myths

Kupe, and the discovery of Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Although Maui fished up the North and South Islands, it was the great Polynesian navigator Kupe who discovered them. Kupe lived in Hawaiiki, mythical ancestral homeland of the Māori. In Hawaiiki lived a canoe maker by the name of Toto.
Toto fabricated two huge ocean going canoes from a large tree. One canoe he named Aotea and the other he named Matahorua. Toto gave his canoe named Aotea to one of his daughters, Rongorongo, and the other canoe named Matahorua to his other daughter, Kura. It happened that Kupe desired Kura very much. However, Kura was already the wife of Kupe's cousin Hoturapa.
When Hoturapa and Kupe were out fishing one day, Kupe ordered Hoturapa to dive down and free Kupe's fishing line, which had become tangled. When Hoturapa dived into the sea to free the tangled line, Kupe sliced through the anchor rope of the canoe, and began to row furiously back to shore. Hoturapa drowned, but his family were suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his death. It was, in fact, a plan on Kupe's part to take Hoturapa's wife Kura.
In order to avoid vengeance from Hoturapa's family, Kupe and his own family left Hawaiiki in Kura's canoe Matahorua. After some time of navigating, Kupe's wife Hine Te Aparangi sighted the islands of New Zealand, which appeared as land lying beneath a cloud. Because of this, they named the islands Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud.
As Kupe and his crew were sailing along the coast of this new land, they disturbed a giant octopus, who was hiding in a coastal cave. Terrified at the sight of a strange canoe filled with human beings, the huge octopus swam rapidly in front of the Matahorua and took flight, passing through the strait between the North and South Islands. Kupe followed the octopus, and discovered modern Cook Strait.
Kupe and the Matahorua eventually caught up with the giant octopus. In defence, the octopus whipped its enormous tentacles around the canoe, intent on devouring the whole canoe. During the furious battle which followed with the sea monster, it became obvious that the Matahorua was in great danger of breaking up.
However, Kupe suddenly had an idea, and threw a large water gourd overboard. The octopus, thinking that a man had fallen over, released it's tentacles from the Matahorua and turned to attack the gourd. Kupe seized this opportunity, and waited until the octopus was entwined around the gourd. Kupe then attacked the head of the octopus with his adze, and the octopus died.
With his adze, Kupe then cut several islands away from the South Island, and several islands away from the North Island, including the island of Kapiti. He remained for a short while in modern Wellington, before continuing northwards up the coast of the North Island, naming various islands, rivers and harbours on the way. Kupe then returned to Hawaiiki, telling everybody of this distant cloud capped and high rising land which he had discovered.
He gave instructions on how to return to this new land, but said that he himself would not be returning

Crime rates

Crime is a topic of great public interest and concern. For many, the concern comes from the perception that rising levels of crime constitute an increasing threat to their safety and their property. The public's perception of levels of crime is often influenced by media reports. As the media tends to focus on certain types of crime it can distort the public's perception of crime in our society. This report provides an overview of the actual levels and types of recorded crime in New Zealand.
Although it is commonly accepted that the actual number of crimes committed is higher than the number of crimes reported to and recorded by police systems, the data recorded by the New Zealand Police remains one of the best indicators of crime in New Zealand.
Crime in New Zealand is the first of a series of web-based analytical reports Statistics New Zealand will produce during the next three years.
crime in New Zealand: 1996–2005

The impact of crime on public safety is an issue of enduring interest and concern.Crime rates attest not only to the safety of our persons and our property but also to theoverall health of our society and to the effectiveness of the institutions that arededicated to crime prevention and the administration of justice.Crime in New Zealand: 1996–2005 provides a descriptive overview of trends inrecorded crime in New Zealand. The report examines how the total rate of offendingand the proportion of recorded offences that are resolved have changed since 1970.The report also describes changes in offence rates for particular types of crimebetween 1996 and 2005.Building on previous crime trend reports produced by Statistics New Zealand, thisreport complements both the New Zealand Police annual crime statistics reports andthe Ministry of Justice's annual reports on conviction and sentencing of offenders.

