Latest news with #SouthernCross
Time Out
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
One&Only's new spa is ‘out of this world'
Set on its own private island within the V&A Waterfront, the One&Only Spa has reopened with a celestial-inspired makeover that adds a sprinkle of stardust to your urban sanctuary. And no, it's not just for hotel guests! With the new décor taking its cue from the Southern Cross constellation (look up and you'll see it in the skies above Cape Town year-round), the revamped spa guides guests on a journey of inner alignment and outer luxury. Think a soft palette of greys and blues complemented by star-like light installations twinkling overhead. This is a place to turn up, tune in, and bliss out. The new look is courtesy of design studio Muza Lab, the same crew who were behind the fabulous rethink of the One&Only Hotel's main restaurant, ROOI. Slip into the mood in the serene reception space, which now features a striking rope installation by design duo John-Henry and Mimi Roberts of Kent and Lane. Copper constellation lighting drives home the starry theme, while multi-textured walls lend the treatment rooms a quiet magic. Over in the vitality pools, look up: the ceiling is a galaxy of soft, glowing stars. Beyond the beauty, the spa still delivers serious substance. There are 13 treatment suites, a Relax Room, thermal suites for all genders, and two pools designed to help you fully unplug. Product-wise, expect the best: ESPA, Biologique Recherche, and Bastien Gonzalez all make an appearance on the treatment menu. About that spa menu: as you'd expect, the One&Only Spa is a premium spa option in Cape Town, with prices to match. A 60-minute One&Only Bespoke Facial will set you back R1870, while an hour-long One&Only Inner Calm Massage costs R1770. Fans of the spa will be happy to hear that the famed Bastien pedicures remain, with a 60-minute pedi priced at R1070. For something extra special, book the new once-a-month Full Moon Menu. This lunar-inspired experience is more ritual than treatment, beginning with a sound bowl ceremony at dusk and unfolding through chakra balancing, meditation, and bodywork aligned with the moon's phases. You can even choose from three themed treatments: Empowerment (for new beginnings), Harmonising (for reflection and peace), or Stardust Sole (for release and renewal).
Mint
17-05-2025
- Mint
Holiday ideas in the southern hemisphere, neo-punk jewellery goes desi, new Kindle review, and other stories to read
We were heading back to the lodge in the Manyeleti Nature Reserve when the ranger called out 'Teapot!' and pointed to the sky. After a day of learning bush-walk signals and identifying edible plants and animal spoor—the giraffe's is 23cm long, the elephant's looks like stodgy table legs and the rhino's is surprisingly elegant—I thought the ranger was testing our knowledge and I'd forgotten some call. He'd been sweeping the skies looking for the Southern Cross, or Crux, a cluster of stars I'd asked to see, which can only be spotted south of the equator. It's a group of five stars that holds many stories of adventure and exploration, as it guided early sailors before the time of GPS, and many countries in the southern hemisphere have it on their flags. Instead, we see the more beautiful though prosaically named Teapot, again unique to the southern hemisphere. There's also a Teaspoon, apparently, but we couldn't find it. As humans we have this unique tendency for pareidolia, or finding shapes, images and meanings in random patterns—it's why we see dragons breathing fire in clouds, elephant faces in rocks, and teapots in the night sky. Being south of the equator is great place to indulge this (and many other interests) as the landscapes, weather, customs and experiences can be quite unusual—and Indians are discovering this. With climate change and over-tourism making much of Europe uncomfortable in the summer months, travelling in the southern hemisphere is a good alternative as the weather is cool and dry. As one of our writers points out, some of these destinations like the heart-shaped island of Tasmania are great for multi-generational family holidays too. If you're not planning to travel any time soon, we've still got you covered: We