Two a penny

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is still trying to contact 50 New Zealanders who may have been in Samoa during Wednesday morning’s massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Five New Zealanders have been confirmed dead and there are grave fears for three others.MFAT said they had received inquiries about the 50 New Zealanders, some of whom may no longer be in Samoa.New Zealanders still in Samoa should contact friends and family in New Zealand to allay concerns.It urged anyone who had heard from loved ones to call 0800 432 111.Two-year-old Alphie Cunliffe, was missing and presumed dead after he was swept out to sea when the tsunami hit.South Auckland grandmother Tauaavaga Tupuola, 84, and Raglan woman Mary Anne White were two New Zealanders killed, along with another adult and two children.”Grave concerns” were held for Matamata sisters Petria and Rebecca Martin, who were staying at Taufua Lodge resort in Lalomanu, the worst-hit area.Their parents, who arrived in Apia yesterday, did not wish to see them because it was not the way they wanted to remember their daughters, the Herald on Sunday reported.The sisters’ bodies are believed to be lying in a Samoan morgue, but they have not been formally identified.A body thought to be 22-year-old Petria’s was found on Wednesday close to where they were staying and a body thought to be 24-year-old Rebecca’s was found on Friday.They instead planned to visit today the beach where the sisters were swept to their deaths.Ms Tupuola – the grandmother of Kiwis rugby league star Matt Utai – was swept to her death with her granddaughter, Bula Okei, 28, and three-year-old great-granddaughter Sima, The reported.Officials hoped to formally identify them today using dental records.At least 180 people have been killed in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga and the toll is expected to rise. .An Air Force Boeing 757 landed carrying medical and food supplies, police dog search teams, medical personnel and a surgical team, including Samoan-speaking doctors and nurses.Meanwhile, more New Zealand aid and specialist help arrived in Samoa today.HMNZS Canterbury is expected to sail from New Zealand on Tuesday with more aid and equipment.”The timing is at the request of the Samoan authorities, so that the team will relieve some of the Australian team, and also allow local staff to take a break to be with their own families,” Health Minister Tony Ryall said.

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As a flagbearer for a new era in cinema, Carl Fredricksen could hardly be more unlikely. He’s a 78-year-old curmudgeon who uses a walking frame, wears a tweedy old suit and eats dinner at 3.30pm. Not only is he a touchingly grizzled figure who, after the death of his beloved wife, finally takes the adventure he has craved since childhood, he is also coming to cinemas in 3D.

As the star of Up, the latest animated movie from Pixar – the studio with an unblemished record of hits from Toy Story to Wall-E – Fredricksen is a classic well-rounded character in two ways.

The goal is movies that seem more “real” by adding a third dimension – depth – to the viewing experience. . You can still watch the traditional 2D version of Up, but for a few dollars more – which includes a pair of disposable 3D glasses – there is an extra sense of being immersed in the action. If they can convincingly take audiences into imaginary worlds – make them feel like they’re “in there” rather than just watching – something fundamental will change in cinemas.

Up and James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar are the biggest titles in a wave of 3D movies breaking this year.

Pixar’s 3D expert, Bob Whitehill, says it’s like going from a filmed version of a play to watching the action live on stage.

Hollywood’s most vocal spruiker of 3D, the DreamWorks Animation boss Jeffrey Katzenberg, believes we are seeing the third great shift in cinema history: from silent films to talkies, from black and white to colour and now from 2D to 3D. “It’s hard to quantify but there is definitely something palpable and something real about seeing it in 3D and feeling more connected to it and feeling more a part of that world.

“I spend so much of my time watching our material in 3D that when I watch it in 2D it’s almost as though you feel the sound is turned down or the screen isn’t as big,” he says.”

Anyone who remembers Jaws 3D or another trashy stereoscopic movie in the 1970s and ’80s will know that Hollywood filmmakers have gone down this road before and reached a dead-end.”

Anyone who remembers Jaws 3D or another trashy stereoscopic movie in the 1970s and ’80s will know that Hollywood filmmakers have gone down this road before and reached a dead-end. The movie fightback included widescreen Cinemascope, wrap-around Cinerama, lively Technicolour, a system called Percepto, which jolted viewers with a mild electric shock, even Illusion-O, which allowed viewers wearing glasses to see extra apparitions in 13 Ghosts.

In the 1950s, with the arrival of television, the horror movie House of Wax titillated ticket buyers with the promise “you’ve never been scared ’til you’ve been scared in 3D”.

