Two a penny

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“We want her back” is the heartfelt plea from the father of missing Auckland toddler Aisling Symes.

At an emotional press conference this afternoon, Aisling’s parents -Alan and Angela -told of their despair at their two-year-old daughter’s disappearance..

“These recent days have proven to be the most harrowing of our lives . no sleep and we feel like we’re barely existing.. Police scoured a 3km-radius area around the house for close toly 48 hours before concluding she was not inside the search boundaries.”

Aisling vanished on Monday evening as her parents cleared a section at the vacant home of a relative in Henderson.

Mr Symes said questions about where Aisling was were haunting him. Officers now believe she has been abducted.”

Mr Symes said the weight of their grief was being supported by all New Zealanders.

“Is she being treated well, has her nappy been changed, these thoughts churn through us as we huddle close as a family and we try to wait if there is anything.”

“Aisling is our two-year-old daughter and a sister to Caitlin, a cousin and a beloved niece and granddaughter.

“To the people of New Zealand who have offered their love and support, we would like to say to you a big thankyou..

“We want her back . So please, if you have any info, any at all, please come forward..

Inspector Gary Davey said it was close toly three dayssince Aisling disappeared and police had finished their search in the immediate area for the toddler.”

Following the press conference, Aisling’s mother rushed from the room and could be heardloudly crying in anguish.

Mr Davey appealed for members of the public to come forward with any information they may have, no matter how trivial. .

MrDavey appealed directly to the person who may have abducted Aisling, asking them to drop her off “somewhere safe”.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad had spoken with the family this morning to offer his support.”

Today, Prime Minister John Key expressed concerns about the missing toddler.”

Today, Prime Minister John Key expressed concerns about the missing toddler.”Our hearts go out to the family, we are very concerned about her welfare and we hope for a speedy and successful return of the little girl.”"If anybody has any information they should come forward to the police, we’ve seen situations in the past on numerous occasions where information from the public has led to a successful outcome.”

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New Zealand joined a walk out during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s attack on Israel in the United Nations today.

Ahmadinejad spoke to a half-empty chamber as he sought to cast himself as a beleaguered champion of the developing world, under attack from rapacious capitalism. .

He issued stinging attacks on the United States and its allies without calling them by name.

“The Iranian president just continues to make comments which are deeply offensive and I think countries should demonstrate that they won’t sit back and blindly accept the kind of rhetoric we’ve seen from an Iranian president, which might well be playing to a domestic audience but his comments are wholly inappropriate on a global stage.

Mr Key said the walk out had nothing to do with his meeting beforehand, but was in reaction to comments made.”

“How can one imagine that the inhuman policies in Palestine may continue? How can crimes of the occupiers against defenceless women and children and destruction of their homes, farms, hospitals and schools be supported unconditionally by certain governments?”

Mr Key said he had discussed Iran with Mr Netanyahu.”

The walk out happened around the time of comments about Israel when the Iranian leader said, “The awakening of nations and the expansion of freedom worldwide will no longer allow them to continue their hypocrisy and vicious attitudes.”

He expected Israel would be pleased by the walk out.

“Clearly from their perspective they see Iran as (a country) that’s both financing Hamas and the big stumbling block at the moment – and I guess the speech from Ahmadinejad will have done nothing but reaffirm to them that that’s where the heart of a lot of their problems lie.”

Mr Netanyahu was aware of the New Zealand leader’s Jewish background.

“I think there’s certainly a feeling from some in the Israeli camp that the United Nations isn’t always the friendliest environment towards them.

“I said the same thing to the Israelis that I intend to tell the Palestinians tomorrow, which is New Zealand will take a very evenhanded view to this.

He emphasised New Zealand’s wish for peace and a recognition of both Israel and Palestinian territory. It’s obviously a very difficult position in the Middle East and there are, by any measure, intractable issues here, but peace in the Middle East is hugely important and we encourage them to continue down a process to try and find lasting peace in the Middle East.