recommend Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible finale, which releases this weekend and other shows and films; delicious mango menus to sample and more. In a country that loves traditional jewellery, indie designers are crafting statement pieces like nail talons and teeth grillz. Designed mainly by 30-somethings, the jewellery collections exude a bold, individualistic aura reminiscent of the punk fashion era of the 1970s, reports Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran. Neo-punk jewellery meets Indian grandeur, handcrafting techniques and design in these maximalist, individualistic pieces. The skulls, razor blades and brashness have given way to embellished spikes and edgy high fashion but what remains is the attitude to experimentation. Read more. Piped icing, butter cream and pretty cake designs were probably what we were used to as children. Over the past few years, pastry making has become more like a craft—building elaborate worlds onto a cake tray. A number of bakers though are returning to vintage cakes—hearts, flowers, piping and bows—and customers love it. Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran meets the bakers bringing back swirls and flourishes to cakes. The wait is finally over. After months of speculation about why Amazon was not dropping the latest version of its popular e-reader in India, the 12th generation Kindle Paperwhite is now available in India—a new device after more than three years. Amazon's latest iteration of its popular Kindle Paperwhite e-reader series doesn't scream reinvention. Instead, it whispers refinement, decides Abhishek Baxi. The 7-inch glare-free display provides a more immersive reading experience while maintaining portability, and the addition of adjustable warm light enhances nighttime reading, allowing users to shift screen hues for a more comfortable experience. The new Paperwhite comes with 16GB of storage, double the capacity of its predecessor. Despite advances in medical treatment which include dopamine replacement drugs and deep brain stimulation, the emotional aspects of Parkinson's disease are rarely addressed. The disease chips away not only at the body but at relationships, agency, and the will to participate in life. Therapists are now beginning to focus on the anxiety, grief and depression faced by people diagnosed with Parkinson's and are trying novel solutions. Movement therapy programmes are tapping into Indian dance forms, combining incorporating Bharatanatyam, Garba and Koodiyattam with somatic movement, to heal and empower individuals as well as build a sense of community, reports Divya Naik. Each session is crafted around rhythm, repetition, and responsiveness, and participants are invited to improvise, co-create, and move within their own capacity. When was the last time you had an address book—or even saw one? Chances are it's more than a decade ago and you've been saving addresses on various delivery apps to make gifting faster and easier. A quick search by name in food delivery, quick commerce or e-commerce apps brings up the addresses of loved ones, tap to select the desired address, and you're ready to send everything from rakhis to no-occasion gifts. Earlier, sending gifts to different cities meant days of planning—asking around the neighbourhood if someone was headed that way, or queuing at the post office. The digitisation of address books has transformed locations from static coordinates into living proxies of connection, memory and meaning, concludes Shephali Bhatt. It's likely that you have recently completed a goal-setting exercise as part of your annual performance appraisal. The fundamental principle behind it is similar for most enterprises: help employees become more productive, accountable, and focused on meeting their targets in the new financial year. And most follow the SMART goals format, but there is a flip side to it. SMART goals tend to be overly focused on outcomes and leave you feeling triumphant or like a loser. Instead, suggest Somak Ghoshal, shift to setting non-linear goals and make a PACT focused on Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous and Trackable goals, based on Anne-Laure Le Cunff's new book, Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.
