Two a penny

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The notion of living next door to a sitting US president is no longer priceless – it’s US$1.85 million (NZ$2.

That’s the price tag listed for 5040 S Greenwood Ave, a home that rose to national prominencewhen it was offered for sale, because it just happens to be next door to the Obamas’ Chicago home.5m). They put it up for sale in September for an unspecified sum because neither they nor their real estate agent, Matt Garrison, knew how to calculate “the Obama factor” of the 17-room brick house, which needs substantial renovation.

Bill and Jacky Grimshaw have owned the home since 1973.

Large homes that don’t need work can cost US$2.

After more than a month with no takers, the home will be listed on Tuesday morning on the local multiple listing service, which means a price had to be set.4 million in the Obamas’ neighbourhood of Kenwood.3 million to US$2.

“At the end of the day it’s probably going to sell to a traditional Chicago buyer,” Garrison said.

Garrison said the premium for a buyer being able to say they’re Obama’s neighbour amounts to a few hundred thousand dollars.”

Because the Secret Service protects the Obama home and anyone visiting the Grimshaws’ house needs security clearance, no traditional open houses will be conducted, Garrison said. .

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The New Zealand dollar rose to its highest level since July 2008 after higher-than-expected inflation data caused investors to bring forward expectations for New Zealand’s first official interest rate hike.

By 5pm the NZ dollar was at US74.81c at 8am and US73.63c, up from US73. It rose as high as US74.99c at 5pm.

The consumers price index rose 1.89c today.7 percent.3 percent in the three months to September, taking the annual rate to 1.2 percent.

While the annual rate of inflation was the lowest for 5½ years, it was still above the median forecast in a poll of economists which had been for a rise of 1.8 percent.

The quarterly forecast had been for a rise of 0.

The central bank has been rates will not rise until the end of 2010 but investors think it could be at the start of that year. .50c on the data and then the US dollar weakened, which gave the NZ dollar another reason to move higher.

Mr Jones said the NZ dollar rose to around US74.25 percent, from 3 percent.

The US dollar also fell to a 14-month low against the Australian dollar after Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said the Australian central bank took the first step to returning interest rates toward more normal levels last week, when it lifted the cash rate to 3.4992 euro at 5pm from 0.

The NZ dollar rose to 0.05c from A80.4970 at the same time yesterday, and held against the Australian dollar at A81.79 yen from 65.79 yen from 65.80. The trade weighted index was 66.79 from 66.37.

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The weekend road toll rose to three tonight with the deaths of two people in separate crashes — one in Nelson, the other in Warkworth, north of Auckland.

A youth died in the Nelson accident, caused by high speed, and soon after one person was killed in a motorcycle-car crash just south of Warkworth.

None of the victims has yet been named.

The first fatality of the weekend occurred soon after midnight Friday when a 37-year-old motorcyclist was killed when his machine crashed close to Punakaiki on the West Coast.15pm.

Nelson police said the youth killed was the driver of a ute which ran off Maitai Valley Road at high speed about 5.

A passenger was injured.

Senior Sergeant Stu Koefoed said the youth lost control and the ute crashed down a bank and slammed into a large tree. .

Police are now seeking help from the public about the driving of two cars after the Warkworth fatality.30pm police said in a statement they wanted to hear “as soon as possible” from witnesses to the “driving behaviour” of a white Toyota Altezza car and a silver Subaru Legacy between Auckland Airport and the intersection of SH1 and Valerie Close, Warkworth.

But at 8.

“These vehicles were involved in the fatal crash in Warkworth involving a motorcyclist and it is believed that the manner of driving of these two cars may have come to the attention of other motorists prior to the crash,” the statement said.

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Friends and family who lost loved ones in the Tongan ferry tragedy marched down Auckland’s Queen Street today in memory of those who perished.

Carrying banners and photographs of their relatives, they marched from Aotea Square to Britomart, before heading to the viaduct where they gathered together to speak about their loss.

In the emotionally charged ceremony, flowers were thrown into the water while Tongan and New Zealand flags were flown at half-mast.

“We’re here today to remember our loved ones, but also to expose the Tongan government.

Organiser Alani Taione said the march was also about putting pressure on the New Zealand and Tongan governments to fund a salvage operation to recover the bodies.

Esitaola Puleheloto Pihiaia lost her 23-year-old sister Sisiliah Puleheloto when the Princess Ashika suddenly sank off the coast of Nuku’alofa on August 5.

“To leave the bodies out in the water is inhumane, and the government has to take responsibility,” Mr Taione said.

“I’m here today with my family to pay our respects.

“It’s very important to us to be here today, and we’re still hoping that Sisiliah will be returned home to us,” Ms Puleheloto Pihiaia said. We also want to put pressure on the government to rescue the bodies so we can have a proper burial.

“We really wanted to be here today to remember Sisiliah,” Ms Akapo Hopotoa said.

Sisiliah’s cousin Chacintta Akapo Hopotoa and her friend Laekyn Atavenitia said it was a significant day.

His aunt Toa Havili said it was important for them to pay their last respects. .

“We wanted to be here today in loving memory of Salesi.