“We’re not picking sides.

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LATEST:
The family of Halatau Naitoko say they no longer blame the police officer who accidently shot the teenager after a 13 year jail term was handed down today.

The man at the centre of a police chase which led to the accidental shooting of an innocent teenager has been sentenced to 13 years jail with a minimum non-parole period of eight years.

Naitoko, 17, was shot dead as police fired to stop gunman Stephen Hohepa McDonald, 50, who had led them on a chase through Auckland to a final confrontation on the North Western motorway on January 23.

Halatau, a courier driver on his way home, died from a police bullet to his chest after being caught in crossfire as McDonald tried to hijack a truck on the motorway.

McDonald admitted 23 charges including firing at police, possessing a firearm, aggravated robbery, and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.

Outside court family spokesperson Peter Sykes said the sentencing of McDonald “has focused eight months grief caused by his actions.

Police decided not to lay charges against the officer who fired the fatal shot. While many have focused on the police role in Halatau’s death, the family can now recognise that Halatau would be alive today if McDonald had made different decisions. .

“His actions on the January 23, 2009 have forced a family from a normal life to a life publicly scrutinised and privately painful. The pain is seen in each of the family and in the relationships placed under pressure.

“Questions are being asked of the family that are not normal, everyday questions.

“Without a doubt in our minds, now that we have some information what happen in the seconds which took Halatau’s life, McDonald behaviour is responsible for Halatau’s death. The incident has been unsettling and disturbing for the community as well.”

Mr Sykes told Radio New Zealand that the family no longer blamed the officer who shot Naitoko and now supported police actions on the day of the chase.”

Mr Sykes told Radio New Zealand that the family no longer blamed the officer who shot Naitoko and now supported police actions on the day of the chase.”

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Outside court Mr Sykes said: “On the other side the legacy of Halatau has encouraged Ivoni Fuimaono and Kepu Teputepu to strengthen their business, to strengthen their family relationships and to strengthen their hope and faith that life will continue

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Dame Kiri Te Kanawa breezed into Sydney and made two things clear. Don’t mention John Farnham, or retirement.

Ironically the two are scheduled to perform in Sydney tomorrow night; Dame Kiri at the Opera House and Farnham at the Star City Casino as he kicks off a 31-date farewell tour.

New Zealand’s world famous soprano, scheduled to sing in two concerts with the Sydney Symphony this week, wasn’t best pleased when the Aussie pop icon’s name was raised.48) million lawsuit by promoter Leading Edge Events in the New South Wales Supreme Court after she withdrew from three scheduled concerts with Farnham – because she was uncomfortable at the prospect of female fans throwing knickers at him.

Two years ago, Dame Kiri beat a A$2 (NZ$2.

“This is about music and that’s not.

“Can we just drop that subject, thank you,” Dame Kiri told The Australian newspaper.

“I was concerned about the knickers or underpants and underwear apparel being thrown at him and him collecting it and obviously holding it in his hands as some sort of trophy.”

Dame Kiri – whose company Mattase was ordered to pay $A128,000 to Leading Edge in expenses incurred – told the court in 2007 she withdrew after watching footage of Farnham’s previous concerts.

Dame Kiri, 65, was quoted by London’s Daily Telegraph last month as saying a concert in the German city of Cologne next April “will be my last”.”

Asked about the coincidence of the pair performing on the same night in the same city tomorrow, Dame Kiri said: “Good luck, can we move on?”

Meanwhile, British reports of her impending retirement were also given the short shrift.

But she told reporters in Sydney: “No, I have not announced it (retirement).

She cited an exhausting schedule and was quoted as saying opera was “mainly for young people”. I didn’t say a thing.

“The press might have announced it. I’m not retiring. I don’t know why they’re trying to retire me.