Irish Post
09-05-2025
- Irish Post
A more inclusive vision of Irishness is emerging - one shaped by culture, not just birthplace
HAVING served as Irish Ambassador in London and Washington, and lived for some years in Australia, I have acquired an active interest in our global diaspora. On a recent visit to South America, I made contact with the Hurling Club of Buenos Aires and with the editor of the Southern Cross newspaper to get a sense of that lesser-known part of Ireland's diverse diaspora. Silvia Fleming from the Hurling Club told me about the club's history, stretching back to its foundation in 1922 by Irish immigrants and their descendants, who came mainly from counties Longford, Offaly and Westmeath. Hurling and Gaelic football are still played at the club alongside rugby and hockey. Silvia's heritage is heavily Irish, but her nearest Irish-born relatives were two of her great-grandparents who arrived in Argentina in the late 19th century. Yet she retains a strong affinity with Ireland. Guillermo McLoughlin of the Southern Cross newspaper is proud of his paper's pedigree as the oldest English language publication in Latin America. It was founded in 1875 by an Irish priest and politician, Monsignor Patrick Dillon. The paper's best-known editor was William Bulfin, who emigrated to Argentina in the 1880s, but returned in 1902 for a cycling tour of his homeland. He wrote down his impressions for the benefit of Irish exiles in Argentina and they were subsequently published as Rambles in Eireann, which has just been re-issued in a handsome edition by Irish Academic Press. Bulfin, a fervent turn-of-the-century nationalist and a close friend of Arthur Griffith's, described his first glimpse of Ireland, from the deck of his steamer, an experience that will be familiar to the Irish in Britain who have travelled home by sea. There was a faint bluish something at first, on the horizon which might be a flake of cloud; but little by little it rose into the sky and changed from blue to purple, and we knew that we were looking at the hills of and air and sea were flooded with morning gold. Ambassador Cachaza of the Argentine Republic pictured with Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy Read through a 21st century lens, Bulfin's evocations of Ireland are endearingly sentimental. He depicted Ireland as a beautiful fairyland and relished 'the perfumed winds of an Irish summer'. He even had respect for Ireland's rain, which was, he wrote, 'a kind of damp poem'. You get the idea. The diversity of our diaspora was brought home to me again at the recent Annual Congress of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Sligo. As you can imagine, that weekend gathering was replete with exceptional traditional music. At the opening session there was a performance by a group that included Birmingham's Vince Jordan, as well as musicians from the USA and Canada, plus three from Brazil. Comhaltas has been a huge success story and now has branches in 22 countries including Japan and Korea. I took part in a panel discussion on the Irish diaspora, which I see as a huge asset for Ireland, but one that needs to be nurtured. Historically, the overseas Irish played a big part in Ireland's politics. The role of the Irish in America in support of the nationalist cause is illustrated by the fact that four of the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation had either lived in or visited the USA. The Irish in America came into their own most recently in helping Ireland manage the fall-out from Brexit. Ireland's freedom struggle had an important support base in Britain too, something I have written about in an Irish Post review of Darragh Gannon's Conflict, Diaspora and Empire: Irish Nationalism in Britain, 1912-1922. Ireland has moved on a lot since those days and so has our diaspora, becoming more successful in their adopted homelands and more ancestrally-distant from Ireland. With the drying up of mass emigration from Ireland, the number of people of recent Irish descent living overseas is likely to decline and the nature of their attachment to Ireland may well change. There may be times in the future when Ireland will need the support of 'her exiled children' as the diaspora was described in the 1916 Proclamation, but Irishness is far more than a political condition composed of aspiration and agitation. Its cultural dimension seems set to be more important as the experience of mass emigration recedes in time. I have seen enough of the Irish world outside Ireland to know how important the GAA, Irish dancing and traditional music are as pillars of identity. I have often heard people of Irish descent in Britain and America complain about being told in Ireland that 'you're not Irish'. We need to move past the idea that Irishness is synonymous with birth in Ireland. There are those in Ireland who want to define our identity narrowly, even xenophobically. That would deprive us of a precious asset that underpins Ireland's possession of international influence through the heel of a dancing shoe and the neck of a fiddle. We ought to cherish the kind of 'broad church' concept of Irish identity that I have seen on display at the Hurling Club in Buenos Aires and at the Comhaltas Congress in Sligo. Daniel Mulhall is a retired Irish Ambassador (who has served in London and Washington), a consultant and an author. His latest publication is Pilgrim Soul: W.B. Yeats and the Ireland of his Time (New Island Books, 2023). He can be followed on X: @DanMulhall and Bluesky: @ See More: Diaspora, Global Irish, Ireland
