Two a penny

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A massive wildfire tore through outlying suburbs north of Athens early Sunday, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee in dramatic overnight evacuations, Fire Service and local officials said.

The fires near the capital raged for a third day, blackening thousands of hectares of rugged land covered by pine forest or thick bushes. Anti-aircraft missiles at a nearby base were removed as flames approached, the army said. Fires are out of control on many fronts,” greater Athens local governor Yiannis Sgouros said.”The situation is tragic.After daybreak, planes and helicopters resumed water drops following an eight-hour pause that allowed the wildfire to spread across parts of Mount Penteli and reach suburban homes.A state of emergency was declared in greater Athens, in the worst destruction seen here since massive fires struck southern Greece in 2007 and killed more than 70 people. Clouds of black smoke filled the capital’s skyline and obscured the sun.Deputy Fire Chief Stelios Stefanidis said no casualties had been reported by early Sunday, despite the overnight evacuations of hundreds of hillside homes on the outskirts of the city.Authorities evacuated two large children’s hospitals, camp sites, and homes in villages and outlying suburban areas threatened by blazes that scattered ash on streets across the city. .The fires, which started late Friday, were reported in an area more than 25 miles (40km) wide.Residents battled the fires outside their homes with hose-pipes and even branches, and many ignored evacuation orders that were called out over loud speakers in fire-stricken towns.Winds of up to 50 kilometers per hour were forecast Sunday, while Stefanidis said the thick smoke was hampering water drops. Volunteers and army conscripts joined hundreds of firefighters to help fend off the flames. Volunteers and army conscripts joined hundreds of firefighters to help fend off the flames.”Some of the threatened areas were in the vicinity of the town of Marathon, from which the modern long-distance foot race takes its name. “A massive effort by authorities is taking place to deal with this very difficult challenge.Elsewhere in Greece, serious fires were reported on the islands of Evia and Skyros.Municipal officials in that area said the fire was threatening the archaeological site of Rhamnus, home to two 2,500-year-old temples.

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Two schoolboy rugby teams who brawled with each other at the weekend are likely to have to face the Auckland Rugby Union’s judiciary.

Players and up to 100 spectators were caught up in the brawl, which erupted in the last minute of a semifinal between Auckland Grammar and Kelston Boys High on Saturday.

The violence was described as “extremely disappointing” by spectator and All Black coach Graham Henry, a former coach of both schools’ 1st XVs.

The fight, after a last-minute Grammar try sealed a 20-9 victory for the school, lasted five minutes and led to at least one schoolboy being knocked out, according to a witness.

Its judiciary would now decide what penalties, if any, would be imposed, he said.

Auckland Rugby Union chief executive Andy Dalton said the fight was “appalling” and a “bad look” for the game.

The union would also speak to the headmasters of both schools and seek a full report from the referee manager, Mr Dalton said.

It was likely both teams would appear before the judiciary this week.

Auckland Grammar headmaster John Morris told the New Zealand Herald newspaper a Kelston player “king hit” one of his players out of frustration after a try was scored.

The two schools blamed each other for the fight.

Mr Watt and Mr Morris said they would both be reviewing film of the brawl before deciding whether any disciplinary action would be taken.

But Kelston principal Steve Watt said film of the incident showed one of his players being punched twice by a Grammar student before the try was scored.

He said the violence was “mainly adults behaving badly”, sentiments echoed by Secondary Schools Rugby Union secretary Alex Bing.

Manoj Daji, chief executive of College Sport, the body in charge of high school sport, said that if the brawl was reported to him today, it would be the first complaint involving rugby this year.

Both Mr Morris and Mr Watt agreed the incident was a “one-off” and was not likely to happen again.

“If people hadn’t come across the field, I’m sure the whole thing would have died off within half a minute,” he said.

“There is a tremendous respect and relationship between the two schools and this certainly won’t sour it in any way,” Mr Watt said. .

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About a dozen protesters faced the rain today to stick a summons on Social Development Minister Paula Bennett’s door.

The protest, organised by Socialist Aotearoa was over National’s cutting of the Training Incentive Allowance (TIA) and Ms Bennett’s revealing of beneficiaries’ private information.

The mothers said without it they would not be able to continue courses which would help them get jobs.

Ms Bennett has been under fire this week for revealing the welfare payment details of two solo mothers, on benefits, who complained about the Government’s decision to scrap the TIA.

“We think it’s disgraceful that people are trying to scapegoat on the poor and the unemployed and single mothers for the problems in society,” said Socialist Aotearoa member Joe Carolan.

