New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Thursday that the country will celebrate its first Matariki public holiday from June 24 in 2022.
New Zealand on Thursday announced a new public holiday which will celebrate the country's MÄori people.
It's called Matariki, a celebration of the MÄori New Year marked by the appearance of a star cluster known as the Pleiades.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who had pledged to establish the public holiday during her reelection campaign, made the announcement on Thursday.
"This is not just about a public holiday, it is a teaching moment.
A chance to learn about something that is uniquely Maori.
A chance to learn our navigational history, and we will begin doing that from the year 2022.
And I can share for the first time today, that the first celebration of Matariki, after much advice from our advisory committee, will be on the 24th of June, 2022." Ardern made her announcement at Waitangi, where over 150 years ago, a treaty was signed between MÄori chiefs and the British crown.
But that treaty has since been broken, as the MÄori lost much of their land under British colonisation.
Thousands of MÄori, who currently account for about 15% of New Zealand's population, protested Ardern's government in 2019 saying they hadn't done enough to acknowledge their civil and social rights.
On Wednesday, New Zealand's government also proposed a national syllabus on MÄori history.
The course will cover the MÄori's arrival to New Zealand, the country's immigration and colonisation, and the Treaty of Waitangi.
UK Looking to, Phase Out Legal, Sale of Tobacco.
On March 20, the British government
introduced a bill to begin phasing
out smoking among young people, banning
the sale of tobacco for future generations.
If approved by parliament, the Tobacco
and Vapes Bill would become one of
the toughest anti-tobacco laws in the world. .
Fox News reports that the bill looks to prevent
children turning 15 this year and younger from
ever being legally able to purchase tobacco.
Fox News reports that the bill looks to prevent
children turning 15 this year and younger from
ever being legally able to purchase tobacco.
According to the government, the act of smoking
would not be criminalized, meaning that anyone
currently able to legally obtain tobacco would
be allowed to continue smoking in the future.
If we want to build a better future
for our children we need to tackle
the single biggest entirely
preventable cause of ill-health,
disability and death: smoking, Rishi Sunak, Conservative Prime Minister, via Fox News.
According to the British government,
smoking costs the nation an
estimated $21.63 billion every year.
The proposed legislation also includes
restrictions on vape flavors and packaging
intentionally marketed toward children. .
The new legislation reportedly comes
amid a sharp increase in vape usage
by young people in the U.K. .
In February, similar legislation in New Zealand
was introduced, looking to ban tobacco
sales to anyone born after January 1, 2009. .
That bill was repealed
by New Zealand's new
coalition government
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:30Published
Delhi Is the āMost Pollutedā , Capital City in the World.
The capital of India was found to be the
world's most polluted capital city in 2023,
according to air-quality monitoring group IQAir.
India was also ranked as the
third-most polluted country after
Bangladesh and Pakistan, BBC reports.
In 2022, India was the
eighth most polluted country. .
According to the report, the average level
of fine particulate matter PM2.5 in India's
air was 54.4 micrograms per cubic meter. .
Delhi's air quality had a PM2.5 reading
of 92.7 micrograms per cubic meter.
Air that is considered safe to breathe
typically has 12 to 15 micrograms per
cubic meter of PM2.5, BBC reports. .
Levels higher than 35 micrograms per
cubic meter are thought to be unhealthy. .
Only seven countries were within
the World Health Organization's yearly
PM2.5 guideline, an "average of 5 micrograms per cubic meter or less," BBC reports. .
Those countries are Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand.
Those countries are Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand.
In 2023 air pollution remained a global health
catastrophe, IQAirās global data set provides
an important reminder of the resulting
injustices and the need to implement the
many solutions that exist to this problem. , Aidan Farrow, senior air quality scientist at
Greenpeace International, via 'The Guardian'
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:30Published
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