Two a penny

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AFP – French President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed the need for a strong, independent European Union in his televised New Year’s address on Wednesday, in the final hours of France’s presidency of the EU.

In a period of crisis that the world has not seen for some time, I tried to change Europe, Sarkozy said.

For a long time, I have had the belief that Europe should not suffer but act and protect, he said.

Sarkozy said Wednesday the French initiative to push for a summit between the G-20 heads of state and government had been essential to coordinate a common response to the global economic crisis. .

EU – Nicolas Sarkozy
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France ends its sixth-month presidency of the European Union at midnight Wednesday, handing over to the Czech Republic

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Swedish cop killed in camper crash

Holiday road toll now 15

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Police to target speedsters this year

One of the first people to die on the roads this year was a Swedish police inspector, who was killed when the campervan in which he and his family were travelling crashed this morning.
About 10.
He appeared to have been unable to make a left hand turn at the intersection, and skidded across SH 47 before rolling down a 20m bank into a small creek, said Sergeant Marc Clausen.15am today, the campervan driven by 50-year-old Goran Oskarsson left the road at the intersection of state highways 47 and 48, near the central North Island settlement of National Park. His wife was flown to Waikato Hospital with broken bones and head injuries, and his three teenage children were taken by ambulance to hospital with minor injuries.
Mr Oskarsson died at the scene.
Next of kin had been advised.
Identification on Mr Oskarsson indicated that he was a police inspector in Sweden, Mr Clausen said.
That involved the death of a motorcyclist found dead just outside Queenstown.
The new year has started badly with four road deaths, though the time one of those was killed is yet to be clarified.
About 1. The accident may have happened either side of midnight.
Around the same time, a 51-year-old Balclutha man failed to negotiate a moderate right hand bend on Cannibal Bay Road near Owaka, 27km southwest of Balclutha.30am, a 33-year-old Levin man was hit by a northbound car in the town centre while walking along the middle of State Highway 57, police said.
Emergency services were called about 10am after passing motorists saw the vehicle, but the accident was believed to have happened one or two hours after midnight.
His vehicle went down a steep incline, rolling a number of times before stopping about 50m from the road, police said.
Local police, the coroner and a serious crash investigator were investigating the cause of the crash.
The man was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
She was 28-year-old Lauren Leigh Stoneley of Hornby, Christchurch.
Meanwhile, police have named the woman killed in Canterbury on Tuesday.30pm.
Ms Stoneley was the passenger in a car being driven by her boyfriend when it left the road and hit a tree on Arundel-Rakaia Gorge Rd, near Alford Forest, about 8.
The Christmas-New Year road toll now stands at 15, with three and a half days of the period remaining.
The man suffered minor injuries.
The road toll for the whole of 2008 was estimated at 359, the lowest in 49 years, but may change when the timing of the Otago fatality is confirmed. .
The road toll was a decrease on the 421 deaths in 2007, and 393 in 2006, according to the Ministry of Transport.
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.French President Nicolas Sarkozy will fly to the Middle East “as of Monday” in a bid to “find a roadmap towards peace” between warring Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers, he said in a televised New Year message.
“France will continue to be active in Africa, in Asia and of course in the Middle East where I will go as of Monday, because it is France’s duty to look everywhere for the roadmap towards peace, as it is its duty to act on behalf of human rights,” Mr Sarkozy said. .
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AFP – French Defence Minister Herve Morin arrived in Kabul Wednesday for a New Year’s visit with French soldiers in the multinational, NATO-led force helping Afghanistan fight an extremist insurgency.

Morin was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai later Wednesday, said an reporter travelling with the minister, and would visit a French-funded mother-and-children’s hospital in the capital.

On Thursday Morin is due to fly to a large military base outside the southern city of Kandahar, where France has stationed six Mirage 2000 fighter jets to support US and NATO-led troops on the ground. .

In mid-December Morin said France had no plans to increase its contingent in the country, but would redeploy its troops in Kabul as Afghan forces took responsibility for security of the capital.

