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Cruise navigates world's most dangerous route

Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Serenity has successfully completed its controversial voyage through the treacherous Northwest Passage, a route inaccessible 100 years ago. The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the northern Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, via waterways that extend through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The route has traditionally been blocked by ice, but global warming has changed this and many sections of the water which were previously too tricky to cross can now be navigated. For 32 days the 1,000 passengers and 600 crew aboard the Crystal Serenity witnessed sights few others have seen over the 7,000 natural miles of remote Arctic waterways and as the ship arrived in New York the voyage was hailed as a success. Captain Birger J. Vorland told Cruise Critic, “The voyage was very successful, and there were no surprises. There was actually less ice than we anticipated… I never felt the enthusiasm wane. Everything clicked. I never experienced an atmosphere like this before in my 38 years at sea.” So what’s next for cruising in this part of the world? Well, the Crystal Serenity is set to sail the Northwest Passage again in the summer of 2017, and other lines have signalled their intent to try their hand at this itinerary. But not everybody’s happy. Bernie MacIsaac of Nunavut's Department of Economic Development, the region most hit by the influx of cruise passengers, contends clear restrictions must be in place. MacIsaac said, “The [territory] is considering new marine tourism regulations that would mitigate some of the impacts of larger ships like the Crystal Serenity. A size limit and a number should be included. We cannot do a 1,000-passenger ship for three days in a row. There just aren't that many people here. We're not going to fly in drum dancers.” Daniel Skjeldam, head of the Norway-based Hurtigruten cruise, also called for size limits, so ships no bigger than 500 passengers could visit. Skjeldam said, “This has to do with safety — search and rescue – but also to do with the small communities that you come in to. “We are concerned about the impact they have on these villages.” Crystal Cruises spokeswoman Molly Morgan contended enough had been done to consult the locals when the company began planning the historic voyage three years ago. Morgan said, “Crystal team members made multiple trips to the region to collaborate with the local communities and ensure that, as a company, we were well educated on the culture, history and ecosystem that makes up this delicate region.” What’s your take? Do you think it’s wrong to be sending massive cruise liners through that sensitive part of the world? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Image: YouTube / Crystal Cruises

Cruising

Qantas announces new direct routes overseas

After international travel returns following years of closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Qantas has announced a way to help travellers get to their destinations more efficiently. The airline giant recently announced plans to grow its international network out of Sydney by unveiling new direct routes to India and Korea, which will be taking off this year. A direct route will be introduced between Sydney and Bengaluru (Bangalore) in southern India from September 14th. This will be the first non-stop flight between Australia and southern India by any airline. Qantas and Jetstar have also announced the launch of direct flights between Sydney and Seoul, South Korea. The flights will commence from November 22nd and will occur three times a week, making Jetstar the only budget airline to make the direct flight. Qantas will also make direct flights from Australia to South Korea from December 10th, making the airline’s first scheduled service to Seoul since 2008. The introduction of these new direct routes are designed to help kickstars New South Wales’ post-Covid tourism recovery. "Sydney is one of the world's truly global cities and these new direct flights to India and Korea will make it easier for millions of people to come here," Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce says. "It's clear that Australia is back on the map for international travellers. Demand for our international flights has rebounded since borders reopened, and that's giving us the confidence to launch these new routes together with the marketing support from Destination New South Wales." "With expected strong business, premium leisure and low-cost travel demand on the route, we see an opportunity for both Qantas and Jetstar to fly on the route." Image credits: Getty Images

International Travel

Invasive species may travel trade routes

<div> <div class="copy"> Invasive species could increase their global presence via China’s developing trade routes, researchers warn. A new study models the distribution and likelihood of invasion of terrestrial vertebrate species along China’s Belt and Road Initiative (<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative" target="_blank">BRI</a>), a massive infrastructure development project involving six proposed economic corridors and 121 countries. The largest project of its kind ever attempted, the BRI has an estimated cost of an unprecedented US$4 trillion for road development, shipping routes and ports. A research team led by Yiming Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences used species distribution modelling to assess the introduction risks for a suite of 816 known invasive terrestrial vertebrate species, as well as habitat suitability across the BRI regions. Habitat suitability is an indicator of the likelihood a species will become established after introduction. The findings, reported in a <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31670-1" target="_blank">paper</a> published in the journal Current Biology, reveal that more than two thirds of BRI countries have a lethal combination of introduction risk and high habitat suitability. “Of particular concern, we find that the majority of both introduction hotspots and areas with high habitat suitability fall along the six proposed Economic Corridors,” says Li. The team identified 14 “invasion hotspots” where biosecurity efforts might best be directed. They are located across the BRI countries, from the Caribbean Islands, northern Africa and Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia and New Zealand. Australia is not a member country or signatory to the scheme. One of the 816 <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.iucngisd.org/gisd/100_worst.php" target="_blank">species of concern</a> is the large North American bullfrog, (Lithobates catesbeianus or Rana catesbeiana), which is originally from east of the Rocky Mountains. It is a voracious predator of local frogs and other reptiles, and a carrier of chytrid fungus, which decimates local frog populations. The bullfrog is now established in over 40 countries, and very <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2004/09/news-bullfrogs-invading-nearly-unstoppable/" target="_blank">difficult to eradicate</a> once established. The findings have prompted the researchers to urgently recommend “the initiation of a project targeting early prevention, strict surveillance, rapid response and effective control of alien species in BRI countries to ensure that this development is sustainable.” This proposed biosecurity plan and its implementation could be funded by the establishment of a dedicated fund, they suggest. In separate <a rel="noopener" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0452-8" target="_blank">correspondence</a> to the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, Alex Lechner from the University of Nottingham Malaysia and two colleagues suggest that as the 50-year BRI is still only five years old, there is an opportunity to incorporate biodiversity conservation as one of its core values. For example, they suggest, the Chinese government could plan and implement a network of protected areas and wildlife corridors across Eurasia, as well as preventing and/or controlling alien species invasion effectively. China has embraced renewable energy and technology enthusiastically, and could potentially be a world leader in biodiversity conservation, they write. Image credits: Getty Images </div> <div id="contributors"> This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/sustainability/invasive-species-may-travel-chinas-new-trade-routes/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Tanya Loos. </div> </div>

