O Estatuto de Westminster foi aprovado há 94 anos

(imagem daqui)

    

O Estatuto de Westminster, assinado em 11 de dezembro de 1931, foi uma emenda do Parlamento do Reino Unido que estabeleceu o status de iguais entre os diferentes domínios independentes do Império Britânico e do Reino Unido. Este estatuto deu aos países, ex-colónias inglesas, Austrália, Canadá, África do Sul e Nova Zelândia, total independência política.

Anteriormente ao tratado, o papel do Ministério do Exterior dos três países era desempenhado pelo Reino Unido, motivo pela qual os três países entraram automaticamente na Primeira Guerra Mundial.

   

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Na Nova Zelândia as mulheres passaram a poder votar há 132 anos

The New Zealand general election of 1893 was held on Tuesday, 28 November in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 12th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 302,997 (75.3%) voters turned out to vote.

The election was won by the Liberal Party, and Richard Seddon became Prime Minister.

1893 was the year universal suffrage was granted to women over 21 (including Māori), plural registration was abolished, plural voting for Māori property-owners was abolished, and only those whose descent was exactly half Māori or less were allowed to choose whether to vote in European or Māori electorates. Women's suffrage was the most consequential change.

 

(...)

 

Kate Sheppard National Memorial in Christchurch adjacent to Our City. The figures shown from left to right are Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard, Ada Wells and Harriet Morison

 

 

By far the most notable change for the 1893 election was that the Electoral Act, 1893, extended the franchise to all women (including Māori) aged 21 and over. Women's suffrage was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as Kate Sheppard and Mary Ann Müller and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union led by Anne Ward. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times. John Hall, a Conservative politician and former premier, received most of the credit for pushing the legislation through Parliament; he is the only male who has his name inscribed on the Kate Sheppard National Memorial. There were only 10 weeks between the passage of the legislation and the election, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) set about to enrol as many women as possible.

The bill had passed under the Liberal government which generally advocated social and political reform, but only due to a combination of personality issues and political accident. Seddon opposed it (unlike many other Liberals) because many women supported prohibition. He had expected to stop the bill in the upper house, but found that one more vote was needed. Thomas Kelly, a new Liberal Party councillor had left himself paired in favour of the measure, but Seddon obtained his consent by wire to change his vote. Seddon's manipulation so incensed two opposition councillors, William Reynolds and Edward Stevens that they changed sides and voted for the bill, which was passed by 20 votes to 18 so giving the vote to women. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives subsequently claimed credit for sponsoring the enfranchisement of women and both sought to acquire women's votes, although the Liberals benefitted more.

  

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O acidente na mina de Pike River matou 27 mineiros há quinze anos...

(imagem daqui)

   

O acidente na mina de Pike River ocorreu em 19 de novembro de 2010 em Greymouth, Nova Zelândia. Uma explosão deixou 29 mineiros presos a pelo menos 1.500 metros da entrada da mina. A jazida situa-se 120 metros abaixo da superfície, e entra-se nela primariamente pela horizontal. Dois mineiros escaparam com ferimentos leves no dia da explosão, ao escalarem um poço de ventilação.

No dia 24 de novembro de 2010, especialistas conseguiram perfurar um pequeno túnel até a galeria. Ao analisarem a qualidade do ar, foi constatada uma quantia excessiva de monóxido de carbono e gás metano, indicando quantidade insuficiente de oxigénio. Estudava-se a possibilidade de os mineiros já estarem mortos devido à intoxicação, quando uma segunda explosão dentro da galeria foi sentida da superfície, acabando com as esperanças das equipas de resgate de salvar os trabalhadores soterrados.

 

 

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Lorde celebra hoje vinte e nove anos

      

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (Auckland, 7 de novembro de 1996), mais conhecida pelo nome artístico Lorde (anteriormente estilizada como LORDE), é uma cantora e compositora neozelandesa. Foi eleita a jovem mais influente do mundo pela revista norte-americana Time, e nomeada "Mulher Do Ano" pela MTV, em 2013. Tornou-se mundialmente conhecida a partir do single "Royals", que lhe rendeu o título de a mais jovem artista a conquistar o primeiro lugar da Billboard Hot 100 dos Estados Unidos, e venceu o Grammy Award de "Canção do Ano", em 2014.