Violent crime
Although violent crime has traditionally aroused the most public concern and comment, it constitutes only approximately 10 percent of all recorded offences. While the media attention given to violent crime may be out of proportion in terms of its contribution to overall crime levels, the effect of violent crime on the victims and the general public's perception of community safety contributes to its high profile.

shows that serious assaults, minor assaults and intimidation or threats together account for about 88 percent of all violent crime. Over the period 1994 to 2000, the contribution of serious and minor assaults to the total number of recorded violent crimes fell, while all other classes of violent crime increased to varying degrees. Owing to the small number of homicides, kidnapping and abductions, and group assemblies, these crimes have been combined into the 'other' category in figures 10 and 11.

There was little change in the offence rates for all classes of violent crime between 1994 and 2000. The largest overall change occurred in the serious assaults class of offence. The rate for this class decreased from 4.2 to 3.5 offences per 1,000 population in 1998 before increasing slightly to 3.7 offences per 1,000 population in 2000. More than half of all serious assaults were assaults by males on females. The police practice of arresting perpetrators of family violence, developed since the late 1980s, is likely to have had an effect on the number of recorded assaults by male on female. The second most common type of serious assault was miscellaneous common assaults, 20 to 30 percent of all serious assaults were classified as miscellaneous common assaults between 1994 and 2000. There was also a small rise in the offence rate for intimidation or threats over the period.

The resolution rates for all classes of violent offences remained steady from 1994 to 2000. Robbery offences had a resolution rate of about 35 percent over the period. The resolution rates for the other classes were all between 68 percent and 83 percent.
Homicides rate high in the public's concern about violent crime, but such crimes made up less than 0.4 percent of all violent crimes recorded between 1994 and 2000. The low numbers of homicide offences recorded make it impossible to identify any trends in the offence rates for any types of homicide over the period. Between 1994 and 2000, the number of recorded murders ranged from 40 to 66 per year, attempted murders (31 to 61), manslaughters (8 to 23), infanticide (0 to 2), abortion-related offences (1 to 6) and aiding suicide and pact (0 to 7).

successful people

Article 1




An Auckland professor has won official approval to resume clinical trials for implanting insulin-producing pig cells into diabetics.