Travel Tips

Barbados announces new museum of slavery

Just days after cutting ties with the British monarchy, Barbados has announced plans to build a major new heritage site dedicated to the history of the transatlantic slave trade. The museum is set to house the largest collection of British slave records outside of the United Kingdom, as well as a research cebtrew and a memorial adjacent to a burial ground where the remains of 570 enslaves West African men, woman and children were discovered. “Barbados is authentically enshrining our history and preserving the past as we reimagine our world and continue to contribute to global humanity. It is a moral imperative but equally an economic necessity,” Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said in a statement. Construction of the museum is set to begin on November 30th 2022, on the first anniversary of Barbados becoming a parliamentary republic. The site will be located outside of the country’s capital city, next to the Newton Enslaved Burial Ground Memorial, a former sugar plantation and the site of the island’s largest and earliest slave burial ground. Upon its completion, the district will be the first of its kind in the Caribbean, as it will combine research and extensive documentation from the existing Barbados Archives. The new archive will “enable Barbados to authoritatively map its history in lasting, healing and powerful ways,” Mottley said. “It will unearth the as-yet-untold heritage embedded in centuries-old artifacts, revealing both Barbados’ history and trajectory into the future.” According to a statement from David Adjaye, the site’s architect, the design for the district “draws upon the technique and philosophy of traditional African tombs, prayer sites and pyramids.” In order to commemorate the victims of the slave trade, the grounds above the grave will feature 570 individual timber beams, capped with brass plates and angled towards the sun. Image credits: Getty Images

Art

COP26: New Zealand depends on robust new rules for global carbon trading to meets its climate pledge

As the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">COP26</a> climate summit draws to a close, debate continues on one key issue in particular: a new rule book for global carbon trading to allow countries to purchase emissions reductions from overseas to count towards their own climate action. The world has generally welcomed headline-grabbing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/07/so-what-has-cop26-achieved-so-far">agreements</a> on halting deforestation and tackling methane and <a href="https://ukcop26.org/end-of-coal-in-sight-at-cop26/">coal</a>. Likewise ambitious commitments from some large polluters, most notably <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/07/so-what-has-cop26-achieved-so-far">India’s pledge</a> to reach net zero carbon by 2070. But the devil is in the detail and there is serious concern that some of these commitments are only voluntary, while others look unachievable. Defining the rules for international carbon trading is a contentious agenda item — but one that will partly determine whether countries can meet their pledges and collectively limit global warming to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/05/president-of-paris-summit-says-18c-commitment-is-only-hypothetical">as close to 1.5℃ as possible</a>. The new rules, known as <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-q-and-a-how-article-6-carbon-markets-could-make-or-break-the-paris-agreement">Article 6</a> under the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a>, will be important for New Zealand. During COP26, New Zealand announced its new Nationally Determined Contribution (<a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs/nationally-determined-contributions-ndcs">NDC</a>) to reduce emissions by <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/climate-change-conference-emissions-to-be-cut-by-50-per-cent-below-2005-levels-by-2030/WRDDTBYBIRDSOTQSDP7UH6KWLI/">50% on 2005 levels by 2030</a>. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described this as “our fair share” and it is indeed a significant step up on New Zealand’s previous pledge to cut emissions by 30%. It leaves the country with 571 Megatons of CO₂-equivalent emissions to “spend” between 2022 and 2030. <h2>New rules for global carbon trading</h2> The New Zealand government stated its “<a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/climate-change-conference-emissions-to-be-cut-by-50-per-cent-below-2005-levels-by-2030/WRDDTBYBIRDSOTQSDP7UH6KWLI/">first priority</a>” was to reduce domestic emissions, but it acknowledged that alone could not meet the country’s new pledge. In fact, two thirds of the promised emissions reductions will have to come through overseas arrangements, especially with nations in the Asia-Pacific region. The <a href="https://www.climatecommission.govt.nz/our-work/advice-to-government-topic/inaia-tonu-nei-a-low-emissions-future-for-aotearoa/test-summary/">Climate Change Commission</a> has been critical of this approach, describing it as “purchasing offshore mitigation, rather than [doing] what was necessary to achieve actual emissions reductions at source”. But the approach is allowed under the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a>, which all states at COP26 have signed up to. This would allow one country to buy credits from another country that has exceeded its NDC, or to carry out activities that reduce emissions in another (host) country and count those towards its own NDC. It also supports non-market approaches to climate cooperation between countries around technology transfer, finance and capacity building. But these provisions have proved contentious, not least because they could result in double counting of emissions reductions, unless clear and robust operational rules are agreed. The COP26 summit has made some progress on this, but many finer details are yet to be resolved. <h2>Cutting emissions at home versus elsewhere</h2> Uncertainty about carbon market rules will be particularly problematic for New Zealand, given its reliance on overseas activities to meet its new NDC. There are also practical questions around how much of these activities will count towards New Zealand’s NDC, and how ready potential partners in the Pacific are for such carbon market trading mechanisms. Pacific Island nations are not currently trading or part of established carbon markets. They may not be able to develop the necessary technical expertise to ensure fairness, compliance and transparency well in advance of 2030. While there is scope to pursue opportunities to reduce emissions beyond our shores, we should be looking harder at what can be done domestically to help fulfil our NDC in the short time available. Public <a href="https://consult.environment.govt.nz/climate/emissions-reduction-plan/">consultation</a> on the government’s first <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/publications/emissions-reduction-plan-discussion-document/">emissions reduction plan</a> is currently underway until November 24. A final version is due in May 2022 and is expected to set out strategies for specific sectors (transport, energy and industry, agriculture, waste and forestry) to meet emissions budgets. It will also include a multi-sector plan to adapt to climate change, and to mitigate the impacts emissions cuts may have on people. It’s not ideal that a concrete plan for domestic emissions reductions is still six months away. But this does provide opportunity for people and interest groups to help shape priorities and pathways, and to encourage the government to set bolder domestic targets than would otherwise have been likely. The Climate Change Commission has already produced <a href="https://www.climatecommission.govt.nz/our-work/reducing-emissions/">recommendations for a low-emissions Aotearoa</a>, including the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, reduction in animal stocking rates and changing land use towards forestry and horticulture. Now is also the time to start building capacity to support Pacific Island nations in designing their carbon market policies. New Zealand has already <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-increases-climate-aid-contribution">pledged NZ$1.3 billion</a> in funding for climate change aid, about half of which will go to Pacific Island countries. Allocating some of this to enhancing technical know-how will help create a level playing field in carbon trading. It would ensure that whichever overseas arrangements materialise, these will be fair and deliver an “<a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf">overall mitigation in global emissions</a>”, as the Paris Agreement requires. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nathan-cooper-749971">Nathan Cooper</a>, Associate Professor of Law, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-waikato-781">University of Waikato</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kemi-hughes-1288573">Kemi Hughes</a>, Doctoral Researcher in Climate Change Governance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-waikato-781">University of Waikato</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cop26-new-zealand-depends-on-robust-new-rules-for-global-carbon-trading-to-meets-its-climate-pledge-171194">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Domestic Travel