   

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Edmund Hillary nasceu há 106 anos

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary  (Tuakau, 20 de julho de 1919 - Auckland, 11 de janeiro de 2008) foi um alpinista e explorador neozelandês, famoso principalmente pela primeira escalada bem sucedida do Monte Everest. Ele e o guia sherpa Tenzing Norgay atingiram os 8.848 metros do cume, em 29 de maio de 1953.

  

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Os Serviços Secretos francese assassinaram o fotógrafo Fernando Pereira e afundaram o Rainbow Warrior há quarenta anos...

A drawing of the Rainbow Warrior

   

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed to sink the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa.

Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. Two French agents were arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges. They were charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As part of a plea bargain, they pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison, of which they served just over two.

The scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu.

  

In the 1980s, the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique was developing nuclear warheads for the M4 SLBM, which were tested in underground explosions in the French Polynesian atoll of Moruroa.

Greenpeace was opposed to testing and planned to lead yachts to the atoll to protest, including an illegal incursion into French military zones. The Rainbow Warrior had not previously visited New Zealand, but David Lange's New Zealand Labour Party government opposed nuclear weapons development and had banned nuclear-armed or powered ships from New Zealand ports. (As a consequence the United States was in the process of withdrawing from its ANZUS mutual defence treaty obligations.)

The French government decided that in order to stop the planned protest, the Greenpeace flagship would have to be sunk. Operation Satanique would seek to disable the Rainbow Warrior while it was docked, while trying to prevent any casualties. Twenty years after the incident, a report by the then head of French intelligence said that the attack was authorized by French President François Mitterrand.

 

Agents had boarded and examined the ship while it was open to public viewing. DGSE agent Christine Cabon, posing as environmentalist Frederique Bonlieu, volunteered for the Greenpeace office in Auckland. Cabon secretly monitored communications from the Rainbow Warrior, collected maps, and investigated underwater equipment, in order to provide information crucial to the sinking. After the necessary information had been gathered, two DGSE divers beneath the Rainbow Warrior attached two limpet mines and detonated them 10 minutes apart. The first bomb went off 11:38 P.M., creating a large hole about the size of an average car. Agents intended the first mine to cripple the ship so that everybody would be evacuated safely off when the second mine was detonated. However, the crew did not react to the first explosion as the agents had expected. While the ship was initially evacuated, some of the crew returned to the ship to investigate and film the damage. A Portuguese-Dutch photographer, Fernando Pereira, returned below decks to fetch his camera equipment. At 11:45 P.M., the second bomb went off. Pereira drowned in the rapid flooding that followed, and the other ten crew members were either safely evacuated on the order of Captain Peter Willcox or were thrown into the water by the second explosion. The Rainbow Warrior sank four minutes later.

  

 Fernando Pereira

  

Operation Satanique was a public relations disaster. France, being an ally of New Zealand, initially denied involvement and joined in condemnation of what it termed to be a terrorist act. The French Embassy in Wellington denied involvement, stating that "the French Government does not deal with its opponents in such ways".

After the bombing, the New Zealand Police started one of the country's largest police investigations. Most of the agents escaped New Zealand but two, Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart – posing as married couple 'Sophie and Alain Turenge' and having Swiss passports – were identified as possible suspects with the help of a Neighborhood Watch group, and were arrested. Both were questioned and investigated, and their true identities were uncovered, along with the French government's responsibility. Both agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on November 22, 1985.

France threatened an economic embargo of New Zealand's exports to the European Economic Community if the pair was not released. Such an action would have crippled the New Zealand economy, which was dependent on agricultural exports to Britain.

  

In June 1986, in a political deal with Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange and presided over by United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, France agreed to pay NZ$13 million (USD$6.5 million) to New Zealand and apologise, in return for which Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur would be detained at the French military base on Hao Atoll for three years. However, the two agents had both returned to France by May 1988, after less than two years on the atoll. Mafart returned to Paris on December 14, 1987 for medical treatment, and was apparently freed after treatment. He continued in the French Army and was promoted to colonel in 1993. Prieur returned to France on May 6, 1988 because she was pregnant, her husband having been allowed to join her on the atoll. She, too, was freed and later promoted. The removal of the agents from Hao without subsequent return was ruled to be in violation of the 1986 agreement.

Three other agents, Chief Petty Officer Roland Verge, Petty Officer Bartelo and Petty Officer Gérard Andries, who sailed to New Zealand on the yacht Ouvéa, were arrested by Australian police on Norfolk Island, but released as Australian law did not allow them to be held until the results of forensic tests came back. They were then picked up by the French submarine Rubis, which scuttled the Ouvéa.