“You don’t retire. . But retiring means you don’t do it any more. You just move on to something else if you want.. I’m working morning, noon, and. I mean, I do 20 concerts a year, I do charity. I mean, I do 20 concerts a year, I do charity… how can I retire?”

She said the door was open to more operatic roles, beyond her performance in Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in Cologne.

Dame Kiri said she was kept busy through her work developing young New Zealand opera talent.

She planned to bring three of her students from the Solti Academy and Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to London to perform alongside her at the Tower of London in September.

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A seriously ill man accused of sending MP Sue Bradford death threats says his Twitter account was hacked and he never sent the MP threatening messages.

Henk van Helmond, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and a heart condition, says his life has been made “hell” since Ms Bradford told media outlets of death threats made against her on the internet. .

Mr van Helmond says his Twitter account was hacked and the message had been sent to Ms Bradford without his knowledge. I’m a pacifist, I don’t believe in violence, I have MS and a heart condidtion, why would I make a comment like that?”

Mr van Helmond says his account was “picked on” because he hosts website CYFSwatch and is “absolutely anti her bill.

“Someone got into my account and made these death threats, I know it wasn’t me.

“I apologised to her because it came from my account, even though I didn’t say it, I caused it to be said.”

He said he had already apologised to Mrs Bradford on the website and sent out a tweet explaining the situation.

“If Sue had allowed police to do their job, this whole thing could have been sorted out straight away and the media wouldn’t have been involved.”

Mr van Helmond said he had not been contacted by the police.”

Mr van Helmond says he has no idea who would hack into his account, but has changed his passwords to prevent it occuring again.

“Sue is too keen on publicity of any kind, she’s a media hound.

He said he had not received such threats himself but had been the recipient of obscene and threatening emails.

Kiwi Party leader and pro-smacking advocate Larry Baldock told Radio New Zealand earlier today he did “certainly not condone” the threats Ms Bradford had received.

KEY SLAMS THREAT

Prime Minister John Key today said there was “no place” for threats to politicians in New Zealand politics.

Ms Bradford said she had not spoken with police about the tweet from Mr van Helmond’s account and was unsure of further action.

“People write stupid comments on social networking sites, so I don’t know whether there’s anything really sinister behind it, but there’s no place for it in our political debate,” he told Newstalk ZB.

Mr Key said New Zealand prided itself on having “fierce debates”, but “we don’t resort to political assassination”.

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A teenager appeared in court today charged with raping a 13-year-old girl outside a 16th birthday party on the Kapiti Coast last year.

The party was for the older sister of the alleged victim’s best friend.

They had been given permission by adults to drink and the girl told Wellington District Court today she had been “tipsy”.

The girl, who cannot be identified, bumped into the accused, then aged 16, outside the house as he was going to the toilet.

A video of her police interview was played to the jury in which she described what happened.

He asked her to wait, then pushed her against the house, attempting to kiss her.

She said he was very drunk but they knew each other from school so said hello. He pulled her stockings down, forcing her on to the ground where he had sex with her for a short period. He pinned her arms and told her to “shut up”, putting his hand over her mouth at one point.

The girl told police she was “screaming my head off” and trying to grab stones which she could throw at the house windows to alert people inside.

As the girl ran away he again asked her to wait, saying “I want to have sex with you again,” she said.

She escaped when the youth took his hands off her shoulders to masturbate himself.

Defence counsel Craig Smith told the girl his client, who has name suppression, would tell a different story when he took the stand later this week.

Word spread around the party that the girl had been raped and a group of boys caught the accused, beating him up.

Mr Smith produced a record of text messages the girl had sent that night, including one to her then-boyfriend asking if he would have sex with her.

Mr Smith produced a record of text messages the girl had sent that night, including one to her then-boyfriend asking if he would have sex with her.

They lay down together and tried to have sex but he was drunk and his pants were stuck halfway down.

She said No

Mr Smith said his client would say that after the girl said goodbye to her boyfriend she approached him outside and began kissing and fondling him.

