The large 8.3 earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa has resulted in a number of deaths, and The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii has updated its warning to New Zealanders.

The tsunami generated in the Pacific is predicted to hit New Zealand’s East Cape at 9.44am and will be approximately one metre high. Emergency management and services in East Cape have issued an evacuation warning.

The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management said there was a tsunami risk to New Zealand from the earthquake, and have also issued a tsunami warning for New Zealand coasts.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre’s updated timings for the arrival of a tsunami in New Zealand are:

East Cape at 9.44am

Gisborne 10am

North Cape 10.12 am

Napier 10.40 am

Wellington 10.50 am

Auckland (east coast) 11.12 am

Auckland (west) 11.39 am

Lyttelton 11.55am

New Plymouth 12.17pm

Nelson 12.23 pm

Dunedin 12.31 pm

A growing awareness of our environment, climate change, and options for a more sustainable existence is permeating all aspects of modern living.

Young and old alike are becoming more concerned with environmental issues, and keeping in step with environment news has become an increasingly important part of feeling informed for many New Zealanders.

From large scale awareness events like World Environment Day to smaller, more frequent community initiatives and a focus on ‘going green’ each and every day, enviro-conscious Kiwis are making the move toward a more sustainable future.

For more information about environmental issues and initiatives visit the environment category in the NZS.com directory.

The New Zealand newspaper industry has come a long way since the first primitive printers introduced to the country cut their teeth on our flagship publications.

While the style, tone, content and context of newspaper in New Zealand continues to change to keep up with the evolution of society and technological advancements, daily newspapers in NZ still retain a loyal readership, both regionally and nationally.

While the advent of online newspaper has brought news into the digital age, most New Zealand news sources have kept up, offering readers both print and online options for their preferred news consumption.

The ‘Skanks in NYC’ blogger whose identity was unmasked by court order plans to sue Google for $US15 million for breaching her privacy.

Google was forced to reveal the blogger’s name after former Vogue Australia covergirl Liskula Cohen claimed statements published on the Google-run blog about her were defamatory.

Cohen confronted and reportedly forgave the blogger, and has decided against going through with a defamation suit. Even though her right to sue the blogger was the whole reason Google was forced to reveal the blogger’s identity in the first place.

And in a new plot twist, the blogger – 29 year old New York fashion student Rosemary Port – is now going after Google.

Port’s lawyer Salvatore Strazzullo said he was prepared to take a case against Google all the way to the US Supreme Court because the company had “breached its fiduciary duty to protect her expectation of anonymity”.

Port has argued Cohen had defamed herself by launching such public legal action, and claimed she had the right to an opinion. She said before the lawsuit and subsequent groundbreaking court order, there had been few hits on the website.

“That was before it became a spectacle. I feel my right to privacy has been violated.”

Google has been forced in court to release the identity of a blogger who has allegedly defamed 39 year old former model Liskula Cohen.

The former Australian Vogue cover girl won a landmark court battle this week to reveal the identity of an anonymous blogger who made defamatory remarks about her in their blog, ‘Skankiest in NYC’.

Referred to as a “skank” and an “old hag” on the blog, Cohen sued search engine giant Google in January in the hope of forcing the company to reveal the identity of the blogger using Google’s Blogger service. While it was shut down in March, the blog was almost entirely devoted to making slanderous comments about Cohen. It contained just five entries, all of which were published on August 21 last year.

“I would have to say the first-place award for ‘Skankiest in NYC’ would have to go to Liskula Gentile Cohen,” the anonymous blogger wrote. “How old is this skank? 40 something? She’s a psychotic, lying, whoring, still going to clubs at her age, skank.”

Cohen believed the posts to be defamatory, but was forced to take action against Google in order to unmask the blogger’s identity before she could take further legal action.

Before Judge Madden’s ruling a Google spokeswoman said, “We sympathise with anyone who may be the victim of cyber bullying. We also take great care to respect privacy concerns and will only provide information about a user in response to a subpoena or other court order”.

On Monday Judge Madden ruled that Cohen was entitled to sue the blogger for defamation and in an unprecedented move he ordered Google to provide the blogger’s name. Judge Madden also rejected the claims by the blogger’s lawyer Anne Salisbury that the comments were mere opinion and that only factual assertions could be considered libellous.

Cohen’s lawyer Steven Wagner hoped the decision would send a message that the internet was “not a free-for-all”.

“The law protects freedom of speech, including anonymous speech, but it doesn’t protect defamation, and people should not think that they can defame others on the Internet or on blogs by hiding behind a screen name.”

The yet-to-be-named blogger’s lawyer warned the ruling could open the floodgates for anyone who has been the subject of a nasty comment online to take legal action.

An earthquake in Fiordland measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rattled the South Island and sparked a 90-minute tsunami alert last night.