France is the fourth-largest contributor to the international military force in Afghanistan with more than 3,000 troops deployed around Kabul and in forward bases in the east of the country.

Hamid Karzai – Hervé Morin

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Police to target speedsters this year

– Thursday, 01 January 2009

Bus, car crash leaves man in hospital

Pain continues long after the crash

Police will crack down on speeding drivers after speed was blamed for half of Canterbury's road deaths last year.
A fatal crash in South Canterbury on Tuesday night took the region's road toll to 46 for the year, compared with 56 deaths in 2007.
Police say driver education, better roads and vehicles, enforcement and higher petrol costs contributed to the fall.
The national road toll dropped from 418 in 2007 to 359 last year the lowest figure since 1959.
Senior Constable Michael Seque, of the Methven police, said the woman's boyfriend, also from Christchurch, was driving the vehicle at 8.
In Canterbury's latest crash, a 28-year-old Christchurch woman died instantly when the car in which she was a front-seat passenger left the road and hit a tree in Arundel Rakaia Gorge Road (State Highway 72) close to Alford Forest.
The driver suffered moderate injuries, including a broken collarbone, and was treated at Ashburton Hospital and discharged.30pm on Tuesday when he failed to take a moderate left bend.
Canterbury's road policing manager, Inspector Derek Erasmus, said that while Canterbury had had a "significant reduction" in road deaths, an increase in the number of crashes caused by speed was disappointing and would be addressed this year.
Police will release the woman's name today.
"Canterbury has the dubious honour of having the highest speeds in New Zealand. .
Police started a six-month campaign in July targeting drink-driving and had breath-tested 140,000 motorists."
There had been the reduction in alcohol-related crashes, with six deaths attributed to alcohol compared with 21 in 2007, Erasmus said. Canterbury is three times ahead of where we are meant to be," he said.
"In New Zealand, we have a target for the number of breath tests we have to complete.
In 2007, "we had 20 people who didn't have seatbelts on, and 15 of those would have survived", he said.
There had also been a significant drop in the number of people killed not wearing seatbelts in crashes, Erasmus said. Of those 10, nine would have possibly survived if they had a seatbelt on.
"In 2008, there were 10 people who should have been restrained but were not. It's disheartening.
"I am staggered at the number of people who have left their brains in neutral by not wearing seatbelts.
"So, while we call them accidents, the reality was poor decision-making resulted in the deaths.
"The reality is, except for two deaths, which could be attributed to a road engineering issue, the crashes were the result of someone doing something stupid.
Three people on mobility scooters were killed last year, compared with one in 2007, and the number was likely to grow as the population got older, Erasmus said.
Three people on mobility scooters were killed last year, compared with one in 2007, and the number was likely to grow as the population got older, Erasmus said.
Middle-aged men dominated motorcycle crash figures with eight deaths in 2008 compared with three the previous year.
"Middle-aged men are rediscovering their youth on a powerful bike. It reflects a trend around the rest of the world," he said.
"Often they are inexperienced riders on a new high-powered motorcycle," Erasmus said.

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There’s nothing like a cruise or two

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Our wide feet, kiwifruit and manuka honey icecream had cruise passengers raving as they left two luxury liners and tasted life in the capital.
Yesterday, the Rhapsody of the Seas and the Silver Whisper berthed in Wellington and more than 3000 passengers and crew descended on the windy city. .
Wellington is a hot destination, with the 2008-2009 cruise season the biggest yet and expected to inject $16 million into the region. They are wonderful, they make them nice and wide," Mrs Baker said. "Oh, the New Zealand designs are just the ants pants."
They also took in the sights with a trip up the cable car to the Botanic Gardens and a Kiwiana icecream. "We came here for the shoe shopping. They coined it a "floating retirement village", saying it was cheaper to get a room on the boat than in an old folks' home. It was their second cruise but they told of a fellow passenger who had clocked up more than 200.
Centreport spokeswoman Karen Funnell said this cruise ship season was "absolutely huge" with 60 boats, mostly 250 metres long, stopping in Wellington. "Not a bad retirement plan," Mr Baker said.
A report by Cruise New Zealand expected the total direct expenditure for Wellington for the season, from October till March, to be $16. Last season there were 37 ships, and passenger and crew numbers have almost doubled from 42,324 to 78,401.
The Rhapsody of the Seas, which weighs about 78,500 tonnes and boasts six whirlpool baths and a day spa, arrived at 9am with 2072 passengers and 776 staff.13 million an increase of more than $10 million. Both left at 5. The Silver Whisper arrived an hour earlier with 303 passengers and 293 staff.