The protesting group, a coalition of community, disabled and trade union groups, was at Ms Bennett’s West Auckland office today. .

“We are in a huge economic crisis at the moment where 50,000 people are going to lose their jobs so we need more support and more training for the unemployed in this period. We need all the help we can get, not to be yet again discriminated against by the Government.

“As a single parent and a student myself I know how hard it is to try and complete some training.

“It’s going to significantly affect my ability to keep studying.”

She said the cut would mean she would not have money for travel, text books and it would affect her ability to afford childcare.”

The summons, stuck on to Ms Bennett’s door, called for her to attend a hearing of “the people’s court” to defend her actions in cutting the TIA and revealing the personal information of the two beneficiaries.”

Ms Ferguson said she would keep studying regardless, but it would be “incredibly difficult.

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The hearing is set for next Saturday, at her office

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They’re not expecting gang members or troublemakers to get on board, but Palmerston North police want hosts to list their festivities on the police party register.

The register introduced in October last year allows party planners to tell police about the time, location, size and type of drink on offer at their future celebrations.

There have been 28 parties registered since the scheme began, but Sergeant Lance Kennedy said the numbers had thinned out in the past two months.

There had been fewer “riotous” parties since the register was introduced, he said.

Mr Kennedy started the register after a series of out-of-control parties in the city, including one that saw 150 young people rioting on Ferguson St last October. “If it means we prevent one or two riots, or somebody doesn’t get their letterbox smashed, then it’s worth it.

“It’s so they know there aren’t going to be idiots turning up, but if they do we have the information and can go around and sort it,” he said.”

Although people who registered were usually organised and unlikely to start trouble, they could still have their parties gatecrashed by troublemakers, he said. You wouldn’t get 300 people just turning up to a Mongrel Mob party.

“We don’t expect the Mongrel Mob or The Mothers to register with us, but with those groups you don’t get those huge numbers. .”

The register the first of its kind in New Zealand looks set to spread throughout the country, with Wanganui police likely to start a similar scheme this year.

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A woman has told of hearing Lesley Elliott’s “blood-curdling” scream when she saw her daughter being stabbed.

Shelley Ann Jones, who took Lesley Elliott’s 111 emergency phone call on January 9 last year, told the High Court in Christchurch that she was sent home to recover after taking the call.

Elliott dialled emergency services when she heard her daughter screaming as Clayton Weatherston attacked her in the bedroom at Elliott’s Dunedin home.

Clayton Robert Weatherston is on trial, accused of Sophie Elliott’s murder in Dunedin.

Jones said she heard a “very unpleasant” scream from Elliott when she saw her daughter on the ground.

Weatherston denies murdering Elliott, but accepts he is guilty of her manslaughter. It was a real scream when you know that it’s really happened.

“[It was] blood-curdling.. It was just . unsettling,” Jones said..”

It then said: “Inft can’t get in,” and noted the caller, Lesley Elliott, said she heard a “thumping” noise.

Jones’ computer entry about the telephone call stated: “Daughter attacked by partner. Female screaming .

Jones recorded: “Door opened. ..’

‘Killed her. ‘He’s killed her.’”

After the call was terminated, Jones said she took a break.’ ‘Blood everywhere.”

Sophie Elliott’s university supervisor Robert Alexander, is now giving evidence.

“I was quite pale and shaking so they told me to take the rest of the day.

“There was a lot of abuse.

“There was a lot of abuse. There were a lot of put-downs in the relationship,” Alexander said.

He described seeing Elliott the day before she was killed.

She had come to thank him and farewell him before she moved to Wellington to start a job at the Treasury later in the week. Elliott had ended up talking to him about Weatherston for almost two hours.

“She said to me, well, you don’t want to know about the other stuff, do you?” Alexander said.

Elliott talked about rumours being spread about her by Weatherston at the Treasury, in Wellington.

“She was aware that he was telling people that she was crazy,” Alexander said.

Cross-examination of Alexander by defence counsel Greg King is now under way.

MOTHER GIVES EVIDENCE

Earlier the court heard how Sophie Elliott “lost it” and “went at” her former boyfriend two days before he allegedly murdered her.

Sophie Elliott’s mother Lesley was giving evidence at the Christchurch High Court earlier today.

Lesley Elliott said her daughter was very upset about how she had become aggressive towards Weatherston in his Otago University office on January 7 last year.

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A Nomads gang member whose house was torched in a suspected arson attack has been forced out of Levin for his own protection.