Unseen photos released to commemorate 9/11 attacks

The US Secret Service recently released six new images of 9/11 which have never been seen before, to mark the event’s 20th anniversary. The Secret Service released six images, including an eerie photo taken at Ground Zero after the Tower’s collapse. The Service also released a video commemorating the attack, on Twitter. Another photo, taken by a Secret Service employee, shows smoke billowing from the World Trade Centre towers after both planes had struck the buildings. During the attacks which changed the world on the morning of September 11, 2001, almost 3000 people were killed, including more than 2600 at the World Trade Centre in New York. Another 125 people died at the Pentagon and 265 on the four planes that were hijacked. More than 20,000 people were injured. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> 🇺🇸9/11: U.S. Secret Service reveals previously unpublished photos of 9/11 The photographs were taken by employees of the service: they show the twin towers after the tragedy, damaged limousines and the area on which the World Trade Center complex was located. <a href="https://t.co/MXXd9xW6Br">pic.twitter.com/MXXd9xW6Br</a> — The RAGEX (@theragex) <a href="https://twitter.com/theragex/status/1436670434288754693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2021</a></blockquote> 'Scars forever' for Jack Grandcolas and his family Twenty years after the attack, Jack Grandcolas still remembers waking up at 7.03 that morning. He looked at the clock, then out the window where an image in the sky caught his eye - a fleeting vision that looked like an angel ascending. He didn’t know it yet, but that was the moment his life changed. On the other side of the country, it was 10.03 am and United Flight 93 had just crashed into a Pennsylvania field. His wife, Lauren, was not supposed to be on that flight. So, when he turned on the television and saw the chilling scenes of September 11, 2001, unfolding, he was not worried for her. Then he saw the blinking light on the answering machine. Lauren had left two messages that morning, as he slept with the phone ringer off in the bedroom. First, with good news that she was taking an earlier flight from New Jersey home to San Francisco. Then she called from the plane. There was “a little problem”, his wife said, but she was “comfortable for now”. She did not say she would call back, Grandcolas recalls. She said: “I love you more than anything, just know that. Please tell my family I love them too. Goodbye, honey.” “That moment I looked over at the television and there was a smouldering hole on the ground in Pennsylvania. They said it was United Flight 93,” said Grandcolas, 58. “That’s when I dropped to the ground.” <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/4f5444d2294344dbaf77fd9159c11cc0" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7843999/9-11-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/4f5444d2294344dbaf77fd9159c11cc0" /> All 44 people on board were killed. Lauren was 38 years old and three months pregnant with their first child. She had travelled east to attend her grandmother’s funeral in New Jersey, and then stayed a few extra days to announce the pregnancy - a little “good news to lift the spirits of her parents and sisters after burying their grandmother”, Grandcolas said. Flight 93 was the fourth and final plane to be hijacked on September 11 by four al-Qaeda terrorists on a suicide mission aimed at the Capitol in Washington DC. Passengers and crew members used seatback phones to call loved ones and authorities and learned of the first two attacks, on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Realising their hijacking was part of a broader attack, they took a vote to fight back and try to gain control of the plane. It was a heroic act that spared countless more lives. “What they did was amazingly dramatic,” Grandcolas said. It was “a selfless act of love to conquer hate”. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BTD1tSEo8gU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> 20th anniversary this year For years, Grandcolas has bristled at the term ‘9/11 anniversary’ because he feels an anniversary is something to celebrate. But the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack is an important one, Grandcolas said, adding he plans to travel to Pennsylvania to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial for the first time since 2003. “Every year it’s a gut punch,” he said in an interview near his home in Pebble Beach, south of Santa Cruz in California. “We will live with the scars the rest of our lives.” Grandcolas struggled with depression and survivor’s guilt in the aftermath of the tragedy. With the help of therapy, he came to see Lauren’s message from the plane as meant to reassure him and her family and “to let us know that she was OK with what was transpiring”. That unworldly image he saw in the sky the morning of September 11 took on new meaning as he healed. “It didn’t dawn on me until later that the vision was Lauren.” He would hear her voice in times of struggle, telling him to get up and keep living his life. Grandcolas eventually remarried. Today, he’s semi-retired from his career as an advertising executive. He is writing a book about the grieving process which will be a tribute to his unborn child with Lauren. On the 20th anniversary, Grandcolas finds himself thinking back to how the country came together after 9/11, which he sees as a stark contrast to the division plaguing America today. “This country was united from sea to shining sea, and today, maybe now, would be a good time to let the divisiveness drop,” he said. Images: U.S. Secret Service/Twitter

