New Zealand central bank hit by cyber attack

WELLINGTON - New Zealand's central bank said Sunday it was responding with urgency to a "malicious" breach of one of its data systems, a third-party file sharing service that stored "sensitive information".

Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Adrian Orr said the breach had been contained and the system was taken offline but it would take time to determine what information had been accessed.

"We are working closely with domestic and international cyber security experts and other relevant authorities as part of our investigation and response to this malicious attack," Orr said.

"The nature and extent of information that has been potentially accessed is still being determined, but it may include some commercially and personally sensitive information," he added.

"It will take time to understand the full implications of this breach, and we are working with system users whose information may have been accessed."

In its latest report, the government agency CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) said cyber attacks had increased 33 percent year-on-year in New Zealand. 

The country's stock exchange was targeted by sustained DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks last August, forcing trading to be halted on four consecutive days.

Agence France-Presse

New Zealand extends state of emergency to stop spread of COVID-19

WELLINGTON - New Zealand is extending the state of national emergency for a further seven days to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said in a statement.

The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary.

"Extending the State of National Emergency ensures we have all the resources, support and powers we need to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our communities," Henare said. —Reuters

Tonga’s cancer beater gets his moment at Rugby World Cup

SAPPORO, Japan — There were times not long ago when Nasi Manu was too sick and weak from the chemotherapy to walk up the steps at a stadium and watch a game of rugby. On Sunday, he played in a Rugby World Cup match.

Manu got his moment off the bench in Tonga’s opening game of the World Cup against England in Sapporo.


Tonga lost 35-3 but got some inspiration by seeing the loose forward come off the bench to complete his recovery from testicular cancer that saw him undergo emergency surgery, months of chemotherapy and miss all international rugby last year and most of this season.

It was Manu’s first game back for Tonga since his cancer diagnosis and his wife and two-year-old daughter came to Japan to watch him.

“The whole day has been very difficult for me, just controlling the nerves,” Manu said. “I couldn’t sleep last night, I just got too excited. I was telling my wife that I didn’t know what to do. I packed my bags five times.”

Manu shed tears at a welcoming ceremony for the Tongan team at the World Cup last week. He said the tears flowed after he realized how far he’d come from last year, when he was fearing for his life and his rugby career was secondary.

There were more when he lined up and sang Tonga’s national anthem on Sunday.

“They were plenty of them, but then I had to calm down,” he said.

Tonga coach Toutai Kefu said he’s planning to give Manu a gentle introduction back to international rugby and manage his game time.

“We all knew as a group that this was important for him,” Kefu said. “I just had a chat to him and he said he was very tired, he needed more game time, and his lungs were gone.

“But I reassured him, I said ‘Mate, you’re lucky to be back out on the field.’ I think that’s the first step.


“But knowing Nasi, he’s a very competitive person and he wants to give 100 percent,” Kefu said. “He’s a good player on and off the field. An important member for us.”

Manu said his “legs were gone” and he had to battle it out to play the rest of the 33 minutes he was on the field.

“No fitness can prepare you for that. I have achieved my dream of playing in a World Cup whatever happens and I have so many people I can thank for getting me here.

“I can’t say names because I am afraid I will miss some out.”

Some of the people Manu has already thanked are his teammates at Italian club Benetton Treviso who shaved their heads in support of him when he was undergoing chemotherapy and sent him cellphone videos to keep his spirits up. His club also helped him get treatment.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Arab countries condemn New Zealand mosques attack

ANKARA, Turkey — Gulf Arab states have condemned the attack on two mosques in New Zealand that killed at least 49 people.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates all offered their sympathies Friday over the deadly attack.

Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens was lightly wounded in the attack, but survived.

Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, tweeted his condolences, noting that “on a day of peace like Friday and at a place of worship like the mosque, we witnessed the most heinous crime of religious hatred.”

Noon prayers on a Friday are an integral part of Islamic life, a day when all practicing Muslims join congregations to listen to a sermon.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s government slammed the attack as an act of terror.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he regretted the incident and urged the New Zealand government to do its best to “arrest these terrorists.”

The foreign ministry said two Malaysians were wounded and have been hospitalized.

“Malaysia condemns in the strongest terms this senseless act of terror on innocent civilians and hopes that those responsible for this barbaric crime be brought to justice,” the ministry said in a statement. /kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

NZ company offers movie-style soundtracks for immersive e-reading

New Zealand-based startup Booktrack is hoping to change the way people read e-books by incorporating a synchronized soundtrack to accompany the on-page action. It's made up of music, ambient sound and sound effects that dynamically adjust depending on where the reader is up to in the story.

