Did you know 

THE U.S.A. gross domestic debt is 134 % in relation to its GDP. France comes in with 115% and the UK with 95%. By comparison Australia’s is a modest 42% and New Zealand even better at 32% (All 2021 numbers) 

“WE DID NOT realise that Putin had spun himself into a historical mythology and was thinking in categories of a 1,000 year empire. You cannot deter someone like that with sanctions” German senior diplomat Thomas Bagger

JUDGE WOLFF told the accused that there were potentially serious consequences for a number of victims “what about the people whose asthma nebulisers didn’t work, or the people whose dialysis equipment didn’t work, and the people who missed out watching their TV programmes?” – BOP Times. 

‘DESPITE A RECENT building uptick we are building fewer houses than our low-tech, pre motorised transport grandparent’s generation did. Which is beyond embarrassing’ Jane Clifton 

RESEARCHERS AT Virginia University Colorado studied the life expectancy of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Israel and fifteen European countries, between 2019 and 2021. Norway, South Korea and New Zealand were the only countries whose life expectancy actually increased during the period. New Zealand from 81.65 in 2019 to 81.99 in 2021. The United States experienced the sharpest decline, from 78.86 in 2019 to 76.60 in 2021.

                A 1975 THEORY proposed by scientist William Hartman and associates has that shortly after birth the earth was hit by a Mars-mass body which being iron sank to the centre of the earth. The earth’s molten mantel splashed into space. The cooling debris coalesced into the moon. The theory explains why the Apollo mission found that the moon’s mantel is like earth’s.   

‘AUCKLAND CITY MISSION do a regular rough sleeper street count and they visit every nook and granny within three kilometres of the Sky Tower’  – Hamilton Press. 

A REPORT FROM the Education Institute in late March suggested the education system was failing too many kids. It drew on multiple studies to reveal that one in five 15-year-olds are not meeting the lowest benchmark for reading and 20% are achieving only at the most basic level. In 2020 Unicef reported that only 64.4% of 15-year-olds in New Zealand have more than a basic proficiency in reading and maths, leaving over a third struggling to read and write.

The deadline for the June Star is 4 pm Wednesday May 25th.