“We wanted to be here today in loving memory of Salesi. The 73 remaining passengers were presumed to be trapped on board the ferry, now sitting in 110 metres of water.

Fifty-four people were rescued after the Princess Ashika sank, and two bodies were retrieved.

The Tongan government is expected to rule out salvaging the vessel in a decision due any day.

The cost of retrieving the vessel has been put at up to $25 million, more than double New Zealand’s total annual aid to Tonga.

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A 16-year-old boy has admitted slashing a man’s hand – leaving it dangling by skin and tendons – after a confrontation between rival groups at a Palmerston North house.

The victim, 20-year-old Matt Durham, later had his hand reattached in extensive surgery at Hutt Hospital. .

Durham last week pleaded guilty in Palmerston North District Court last week to possessing an offensive weapon.

He was remanded under strict bail conditions to reappear in the same court on September 14.

Durham yelled racial abuse and waved a crowbar at the group, encouraging them to fight.

The court was told between 30 and 40 people had been drinking at Durham’s flat on the night of May 30, when a large group of Maori men arrived at the house.

One of the group then slashed Durham’s wrist, leaving his left hand dangling by just skin and tendons, police said.

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Durham is due to be sentenced next month

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A US Congressional junket which included a Christchurch stopover is causing the same kind of rage in Washington that New Zealand MPs Roger Douglas and Chris Carter experienced recently.

Douglas spent $44,411 on air travel in the first six months of this year, most of it to see his grandchildren in London, while Labours MP Carter spent $57,000 on airfares.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) highlighted the activities of 10 members of Congress who took their spouses to the South Pole, via Christchurch, to study global warming.

However they were flying on US Air Force luxury jets and so their costs did not include airfares.

The 11-day trip took place over New Year’s 2008 with the congressmen reporting its total cost to taxpayers at US$103,000 (NZ$154,000).

The party left Andrews Air Force Base on the morning of December 29, 2007, along with several of their staff, aboard a business class version of the Boeing 737.

WSJ said flight costs would have lifted the total cost to US$500,000.

When they reached Christchurch the party watched New Years Eve fireworks.

At McMurdo, next to Scott Base, they were given a formal dinner at Robert Falcon Scotts Discovery Hut.

Next day they flew south, but left their spouses in Christchurch. . They were encouraged, in the official programme, to “take your camera to dinner.

WSJ said when they returned to McMurdo they toured a nearby penguin rookery to learn the threats posed to wildlife by global warming.

“Pre-address and pre-stamp any mail you wish to send from the South Pole,” the itinerary reminded them.

The newspaper said they then flew back to Christchurch to rejoin their spouses.

The newspaper said they then flew back to Christchurch to rejoin their spouses.

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They ended their trip with a night at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, the Wall Street Journal reported

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A Labour Party official is being investigated over immigration irregularities, it was reported today. .

Mr Faka’osikimuli, a former immigration consultant, did not know about the investigation.

The newspaper said it related to fake skilled employment offers to support work permit and residency applications.

Han Jian, a former client of Mr Faka’osikimuli whom he knew as James Semisi, complained to police after Immigration accused him of fraud and submitting fake employment job offer documents, and for falsely claiming he had an offer of skilled employment from TVP Computers.

He said his involvement with Labour had nothing to do with his private business.

“After paying James about $14,000, all he said was to trust him and that is what I did.

“I was shocked, because I didn’t go for any interviews and didn’t even know I had any job offer, and I definitely did not submit anything to Immigration,” Mr Han said.”

Mr Han, originally from China, who is now in New Zealand illegally, is seeking to stay here. I thought with his involvement in the Labour Party, he will have good connections with Immigration.

Application papers were submitted by Rosie Brown, JP, a community worker who works part-time out of Labour Mangere MP Su’a William Sio’s electorate office.

Vaifoou Pangataa, of TVP Computers, said he was a sole owner-operator of the company and said he did not know Mr Han and had never made job offers to anyone. He supported the Immigration investigation “to get to the bottom of the matter”.

Mr Sio said he was “surprised and shocked” at the allegations against Mr Faka’osikimuli.

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Investigators were working to reconstruct the face of one of the suspected suicide bombers from the Jakarta hotel attacks that killed nine people, including New Zealander Tim Mackay, and wounded 53.

Tim Mackay, chief executive of cement maker Holcim Indonesia was one of several executives attending a CastleAsia Group breakfast at one of the bombed hotels who died in the blast.

The blasts left some bodies so badly mutilated they were difficult to identify and two decapitated corpses were believed by police to belong to the suicide bombers.

TheJW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton were popular with foreign business executives and diplomats and considered to be among the most secure buildings in the capital. We will ask witnesses and receptionists, is it him?” police spokesperson Nanan Soekarna told a news conference. . A third bomb was found and defused in a laptop computer bag in room 1808.

Police said the bombers had checked in to the Marriott as paying guests on Wednesday and had assembled the bombs in their room.

“Of course they are from the same school as Jemaah Islamiah,” he said.

Soekarna said the attacks bore the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the radical militant Islamist group responsible for a string of deadly attacks in Jakarta and on the resort island of Bali that seemed to end in 2005.