A sixth agent, Louis-Pierre Dillais, commander of the operation, was never captured and never faced charges. He acknowledged his involvement in an interview with New Zealand State broadcaster TVNZ in 2005.

A commission of enquiry headed by Bernard Tricot cleared the French government of any involvement, claiming that the arrested agents, who had not yet pleaded guilty, had merely been spying on Greenpeace. When The Times and Le Monde claimed that President Mitterrand had approved the bombing, Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned and the head of the DGSE, Admiral Pierre Lacoste, was fired. Eventually, Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted the bombing had been a French plot: On 22 September 1985, he summoned journalists to his office to read a 200 word statement in which he said: "The truth is cruel," and acknowledged there had been a cover-up, he went on to say that "Agents of the French secret service sank this boat. They were acting on orders."

      

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Gin Wigmore comemora hoje 39 anos

 

Virginia Claire Wigmore (Auckland, 6 June 1986) is a New Zealand singer and songwriter. Featured on the Smashproof single "Brother" in 2009, Wigmore went on to release four albums Holy Smoke (2009), Gravel & Wine (2011), Blood to Bone (2015) and Ivory (2018), with the first three having been chart-toppers on the New Zealand Albums Chart. She is known for her high pitched and raspy voice.

 

  

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Neil Finn, o vocalista dos Crowded House, celebra hoje 67 anos

      
Neil Mullane Finn (Te Awamutu, 27 de maio de 1958) é um cantor e compositor neozelandês. Ele foi vocalista e líder do grupo Crowded House e, anteriormente, de uma outra banda, também neozelandesa, chamada Split Enz.

Em 2018, foi integrado como vocalista e guitarrista dos Fleetwood Mac, substituindo Lindsey Buckingham.

   

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O ouro é sempre notícia...

Há ouro escondido à vista de todos nos areais das praias da Nova Zelândia

 

 

 

Uma nova investigação criou um atlas das partículas microscópicas de ouro que estão espalhadas nos areais das praias da Ilha do Sul da Nova Zelândia.

Cientistas da Universidade de Otago criaram o primeiro “atlas” detalhado de partículas microscópicas de ouro encontradas nas praias da Ilha do Sul da Nova Zelândia.

Utilizando microscópios eletrónicos de alta potência, os investigadores captaram imagens espantosas de partículas de ouro escondidas na areia. As descobertas foram relatadas num estudo publicado na New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics.

As partículas de ouro são minúsculas – medem apenas 10 micrómetros de diâmetro, cerca de um quinto da largura de um cabelo humano – e são invisíveis a olho nu. Embora não seja suficientemente grande para desencadear uma nova corrida ao ouro, o estudo tem um valor científico significativo ao revelar como diferentes processos geológicos moldaram a paisagem da Ilha do Sul e contribuir para uma compreensão global mais profunda da morfologia do ouro nas praias.

“Este atlas fornece novos conhecimentos sobre a morfologia do ouro de praia de uma grande variedade de cenários de praia”, escreveram os investigadores. Os autores referem também que as diversas caraterísticas geológicas da Ilha do Sul – que vão desde o levantamento tectónico ao fluxo de sedimentos – fazem dela um laboratório natural único em comparação com outras regiões costeiras do mundo.

Acredita-se que o ouro encontrado nestas areias costeiras seja remanescente da corrida ao ouro da Nova Zelândia na década de 1860, uma época crucial que atraiu colonos europeus em busca de riqueza e levou a um rápido desenvolvimento nacional, refere o New Atlas.

Embora as praias da Ilha do Sul tenham sido largamente ignoradas durante a corrida ao ouro original, ainda hoje guardam vestígios do metal precioso. Os atuais garimpeiros, ou “fossickers”, podem procurar ouro, mas devem primeiro obter uma autorização da New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals.

Para além do seu significado geológico, o estudo também proporciona uma visão visualmente deslumbrante de um mundo microscópico raramente visto pelo público. Este novo atlas será agora um valioso ponto de referência para geólogos de todo o mundo, particularmente para os que estudam o transporte de sedimentos, a formação de minerais e a evolução tectónica nas regiões costeiras.