Health regulators blocked Professor Bob Elliott's initial controversial research over fears that the animal transplants could introduce pig viruses into humans.
Today the listed company for which Prof Elliott is medical director said it had all the necessary approvals for new New Zealand trials.
Living Cell Technologies (LCT) chief executive Paul Tan said the company had obtained all the regulatory and ethics approvals required by Health Minister Pete Hodgson for the trials.
LCT - which is already carrying out similar trials in Russia - said it was the only company to obtain clinical trial approval for a pig cell transplant without suppressing a patient's immune system.
Auckland's regional medical ethics committee has approved the company's clinical trial protocols.
LCT planned to resume implanting pig cells in New Zealanders by the end of the year.
The company has said it hopes to commercialise its DiabeCellB pig cell transplants by 2012, targeting a global market of 24 million type-1 diabetes patients.
About 11,000 New Zealanders have type-1 diabetes, which is different from obesity-linked type-2 diabetes.
Type-1 diabetes can start in childhood, and leave patients unable to produce much insulin, which the body uses to process glucose.
They need regular injections of synthetic insulin, but if millions of pig cells inserted into their abdomens can manufacture extra "natural" insulin, their dependence on injections would be reduced.
The company said today it expected Mr Hodgson to accept the regulatory approvals in the next few weeks, so that it could start inserting pig cells into eight type-1 diabetics at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.
In June it implanted cells from the pancreas of specially-bred New Zealand pigs into the abdomens of six Russians - all adults who had had type-1 diabetes for at least 10 years.
That trial is being held at the Sklifasovsky Institute in Moscow and is being managed by Boston-based GenyResearch Group.
This year, LCT received regulatory approvals from medicines regulator Medsafe and the Gene Technology Advisory Committee, and in May it became the first company to have an internationally-accredited laboratory for testing to ensure the absence of infectious viruses and micro-organisms in pig tissue and a system for monitoring recipients of pig cell implants.
LCT has been working with Medsafe, and the Ministry of Health on setting up a register of xenotransplant recipients and an archive for biological samples, as recommended by the ethics committee.
The national Bioethics Council called in 2005 for transplants of animal tissue into humans to be registered, and for any subsequent medical treatment to be recorded.
People with type-1 diabetes are not able to produce their own insulin because their pancreas cells are not functioning.
LCT has enclosed its pig pancreatic islet cells - which secrete insulin in response to signals from the patient's blood glucose levels - in a gel made from seaweed and branded the product as DiabeCellB.
The two key parts of the research are the seaweed gel stops the "foreign' cells triggering the patient's immune system, and its use of a breeding line of pigs which has been out of contact with "modern" pig diseases for over a century.
Other trials - such as implanting pancreatic cells from brain-dead humans - have required heavy use of immuno-suppressive drugs to avoid rejection by the patient's immune system. Human islet cell transplants cost about $US300,000 ($NZ430,000) a patient.
After two low doses of the pig islet cells over a 12-month period, the Auckland and Moscow patients will be studied for a further year to check the therapeutic effect.
"If the trial is successful, a major stride in developing a better treatment for diabetes will have been accomplished," said Prof Elliott.
One of the six NZ patients he injected with pig islet cells in 1996, Michael Helyer, of Auckland, was still gaining insulin from them when he was tested again last year.
Those trials were halted by then Health Minister Annette King because of fears that pig viruses could infect people.
Since then, LCT, which is listed on the Australian stock exchange, has acquired a ready supply of "safe" cells from two herds of quarantined pigs bred from animals isolated from human and modern pig diseases for 200 years on sub-Antarctic islands.
Dr Tan said regulators had led an international review of the health status of the pig herd and certified its manufacturing plant to standards for supplying medical grade pig cells for use in humans

Article 2







Manuel Elkin Patarroyo (born November 3, 1947) is a Colombian pathologist who developed the world's first synthetic vaccine for malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquitos that affects millions of people in the Third World every year. The vaccine was evaluated in clinical trials carried out by the WHO in Gambia, Tanzania and Thailand, and had mixed results

However, the vaccine has been proven effective at around 30 percent of the times and could save an estimated 1 million lives out of an annual death toll of 3 million; which is the most effective vaccine against malaria to this day.
comments
we have two successful people from different countries but whit a common idea

Memebers of the group

• http://www.newzealejandra.blogspot.com/ Alejandra Cardona
• http://www.southafricaupperint.blogspot.com/Javier Ramirez
• http://www.upperintermediateview.blogspot.com/ Lina Lizarazo
• http://www.upperintermediate.blogspot.com/ Juan Camilo Arenas

excessive things

Political parties in New Zealand can be either registered or unregistered. Registered parties must have five-hundred paying members, each eligible to vote in general elections.
If a party registers, it may submit a party list, enabling it to receive party votes in New Zealand's MMP electoral system. Unregistered parties may still nominate candidates for individual electorates, however.
Registered political parties are also able to spend up to $1 million during the campaign for the party vote. All political parties are able to spend $20,000 for electorate seats.

The music in New Zealand is a vibrant expression of the culture of New Zealand. As the largest nation in Polynesia, New Zealand's music is influenced by the indigenous Māori and immigrants from the Pacific region. The origins of New Zealand's musical culture lie in its British colonial history, with contributions from Europe and America. As the nation has grown and established its own culture, local artists have mixed these styles with local influences to create music that is uniquely New Zealand in style.The most popular styles of the late twentieth century were rock and hip hop, both genres garnished with New Zealand's unique Pacific influences. By the twenty-first century, roots, reggae, dub and electronica were all popular with local artists. New Zealand has maintained a thriving alternative scene for several decades.