Phillip “Filthy” John Stevens, 31, appeared in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday, after he pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving while disqualified, and breaching the conditions of community detention.

Neither Stevens, his partner, nor three young children were home at the time of the fire.

The influential Nomads member’s Kinross St property was destroyed by fire on June 15, thought to be a result of conflict between junior and senior Nomads members following the death of the gang’s founder, Dennis “Mossie” Hines, on June 7.

He was to go straight from court to collect his belongings from Levin, before leaving the area on bail until his July sentencing.

In court discussions about his sentencing yesterday, Judge Gerard Lynch ordered the case be transferred from Palmerston North, but suppressed the exact location for Stevens’ protection.

“I would have thought Levin is the last place he should be,” he said.

But Judge Lynch considered even that a risk. Community detention was not an option as a result of his history of non-compliance.

A sentence of imprisonment was recommended, but under the “current circumstances” home detention could be considered, the court heard.

Hines’ stepson, Tony Cootes, 25, was shot the same day the Nomads founder was laid to rest in Foxton and police believed other incidents in the area about the same time were gang-related.

Outside court, Stevens’ lawyer Stephen De Vorms said certain actions had to be taken since his client’s life had come into real danger.

“There is some suggestion that Dennis, as the founder of the gang, felt it should die with him and the dispute appears to be conflict between those who feel that Dennis’ legacy should be honoured and those who feel someone else should .

Detective Senior Sergeant Marc Hercock told the there appeared to be a difference of opinion within the gang about its future and direction… . be leader

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Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency on Sunday to quell political unrest and vowed to take tough action against protesters after they forced cancellation of an Asia summit.

Troops fired into the air when anti-government protesters stormed Thailand’s interior ministry on Sunday after Abhisit declared the emergency.

Supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra stormed the venue of an Asian summit in resort of Pattaya, forcing some leaders to flee by helicopter. They mobbed the prime minister’s car as he drove away from the ministry, beating it with clubs.

The cancelled summit has undermined confidence in the government and dealt another blow to the economy, analysts said.

After declaring victory there, they have been gathering all day in central Bangkok and by 1200 GMT their numbers were estimated at around 40,000.

Abhisit appeared on television to warn the Thaksin supporters to stop or face tough measures allowed under the emergency.

Thaksin now lives in self-imposed exile but his absence has not healed the divisions between the royalist, military and business elite, who say he was corrupt, and the poor who benefited from his populist policies. It is necessary for the government to adopt the measures allowed in the emergency decree, in order to get the nation back to peace,” he said in a televised statement, hours after his car was attacked.

”We want to ask you to stop such action.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who oversees security matters, implored the security forces to do their job.

Some armoured vehicles have appeared on the streets but no action has been reported by security officers. Actions must be taken promptly and order be restored as soon as possible.

”Police and military officers must fully and forcefully carry out their jobs lest more damage is done.

A journalist at the Interior Ministry said soldiers initially made no effort to stop the protesters from entering the premises but later fired into the air to stop others getting in. Your superiors and I will take responsibility for all your actions,” he said in a statement on television. Others danced on top of the vehicles.

Some protesters had disabled the tracks of two armoured cars near police headquarters.

An army spokesman said on television the public should not be alarmed at the movement of such vehicles. Witnesses also saw armoured vehicles at the foreign ministry.

A demonstration at Abhisit’s office, Government House – the focus of the protests since late March – had earlier appeared to be winding down as people left the capital ahead of the three-day Thai New Year holiday from Monday. This was not a coup, but part of the security measures Abhisit has ordered, he said.

Leaders of the red-shirted, pro-Thaksin United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) said they had ”arrested” one of the prime minister’s security guards, claiming he had shot dead a protester at the ministry.

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Up to 300 police with riot shields were about 200 metres (yards) from the site.

A reporter saw the man’s badge, confirming he was part of Abhisit’s detail.

A reporter saw the man’s badge, confirming he was part of Abhisit’s detail. He said the guard was badly beaten up when he was brought to the Government House site where demonstrators later treated his wounds.

Speaking from a makeshift stage, UDD leader Jakrapob Penkair said the Thaksin supporters were ready to defend themselves.

“They are trying to force us into a people’s war. We will bring more people to Government House because the best way to defend ourselves is with numbers,” he said.

A reporter saw more than 100 petrol bombs, wooden stakes and metal poles. Surgical masks were being handed out.

Police said they had arrested Arismun Pongreungrong, a popular singer prominent in the UDD’s disruption of the summit, and were holding him at a police station north of Bangkok.