.30pm for Lyttelton and Napier

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Rescuers free man from huge boulder

By HELEN MURDOCH – Thursday, 01 January 2009

Rescuers using fence posts, driftwood and airbags have lifted a massive boulder off a man trapped for close toly four hours on a remote Golden Bay beach.
The accident happened at Kaihoka Point, on the West Coast between Farewell Spit and Westhaven, about 7. .30pm on Tuesday.
Police, volunteer firefighters and ambulance officers from Golden Bay carried rescue gear 45 minutes from the end of the dirt road to reach the scene.
Senior Constable Krispin Lee, of the Takaka police, said the man's partner ran to a farmhouse to raise the alarm.
Pilot Duncan Gourley said the boulder's size and location made it difficult to move.
Nelson's Summit Rescue Helicopter winched a paramedic down to the man and returned to Collingwood to collect Fire Service lifting gear, Lee said.
"We needed quite a few people to help lift the rock, and he was quite a big guy.
"We put lifting bags under it and used driftwood and fence posts to stabilise it and dragged him out," he said."
St John Richmond operation team manager Jon Leach said the man was in a lot of pain. There were about a dozen people there and no-one was standing about with nothing to do. He also had a broken left wrist.
He had fractures to both legs and the skin was torn off. "It was a sterling effort by local emergency services," Leach said.
Paramedics feared the man would go into cardiac arrest as the blood flow returned from his legs, and the boulder had to be lifted gradually.30am yesterday.
The man was winched from the shoreline by helicopter which refuelled in Nelson before taking the man to Wellington Hospital at 1.

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The man was in a serious but stable condition in Wellington Hospital yesterday

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Pain continues long after the crash

By JO McKENZIE-McLEAN – Thursday, 01 January 2009

FRUSTRATION: Alice Downie says the psychological effects of her predicament have been hard to deal with.

People injured in road accidents are often forgotten in holiday road-toll reports, but the aftermath can be life-changing.
Alice Downie has more reasons than most to celebrate this holiday season.
The 29-year-old Christchurch mother-of-three held an "I survived party" on the first anniversary of her Boxing Day crash on State Highway 1 close to Tinwald. She is alive.
It left her wheelchair-bound, nursing a broken nose, fractured eye socket, nerve damage to her face, bruising to her brain, a broken elbow, two smashed knees, a broken femur, two broken ankles and fractures in her right foot.
Downie, of New Brighton, was returning from dropping her seven-year-old daughter to her father in Timaru when she was involved in a head-on crash.
She spent a month in Christchurch Hospital and was told she would not be able to walk again for a year. "I thought by a year I would be back to being normal, but it's far from that, really.
"They said at the beginning it would take a year, but I didn't imagine it would," she said. ."
Downie still uses a wheelchair or a walking stick.
"I'm still in quite a lot of pain and, walking around, my ankles get really sore. The things you take for granted, like to stand up from a sitting position, are still quite hard for me," she said."
Downie still requires a nanny to help look after her children, has to make regular physio trips to Burwood Hospital and is still on medication."
Downie still requires a nanny to help look after her children, has to make regular physio trips to Burwood Hospital and is still on medication. The biggest thing is not having much energy.
"It plays havoc with your body and head space.
"It is quite isolating. That's still really apparent. It's frustrating because you just can't do what you used to and live how you do normally. You just want to be back to normal.
Her daughter refused to travel to Timaru to visit her father for Christmas, she said."
The psychological effects had been harder to deal with than the physical pain, for not only her but her family, she said. "It's almost scarier the fact it wasn't a drunk driver or someone acting foolishly because you could justify it.
"She has point-blank refused to go, so it's caused trauma for her, not wanting to go anywhere in case something happens again," Downie said."
Downie recently met the other driver involved in the crash, an Auckland woman, through a restorative justice programme."
Downie recently met the other driver involved in the crash, an Auckland woman, through a restorative justice programme.
She had hoped the meeting would bring closure but found the process "traumatising".
"It really stressed me out and I felt through the whole process of it they didn't want to really hear about the effect it all had on my life," Downie said. "It was all about money. Instead of being all about how it's messed up my life, it was more about what I have lost financially.
"For me, I took pictures of my kids and said, `This is what I have lost out on, basically being a parent to my children. That's my biggest concern'."
Downie had decided to focus on the positives. "I just feel really lucky I have a really supportive family. I could not imagine what it would be like for people with no support network."