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A registered GP working at an Auckland men’s health clinic has described giving steroids to gym-goers and believes members of top New Zealand sports teams are using performance-enhancing drugs, and a dealer in illegal steroids has claimed his clients include police officers, who he said take the drugs to make it easier for them to deal with burly criminals.

The claims were made to Sunday Star-Times reporter Tony Wall while he worked undercover for the top-rating TV2 crime show, Illegal NZ.

During the undercover sting, which screened on Thursday night, Wall used a fake name, said he wanted to “bulk up”, was struggling at the gym and wanted quick results.

Wall was also offered an injection of an anabolic steroid by a GP at a men’s health clinic, without adequate tests to establish if he had a legitimate medical need for the drug, such as low testosterone levels.

The episode also revealed how easily steroids can be bought over the internet without a prescription, and exposed a West Auckland man who was selling steroids from his home. He was offered an injection on the spot.

The West Auckland man said he was smuggling the steroids in to the country from Thailand, and his customers included police officers.

It is illegal to sell steroids in New Zealand without a prescription, but Medsafe, the government agency which enforces breaches of the Medicines Act, declined to say whether it would take action. It said the name of the doctor should be provided “in the interests of public health and safety”.

The Medical Council said in a statement that it was “concerned about alleged inappropriate prescribing of steroids as shown on Illegal NZ” but could not investigate without a complaint. The producers of the show are taking legal advice about what information can be supplied. The office of the Health and Disability Commissioner also said it needed a complaint and the name of the GP before launching an inquiry.

“He was really persistent, he pulled out all his tricks,” the doctor said.

The doctor concerned told the Star-Times he had felt “entrapped and hassled” by Wall. It’s not what we normally do it’s out of the ordinary. . It’s the imported stuff that can be dirty, infected. To tell you the truth, very little harm comes from the medical use of this stuff [steroids].

Asked if he had many athletes coming in, the doctor said: “It’s illegal for me to do it on an Olympian level.”

In footage not screened on the programme, the doctor said the clinic had other clients taking steroids. Just about every [sport withheld] is doing it though I don’t do any of those guys but I hear a lot of [team withheld] and [team withheld] are doing them. Not too many they’re all doing it very secretly somewhere..”

Wall: “How do they get past testing?”

Doctor: “It’s all about timing, but actually human growth hormone is what they’re all doing. it’s impossible to detect; the problem with it is it’s very expensive. it’s impossible to detect; the problem with it is it’s very expensive.”

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Fonterra is stumping up $15 million for interest free loans to dairy farmers struggling with lower payouts and high debt.

The dairy co-operative said today it was lending up to $15 million to its 50 percent owned subsidiary RD1 Ltd to enable the rural lender to offer interest free terms for farmers buying essential dairy supplies. .20 payout for the 2008-09 season.55 per kilogram of milk solids for the 2009-10 dairy season, down from the expected $5.90 per kilogram payout. Fonterra initially predicting a $7 per kilogram payout for the 2008-09 year, on the back of the previous year’s record $7. But this has been whittled away as recession continues to grip the world, softening demand. Some60 percent of this was held by dairy farmers whose income wasboosted by strong payouts.

Federated Farmers estimates that in the two years to April farm debt rose by about 30 per cent to $45 billion.

Fonterra’s director for milk supply, Barry Harris, said the loan would be repaid to Fonterra by April 30 next year. Government ministers recently spoke to major rural lenders about rural debt levels.

“it’s a tough time for our farmers and we have been examining at every avenue we can to help them, particularly in finding ways to cut costs and manage cash flows while continuing to keep their farms productive,” said Harris.

Harris said Fonterra’s loan was part of a package of targeted initiatives to help farmers under pressure due to the lower payout environment.

RD1, whose other 50 percent owner is Australian firm Landmark Rural Holdings Ltd whose ultimate parent is the Australian Wheat Board, will fund the interest costs of the loan.

RD1, whose other 50 percent owner is Australian firm Landmark Rural Holdings Ltd whose ultimate parent is the Australian Wheat Board, will fund the interest costs of the loan.

. It would also continue offering practical advice about managing farm input costs

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More elective surgeries at Palmerston North Hospital were cancelled late this week as a norovirus outbreak affecting Wards 25 and 26 spread to the Star 2 ward.

A total of 60 staff and 35 patients had been sick during the two weeks of the latest outbreak of the infectious tummy bug, MidCentral District Health Board said yesterday.