The developers call Booktrack "a disruptive force in the publishing and audio world," comparable to the how the introduction of sound transformed cinema.

"We are the only enhancement for reading delivered while you read. The most powerful thing about reading is being lost in that reading experience, so what we do is add just one layer of that to get you into the experience quicker and keep you there for longer," said Paul Cameron, CEO and Co-founder of Booktrack.

Readers can use Booktrack in their browser or download the software on to their smartphone or tablet.

Currently the top three books in the UK on Booktrack are the Sherlock Holmes stories, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and In the South by Salman Rushdie.


    #CyberMonday #SALE Get #SherlockHolmes on #Booktrack for just $0.99! Soundtracks for #eBooks http://bit.ly/1TgbQQb

 Posted by Booktrack on Monday, November 30, 2015


It was the commuter market that prompted the idea for Bootrack, said Cameron, after he saw a trend for people putting on headphones while reading to drown out distractions.

"It was people jumping on buses, trains, ferries, the Tube; plugging in their headphones and reading what was a paper book and is now a screen device. We just thought it was a strange behavior; you don't go home and watch television and turn the volume down and turn the stereo on and listen to unrelated music. So, we thought we could bring that experience together and when we did people really liked it," he said.

"We're fighting against all of the other distractions that we have in modern life, and try to carve out a place for books and reading in it. And that's why you see a rise in audio books, that's why you see people trying to create immersive experiences that sort of push away at the distractions that can pull you out of reading," Michael Tamblyn, CEO of e-reader makers Kobo, told Reuters.

He added that innovations like Booktrack bring an added dimension to reading: "How can you make a story different, how can you create a different kind of reading experience? How can you enrich that experience so that it's more engaging and engaging for different people that might now otherwise engage in books?"

Key to the success of Booktrack's immersive platform is how their audio software dynamically adjusts to each individual's reading speed.

"The problem with reading is that everybody reads at a different reading speed. So what Booktrack does is as you read we know how many words are on the page, every time you turn the page we're measuring how fast or slow you're reading, and then the soundtrack dynamically adjusts to match," said Cameron.

This delivers a contextual and synchronized soundtrack played in harmony with the story, Cameron added.

"It's a bit like having a conductor sitting there going "hang on a minute, he’s slowed down reading, right; cue the next track". So it's dynamically moving with you as you're reading the story."

Booktrack has more than 2.5 million users worldwide, and offers over 16,000 titles in 30 different languages.

The company also offers a free tool for authors and self-publishers to create and add soundtracks to their own work by choreograph their text to a database of sounds and music to create their own Booktrack, which can then be made publicly available online. — Reuters

New Zealand’s kiwi fruit heading home to China

WELLINGTON - More than a century after the kiwi fruit arrived in New Zealand, the fuzzy-skinned food is heading back to its roots in Asia.

The world's largest kiwi fruit exporter, New Zealand's Zespri International Ltd, already sells around 20 percent of its output to China and is now preparing the ground to start producing there, looking to cut costs at a time when it expects its overall exports to hit record highs.

It also wants to tailor production to a market booming as an expanding middle class shifts to more healthy eating, consuming more fresh fruit and vegetables.

Starting commercial production in China would mark the first such step from New Zealand's kiwi fruit sector, a key part of a fruit industry which overall churns out the country's sixth most valuable export. Although Zespri is cautious about moving too fast as it wants to ensure the varieties of kiwi fruit it has developed are not leaked to other growers in China.

"There's an obvious strategic advantage for us at sometime in the future to be producing Zespri quality kiwi fruit out of China and selling it locally," Chief Operating Officer Simon Limmer said by telephone.

Kiwi fruit, which used to be known as Chinese gooseberries as they were originally from that country, were brought to New Zealand in the early 1900s and renamed after the nation's round flightless bird. The food now generates around NZ$1 billion ($660 million) in export revenue for New Zealand each year, more than double the amount from fresh apples.

China is already the world's largest producer and consumer of kiwi fruit, growing between 1.3 and 1.5 million tonnes a year, versus Zespri's output of nearly 400,000 tonnes.

The Asian giant is the Tauranga-based co-operative's fastest growing market, with exports to the country expected to soar 40 percent in the year to March 31.