Abhisit suffered a political humiliation when the summit he had presented as a sign of the country’s return to normality had to be cancelled after the ”red shirts” broke into the venue.

Thaksin’s supporters say Abhisit only became premier last December as a result of parliamentary defections the army engineered. They want new elections, which they would be well placed to win. . Patareeya Benjapolchai, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, said he was concerned.

”It’s really up to the government now how it manages the situation within this five-day break. What happened was a loss for the country. The Asean summit was supposed to be a step-up for our economy,” Patareeya told .

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Teens accused of resulting in $30,000 damage

– Monday, 23 February 2009

Five teenagers have been arrested in connection with an early morning rampage in which at least over $30,000 worth of damage was done to parked vehicles in Auckland. . It is also alleged they set fire to council wheelie-bins.Police allege the youths were travelling in a white station wagon and randomly throwing rocks and bottles through car windows.Police said they thought more damage might have been done but had gone unreported.On the same night a rock was also thrown through a bedroom window in which a mother and her child were sleeping.Police said Newmarket, Remuera, Orakei, Mission Bay, Kohimarama, St Heliers, Glendowie, Glen Innes, Pakuranga and Half Moon Bay were the areas affected. They urged anyone who believed their property might have been damaged on that night to contact them.

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Boy in blue bears weight of funeral

in Auckland – Saturday, 31 January 2009

/The
BURDEN: A young constable bore the weight of both the police force and the Tongan community yesterday as he carried his cousin’s coffin.

A young constable bore the weight of both the police force and the Tongan community yesterday as he carried his cousin's coffin from a makeshift chapel in the backyard of his extended family's South Auckland home.
Naitoko was farewelled at a moving ceremony attended by more than 1000 mourners.
Police accidentally killed his cousin, 17-year-old Halatau Naitoko, during a shootout on Auckland's Northwestern Motorway on January 23. She later sobbed uncontrollably.
His heavily pregnant mother, Ivoni Fuimaono, wailed with grief as she lent over her dead son's coffin, kissed his forehead and stroked his hair. "His [Naitoko's] mother requested it," he said.
Asked to act as a pallbearer, Naitoko's cousin, Constable Joseph Ahotalafolau, 19, donned his dress blues for the occasion.
Standing beside the unfilled grave, relatives spotted a forbidden plastic flower on top of the coffin and called on the long arm of the law to retrieve it.
Although Ahotalafolau had permission from his bosses to wear his uniform, they were unaware of the special role he would play at the service or at the burial.
Ahotalafolau said few of his police colleagues had talked to him about his cousin's shooting.
Holding on to his feet, they lowered the young constable into the grave so he could reach the offending bloom."
But his uniformed presence at the service symbolised just how far Naitoko's family had come in forgiving the police for his death.
"It's been a bit hard.
Pastor Vosailangi Sikalu speaking through an interpreter told the gathering the blood of an innocent boy had been spilled.
Forgiveness was also the theme of the service attended by Police Minister Judith Collins, Commissioner Howard Broad and other central and local government figures. "Let that be the message to the Government officials and dignitaries, the minister of police, the police commissioner, even to the beloved policeman who fired the fatal shot.
"That blood is crying out for forgiveness," he said. "All he wanted to do was fulfil his obligation to his family," she said."
His aunt, Paea Sime, said Naitoko was a good and loyal son who worked hard to help his mother, and feed his younger siblings, even to buy nappies for his sister's baby."

. "He was killed in the line of his duty

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Proof needed to secure certificates

Thursday, 15 January 2009

Law changes designed to curb identity theft will come into effect this month.
From January 25, anyone ordering a birth, death, marriage, civil union or name-change certificate must offer proof of identity to obtain the document, unless the paper is a historical one.
The bill had a troubled passage through Parliament, and the previous Labour-led government took more than a year to secure enough support to pass the legislation. .
What had initially seemed a non-contentious proposal aimed at preventing criminals from obtaining the personal documents of someone else and using them for nefarious purposes was challenged by genealogists, historians and media concerned about the denial of access to previously public documents.
Older documents freely available without proof of identity include birth certificates from a 100 years or more ago, death certificates of stillbirths 50 years ago or more, marriage certificates dating from before 1929, and death certificates from before 1959.
When applying for a recent document, people need to sign a statement that proves their identity, and have the statement signed by a person such as a justice of the peace, doctor or teacher.
"While maintaining public access to the registers, these new requirements also provide better safeguards for people's personal information," Registrar-General Brian Clarke said.