Travel Trouble

Insider trading has become more subtle

Insider trading comes in two main forms: arguably legal and clearly illegal. But, as with drugs in sport, it’s hard to tell when arguably legal ends and clearly illegal begins. It is generally accepted that it is wrong to buy shares in the company you run when you know something about it that the market does not. It’s especially wrong to buy shares when you are telling the market that things are much worse for the company than you know them to be. Join 130,000 people who subscribe to free evidence-based news. Get newsletter But what about suddenly sharing everything – an avalanche of information – in the lead-up to a share purchase in order to muddy the waters and create enough uncertainty to lower the price? Chief executives have enormous discretion over the tone and timing of the news they release, generally answering to no one. A linguistic analysis of twelve years worth of news releases by 6764 US chief executives just published by myself and two University of Queensland colleagues in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378426620300881">Journal of Banking and Finance</a> suggests they are using this discretion strategically. Not clearly illegal (how can oversharing be illegal?) their behaviour can have the same effect as talking down their share price while buying, something that is clearly illegal. Spreads matter, as well as signs Earlier analyses of insider trading have looked at only the “sign” of the information released to to the share market. On balance was the tone of one month’s news releases positive or negative? We have looked at the “spread”, the range from positive to negative as well as the net result. It doesn’t make sense to treat as identical a month’s worth of releases which are all neutral tone in tone (sending no message) and a month’s worth of releases of which half are strongly positive and half are strongly negative (stoking uncertainty). Our sample of discretionary (non-required) news releases is drawn from those lodged with <a href="https://web.stevens.edu/hfslwiki/index.php?title=Thomson_Reuters_News_Analytics">Thomson Reuters News Analytics</a> between January 2003 to December 2015. It includes firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the AMEX American Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ technology-heavy exchange. The archive scores the tone of each release as positive, negative or neutral. We used the <a href="https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/press-releases/2014/thomson-reuters-starmine-model-predicts-us-stock-performance.html">Thomson Reuters Insiders Filing Database</a> to obtain information on chief executive buying, limiting our inquiries to significant purchases of at least 100 shares. Strategic uncertainty About 70% of the chief executives proved to be opportunistic traders in the sense that they bought with no particular pattern, rather than at the same time every year. We found that news releases by these chief executives increased information uncertainty by 5.8% and 3.6% in the months before they bought and in the month they bought. In the months following their purchases, the positive to negative spread of their news releases returned to the average for non-purchase months. The unmistakable conclusion is that their behaviour is strategic. We obtained similar results when we used other measures of buying and the tone of news releases. Our results provide no evidence to support the contention that chief executives behave in this strategic way when selling shares. This is consistent with other findings suggesting that the timing of sales is often out of the hands of the sellers. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Insider%20trading%20and%20voluntary%20disclosures&publication_year=2006&author=Q.%20Cheng&author=K.%20Lo">Previous studies</a> have found only <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Voluntary%20disclosures%20and%20insider%20transactions&publication_year=1999&author=C.F.%20Noe">weak links</a> between executive share purchases and the news they release to the market. This might be because those studies have looked for more easily detected (and more clearly problematic) negative news releases. But that’s an old and (with the advent of linguistic analysis) increasingly risky approach. Our research suggests that by saying many things at once chief executives can achieve much the same thing. Written by Barry Oliver. Republished with permission <a href="https://theconversation.com/insider-trading-has-become-more-subtle-142981">of The Conversation.</a>

