emergency surgery by orthopaedic trauma specialities.
“Comminuted open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilised by inserting a rod into the tibia. Additional injuries to the foot and ankle were stabilised with a combination of screws and pins. Trauma to muscle and soft –tissue of the leg required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling,” said Mr Mahajan.
The statement said the golfer is now recovering in the hospital and that he thanked the hospital staff for their support and assistance.
According to local media reports, Woods is understood to have been alone in the car when it crashed and rolled several times.
Police said the golfer was alert when firefighters used the “jaws of life” to open the car’s windshield and get him out.
Police said they checked for alcohol or other signs of him being under the influence of a substance, but none was found.
Deputy Carlos Gonzalez was the first officer on the scene and at a news conference described Woods as “calm and lucid” when he spoke to him.
The deputy added that Woods was wearing a seatbelt may have contributed to saving his life.
“It is very fortunate that Mr Woods was able to come out of this alive,” said the deputy.
Additional reporting by agencies
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Lambo driver pleads not guilty over crash that killed SA teen
A Lamborghini driver accused of killing an Adelaide schoolgirl will stand trial.
Alexander Campbell today pleaded not guilty to driving dangerously causing death and harm.
He was charged over the crash which killed 15-year-old Sophia Naismith, and injured her friend, at Glengowrie in June 2019.
The magistrate rejected the 35-year-old's bid to have the charges thrown out of court.
Sophia's parents said they were pleased the case would go to trial.
Mr Campbell will next appear in court in May.
Ex-cop accused of grooming teen takes stand in Queensland trial
A former Queensland child protection police officer accused of grooming a young girl has taken the stand on day three of his trial.
Matthew Paul Hockley has denied any ill intention, and said he "would never, ever harm a child".
"My role is to protect children, not to harm them," he said.
Mr Hockley has been charged with grooming a 15-year-old girl for sex.
He met the girl while investigating a complaint about a series of nude photos the teen had allegedly sent at school.
Mr Hockley claimed it was the girl's mother who asked him to "mentor" her daughter, as policing was her daughter's "dream job".
He claimed the mother told him "she couldn't control her daughter anymore".
During the next three weeks, Mr Hockley and the girl exchanged more than 1000 messages on Snapchat.
During cross-examination, Mr Hockley claimed his interest was in the girl's mother.
"I saw an opportunity that helping (the girl) would be an opportunity to have further communication with the mum," he said.
Mr Hockley denies all allegations of any sexual intention toward the girl, refuting claims he called her "beautiful" or that he offered to pick her up as part of a "daddy-daughter experience".
He described some of the specific messages he sent to the teen as "highly inappropriate", "ill-timed" or "an overshare", but never with the intention of desensitising the girl to the idea of sex.
The trial continues tomorrow.
Private Sydney boy's school bans students from wearing mullets
It's one of the world's most recognisable and ridiculed haircuts, but now the mullet is fast becoming rejected by schools.
Waverley College in Sydney is the latest educational institution to rule the 'do often described as "business at the front and party at the back" inappropriate for its campus.
"A lot of people are getting it," Kim Van Heel from Ziggy's Barber Salon said of the mullet.
"I doesn't matter if you're old, young, every one is seeing it as normal now."
The popular barber shop saw requests for mullets grow throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Everyone started realising they can grow their hair out," Ms Van Heel said.
"When you're working from home there is less pressure.
"Then they realised you can go shorter on the sides but still have fun at the back like Billy Ray Cyrus said."
The haircut was known as an 80s and 90s staple with rock stars like David Bowie, John Farnham joining the country star Cyrus in leading the craze.
Australia's footballers also caught mullet mania.
Now, three decades on, the hairdo has infiltrated the once stuffy world of professional golf.
"It's become a good luck charm," Australian golfer and world number 27 Cameron Smith said recently showing off his longer locks.
"It needs a bit of a trim at the front.
"I'd really like to go full business at the front and party at the back."
Ghana 1st to Get Corona Vaccine Through Covax Scheme
Ghana has become the first country to receive coronavirus vaccines through the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative.
The World Health Organization (WHO) programme aims to ensure that vaccines are shared fairly among all nations.
Covax is aiming to deliver about two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines globally by the end of the year.
A total of 600,000 doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University arrived in Ghana’s capital Accra on Wednesday.
In a joint statement, the WHO and the United Nations children’s fund (Unicef) said it was a “momentous occasion”.
“The arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines into Ghana is critical in bringing the pandemic to an end,” they said.
The West African country has recorded more than 80,700 cases of coronavirus and 580 deaths since the pandemic began. These numbers are believed to fall short of the actual toll because of low levels of testing.
The WHO and Unicef said the shipment represented “part of the first wave of Covid vaccines headed to several low and middle-income countries”.
What is Covax?
So far, richer countries have been able to buy far more Covid jabs than poorer ones.
The Covax scheme was set up by the WHO, the Gavi vaccines alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to try to prevent poorer countries from being pushed to the back of the queue.
The programme is designed so that richer countries buying vaccines agree to help finance access for poorer nations, too.
It hopes to deliver more than two billion doses to people in 190 countries in less than a year. In particular, it wants to ensure 92 poorer countries will receive access to vaccines at the same time as 98 wealthier countries.
Most African countries are intended recipients of Covax, but a number of them like Senegal have been making provisions for vaccines outside the initiative.
image copyrightAnadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThe scheme has so far raised $6bn (£4.3bn), but says it needs at least another $2bn to meet its target for 2021.
Covax has faced some criticism for not moving quickly enough. One WHO board member, Austria’s Dr Clemens Martin Auer, said it had been slow to secure vaccine deals and deliver doses to countries.
The joint statement on Wednesday said the shipment to Ghana represented “the beginning of what should be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history”.
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