TV Review: Downton Abbey – Season 2, Episode 7 | ForgeToday.com

Posted on 7th February 2012 by French News in news - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bitterness sinks deeper into her heart and she says; “butlers will be two a penny now they’re all back from the war”. The spark of light is Matthew regaining the use of his legs. The whole family delights in the doctor’s words; …

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TV Review: Downton Abbey – Season 2, Episode 7 | ForgeToday.com

Memories are Made of This: Christmas Number Ones | Crazy Vector

Posted on 16th October 2010 by German News in france,news,nz - Tags: , , , , , , ,

Songs on the party theme are far more in abundance however and are on the most part responsible for the Christmas classics that fill the yuletide compilations that are two-a-penny in the tinsel-framed retail displays these days.

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Memories are Made of This: Christmas Number Ones | Crazy Vector

Chinese tourists attacked in Northland

Posted on 21st August 2009 by French News in france,news,nz - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Three Chinese tourists who were robbed at knife point are “stunned and shocked” after being duped into thinking they were doing a good deed.

The trio were robbed at knifepoint by two men whom they had stopped to help on the side of the road in the Far North around 3.

Detective Sergeant Trevor Beatson of the Kaitaia Tactical Response Group said the tourists had been hailed by two Maori men in a maroon coloured station wagon, who claimed they were lost.30pm yesterday.

The incident occurred on a stretch of gravel road which runs through Te Paki Reserves and farm land leading to Te Paki Stream and 90 Mile Beach, from State Highway 1F.

When they stopped to help, the tourists were set upon by the men who assaulted them, produced knives and then demanded money and property.

“They had come to New Zealand fully believing it was a safe place to holiday and now their holiday and impressions of our country have been shattered. .

They were driving a maroon or dark red coloured station wagon similar to a Subaru Legacy.”

The two men were Maori, believed to be in their 20′s and described as tall with strong physical builds.

Anyone with information should call 027 223 2628.

Police hunt cat-beating burglars

Posted on 17th August 2009 by French News in france,news,nz - Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

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Police are hunting burglars who beat a cat so severely during the course of the robbery that it had to be put down.

Senior Constable Bruce Bogun said a Hamilton family returned to their Albert St home to find that not only had they been robbed, but their cat was cowering in a cupboard so severely injured the vet decided it had to be euthanised.

The cat was discovered by the family’s 10-year-old daughter, Mr Bogun said.

“The cat also suffered serious internal injuries from being kicked, my daughter is very, very upset with it having to be put down.

“It appeared to be in a lot of pain and taking it to the vet we were told it had had its tail broken in three places and had a broken pelvis,” a family member told police. .”

Mr Bogun said that being burgled was stressful enough without having to deal with blatant animal cruelty.

Police said anyone with information should contact them on (07) 858 6200.

Smail makes US PGA cut

Posted on 14th August 2009 by admin in france,news,nz - Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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New Zealand golfer David Smail was left fuming after his group was put on the clock mid round on day two of the US PGA Championship at Hazeltine in Minnesota.

Smail made it through to the opening two rounds in his maiden US PGA showing with scores of 75 and 73 for a four-over par tally and right on the halfway cut-off mark.

But while Smail was delighted with his efforts on the longest venue in Major’s history, he was far from pleased with the events that unfolded on the par five, third hole that he was playing as his 12th.

Smail’s effort makes amends after the 39-year old Hamilton player sat out the closing two rounds of this year’s US Open and British Open championships.

“I had hit a good drive down the middle but then my second shot then just ran off into the first cut of rough before I hit my third `fat’ that landed on the fourth tee,” he said.

Smail eventually walked away with a double bogey to drop back to four over par, but then hung on grimly to par his remaining six holes and ensure his place over the weekend.

“It was then a rules official came up to the group to say we were being put on the clock.

“I had no shot from there and managed to get it on the green.”

The player in question was 47-year old American Michael Miles, also competing in his first US PGA.

“But it’s just disturbing that a rules official should put us on the clock when one player in our group, and I am not naming names, but there was one guy in our group and he was the reason we were out of place and behind the group ahead.

Miles, who also qualified for June’s US Open, buckled under the weight of a second round 81 to miss the cut with a nine over par total.

Miles is the Assistant Professional at the Virginia Country Club course in Long Beach, California and qualified for the event after finishing tied 16th in the 2009 PGA Professional National Championship.

“But it’s just disappointing when one of your playing partners just doesn’t try to make the effort to catch up.

“We were slow and we were at least a hole behind, so we deserved to be on the clock,” Smail admitted.”

Smail went to the next tee fuming and it took the intervention of his wife, Sheree, who was walking with her husband, to defuse his anger. If he did, we wouldn’t have been on the clock, and we wouldn’t have to worry.

