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A new farmers market opened at St Heliers waterfront on 22 February 2026, running the last Sunday of every month, joining Auckland's established network of local produce markets including Clevedon Village (founded 2005, 60+ stalls), Parnell, and Grey Lynn Farmers Market. The Urban List Auckland reported the CBD's Britomart Saturday Market has also expanded under new ownership.
The Northern Territory Government's Aboriginal Business Development Program (ABDP) grants up to $30,000 (excluding GST) to Aboriginal-owned businesses in the Territory, including in Alice Springs, to purchase assets, undertake training, or access professional advice. Indigenous Business Australia separately offers up to 30% of a new business loan as a grant toward business assets.
New Zealand has adopted a tuberculosis elimination strategy based on the World Health Organization's eight-point action framework for low-incidence countries, positioning the country as a potential first-in-the-world eliminator of TB. Health New Zealand updated national TB control guidelines on 17 March 2026, and tuberculosis treatment remains free for anyone diagnosed in New Zealand.
Residents of Curry Mallet and Beercrocombe in Somerset have raised around £111,000 toward a £260,000 target to buy and reopen The Bell Inn, a 200-year-old pub that closed in March 2025. The Morning Advertiser reported the community, through the Curry Mallet and Beercrocombe Community Pub Ltd society, has around 107 shareholders and is running a Crowdfunder campaign for the remaining amount.
Indonesia's energy and power quality meters market reached an estimated $180-220 million in 2026, growing 9-12% over 2025, with smart and AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) meters now the largest product segment at 35-45% of market value. IndexBox reported the growth is driven by state utility PLN's metering rollout and new renewable interconnection mandates, with residential households the largest consumer segment.
Vancouver's Road to Recovery model, which launched in 2023, has cut wait times for urgent addiction treatment to one day and routine bed access to an average of eight days, the Province of British Columbia reported. The model is now expanding to all health regions across BC, alongside a Peer Navigator Program connecting people with lived experience of addiction to social and health services.
Hobart's first toy library opened on 27 February 2026 at South Hobart Community Centre, offering more than 400 toys valued at over $20,000 for local families to borrow. Pulse Tasmania reported free tickets to the library's Saturday open day sold out within 48 hours, with support from the City of Hobart, GHD, and Derwent Valley Medical Centre.
Cory, a Temminck's pangolin rescued from wildlife traffickers in Johannesburg in 2020 and reintroduced to Manyoni Private Game Reserve, became a grandmother in December 2025 when her own wild-born pup gave birth for the first time, Humane World for Animals reported. Conservationists said the second-generation birth is the clearest evidence yet that South Africa's pangolin reintroduction programme is self-sustaining rather than dependent on continual new releases.
A Denmark-based cohort study of 817,128 screened women found that stage IV breast cancers caught through screening had a 74.7% five-year survival rate, compared with 32.4% for cancers diagnosed after symptoms appeared in unscreened women. Researchers from King's College London, Queen Mary University of London, and the University of Southern Denmark published the findings in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in February 2026, drawing on Danish national screening and mortality registries covering 32,827 breast cancer cases from 2010 to 2022.
Samoa officially launched a US$4.8 million One Health Pandemic Preparedness and Response project in Apia on 18 February 2026, uniting its health, agriculture, and environment ministries with the World Bank, FAO, and WHO. The Pandemic Fund grant leverages more than US$5 million in additional co-financing and builds on training that has already qualified 15 Animal Production and Health Division staff as para-veterinarians.
Hobart's Dirty Hands Composting Cooperative has collected food scraps from local cafes and restaurants and turned them into compost for community gardens since its first collection in November 2016. The cooperative operates alongside the City of Hobart's FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin rollout and its target of zero waste to landfill by 2030.
Leith Time Bank, run by the Pilmeny Development Project in Edinburgh, lets members exchange practical help — gardening, sewing, simple repairs, running errands — on a one-hour-for-one-hour basis regardless of what is offered. Timebanking UK lists it as one of five active time banks in Scotland, with a particular focus on older people and carers.
The Northern Territory Government's Teach Local scholarship offers $5,000 a year to 15 Territorians studying teaching over a four-year programme, while Teach up North offers a $5,000 one-off incentive for interstate pre-service teachers completing their final placement in the NT. The NT Government reported 71% of Territory schools are in remote or very remote areas, serving 44% of the student population.
The Vancouver Park Board runs adapted and integrated recreation programs for children, youth, adults, and seniors with disabilities, including adaptive aquatics, day camps, and a Summer Sports Festival. Partner organisations extend the offering further: SportAbility runs Boccia, Power Soccer, and Para Ice Hockey, while Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports runs skiing and snowboarding at Grouse, Seymour, and Cypress Mountains.
Wesley Community Action, a Wellington-based organisation, launched Te Waka Kotahi: Intensive Caregivers Support in September 2024 with funding from Oranga Tamariki. A recent evaluation found caregivers reported improvements to their wellbeing and their ability to provide stable care, at a time when Oranga Tamariki supports around 1,580 whānau caregivers and 925 non-whānau caregivers nationally.
Tasmanians whose independence at home is at risk due to a health condition can access occupational therapist-assessed home modifications, including ramps and other accessibility changes, through the Tasmanian Home and Community Care (HACC) program and the national Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme. Every modification requires an occupational therapist's assessment before work begins.
The City of Toronto announced it is doubling its Building Skills Through Recreation program to support up to 2,000 youth in 2026, alongside more than 100 certification courses and 60 local hiring events. The city is also working toward a target of 10,000 additional summer jobs for young people by 2026, the City of Toronto reported.
The Northern Territory Government's Territory Equipment Program (TEP) helps residents who need prescribed mobility aids and disability equipment to continue participating in daily life, with approved health professionals able to apply on a client's behalf. In Alice Springs, the NT-based company Keep Moving has supplied, serviced, and hired mobility and disability equipment for more than a decade.