 

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Kiri Te Kanawa faz hoje oitenta e um anos

   
Kiri Te Kanawa (Gisborne, 6 de março de 1944) é uma aclamada soprano lírica neozelandesa. O seu reportório vai do século XVII ao século XX. É particularmente dedicada às obras de Mozart, Richard Strauss, Verdi, Handel e Puccini.

Nos últimos anos raramente tem atuado em óperas, embora fosse vista com frequência em recitais e concertos. Em agosto de 2009, o jornal The Daily Telegraph de Londres relatou que deixaria de cantar óperas, que requerem uma disciplina exaustiva. A sua última apresentação operística foi em abril de 2010, na Ópera de Colónia, onde cantou "Marschallin" de Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss).
    

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Christchurch, a capital da Ilha do Sul da Nova Zelândia, teve um terramoto há 14 anos

Edifício destruído em Christchurch

     
O Sismo de Canterbury de 2011 (também conhecido como sismo de Christchurch) foi um sismo de 6,3 de magnitude que atingiu a Ilha do Sul da Nova Zelândia às 12.51 horas de 22 de fevereiro de 2011 (hora local), que corresponde às 23.51 horas de 21 de fevereiro UTC. O número de mortes provocadas pelo sismo foi inicialmente estimado em 159 (em 2 de março de 2011), passando depois para 185.

A região mais afetada foi província de Canterbury, em particular a cidade de Christchurch, situada a 10 km do epicentro do sismo. Essa mesma região já tinha sido atingida por um sismo de 7,1 M_W em 4 de setembro de 2010.

    

Mapa de intensidade do sismo, mostrando o epicentro próximo de Christchurch

     

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James Cook morreu há 246 anos...

       

James Cook (Marton, 7 de novembro de 1728 - Kealakekua, 14 de fevereiro de 1779) foi um explorador, navegador e cartógrafo inglês. Cook foi o primeiro a mapear a Terra Nova antes de fazer três viagens ao Oceano Pacífico durante a quais conseguiu o primeiro contacto europeu com a costa leste da Austrália e o Arquipélago do Havai, bem como a primeira circum-navegação registada da Nova Zelândia.

James Cook entrou na marinha mercante britânica enquanto adolescente e ingressou na Marinha Real em 1755. Participou da Guerra dos Sete Anos, e posteriormente estudou e mapeou grande parte da entrada do Rio São Lourenço durante o cerco de Quebec. Isso permitiu que o General Wolfe fizesse o seu famoso ataque nas Planícies de Abraão, e ajudou a ter a atenção do Almirantado Britânico e da Royal Society. Esta notícia veio num momento crucial, tanto na sua carreira pessoal e na direção das explorações ultramarinas britânicas, e levou-o ao seu cargo de comandante da HM Bark Endeavour para a primeira das três viagens do Pacífico.

Cook cartografou muitas áreas e registou várias ilhas e zonas costeiras nos mapas europeus pela primeira vez. Os seus resultados podem ser atribuídos a uma combinação de navegação, superior levantamento cartográfico e competências, a coragem em explorar locais perigosos para confirmar os factos (por exemplo, a imersão no Círculo Polar Antártico repetidamente e explorar ao redor da Grande Barreira de Coral), uma capacidade de conduzir os homens em condições adversas, e ousadia, tanto em relação à medida da sua exploração e sua vontade de ultrapassar as instruções dadas a ele pelo Almirantado.

No seu livro "Colapso" (2005), o biólogo e biogeógrafo Jared Diamond (E.U.A) cita um registo feito por Cook em que o capitão descreve uma breve visita à ilha de Páscoa, em 1744. "Pequenos, magros, tímidos e miseráveis", foi como Cook descreveu os insulares, que já enfrentavam um forte problema ambiental.

Cook morreu na baía havaiana de Kealakekua em 1779, numa luta com os nativos, durante a sua terceira viagem exploratória na região do Pacífico. A casa de Cook na Inglaterra é hoje um memorial. Cook é considerado o pai da Oceânia.

    

As viagens de Cook - a primeira a vermelho, a segunda a verde e a terceira a azul

     

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O Tratado de Waitangi, que deu origem ao estado da Nova Zelândia, foi assinado há 185 anos

O Tratado de Waitangi foi assinado em 6 de fevereiro de 1840, em Waitangi, na Baía das Ilhas, na Nova Zelândia, pelos representantes da Coroa Britânica, os chefes da Confederação das Tribos da Nova Zelândia e outras tribos Māori.