New Zealand was the first OECD country to sign a free trade agreement with China, and Zespri has reaped the benefits. In October, China once again overtook Australia as New Zealand's top annual export destination, with shipments led by beef, milk powder and kiwi fruit.

Zespri competes with Chinese growers such as Joyvio Group, a subsidiary of conglomerate Legend Holdings.


"(China) will be our biggest market by volume next year and probably by volume and value the following year," said Limmer. Japan is currently Zespri's largest export market.

Not so speedy

Zespri in November signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government in the central Chinese province of Shaanxi to assess local kiwi fruit varieties. It plans to hold growing trials there in early 2016.

But Limmer said the first commercial crop would probably be "a few years away" as developing quality fruit is not a speedy process.

"Everywhere we grow kiwi fruit is different and requires a different approach. We need to learn to adapt and bring what we know and make it relevant to what we are doing in China," Limmer said. "We are bringing our know-how and combining it with local resources in the local environment."


Mark Kilgour, a senior lecturer from New Zealand's University of Waikato, said there would be significant cost benefits from growing in China.

"New Zealand is a very high cost site for production and we have high transportation costs, plus our dollar is all over the place because we are such a small market. Those are all compelling reasons for offshore production," he said.

Protecting Zespri's intellectual property and safeguarding its reputation would be key concerns when starting output in China. In the early 2000s, the company attempted some growing trials but the fruit was leaked into general production "which is a massive issue for us," said Limmer.

He added that Zespri did not plan to take its new varieties to China in the short term due to such concerns. —Reuters

Curious Prince George revels in royal play day in New Zealand

WELLINGTON - Britain's baby Prince George hosted his first official function on Wednesday -- maintaining a regal calm on a play date with a group of New Zealand toddlers, even as some of his tiny guests burst into tears.

The play session at Wellington's Government House was organised by non-profit childcare group Plunket to give Prince William and Kate a relaxed start to a three-week tour of New Zealand and Australia after their arrival in the capital on Monday.

Formalities were cast aside for the occasion, with the eight-month-old prince crawling on the floor alongside 10 local babies while his proud parents looked on.

George, who was born on July 22 last year, looked comfortable in the spotlight, playing with a purple tambourine and exercising his royal prerogative at one point to snatch a doll from the mouth of a little girl.

Wellington photographer Grant Collinge, whose eight-month-old Lukas was among the babies, said George showed an inquisitive nature and it was clear he "was his own little man."

"He took control and went into the middle of the circle of toys. He hunted out the biggest toy, propped himself up and owned the place, basically," Collinge said.

The babies mingled in a room with a large portrait of George's great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II looking down from the wall, with cushions and toys scattered on the floor, including a giant blue teddy bear.

Tears and joy

There were tears from some of the other infants as introductions were made but George, dressed in navy-blue dungaree shorts and a white t-shirt, appeared calm even after dropping a toy to the floor.

He was content to chew Kate's hair as his mother gently bounced him in her arms while chatting to his playmates' parents, pausing occasionally to wipe a spot of drool from the royal chin.

Kate wore a knee-length black and white Tory Burch dress, while William opted for an open-necked blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up as he sipped a soft drink.

Plunket said the babies were all roughly the same age as George and were born to first-time parents, just like William and Kate.

They were also selected to reflect the diversity of New Zealand society, including various ethnic groups and a same-sex couple.

Gay dad Jared Mullen, father to nine-month-old Isabella, said the royal parents were "lovely" and shared their tips on raising George.

"As first time parents, in many ways they are in the same boat as all of us trying to get used to it," he said.

"The whole day's been a privilege, just to share our babies with the Duke and Duchess (of Cambridge) and to have them share their beautiful one with us."

The prince's play time is expected to be his last public appearance in New Zealand, where he will remain based in Wellington under the care of Spanish nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo as his parents make day trips around the country.

The New Zealand Republic lobby group said any of the 10 Kiwi babies at Government House would be better qualified as the country's head of state than George, who is third in line to the throne in both Britain and New Zealand.

"Baby George is as cute as any other baby... but unfortunately he cannot be New Zealand's future head of state, not unless he one day migrates to New Zealand and becomes a citizen," it said.

But opposition Labor party leader David Cunliffe, an avowed republican, said the question of whether to retain the monarchy should be put on hold while the royals were visiting.

"I actually don't think that's an appropriate conversation for now," he said.

The visit takes a sombre tone on Thursday, when William will lay a wreath at a war memorial in the South Island town of Blenheim. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com