Legal

Riding on the kangaroo’s back: Animal skin fashion, exports and ethical trade

The Versace fashion house recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/15/versace-bans-kangaroo-skin-after-pressure-from-animal-activists">announced</a> it had stopped using kangaroo skins in its fashion collections after coming under pressure from animal rights group <a href="https://www.lav.it/en">LAV</a>. Kangaroo meat and skin has an annual production <a href="http://www.kangarooindustry.com/industry/economic/">value</a> of around A$174 million, with skins used in the fashion and shoe manufacturing industries. There are legitimate questions regarding the ethical manner in which kangaroos are killed. But Indigenous people have long utilised the skins of kangaroos and possums. Versace’s concerns may have been allayed by understanding more about our traditions and practices. Reviving skills There has always been concern around how native animals are treated while alive and how they are killed to cause as little distress, pain and suffering as possible. Campaigners say <a href="https://www.lav.it/en/news/australia-versace-kangaroos">2.3 million</a> kangaroos in Australia are hunted each year. Official <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest/kangaroo-wallaby-statistics/kangaroo-2000">sources</a> cite this figure as the national quota, but put the number actually killed at around 1.7 million. Australian Aboriginal people have for many thousands of years utilised native animals, predominantly kangaroos and possums. Consciously and sustainably, every part of the animal was used. The kangaroo meat was eaten, the skins used to make cloaks for wearing, teeth used to make needles, sinew from the tail used as thread. The cloaks were incised with designs on the skin side significant to the wearer representing their totems, status and kinship. Cloaks were made for babies and added to as the child grew into adulthood, and people were buried in their <a href="https://www.nationalquiltregister.org.au/aboriginal-skin-cloaks/">cloaks</a>when they died. Aboriginal women from New South Wales and Victoria have begun <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/museums/images/content/exhibitions-events/where-we-all-meet/djon-mundine-essay-sectioned.pdf">reviving</a> the tradition of kangaroo and possum skin cloak-making to pass down knowledge of this important practice to future generations. Interestingly, possum skins can only be purchased from New Zealand for these crafts. As an introduced species, they have wreaked havoc on NZ animal populations and the environment, but are a protected species in Australia. Culls and trade In Australia, kangaroos are not farmed but are harvested for meat and fur in the wild under a voluntary <a href="https://www.viva.org.uk/under-fire/cruelty-kangaroos">code of conduct</a>. The code is difficult to monitor and enforcement is <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/thinkk_production/resources/29/Kangaroo_Court_Enforcement_of_the_law_governing_commercial_kangaroo_killing_.pdf">complicated</a> by federal and state sharing of responsibility. This code is currently under <a href="https://www.agrifutures.com.au/kangaroo-commercial-code-review/">review</a>. The export and import of wildlife is <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives">regulated</a> under Australia’s national environmental law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Act. In practice, kangaroos are shot in the wild by professional licensed shooters with an intended single shot to the head to kill them quickly. There are <a href="http://thinkkangaroos.uts.edu.au/issues/welfare-and-enforcement.html">concerns</a> over whether shooters should be trained better and whether nighttime shoots with poor visibility result in the killing of alpha males or mothers with joeys in their pouches. If mothers are accidentally shot, the code dictates the joey should be shot too. Sometimes the shot does not kill them instantly and they are then clubbed over the head. Traditionally, Aboriginal people speared kangaroos. This was unlikely to kill them instantly, so they were swiftly killed with a blow to the head by a boondi(wooden club). Why kangaroo? Kangaroo skin is extremely strong and more flexible than other leathers, including cow hide. It is routinely used in the production of soccer boots as they mould to the feet extremely well and don’t need to be worn in like harder leathers. This has led to an <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2006-07-12/kangaroo-skin-hits-fashion-capitals/1799602">increase</a> in the use of kangaroo. LAV <a href="https://www.lav.it/en/news/australian-fire-our-actions-to-save-animals">reports</a> Italy is the biggest importer of kangaroo leather in Europe, where it is used to produce soccer shoes and motorbike suits. They are <a href="https://www.lav.it/en/news/australian-fire-our-actions-to-save-animals">lobbying</a> brands Lotto and Dainese to stop using kangaroo, arguing that shooting animals is not sustainable given the estimated <a href="https://theconversation.com/bushfires-left-millions-of-animals-dead-we-should-use-them-not-just-bury-them-129787">1 billion</a> creatures killed in bushfires this season. In terms of environmental sustainability, kangaroos cause less damage to the environment than cattle. Cows contribute methane gas, their hard hooves destroy the earth, they eat the grass to a point that it does not regenerate. Kangaroos eat the grass leaving a small portion to re-flourish, they bounce across the land without causing damage to it, and don’t produce methane gases. The use of kangaroo skins in fashion can be done ethically if the code is reviewed in consultation with Aboriginal people and enforced properly. The industry has the <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/an/EA03248">potential</a> to produce and support sustainable business opportunities for Aboriginal communities. While celebrities are <a href="https://www.idausa.org/campaign/wild-animals-and-habitats/fur/latest-news/kardashians-shamed-among-10-worst-celebrities-fur-animals/">shamed</a> for wearing fur fashion, this relates to the unregulated and inhumane treatment of coyotes, chinchillas, foxes, mink, rabbits, and other fur-bearing animals. In contrast, scientists <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/an/EA03248">consider</a> kangaroo harvest as “one of the few rural industry development options with potential to provide economic return with minimal environmental impact”. Only natural Versace, along with most fashion retailers across the high-end to ready-to-wear spectrum, use synthetic fibres in their fashion products. Such materials eventually <a href="https://theconversation.com/time-to-make-fast-fashion-a-problem-for-its-makers-not-charities-117977">cause more damage</a> to the environment than natural fibres and skins. They don’t biodegrade and many of these fibres end up in landfill, our oceans or in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749119348808">stomachs of fish</a>. Animal skins will always be used in fashion and other products because of the unique properties the skins bring to design and function. While the bushfires have killed millions of Australian native animals, kangaroo culls are managed to have limited impact on the population. We should focus our energy on saving Australian native animals that are <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-bushfires-could-drive-more-than-700-animal-species-to-extinction-check-the-numbers-for-yourself-129773">close to extinction</a> and lobbying for a stricter ethical code for shooters that can be legally enforced to ensure kangaroos are killed humanely. Written by Dr Fabri Blacklock. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/riding-on-the-kangaroos-back-animal-skin-fashion-exports-and-ethical-trade-130207">The Conversation.</a>

Beauty & Style

“Despair and devastation”: John Edward's gut feeling about 9/11 weeks before it happened

John Edward, well known psychic medium, had a gut feeling he just couldn’t shake as he was in a ballroom back in 2001. He shared with <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.mamamia.com.au/john-edward-medium/?utm_source=Mamamia.com.au%20-%20All%20Newsletters&utm_campaign=b6079f2877-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_07_22_05_54&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9dc62997a2-b6079f2877-211561537&mc_cid=b6079f2877&mc_eid=c10f87c072" target="_blank">Mamamia’s No Filter Podcast</a> about the weird sensation he felt as he ducked into a nearby lobby to take a phone call from a friend. “It was the most eerie, ominous, evil feeling. I can’t even tell you,” he said. “I get goose bumps as I tell you this. I looked around and I looked at the security guard, and then I remember looking everywhere around, and I just was like, ‘Oh’. “I walked out of the building, and I went to my wife. I go, ‘I need to talk to you… You have to find a new place [for the competition]; you can’t do it here next year.’ And she’s like, ‘What?’ I go, ‘I don’t want you to come down here. Go talk to your boss. You’ve got to get it moved’.” His wife was surprised at his sudden panic and kept pressing for an answer. “I go, ‘Death, despair and devastation’.” The nearby lobby he was standing in happened to be the World Trade Center. The feelings Edward felt that day in mid-August, 2001 – just weeks before tragedy struck on September 11 – sat with him for a long time. They reappeared when he was dining with friends and his wife, Sandra, suggested brunch at the World Trade Center restaurant, View of the World. It was here that Edward erupted. “I turned to her and snapped. I bit her head off, like a lunatic. She like looked at me, like, ‘I’m gonna be polite because we’re in front of other people right now, but I want to push your arse in front of an oncoming bus for the way you just spoke to me.’ “But I just really erupted. [I said] ‘There’s no way you’re getting me in that building! There’s no way I’m going up there.’ I can’t even convey to you how it came out. It was like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde moment. It was really weird.” Edward then spend the next days in a deep depression. It was so noticeable that even strangers, who recognised him from his show Crossing Over, asked him if he was OK. “I was really struggling. It was a debilitating doom-and-gloom feeling, like I didn’t want to get out of bed if I didn’t have to,” he said. It was only when Edward recorded an episode of CNN interview program Larry King Live that the fog within him lifted. The pair had spoken about loss, grief and how to cope. However, the following day was one that plunged the world into a state of shock and unease as two planes that were hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists flew into the World Trade Center twin towers on September 11. The attack killed 2,977 people and reduced the buildings to toxic dust that still claims victims to this day. After the attack, Edward was contacted by several New Yorkers as well as people from the surrounding areas. “They literally said to me, ‘You were the last thing we watched, my husband and I. You were the last thing that we watched, us together. We had a conversation about grief. We had a conversation about the afterlife because of you. It was the last thing that we did.’"