IDENTITIES NOT KNOWN

Speculation over the identity of the bombers has been rife and some newspapers have put forward a name for one and suggested one could be a woman, but police said that it did not know their identity and that they believed the bombers were men.

“The method, the equipment used is the same as both bombs in Bali and the one found in Cilacap,” he added, referring to the Bali attacks in 2002 and 2005, and bomb equipment police recently found during raids in Cilacap, Central Java.

Police also said they had no evidence that the bombers had used a staff tunnel connecting the adjacent US-owned hotels.

“We don’t know the names of any of the bombers,” said another police spokesperson, Sulistyo Ishak.

Mbai was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara that the government was stepping up efforts to find Noordin Top, who has been linked to a string of attacks, as a priority.

Ansyaad Mbai, head of the anti-terrorism desk at Indonesia’s security ministry, said the attacks may be linked to a fugitive Malaysian-born militant Noordin Top, who is believed to have broken away from JI to form a more radical wing.

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Clayton Weatherston has described the “crunching sound” he felt as he cut through Sophie Elliott’s throat with a pair of scissors.

Weatherston, 33, admits stabbing his ex-girlfriend Elliott, 22, more than 200 times at her Dunedin home on January 9 last year.

Weatherstongave evidence under cross-examination from the Crown, having explained his recollection of January 9 last year, the day he killed Elliott.

But he denies he murdered Elliott, saying he was provoked so the proper charge should be manslaughter. .

“The most vivid memory I have after that is standing or kneeling over her with a pair of scissors… . I could feel a crunching sound as it pressed against her spine,” Weatherston said.

This afternoon, he has told the jury Elliott came at him with a pair of scissors, sparking his attack, which he says he cannot recall. He has pleaded not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

“She wasn’t happy about that topic being raised and said that she wasn’t a slut and she had known that guy a couple of days,” he said.

Weatherston said the incident was sparked when he raised Elliott’s infidelity on a holiday in Australia. She didn’t react very well to that,” Weatherston said.

“What I said to her is ‘I’m not going to ask but I feel entitled to know, did you use protection during your tryst because I don’t want to give [suppressed] an STD’.”

Weatherston said he had picked up his bag and put it on his shoulder to leave just before Elliott came at him.

“And, um, yeah, ah, the next words I heard from her, that I can understand, were f— you Clayton.

“This happened very quickly, I remember trying to block her and I remember her hitting me around the face with her other hand.

“From what I recall, I just recall her coming at me with a pair of scissors on my left side,” Weatherston said.

“I was just scared shitless and hyped and was very scared. But for me, my reaction to that was not good,” he said.”

Weatherston said he remembered reaching up and grabbing Elliott around her neck. I didn’t know where the scissors were.

“Well, I remember feeling a huge stress, anxiety and I remember pushing forward.

“Well, I remember feeling a huge stress, anxiety and I remember pushing forward. I have memories of being very disorientated, of falling on top of her,” he said.

“I just remember a lot of noise and pushing forward in to her to push her away.”

Weatherston said he was extremely concerned that someone was going to stand on his glasses.

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Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has heralded a foreshore and seabed review as a landmark day in which ”the conflicts and divisions of the last five years can at long last be rectified”.

The 150-page report issued today recommends the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act, which enshrined Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed, be repealed.

Mrs Turia said the report recognised that the Act was ”indeed built on shaky foundations” and must be repealed..

”[It] talks about a nation divided and it concludes the Foreshore and Seabed Act severely discriminated against Maori, took away our right to go to court, drew on legal tests developed in other jurisdictions foreign to our own country and was . simply wrong..”

It also concluded the 2004 Act, passed by the former Labour government, had caused ”much anguish and concern to Maori”. The Act has to be the single biggest land nationalisation statute enacted in New Zealand history,” Mrs Turia said.

”Those words are the voice of reason the Maori Party has been waiting five long years to hear.

”This is a unifying document.

The reports findings had caused ”a very emotional day” for she and her Maori Party colleagues.

It made up for being called ”haters and wreckers” by the likes of former prime minister Helen Clark.”

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said the report contained some strong language, which was ”only right”.

”When we came in [to Parliament] people said we had no chance of getting to this position here so we’re excited.

”When we came in [to Parliament] people said we had no chance of getting to this position here so we’re excited. While the government is yet to announce its position on the review, repeal of the Act seems almost certain. A review of the Act was written into its deal to go into government with National.

It recommended Government recognise that Maori with traditional interests in the coastal area have some form of customary title to it and the public have an interest in access and navigation.

WHAT’S IN THE REPORT

The report said the law failed to recognise Maori property rights as recognised by the courts and advanced the general interests of the public at the expense of Maori.

It proposed the Government start with a new interim law that would repeal the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The panel sets out a number of possible options to achieve its recommendations including:

* Negotiated settlements within iwi and hapu;

* Allow the courts to settle title issues; and

* A mixed model of negotiated settlements at a regional and national level.

”Both must be respected and provided within the limits necessary to accommodate the other,” the report said.

This should recognise some Maori have customary rights to some coastal areas and the public have rights of use and enjoyment.