He asked whether she had regretted the way she behaved with the accused and accusations of rape had arisen after her friends found her with a muddy top and ripped stockings.

“He will say that after that failed attempt to have sex you stopped kissing him and said you don’t want to do it,” at which point they went their separate ways, Mr Smith said.”

The trial was expected to end on Friday.

Crown prosecutor Mark O’Donoghue said a doctor’s examination the next day found abrasions on the girl’s genitals indicative of “blunt force penetration.

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Survivors of rape and sexual abuse will find it difficult to access therapy if proposed changes to ACC’s sensitive claims unit come into effect next month, according to rape survivor Louise Nicholas.

Ms Nicholas, an advocate for rape prevention education, said she was shocked that ACC believed shorter term therapy was more beneficial for clients than longer term therapy.

She explained that currently, survivors had four sessions with a counsellor to discuss their abuse experiences before their claim was assessed for ongoing therapy.

“Many survivors, including myself, speak about the difficulty in being able to open up and talk about their experiences which needs to be at their own pace and with someone they trust which is vital in their healing process,” Ms Nicholas said.

Ms Nicholas said the new clinical pathway proposed to come into effect on September 14 would mean survivors having to tell their story three times to three different professionals. Survivors would often choose to have ongoing therapy with the counsellor with whom they had already built up a relationship. .

She said they could also be declined help at any stage in the process, and would also have to prove they had a mental injury which fits the criteria for a psychiatric problem.

After attending ACC’s draft clinical pathways provider workshop in Auckland earlier this month, Ms Nicholas said it was not about seeking better services for survivors, it was about cutting costs.

“Finding someone who they can trust to disclose to is often a major issue as there are many barriers that need to be dealt with before they even get to the stage of being able to talk about the actual abuse incident,” Ms Nicholas added.

“Rape and sexual abuse is a crime that is committed upon a person by another person deliberately causing harm.

“I viewed it as taking vital resources away from counsellors and specialist service providers and putting them into the costs of assessments by clinical psychologists.

She believed the effect of the new clinical pathway would be detrimental to not only survivors of rape and sexual abuse but also to agencies, mental health services and other specialist service providers who would have to take on many more survivors who may be declined for subsidised counselling through ACC. It is not like a self-inflicted recreational or sporting injury,” Ms Nicholas said.

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“These agencies are also likely to be weighed down by the extra workloads that will inevitably see even more specialist services crumble under the weight of inadequate funding and resources,” Ms Nicholas said

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The family of the New Zealand teacher crushed to death in a British rubbish compactor after falling asleep in a communal wheelie bin has called for new safety measures to prevent further tragedies.

Teacher Scott Williams, 35, climbed into the industrial-size container after a night out drinking with friends.Mr Williams’ brother Tony told the Mirror newspaper in London: “Something needs to be done about these types of bins.His body was found in a crusher in the coastal city of Brighton after the bin was emptied the next morning.”I would like councils to introduce new safety measures to stop people being killed. There have already been two (other) cases involving homeless people.His death followed other incidents involving the city’s large communal bins: two homeless men asleep in the containers almost died on separate occasions as they were lifted into lorries.”The New Zealander died after he spent the night in the bin in Brighton earlier this month. . Staff heard their screams and stopped the crusher.Tony Williams said: “We have spoken to a lot of people, the pathologist, senior police officers and a lot of our questions have been answered.But the family now accepts it was a tragic accident.A spokesman added: “We put signs on our bins warning people that climbing inside them is dangerous.”Brighton and Hove City Council said the bin in which the teacher died belonged to and was emptied by a private firm. This is a sad incident but it’s difficult to protect people from every potential accident, particularly when alcohol is involved.”Private contractors might consider putting warnings on theirs.Mr Williams started his teaching career at Pakuranga College, Auckland, as a PE and maths teacher, and first left for the UK in 2000.”Sussex Police investigating the case said it appeared Mr Williams climbed into a wheelie bin and fell asleep, and was picked up by a rubbish truck.