Mind

The 4 most dangerous travel routes revealed around the world

Shipping company 1st Move International has utilised data from the Aviation Safety Network and the World Health Organisation to figure out what the most dangerous travel routes are around the globe. Some of them will surprise you. 1. Yungas Road, Bolivia This road is commonly referred to as “The Death Road” and clings to the Bolivian mountainside. With sheer drops, frequent mudslides and terrifyingly narrow sections, the road is responsible for up to 300 deaths a year. However, it’s an essential shipping route for locals and businesses so they must use the road. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHVhEG0Dmoo/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BHVhEG0Dmoo/" target="_blank">uno mas from the death road, as I sit on the toilet in Peru battling food poisoning 💩 #deathtoilet</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/lukegram/" target="_blank"> Luke Gram</a> (@lukegram) on Jul 1, 2016 at 3:48pm PDT </div> </blockquote> 2. Sichuan-Tibet Highway, China This route along China is 2,028 kms and is littered with lofty segments and dissects through a staggering 14 of the highest mountains between Changdu and Lhasa. Complete with unexpected landslides and multiple potholes, the route is one that truck drivers take regularly. There are also sharp mountain-side hair pins making travelling along the single-track sections in bad weather challenging for those who are inexperienced. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BaEJFBQg8Ra/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BaEJFBQg8Ra/" target="_blank">Between Lhasa and Chengdu lies the famous Sichuan-Tibet Highway. The 2,142 kilometre-long road is prone to earthquake-triggered landslides that can cause traffic disruption, affecting the livelihoods of many living in the region. Despite all, it promises to be a breath-taking route for the adventurous. 📸 by Research Fellow Shi Xuhua.</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/earthobservatorysg/" target="_blank"> Earth Observatory of Singapore</a> (@earthobservatorysg) on Oct 10, 2017 at 3:48am PDT </div> </blockquote> 3. The Canning Stock Route, Australia The Canning Stock Route spans over three deserts in Australia: The Gibson Desert, Little Sandy Desert and the Great Sandy Desert. The route attracts rev-heads who are keen for a 4WD adventure, but the sandy stretch is paved with graves. The road stretches over 1,700 kilometres and the track was created in 1910 to connect a string of wells. It’s recommended that you allow at least 21 days for this extreme outback journey. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJ3-BhBTcx/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJ3-BhBTcx/" target="_blank">A post shared by Gavin Gillett (@gavin.gillett)</a> on Aug 23, 2017 at 4:11pm PDT </div> </blockquote> 4. Bermuda Triangle, Bermuda Although the destination is now a hot-spot for tourists, this region in the North Atlantic Ocean is well known all over the world due to people disappearing in the region. Over the years, an alarming rate of ships and planes have vanished without a trace, but is still a very popular route around the world. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BynUhoshoR6/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BynUhoshoR6/" target="_blank">Surfs Up 🤙🏾 Happy Hump day! 📸 @princessbermuda #bermuda #summer #bermudasummers #ptix #surfsup #wednesdaywaves</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/ptixbm/" target="_blank"> Ptix | Premier Tickets Limited</a> (@ptixbm) on Jun 12, 2019 at 8:15am PDT </div> </blockquote>

Travel Trouble

Man offers to trade truck for liver to save his dying wife

A California man has taken to Facebook to make a desperate plea to help save his dying wife. Verlon Robinson, 55, offered to give away his pick-up truck and trailer to anyone who could donate a healthy section of liver that would save his wife. He even offered to throw in one of his kidneys to the deal. Verlon’s wife, Marie, suffers from cirrhosis of the liver. She is on an organ transplant waiting list but Verlon says he is worried she won’t get a liver in time. “To all that don’t know I have a very sick wife, with a non-reversible liver disease,” Verlon wrote in a post last week. “I do have an 04 Dodge pick-up that I would gladly trade anyone,” he said. “Plus I could throw in a nice tent trailer. “I would do anything to trade places with her but as you know that’s impossible. So please if you are O-positive or negative blood type and would consider giving her some of your liver we have insurance that would cover all surgeries. “PS I have good kidneys and I would throw in one.” <img width="439" height="585" src="http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/989513d7a833c363a2f55297ca6176ee?width=650" alt="Man offers to trade truck for liver to save dying wife. Picture: Verlon Robinson/Facebook" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/> Verlon had to later change his proposal after being told it was “against the rules to offer my material stuff”. “Since most of you do not want my truck or trailer, it’s probably OK,” he quipped. “However they did say I could still offer my kidney. So kidney is still out there.”