Visitors, including next of kin, had been asked to stay away from all adult inpatient wards unless absolutely necessary, and to restrict essential visits to visiting hours, 2pm to 8pm.

Three cases in the Star ward had forced it to be closed to patient admissions and transfers.

People who do visit are being asked to use the hand hygiene facilities at the front entrance and throughout the hospital to avoid bringing more bugs in, or taking them out into the community. .

People who need to go to the emergency department, or who have hospital clinic appointments, should keep going to the hospital as usual.

The DHB says people who have had any recent sickness, such as vomiting or diarrhoea, should stay away completely from hospital, rest homes or other institutions until 48 hours after symptoms have gone.

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When Spencer Hill sat for a portrait in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1944, he had no idea the painting would make it back to New Zealand before him.

Painted by a fellow POW using sardine oil from rations, the artwork still hangs in the 94-year-old’s Paraparaumu home.
Captured at Kalamata, in Greece, in 1941, he was shunted in cattle trucks across Europe before ending up in Stalag 383 in southern Germany.
Mr Hill, who eventually escaped from the camp, is a quintessential Anzac still ringing an Aussie accomplice and mate every April 25.
But Mr Hill has lost nothing of the roaring laugh and open demeanour that won over fellow POWs from throughout the Commonwealth.
He is a little harder of hearing now than when he spent four years of World War II in prison camps, his hair has thinned and his walk is slower. “The memories are of boredom, always thinking when were you going to get out, when was the war going to finish?”
Although some prisoners pined endlessly, there were good memories too, including the painting, which was done by a fellow prisoner with the surname Nethercote, who had a flair for art.
Originally from Stratford, he was dubbed the “Taranaki Terror” in camp for his love of practical jokes, which included dumping buckets of snow on fellow inmates as they took a rare hot bath.
Mr Hill gave the likeness to a sick Kiwi prisoner who was sent home before the end of the war and took it to Mr Hill’s startled mother in Taranaki.
“He flogged cigarettes to the Germans for paint”, which was then mixed with sardine oil and painted on to a canvas bedding material. “We kept it amongst ourselves because if the Germans found out, we were gone,” Mr Hill said. .
Mr Hill worked as a barber in Lambton Quay for 40 years and married his wife, Olive, 57 years ago after meeting her at a Willis St delicatessen.
It worked, and over the years he has kept in close touch with Mr Keshan, visiting him in New South Wales and telephoning regularly.

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He still loves rugby and boxing, and will attend an Anzac Day parade in Paraparaumu today

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Fears are held for the safety of a New Zealander missing in Boise, Idaho.

Friends say Peter O’Brien, 44, has been missing since last Thursday, according to United States media reports.
Mr O’Brien apparently failed to pick up his two boys on Saturday morning and a friend said his ex-wife went to his home and found his apartment door unlocked. .
Inside she found his wallet, car keys and cellphone.
Mr O’Brien oftenly took long walks in Camel’s Back Park and the adjacent wilderness areas.
Yesterday she filed a missing persons report.
“It is just an awful mystery,” said Martin Lopez, a friend and former co-worker of O’Brien.
The Associated Press reported that Mr O’Brien had moved to Boise last year from southern California.
“He has two young boys that are missing him horribly and worried beyond reason,” Mr Lopez said.
Friends have set up a hotline in the hopes that someone may be able to reveal what has happened to Mr O’Brien.
His former brother-in-law, Jonathan Oppenheimer said Mr O’Brien usually called if he was going to be late and his disappearance was “definitely out of character”.
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Arrests after vicious attack in New Plymouth

– Monday, 23 February 2009

A New Plymouth man ended up in hospital after being knocked out in a vicious, unprovoked assault yesterday.
The 23-year-old was walking towards town, along St Aubyn St, with a group of friends when they were set upon by another group about 12.
The man was knocked to the ground.30am.
Police have made two arrests. He received cuts and bruising to his head and face, and another man was hit on the head by a flying bottle.
"It is becoming way too common and it's very dangerous," Mrs Clarke said.
Detective Trish Clarke said police were concerned at the escalation of violence on New Plymouth's streets. "We are appealing for witnesses to come forward, so we can identify people at the party to clarify who did what," she said. . They are in custody and due to appear in the New Plymouth District Court today.
Two 18-year-old males were arrested, one charged with assault with intent to injure and the second with assault with a weapon.