Para essa finalidade, o capitão William Hobson havia sido enviado à Nova Zelândia com instruções precisas da parte de Lord Normanby de firmar um acordo com os nativos e obter controle total sobre a Nova Zelândia.

O tratado foi assinado em duas versões - em inglês e em maori. O texto é pequeno, com apenas três artigos. O primeiro garante a soberania da Rainha de Inglaterra sobre a Nova Zelândia. O segundo garante aos chefes tribais a continuidade da chefia e a pertença das suas terras e tesouros (tsonga em māori ). O terceiro artigo garante a todos os Māori os mesmos direitos que os colonos britânicos.

As versões em inglês e em māori não são idênticas, o que causou dificuldades de interpretação e ainda hoje provoca conflitos entre os maoris e os descendentes dos britânicos. Muitos Māori acham que a Coroa não honrou os seus compromissos e apresentaram evidências disso diante dos tribunais. Entre os não-Māori há aqueles que discordem deste não cumprimento argumentando que os Māori dão muita importância ao tratado com o objetivo reclamar e obter privilégios especiais.

Os māori querem milhões de dólares em indemnizações e também um pedido de desculpas.

 

HER MAJESTY VICTORIA Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland regarding with Her Royal Favor the Native Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand and anxious to protect their just Rights and Property and to secure to them the enjoyment of Peace and Good Order has deemed it necessary in consequence of the great number of Her Majesty's Subjects who have already settled in New Zealand and the rapid extension of Emigration both from Europe and Australia which is still in progress to constitute and appoint a functionary properly authorised to treat with the Aborigines of New Zealand for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereign authority over the whole or any part of those islands – Her Majesty therefore being desirous to establish a settled form of Civil Government with a view to avert the evil consequences which must result from the absence of the necessary Laws and Institutions alike to the native population and to Her subjects has been graciously pleased to empower and to authorise me William Hobson a Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy Consul and Lieutenant-Governor of such parts of New Zealand as may be or hereafter shall be ceded to her Majesty to invite the confederated and independent Chiefs of New Zealand to concur in the following Articles and Conditions.

1 The Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand and the separate and independent Chiefs who have not become members of the Confederation cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty which the said Confederation or Individual Chiefs respectively exercise or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or to possess over their respective Territories as the sole sovereigns thereof.

2 Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and Tribes of New Zealand and to the respective families and individuals thereof the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession; but the Chiefs of the United Tribes and the individual Chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of Preemption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective Proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them in that behalf. 

3 In consideration thereof Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her royal protection and imparts to them all the Rights and Privileges of British Subjects.

(signed) William Hobson, Lieutenant-Governor.

Now therefore We the Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand being assembled in Congress at Victoria in Waitangi and We the Separate and Independent Chiefs of New Zealand claiming authority over the Tribes and Territories which are specified after our respective names, having been made fully to understand the Provisions of the foregoing Treaty, accept and enter into the same in the full spirit and meaning thereof in witness of which we have attached our signatures or marks at the places and the dates respectively specified.

Done at Waitangi this Sixth day of February in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty.

      

  
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O Estatuto de Westminster foi aprovado há 93 anos

(imagem daqui)

    

O Estatuto de Westminster, assinado em 11 de dezembro de 1931, foi uma emenda do Parlamento do Reino Unido que estabeleceu o status de iguais entre os diferentes domínios independentes do Império Britânico e do Reino Unido. Este estatuto deu aos países, ex-colónias inglesas, Austrália, Canadá, África do Sul e Nova Zelândia, total independência política.

Anteriormente ao tratado, o papel do Ministério do Exterior dos três países era desempenhado pelo Reino Unido, motivo pela qual os três países entraram automaticamente na Primeira Guerra Mundial.

   

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As mulheres passaram a poder votar há 131 anos na Nova Zelândia

The New Zealand general election of 1893 was held on Tuesday, 28 November in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 12th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 302,997 (75.3%) voters turned out to vote.

The election was won by the Liberal Party, and Richard Seddon became Prime Minister.

1893 was the year universal suffrage was granted to women over 21 (including Māori), plural registration was abolished, plural voting for Māori property-owners was abolished, and only those whose descent was exactly half Māori or less were allowed to choose whether to vote in European or Māori electorates. Women's suffrage was the most consequential change.

 

(...)