Caring

5 train routes you should try this year

These days when most people start planning their holidays they turn to budget flights as the quickest, cheapest option. And while this is often the case, one thing you don’t get when you’re flying with a budget airline is a sense of adventure, like you get when you’re standing at a platform waiting for your train to come in. Train travel is becoming an increasingly popular option for intrepid seniors looking for a holiday with a point of difference, and there are more options than you might think. Here’s our rundown of the rail adventures that were big in 2017. We’ve also included a rundown of five emerging rail-based destinations that aren’t on traveller’s radars yet. 1. The Rocky Mountaineer – Canada The Rocky Mountaineer was one of the best sellers last year, and if you look at some of the scenery these trains wind through it’s easy to understand why. With a range of itineraries available, the Rocky Mountaineer looks like it’s going to be just as popular in 2018 with travellers looking to get acquainted with the natural beauty of Canada. 2. The Ghan – Australia The Ghan may well be Australia’s most famous train journey, and if you haven’t experienced it yet 2018 is shaping up as a great year to give it a try. Rail Plus reported a 75 per cent surge in interest for Australian based train trips last year, and few routes showcase the rugged beauty of our sunburnt country as convincingly as The Ghan. 3. The Canadian – Canada Interest for rail travel in Canada is surging, and The Canadian provides a luxurious option for those who are looking to explore the country’s five most southern provinces; British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. 4. Venice Simplon-Orient-Express The famous Venice Simplon-Orient-Express saw a substantial increase in interest last year, with travellers turning away from the sardine treatment of European budget airlines, to enjoy a more refined look at the history and culture of the continent. 5. Grand Train Tour of Switzerland Switzerland isn’t the cheapest destination to visit by any stretch of the imagination, but senior travellers are making huge savings by utilising the value of a Swiss Travel Pass. With it, you get unlimited travel on all Swiss public transport and a range of the country’s most idyllic scenic routes, as well as bonus discounts and add-ons.

International Travel

10 busiest flight routes in the world

Air travel has become big business over the years, with thousands of flights taking off every day to ferry scores of travellers to far-flung destinations around the world. And as you can imagine, some routes are more popular than other. Flight data website OAG.com has done all the hard work, rounding up data on the busiest airline routes in the world. And interestingly, two of the top 10 are in Australia! To see the world’s busiest airline flight routes, scroll through the gallery above. Have you ever taken flights along any of these routes?

International Travel

Nurse en-route to work saves pregnant woman in car crash

Keith Ezell, a nurse from Ohio in the US, has become a real-life superhero after rescuing a 23-year-old pregnant woman following a car crash. Video of the incident posted to Facebook by a friend of Ezell has gone viral, with more than 15 million views recorded. <div id="fb-root"></div> <div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/danielle.nicole.581/videos/10212807706132716/" data-width="500" data-show-text="true"> <blockquote class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://en-gb.facebook.com/danielle.nicole.581/videos/10212807706132716/"></a> This is my friend and co-worker Keith B Ezell who was caught rescuing this woman, and unborn child, after witnessing a car accident on his way to work with minimal assistance. He ROCKS! #NotYourAverageNursingAssistant #SheSurvived #TeamNursing #BlackNursesRock Posted by <a href="#">Danielle Nicole</a> on Saturday, 25 February 2017</blockquote> </div> Ezell performed CPR on the unconscious woman until paramedics arrived. They found a pulse, thanks to his efforts, and the woman survived. By this point, however, Ezell had already left to rush to work. Somehow, we don’t think he would have gotten into much trouble for being late on this exceptional occasion! “They said they got a pulse!” he told <a href="http://www.wkyc.com/features/good-samaritan-steps-in-when-seconds-count/415777746" target="_blank">WKYC</a>. “And I thought, my job is done. She gets to live.” Related links: <a href="/news/news/2017/02/man-lends-car-to-stranger-on-way-to-funeral/">74-year-old lends car to stranger stranded on way to a funeral</a> <a href="/news/news/2017/01/domestic-violence-survivor-marries-man-who-saved-her/">Survivor of domestic violence to marry the man who saved her</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/10/liver-donor-marries-woman-he-saved/">Liver donor marries the woman whose life he saved</a>

News

This 93-year-old man traded in his skateboard to get $4000 off a car

When a 93-year-old man approaches a used car dealership, it’s not often you’d expect him to be carrying a skateboard. Enock Ernest Edwards had a chat to the salesmen at Fordthorne Motors about their advertised deal that promised “anything with four wheels can be part-exchanged”. He joked with the salesman that he should bring his old skateboard into the shop in order to grab a deal, as he didn’t use it anymore. Only, he wasn’t really joking. Salesman Jack Dunn was greeted again by Encok when he returned to the car yard later, holding a skateboard. Jack said “He was such a lovely man, and it was a very clever idea, so we went with it. He had so much energy that everyone loved talking to him, he showed no sign of letting his age stop him doing what he wanted.” The part-exchange deal made Enock eligible for a £2,000 discount, which converts to $4137.60 NZD. He bought an MG for £8,499, originally priced at £10,499. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/03/98-year-old-skier-shares-his-secret/">98-year-old skier is king of the slopes</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/04/granny-scares-off-burglar-with-martial-arts-sword/">Granny scares off burglar with martial arts sword</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/03/royal-family-vacations/">60 years of royal family vacations in pictures</a>