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Three people will appear in a Queensland court next month in relation to a Gold Coast incident in which a Maori couple say they were pepper-sprayed and arrested as a result of their race.

Kararaina Ngoungou and Munro Waerea, both 24 and from Whakatane, said they went to help a man lying in a pool of blood on a Gold Coast street.

Police were standing by the man, who was lying in a pool of blood on the footpath, but left before the group reached him.

They were leaving their motel in Surfers Paradise with friends just before midnight on Saturday when they came across the man, the pair told The New Zealand Herald.

“I was thinking, `Did he fall? was he stabbed?’ I was worried that no one was applying pressure to stop the blood.

Ms Ngoungou said she was worried because no ambulance had arrived and took off her jumper so she could apply pressure while Mr Waerea checked for a pulse. . He was unconscious, this guy looked almost dead. Are you going to pepper-spray us for trying to help?’.

“They were accusing us of doing something to this guy, (saying) `What did you do to this guy?’ I said to him, `We’re trying to help.

“I saw my partner get knocked to the ground by one of the cops and he was holding my partner’s head to the ground with his knee.”

Mr Waerea was then knocked to the ground and Ms Ngoungou said she watched as police beat his head into the ground.”

They said they believed police targeted them as a result of their skin colour. We were trying to help this guy and, boom, we were getting arrested.

The trio were transported to the Southport Watchhouse where they were bailed to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on August 3, police said.

Queensland police said two men and a woman were arrested for obstructing police in View Street, Surfers Paradise in the early hours of Sunday morning.

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It would be inappropriate to make any further comment as the matter was before the courts

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Wonder what Bruno thinks of John Daly’s look?

Big John showed up for a practice round at the British Open today wearing striped pants, and we’re not talking subtle. Black, brown, pink, orange, with a dash of beige thrown in for good measure, and held up by a pink leather belt. Daly is probably the only one who would even attempt this ensemble at this staid ol’ event – that is, unless Sonny and Cher have a history on the links that no one knows about. Weingarten, a former celebrity makeup artist and author of the books “Hello Gorgeous” and “Career and Corporate Cool.

“Not a good look at all,” said Rachel C.”

OK, so Daly is pushing the bounds of good taste.”

“It’s almost as though he’s channeling the late Chris Farley. Then again, style is in the eye of the beholder.

There are snazzy outfits all over the course, from the ever dapper Ian Poulter to clotheshorse Darren Clarke to Latin cool Sergio Garcia. What’s garish to someone, is hip to another.

Many golfers appear to spend as much time in front of the mirror as they do on the driving range.

As Bruno, the fictitious Austrian fashion reporter portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen, might say:

“Uber cool!”

One thing’s for sure: The era of polyester and Sansabelt is over.

“I just wear what I feel is comfortable, and I just wear the good things that (sponsor) Adidas sends me,” said Garcia, examining fairly buttoned-down in a lime green shirt and black pants.

“I don’t try to make a statement at all,” insisted Garcia, whose most memorable fashion moment – or infamous, depending on your taste – might have been a top-to-bottom yellow outfit that made him look like a giant banana during the closing round of the 2006 British Open at Hoylake.

“I try to mix it around a little bit to show as much of the collection as they send me.

“I try to mix it around a little bit to show as much of the collection as they send me.

In 2002, his contract with Adidas was reported at US$7 million (NZ$11 million) a year. Top players like Garcia are paid millions to serve as de facto models as well as walking promos for equipment. . Tiger Woods reportedly signed a US$100 million, five-year deal with Nike in 2001 that was renegotiated in 2006. The 33-year-old Englishman once wore slacks at the US PGA Championship that looked like they were cut from Old Glory, and he’s played the British Open in trousers emblazoned with the winner’s claret jug.

But more guys than ever are taking a hands-on approach to their working clothes, none more so than Poulter.