The monetary unit is the New Zealand dollar which is equal to 100 New Zealand cents. Currently the New Zealand dollar has a lower value than the US dollar. Note that the exchange rate fluctuates. New Zealand´s Government is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of England as head of state. The New Zealand Parliament is a unicameral body without an Upper House.

apart from this if you want to travel to New Zealand You need a valid passport.Follow the rules on visas
In a country where unemployment is relatively high, New Zealand, like many other nations, is wary of visitors who arrive in the guise of tourists and then work or otherwise overstay their visas.
So it is important for some intending visitors to be able to indicate in some way that they will neither work (unless they apply for and secure a work permit) nor overstay their visas.
It is unfortunate that some really genuine intending tourists get knocked back and fail to get visas because of a perceived chance that they may violate the terms of their visas.

on the other hand New Zealanders increasingly come from many ethnic backgrounds, and most immigrants to New Zealand have tried to reproduce their native cuisines or national dishes in New Zealand. Ethnic restaurants have served as community meeting places and have also given other New Zealanders a chance to try different cuisines.

Analyze these topics in contrast with Colombian reality we can see diferent points .

in first place,Colombia has historically maintained a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, resulting in considerable difficulty for anybody to achieve major electoral success under the banner of any other party

also,Dissidents from the two main parties have chances to win elections. Members of independent parties may be elected to regional or local office and may also win seats in Congress. Nowadays it is a multi-party system .

However if we cooperate the political parties with new Zealand it has five-hundred paying members, each eligible to vote in general elections different whit Colombia because it has multi-party system is a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition although resulting difficult to achieve major electoral success but is not impossible

descriptive essay

New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two large islands (the North Island and the South Island) it has a charming islands, most notably Stewart Island/ Rakiura and the Chatham Islands., its geographic isolation, being separated from Australia to the northwest by the Tasman Sea, approximately 2000 kilometers (1250 miles) across. Its closest neighbors to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga. New Zealand is a perfect destination for peaceful vacations or if you want to live.
New Zealand has a several tourism attractions which are worth visiting. Among these are the New Zealand tourism centers - Rotorua, Taupo, Queenstown and Wanaka and the major cities Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin as well as other New Zealand places for example Rtorua is a smallish city on the shores of Lake, Is surrounded by volcanoes, lakes, parks and recreational areas, and is a great place to go hiking or to view native birds and animals.

New Zealand has a lot of Adventure Tours such as Bungy Jumping, Rafting – Westport, travel by helicopter ride that will take your breath away, trekking and hiking through pristine wilderness and a thrilling jet boat safari home.
The New Zealand unique lifestyle is possibly one of the biggest draw card for a lot of overseas professionals thinking of migrating. Measured in terms of education and employment, equality and opportunity, health and personal safety, housing and the physical environment, leisure satisfaction, quality of working life and social welfare provisions, New Zealand’s standard of living is relatively high.

By such yardsticks as education, health, infant mortality, life expectancy and price stability, New Zealand’s situation is comparable to that of Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. New Zealand is a country that has something to offer everyone.
On the other hand if we compare these topics to Colombian we can see many differences such as New Zealand education is formal and is offered free to all citizens and residents from age 5 through to age 17, something different in Colombia because it has many rural areas , the teachers are poorly qualified, and only five years of primary school are offered and most of the time the families can’t give them the posibilities to study because they don’t have the money or the resources for helping them. However Colombia has a very good education in comparisons with others countries although not in all the departments but the government is working to create systems to facilitate the access to the education such scholarships, education subsidies. There are many ways to improve the education in Colombia an in other cities.