Retirement Life

9 of the longest luxury cruise routes

How many times have you come to the end of a cruise holiday, only to bemoan the fact that you have to go home tomorrow? You won’t get that feeling with cruise routes. We’ve taken a look at nine of the world’s longest cruise routes that will have you daydreaming about your next holiday. P&O Arcadia Nights: 115 Countries: 21 Ports: 34 Departing from Southampton on the 11th January 2016, the P&O Arcadia cruises around South America, stopping in Sydney and Brisbane before touching Asia, North America then returning home via the Caribbean. For more information about this 115 night around the world journey <a href="http://www.pocruises.com/j601/" target="_blank">click here.</a> Fred Olsen, Black Watch Nights: 115 Countries: 30 Ports: 43 This around the world cruise departs from Southampton as well on the 8th January 2016, cruising through the Caribbean before visiting Australia, South East Asia, India and Northern Africa, finally returning home via the Strait of Gibraltar. For more information on this cruise, <a href="http://www.fredolsencruises.com/places-we-visit/cruise-holiday/black-watch-world-cruise-w1602" target="_blank">click here.</a> Silversea Cruises, Silver Whisper Nights: 116 Countries: 25 Ports: 62 This epic journey kicks off in San Francisco on the 6th January 2016, stopping at the Hawaiian Islands, Australia, Asia, India and Northern Africa before southern Europe to reach its idyllic finish location in Monte Carlo. For more information about this cruising route, <a href="http://www.silversea.com/destinations/world-cruise/" target="_blank">click here.</a> Cunard, Queen Elizabeth Nights: 121 Countries: 26 Ports: 46 Another cruise starting in Southampton, this time on the 10th January 2016, the Queen Elizabeth visits the US before heading to South Africa, Australia, Asia then really getting an in-depth look at Northern Africa before visiting Athens and Valencia. For more information, <a href="http://www.cunardline.com.au/cruise-ships/queen-elizabeth/">click here.</a> Cunard, Queen Mary 2 Nights: 121 Countries: 23 Ports: 33 Departing on the 10th January 2016, the Queen Mary 2 heads from Southampton to New York before exploring South America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Highlights on Cunard’s flagship vessel include Halong Bay, Dubai and Naples. For more information about this cruise ship, <a href="http://www.cunardline.com.au/cruise-ships/queen-mary-2/">click here. </a> Cunard, Queen Victoria Nights: 121 Countries: 24 Ports: 37 The Queen Victoria departs from Southampton on the 10th January 2016, heading the Asia via the Caribbean and then exploring South Area before popping into the Island of St Vincent on the way home. For more information about the Queen Victoria cruise ship, <a href="http://www.cunardline.com.au/cruise-ships/queen-victoria/" target="_blank">click here.</a> Seven Seas, Navigator Nights: 128 Countries: 31 Ports: 62 This luxurious ocean liner launches from Miami on the 5th January 2017, and explores the Caribbean, Australia and South East Asia before visiting amazing European cities like Rome and Barcelona on the return home. For more information about this cruise, <a href="http://www.cruisecritic.com.au/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=131" target="_blank">click here.</a> Crystal Cruises, Crystal Symphony Nights: 129 Countries: 25 Ports: 56 This in-depth cruise departs from Cape Town on 7th January 2018, visiting Madagascar and Mauritius before circling around Australia before exploring South East Asia and Northern Africa to finally finish in the ancient city of Rome. For more information about this cruise, <a href="http://www.crystalcruises.com/experience/ships#0000" target="_blank">click here.</a> Oceania Cruises, Insignia Nights: 180 Countries: 44 Ports: 90 This mammoth cruise departs from Miami on the 1st January 2016, circling South Africa before exploring China, Japan and the Philippines, eventually hitting Australia and Hawaii on the route back home. For more information about this luxurious around the world cruise, <a href="https://www.oceaniacruises.com/ships/insignia/" target="_blank">click here.</a> Have you arranged your travel insurance yet? Tailor your cover to your needs and save money by not paying for things you don’t need. <a href="https://elevate.agatravelinsurance.com.au/oversixty?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=content&utm_content=link1&utm_campaign=travel-insurance" target="_blank">Click here to read more about Over60 Travel Insurance.</a> For more information about Over60 Travel Insurance, call 1800 622 966. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/cruising/2015/11/picturesque-ports-to-visit/">8 picturesque ports to visit</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/cruising/2015/11/cruises-in-colder-climates/">5 great cruises in colder climates</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/cruising/2015/11/cruising-to-venice/">Does cruising to Venice have a future?</a>

Cruising

Best cities for art lovers to visit (that aren’t on the main tourist route)

This isn’t going to be a list of the typical art cities that you already know – and could name without even looking online. There are many other cities around the world that have equally fantastic art collections and museums that aren’t on the main tourist route. Siena, Italy With powerhouse art cities like Rome and Florence within your borders, it’s hard for anywhere else in Italy to get a look in. But the picturesque Tuscan town of Siena has a wealth of artworks in its many beautifully preserved churches. The city was at the forefront of its own art movement in the early Renaissance and works from local Quattrocento artists are the most prolific. Don’t miss the Cathedral, which houses pieces by Donatello, Michelangelo and Bernini. Bilbao, Spain Art is intricately tied to this northern Spanish town’s whole economic development plan and the city is practically an open-air museum. There are huge sculptures in parks and squares from artists like Salvador Dali and Jeff Koons, as well as street art displays from local up and coming artists. The city is also home to an outpost of the famed Guggenheim Museum (pictured above), which attracts some of the most sophisticated contemporary art exhibitions in the world, as well as its own fine arts museum with a fine collection of work from Basque artists. Vienna, Austria Throughout much of its history Vienna has been the intellectual capital of Europe, rather than the creative one. But that’s all changing. The city has been reborn as a contemporary art capital and is now the place for fresh, innovative, modern visual art. The newly revamped 21er Haus and the Museum of Applied Arts focus on works from living artists from around Europe while the Leopold Museum, the most visited museum in the country, is a treasure trove of modern Austrian art from the likes of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. Buenos Aires, Argentina Art doesn’t have to be contained within the four walls of a museum and in Buenos Aires artists use the streets as their canvas. Their work is encouraged by both the residents and local officials, unlike in many cities where street artists are considered vandals and must work under the cover of darkness. Argentina has a long history of street art and, during times of government turmoil, artists were fiercely political. While politics still features, modern murals tend to focus on sports stars, popular culture or fantastical cartoon beings. Organised tours will take you around the best (and often secret) sites for around $20. Abu Dhabi, UAE While Dubai revels in its reputation as a materialistic city of malls and flashy hotels, Abu Dhabi is quietly establishing itself as the arts hub of the Middle East. Its very own Guggenheim Museum will be opening in 2017 and at the end of this year the first satellite Louvre Museum will open its doors with more than 300 paintings from the original on display. Expect to see plenty of French art in Abu Dhabi as the emirate has a 30-year collaboration with a number of Paris museums worth more than one billion euro. Image credit: Karol Kozlowski / Shutterstock.com

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