 

Kate Sheppard National Memorial in Christchurch adjacent to Our City. The figures shown from left to right are Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard, Ada Wells and Harriet Morison

 

 

By far the most notable change for the 1893 election was that the Electoral Act, 1893, extended the franchise to all women (including Māori) aged 21 and over. Women's suffrage was granted after about two decades of campaigning by women such as Kate Sheppard and Mary Ann Müller and organisations such as the New Zealand branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union led by Anne Ward. Of countries presently independent, New Zealand was the first to give women the vote in modern times. John Hall, a Conservative politician and former premier, received most of the credit for pushing the legislation through Parliament; he is the only male who has his name inscribed on the Kate Sheppard National Memorial. There were only 10 weeks between the passage of the legislation and the election, and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) set about to enrol as many women as possible.

The bill had passed under the Liberal government which generally advocated social and political reform, but only due to a combination of personality issues and political accident. Seddon opposed it (unlike many other Liberals) because many women supported prohibition. He had expected to stop the bill in the upper house, but found that one more vote was needed. Thomas Kelly, a new Liberal Party councillor had left himself paired in favour of the measure, but Seddon obtained his consent by wire to change his vote. Seddon's manipulation so incensed two opposition councillors, William Reynolds and Edward Stevens that they changed sides and voted for the bill, which was passed by 20 votes to 18 so giving the vote to women. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives subsequently claimed credit for sponsoring the enfranchisement of women and both sought to acquire women's votes, although the Liberals benefitted more.

  

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O acidente na mina de Pike River matou 27 mineiros há catorze anos...

(imagem daqui)

   

O acidente na mina de Pike River ocorreu em 19 de novembro de 2010 em Greymouth, Nova Zelândia. Uma explosão deixou 29 mineiros presos a pelo menos 1.500 metros da entrada da mina. A jazida situa-se 120 metros abaixo da superfície, e entra-se nela primariamente pela horizontal. Dois mineiros escaparam com ferimentos leves no dia da explosão, ao escalarem um poço de ventilação.

No dia 24 de novembro de 2010, especialistas conseguiram perfurar um pequeno túnel até a galeria. Ao analisarem a qualidade do ar, foi constatada uma quantia excessiva de monóxido de carbono e gás metano, indicando quantidade insuficiente de oxigénio. Estudava-se a possibilidade de os mineiros já estarem mortos devido à intoxicação, quando uma segunda explosão dentro da galeria foi sentida da superfície, acabando com as esperanças das equipas de resgate de salvar os trabalhadores soterrados.

 

 

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Lorde celebra hoje vinte e oito anos

      

Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (Auckland, 7 de novembro de 1996), mais conhecida pelo nome artístico Lorde (anteriormente estilizada como LORDE), é uma cantora e compositora neozelandesa. Foi eleita a jovem mais influente do mundo pela revista norte-americana Time, e nomeada "Mulher Do Ano" pela MTV, em 2013. Tornou-se mundialmente conhecida a partir do single "Royals", que lhe rendeu o título de a mais jovem artista a conquistar o primeiro lugar da Billboard Hot 100 dos Estados Unidos, e venceu o Grammy Award de "Canção do Ano", em 2014.

   

in Wikipédia

 

Edmund Hillary nasceu há 105 anos

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary  (Tuakau, 20 de julho de 1919 - Auckland, 11 de janeiro de 2008) foi um alpinista e explorador neozelandês, famoso principalmente pela primeira escalada bem sucedida do Monte Everest. Ele e o guia sherpa Tenzing Norgay atingiram os 8.848 metros do cume, em 29 de maio de 1953.

  

in Wikipédia

Uns Serviços Secretos assassinaram o fotógrafo Fernando Pereira e afundaram o Rainbow Warrior há 39 anos...

A drawing of the Rainbow Warrior

   

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed to sink the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa.

Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. Two French agents were arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges. They were charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As part of a plea bargain, they pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years in prison, of which they served just over two.

The scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu.

  

In the 1980s, the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique was developing nuclear warheads for the M4 SLBM, which were tested in underground explosions in the French Polynesian atoll of Moruroa.

Greenpeace was opposed to testing and planned to lead yachts to the atoll to protest, including an illegal incursion into French military zones. The Rainbow Warrior had not previously visited New Zealand, but David Lange's New Zealand Labour Party government opposed nuclear weapons development and had banned nuclear-armed or powered ships from New Zealand ports. (As a consequence the United States was in the process of withdrawing from its ANZUS mutual defence treaty obligations.)