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Drowning toll down by half since 80s

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Hurunui drowning brings toll to 96

The number of Kiwis who drowned last year is almost at a record low.
The death of a man in north Canterbury's Hurunui River yesterday took the year's drowning toll to 96. His body was found just after 6pm about 1km downstream.
The man, in his forties, was swimming in the river near State Highway 1 about 5pm when members of his family lost sight of him.
Last year was only the second year since records began in 1980 that the national drowning total has stayed under 100.
Otago University student Blair Martin drowned under a pontoon in Lake Hawea on Tuesday, the 95th drowning of the year. . Dropping from 181 a year in the 1980s, the annual toll over the past decade has been around 119, getting down to 91 in 2006.
New Zealand had an "awful" international record for drowning deaths, Water Safety New Zealand general manager Matt Claridge said.
Surf beaches claim a quarter of drowning victims and rivers account for a third.
Mr Claridge said some deaths were unavoidable such as the six pupils and a teacher who were killed in a flash flood at the Mangatepopo Stream but many were the result of poor judgment.
It sat third in the world after Brazil and Finland, with twice as many deaths as Australia and triple Britain's toll. They've seen the weather forecast, may have safety gear, but if the weather's changed it doesn't matter .
"It's like going fishing with mates… We've got to know our limits. they go. Last month he said that, because compulsory swimming lessons at schools were phased out in the 1990s, annual drownings were expected to get up to 180 again by 2030."
He repeated a warning yesterday that there was a lot worse to come. If people don't have the skills or make the right decisions, we'll see those numbers go back up.
"The prospects for the future are worrying.
With

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Pupils were taught to swim in school pools in the 1960s and 1970s, but about 239 pools had closed between 2002 and 2005

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A slap in the face for trading on Christmas Day

Thursday, 01 January 2009

Working Christmas Day is tough enough, but getting slapped in the face by an irate woman who thinks the shop is open illegally is going too far.
Grace Chen was tidying shelves at the Wellington Starmart on the corner of Ghuznee and Cuba streets when a woman burst into the store about noon on December 25.
The well-dressed woman, who towered above the 1.
Shops providing essential services including petrol stations, dairies and pharmacies are allowed to open on Christmas Day.48-metre-tall 26-year-old Mrs Chen, walked up to her complaining that it was illegal for the store to be open on the public holiday.
"I was terrified and my brain just went blank," she said.
After listening to a barrage of swear words, Mrs Chen explained that Starmart had a licence to open and in response received a solid whack across the side of the head. "No one has ever hit me like that before. I just kept bursting into tears for the rest of the day. It almost knocked my glasses off and left my head hurting."
With more than a year behind the counter at Starmart and having twice received 100 per cent service ratings from mystery shoppers Mrs Chen has had to escort her fair share of drunks from the store."
On her way out, the woman tried to close the store's glass doors, yelling, "Keep it closed.
But the whack left her shocked.
And even dealing with shoplifters never caused any problems. . She still loves her job, but Mrs Chen and her husband are taking a trip to China for a "breath of fresh air"."
Sergeant Nigel Bullock said police wanted to speak to the woman involved in the incident. But now I don't know.