ABC News
06-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Seven West Media to buy Tasmania's Channel 7 and other Southern Cross assets
Media conglomerate Seven West Media has struck a deal with Southern Cross Media Group that will see it purchase the rival media company's regional television assets and licences, including in Tasmania. Assets and licences in Darwin, Spencer Gulf, Mount Isa, Broken Hill and across central and eastern Australia will be sold to Seven West for $3.75 million. This comes as a previous binding agreement between Southern Cross Media Group and It is the culmination of a long-held desire by Southern Cross to divest itself of television assets — in favour of focusing on its radio business, which includes the Triple M and Hit Network brands. In Tasmania, the acquisition will mean the state's flagship commercial news service, 7 Tasmania Nightly News, will change hands from Southern Cross to Seven West. ( Facebook: Channel 7 ) The TV news service, which already carries national 7 News content but is produced locally, attracts about 70,000 viewers per night and employs about 30 people. There had been concerns amongst staff that a sale to ADH would result in "editorial intrusions", as well as concerns that a sale to ADH would threaten live sport, particularly AFL coverage in Tasmania — but they were quickly dispelled by ADH director Jason Morrison at the time. However, the deal — which was worth a reported $6.35 million — fell through due to "final conditions" to complete the transaction not being satisfied, according to a statement released by Southern Cross today. Seven West Media is the parent company of the Seven Network and owns a number of newspapers. ( Facebook: Channel 7 ) It's not known how, or if, Seven West plans to restructure any of its acquisitions, including the Tasmanian news service. Both Southern Cross and Seven West have been contacted for comment. Seven West Media is the parent company of the Seven Network and owns The West Australian Newspaper, Sunday Times and a raft of Western Australian local newspapers under its Community Newspaper Group banner. It has swooped to purchase the last of Southern Cross's TV assets in a move it says will mean "Seven will reach almost 100 per cent of Australia's population," excluding the Riverland region in South Australia.
NZ Herald
04-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Puanga to take starring role at this year's Matariki celebrations
Ngāti Rangi spokesperson and leading Puanga expert Che Wilson said it was an honour for the iwi to host the ceremony and to be a part of the work that has been done over the past few years by Professor Rangi Mātāmua and all the host iwi – from Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa to Te Arawa and last year Ngāi Tahu. Traditional stories related to Puanga are shared across many iwi across Aotearoa but are prominent on the western side of Te Ika a Maui, including among the iwi of Taranaki, Whanganui and Rangitīkei. The North Island's main divide of the Tararua, Ruahine and Kaimanawa ranges separates the island's weather systems so Puanga gives iwi on the western side a better read on how to prepare for the year ahead, Wilson said. 'The reason we look to Puanga isn't because we can't see Matariki, there are parts of the region where you can't, but actually the reason we look to Puanga is because Puanga gives us a better read for the weather on the west coast,' he said. Wilson said traditionally iwi on the west coast would start to observe changes in the weather during autumn, while the months around Matariki were a time to wānanga, to meet and deliberate. 'The thing is that Puanga and Matariki aren't that different, a lot of it is nuance. We do have a separate ceremony done the month before called Te Maru o te Tau where we send all of our mate with the setting sun to the pō, and that's when we call out our names.' Matariki and Puanga have always gone together in karakia, Wilson said. They also look to other celestial bodies such as the Southern Cross, Atutahi (Canopus) and Rehua (Antares). 'In our karakia we acknowledge Matariki during the mate, as we acknowledge those that have passed, because they become part of te huihui o Matariki. So that's our reference to Matariki but the remainder of the ceremony is actually focused in on looking at Puanga.' Wilson said it was a beautiful thing that New Zealand was starting to recognise both Matariki and Puanga. 'It's a chance for everybody to go out and send intention to whoever you may call your atua and to make that connection to nature, to the environment.' The ceremony Wilson said this year's hautapu ceremony will differ slightly from those broadcast in previous years. After the opening of the ceremony, the next step is te tākiritanga o ngā mate, invoking those people who have died in the last year, he said. 'We don't call out our mate but we then invoke them to transition to become stars.' Next is the hautapu proper, the offering of food. But Wilson said instead of offering food to the stars, they are offered to four atua or deities, Tāne, Tangaroa, Rongo and Maru. 'So we give to atua rather than stars, though those atua are also shown in the sky at that time.' The last part of the ceremony is the whakapūmautanga, where a pou or post is placed into the ground. Wilson said those reciting the karakia bind the pou with intention as they 'commit ourselves to our tūpuna, to our atua and to nature'.
