Weather: Farmers Not Hearty After Hail

“The man who survived for more than 30 hours adrift on a jet ski during Saturday’s hail storm was incredibly lucky, but that storm hit many North Canterbury cropping farmers hard,” says Paul Stackhouse, North Canterbury Federated Farmers Grain and Seed chairman. “The golf ball sized hail stones that swept across North Canterbury on Saturday carved a six to eight kilometre path of destruction through crops, with the damage estimated to be well in excess of one million dollars. More >>

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Riveting: Less Discrimination Among Kiwi Engineers

Despite New Zealand’s female engineers being outnumbered by their male colleagues by ten to one, Kiwi women report a relatively low level of gender discrimination when compared to their Aussie contemporaries. More >>

Stats: Summer Fetches Mixed Results For Retail

The seasonally adjusted value of the total Electronic Card Transaction (ECT) series decreased 2.8 percent in November 2008 compared with October 2008, Statistics New Zealand said today. This was the largest monthly drop since the series began in October 2002. The main contributor to the drop was a substantial decrease in the value of fuel sales, while fuel prices continued to decline. More >>

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PM Welcomes World-First Biofuel Test Flight

Prime Minister and Tourism Minister John Key has congratulated Air New Zealand for its successful test flight today of a biofuel-powered Boeing 747 aircraft. More >>

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