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Holmes ‘nutted off’ at gang pad

– Sunday, 22 February 2009

TheHeadhunters gang have dismissed former broadcaster Paul Holmes' attack on them last week as just "the rantings of an angry parent", but say they sympathise with his plight.
"I am a parent, I am a grandparent I understand what Paul is going through," senior patched member and convicted murderer Wayne Doyle told .
"I get concerned about my daughters, who are all straight-as, bringing strange guys around."
The former TV and radio frontman was dishing out parenting advice to Social Development Minister Paula Bennett who took in her daughter's gang member boyfriend Viliami Halaholo before he was sentenced for a savage assault in June 2007."
Last week Holmes branded all gang members "filth, criminals, low life who have no aspiration, no respect for work and peddle drugs.
The man broke his jaw and had a 10cm head gash.
Halaholo who had a child with Bennett's 21-year-old daughter Anna stayed with the minister before he was sentenced for attacking a man with a fence paling.
Holmes told Bennett through the Sunday Star-Times she should make her daughter choose between her family and her gangster boyfriend.
Holmes' daughter Millie Elder is living with and dating Headhunters prospect Connor Morris.
"If I were Paula and my daughter did not wash her hands of that ignorant, violent thug, then I would wash my hands of my daughter," he said.
The 20-year-old, with Morris, was due back in court this month on a separate charge of possessing the class-A drug.
In March last year Elder, 20, was sentenced to 12 months supervision after being convicted of possessing P and allowing drugs to be consumed at her flat.
"My daughter knows where I am, but she knows we will have nothing, ever, to do with the Headhunters.
Holmes said his daughter's relationship with Morris whose dad is a patched Headhunter meant they did not see each other."
Doyle who was convicted in 1985 of murdering a King Cobra gang member said suggestions all gang members were hooked on drugs were wrong."
Doyle who was convicted in 1985 of murdering a King Cobra gang member said suggestions all gang members were hooked on drugs were wrong.
"We have got older, it's as simple as that. It is different now."
He said he hoped Millie made a full recovery from her drug addiction.
"It's not as though we are out here sitting around smoking crack. She is just going through a growing up process and I f*****g hope she grows out of it.
"I don't feel sorry for Millie."
Holmes' frustration with the Headhunters was compounded by a $1740 repair bill he was forced to pay for damage to an apartment Elder had shared with Morris."
Doyle a father of eight and grandfather of 12 said Holmes was the "one with the parenting issues, not us.
But "he was stopped at the door", Doyle said.
Holmes last week blamed Morris, his family and the gang for not settling the bill and told of his debt-collector trip to the gang's Ellerslie pad.
"We don't even have a response to that because it is not our business.
"We don't even have a response to that because it is not our business."
Holmes' impromptu visit to the gang's pad in his bright-red luxury Bentley car caused quite a stir.
"A couple of the guys were quite impressed at seeing Holmes there and started shaking his hand, but they hadn't seen him nutting off."
Doyle said Holmes had a closed mind about the gang.
"I invited Paul to come in and have a look around when he was here. I asked him if he wanted to come and make an informed decision. He said he didn't have time and just stormed off."
Doyle said he had met Elder but she did not spend much time at the gang headquarters although she was welcome.
"If Millie wants to come out here and train at our gymnasium, then not a problem. But it's not a place to just sit around and do nothing. You have to be motivated."
And Doyle said even Holmes was welcome back. ."

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Fiery bull puts dazzle in parade

The Monday, 09 February 2009

/The
ALL DECKED OUT: Sandra Young rides on a float in the street parade which started from Cambridge Tce and ended in Frank Kitts Park.

Thousands of people turned out to see the Year of the Ox roll into Wellington, at the Chinese New Year parade.
Dragon dancers, puppeteers and a fire-breathing bull proceeded through the city yesterday afternoon, forming part of a weekend of cultural celebrations.
Children waving lucky red flags lined the streets. .
The metal bull, made by Wellington artist Michael Tuffery, was the dazzling centrepiece as its fire-breathing nostrils later exploded with firecrackers. Big-bang firecrackers warded off bad spirits as the procession made its way to the park.
Organiser Stephanie Tims said community support for the weekend's events had blown her away."
The Asian food market was so busy that organisers were close to turning people away from the TSB Arena, she said.
"The whole weekend has been absolutely terrific and it's really heartening to see so many people come out.
People born in the Year of the Ox include Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, Saddam Hussein and John Key.
In China, the new year festival runs for at least two weeks and is the country's major public holiday.