Though the quake appears to have caused little damage, an alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii was issued for southern New Zealand soon after it struck at 9.22pm, 100 kilometres north-west of Tuatapere in Southland.

The earthquake was estimated to be approximately 12 kilometres deep, and was followed by two sizeable aftershocks, the first of a 6.1 magnitude 20 minutes later, and the second measuring 5.9 just before 2am.

Though both quakes were far from any towns, phones went down in east Invercargill power was out in Otatara, and a water main was broken in Winton, north of Invercargill.

The quake was felt strongly in Dunedin, Invercargill and Timaru, and Christchurch residents have reported feeling it as a long, rolling motion. People as far north as Wellington are said to have felt the earthquake to a lesser extent.

At 7.8 on the Richter scale, last night’s quake in Fiordland was among the second largest earthquakes records in New Zealand since European colonisation. The only one to top it was the 8.2 magnitude quake in Wairarapa on January 23, 1855.

One of New Zealand’s most famous earthquakes, also measuring 7.8, was in Napier in 1931, and caused the largest loss of life and most extensive damage of any recorded New Zealand quake.

News of last night’s earthquake was quickly picked up by world media, with reports appearing within the hour on BBC, CNN and Sky News websites.

For more information on New Zealand earthquakes check out the seismology category on NZS.com.

In a move surprising some economists, the Official Cash Rate (OCR) will at this stage remain unchanged at 2.50 percent.

Today’s review is the first in nine evaluations that the central bank hasn’t further cut the OCR.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard says the economic outlook remains weak both in New Zealand and overseas, however there are signs that international economic activity is stabilising, and international financial conditions are improving.

The New Zealand economy is expected to begin growing again toward the end of this year, but the recovery is likely to be slow, with key economic indicators such as unemployment being projected to continue deteriorating well into 2010.

Statistics New Zealand figures show unemployment rose to 115,000, or 5 percent, in March to reach its highest level in six years.

The OCR has been slashed from 8.25 percent to 2.5 percent between July 2008 and April this year. The cuts by the Reserve Bank have been suggested by some media sources as an attempt to breathe new life into a domestic economy facing the worst global economic crisis since World War II.

Mr Bollard says the OCR could still move modestly lower over the coming quarters, staying at or below the current level through until late next year.

Remember those famous, all too insightful words of gumbooted Kiwi bloke persona Fred Dagg?

Well, if you’re in need of some reminding as to just how lucky we are, mate, New Zealand has just been named the world’s most peaceful nation.

The land of the long white cloud jumped ahead three spots in the Global Peace Index in 2009, knocking last year’s leader, Iceland, off the top spot.

Now in its third year, the index defines peace as “the absence of violence,” and looks at 23 indicators of peacefulness across 144 countries. Internally, these include homicides, the percentage of the population in jail, the availability of guns, and level of organized crime. External indicators include the size of the military, the exports and imports of arms, battlefield deaths, United Nations peacekeeping contributions, and relations with neighbouring states.

New Zealand scored highly because of its stable government, high level of respect for human rights and relatively small defence spending. The world’s major military powers scored poorly, with Russia at 136th and China 74th.

The US was 83rd, due to its enormous military and the fact it still jails a higher proportion of its population than any of the other 143 nations in the Global Peace Index.

The Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate again today, slicing 50 basis points from the previous 3 percent to make today’s rate a low 2.5 %.

Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard said developments since March pointed to lower medium-term inflation than previously projected. He believed the main contributing factors were weaker global growth and an unwarranted tightening in financial conditions due to higher long-term interest rates and a stronger exchange rate than expected.

He expected the hefty decline in the OCR over the past year to pass through interest rates to more borrowers over coming quarters as existing fixed-rate mortgages come up for re-pricing.

He said this, combined with the stimulus from fiscal policy, would support the kiwi economy, leading to activity hitting a low and then picking up. It would take some time for economic activity to return to its former glory however, given the scale of the global financial crisis and domestic adjustments underway.

It’s expected the OCR could still move modestly lower over the coming quarters.

Thinking about investment property in Auckland or other places throughout New Zealand? You better start acting quickly. The New Zealand housing market is proving quite the buyer’s dream at the moment.

With property prices the lowest in years, it seems baby boomers (those aged 44-62) are jumping on the low mortgage rates bandwagon and investing in new homes. There was a staggering 45% increase in real estate mortgage applications last month (compared to March 2008) by baby boomers. Those younger than the group in mention are also increasingly trying to buy property; there has been a 34% increase in 28-43 year olds applying for mortgages over the same period last year.

This activity seemingly reflects the lower interest rates invigorating demand, and is showing that investment property is continuing to give good rates of return. The market are jumping at the chance to get fixed terms locked in at these rates, so brush up on your real estate NZ knowledge and pick up a great new property!