The French government decided that in order to stop the planned protest, the Greenpeace flagship would have to be sunk. Operation Satanique would seek to disable the Rainbow Warrior while it was docked, while trying to prevent any casualties. Twenty years after the incident, a report by the then head of French intelligence said that the attack was authorized by French President François Mitterrand.

 

Agents had boarded and examined the ship while it was open to public viewing. DGSE agent Christine Cabon, posing as environmentalist Frederique Bonlieu, volunteered for the Greenpeace office in Auckland. Cabon secretly monitored communications from the Rainbow Warrior, collected maps, and investigated underwater equipment, in order to provide information crucial to the sinking. After the necessary information had been gathered, two DGSE divers beneath the Rainbow Warrior attached two limpet mines and detonated them 10 minutes apart. The first bomb went off 11:38 P.M., creating a large hole about the size of an average car. Agents intended the first mine to cripple the ship so that everybody would be evacuated safely off when the second mine was detonated. However, the crew did not react to the first explosion as the agents had expected. While the ship was initially evacuated, some of the crew returned to the ship to investigate and film the damage. A Portuguese-Dutch photographer, Fernando Pereira, returned below decks to fetch his camera equipment. At 11:45 P.M., the second bomb went off. Pereira drowned in the rapid flooding that followed, and the other ten crew members were either safely evacuated on the order of Captain Peter Willcox or were thrown into the water by the second explosion. The Rainbow Warrior sank four minutes later.

  

 Fernando Pereira

  

Operation Satanique was a public relations disaster. France, being an ally of New Zealand, initially denied involvement and joined in condemnation of what it termed to be a terrorist act. The French Embassy in Wellington denied involvement, stating that "the French Government does not deal with its opponents in such ways".

After the bombing, the New Zealand Police started one of the country's largest police investigations. Most of the agents escaped New Zealand but two, Captain Dominique Prieur and Commander Alain Mafart – posing as married couple 'Sophie and Alain Turenge' and having Swiss passports – were identified as possible suspects with the help of a Neighborhood Watch group, and were arrested. Both were questioned and investigated, and their true identities were uncovered, along with the French government's responsibility. Both agents pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on November 22, 1985.

France threatened an economic embargo of New Zealand's exports to the European Economic Community if the pair was not released. Such an action would have crippled the New Zealand economy, which was dependent on agricultural exports to Britain.

  

In June 1986, in a political deal with Prime Minister of New Zealand David Lange and presided over by United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, France agreed to pay NZ$13 million (USD$6.5 million) to New Zealand and apologise, in return for which Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur would be detained at the French military base on Hao Atoll for three years. However, the two agents had both returned to France by May 1988, after less than two years on the atoll. Mafart returned to Paris on December 14, 1987 for medical treatment, and was apparently freed after treatment. He continued in the French Army and was promoted to colonel in 1993. Prieur returned to France on May 6, 1988 because she was pregnant, her husband having been allowed to join her on the atoll. She, too, was freed and later promoted. The removal of the agents from Hao without subsequent return was ruled to be in violation of the 1986 agreement.

Three other agents, Chief Petty Officer Roland Verge, Petty Officer Bartelo and Petty Officer Gérard Andries, who sailed to New Zealand on the yacht Ouvéa, were arrested by Australian police on Norfolk Island, but released as Australian law did not allow them to be held until the results of forensic tests came back. They were then picked up by the French submarine Rubis, which scuttled the Ouvéa.

A sixth agent, Louis-Pierre Dillais, commander of the operation, was never captured and never faced charges. He acknowledged his involvement in an interview with New Zealand State broadcaster TVNZ in 2005.

A commission of enquiry headed by Bernard Tricot cleared the French government of any involvement, claiming that the arrested agents, who had not yet pleaded guilty, had merely been spying on Greenpeace. When The Times and Le Monde claimed that President Mitterrand had approved the bombing, Defence Minister Charles Hernu resigned and the head of the DGSE, Admiral Pierre Lacoste, was fired. Eventually, Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted the bombing had been a French plot: On 22 September 1985, he summoned journalists to his office to read a 200 word statement in which he said: "The truth is cruel," and acknowledged there had been a cover-up, he went on to say that "Agents of the French secret service sank this boat. They were acting on orders."

      

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