“But I found myself starting to rush my shots so it did take a while to settle down.

“I have always been a quick player and Sheree knows my game, and she was watching from the sidelines signalling to me to calm down,” Smail said.

Race storm over black professor’s arrest

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Henry Louis Gates Jr, the pre-eminent African-American scholar, is accusing police of racism after he was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University.

Cambridge police were called to the home on Thursday afternoon (local time) after a woman reported seeing a man “wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open,” according to a police report.

An officer ordered the man to identify himself, and Gates refused, according to the report.”

Officers said they tried to calm down the 58-year-old academic, who responded, “You don’t know who you’re messing with,” according to the police report. Gates began calling the officer a racist and said repeatedly, “This is what happens to black men in America. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious “university professors” positions at the school.

Gates is the director of Harvard University’s WEB Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and served for 15 years as chairman of what is now the Department of African and African American Research.

He also was host of African American Lives, a PBS show about the family histories of prominent US blacks.

Gates was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he “exhibited loud and tumultuous behaviour”. Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential Americans in 1997.

Gates referred comment to his lawyer, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, who was not immediately available. . The woman who reported Gates did not return a message on Monday. Cambridge police declined to comment, and the Middlesex district attorney’s office said it could not do so until after Gates’ arraignment.

Many of Gates’ African-American colleagues believe his arrest is part of a pattern of racial profiling in Cambridge, said Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years.

Many of Gates’ African-American colleagues believe his arrest is part of a pattern of racial profiling in Cambridge, said Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years.

“We do not believe that this arrest would have happened if professor Gates was white,” Counter said. They threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.”

Counter said he spoke to Gates, who told him police continued to question him after he showed them his licence and Harvard identification. “It really has been very unsettling for African-Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge that this happened.

Visa scam-accused arrested

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Police found 5000 unissued hapu membership certificates and $40,000 in cash when they searched properties connected to Gerard Otimi, the man behind a scheme in which fake passports and visas were allegedly sold to overstayers.

Police also found certificates in people’s names, but were unable to say tonight how many.

Otimi was arrested today and will appear in Manukau District Court tomorrow on three charges of deception.

Under the scheme, people paid up to $500 for residency papers issued in the name of a Maori hapu.

Detective Inspector John Tims from Counties Manukau police said further charges could follow.

Mr Tims said three properties associated with Otimi were searched by police today. Overstayers, mainly from the Pacific Islands, were allegedly told the documents meant they could stay in New Zealand under the hapu’s protection. .

Police wanted to hear from anyone who had dealings with Otimi. He was unable to say how many signed certificates were found.

A colleague, Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Pizzini, said Otimi had been cooperative in his dealings with police.

“There are other people out there, who have given money or attempted to give money to Mr Otimi, and we would like to hear from those people,” he told Radio NZ.

The Immigration Advisers Authority said today it was investigating whether Otimi was giving immigration advice without a licence.

“He is very passionate and he believes in his cause,” Mr Pizzini said.

All immigration advisers need to be issued a licence to operate and those without one could be fined up to $100,000 and/or imprisoned for seven years.

All immigration advisers need to be issued a licence to operate and those without one could be fined up to $100,000 and/or imprisoned for seven years.

Licensed advisers were required to meet competency standards, participate in continuing professional development programmes and comply with a code of conduct. We are cooperating with the police who are leading the investigation,” the authority said.

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ANC wins big in South Africa

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South Africa’s ruling ANC has won a sweeping election victory and party leader Jacob Zuma pledged that as president he would work with unions and business to ensure stability amid global turmoil.

“There will be no surprises in the next administration’s programme of action,” Zuma said in a victory speech.

“The electorate has endorsed our call for an equitable, sustainable and inclusive growth path that will bring decent work and sustainable livelihoods,” Zuma, who is due to be sworn in as president on May 9, said.9 percent of the vote, a big victory but just short of the two-thirds needed to ensure a parliamentary majority big enough to make constitutional changes unchallenged.

Official results of Wednesday’s election gave Zuma’s African National Congress 65. Despite some market concerns over whether the ANC would get the two-thirds majority, the party repeatedly has stressed it has no intention of changing the constitution.

The margin that would let the ANC change the constitution is largely symbolic.

Although a newly formed party of ANC dissidents failed to make a dramatic impact, the ruling party has seen its share of the vote fall for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Political analyst Steven Friedman said the result meant the ANC now had to worry more about the opposition than it had since the party took power 15 years ago. It won close toly 70 percent in 2004.

“The ANC has to worry more about the opposition now than it has had to do since democracy.

“The effect of them not getting the two-thirds, despite the euphoria, really underlines that there has been a drop in the ANC vote,” he said.

RECESSION THREAT

But Zuma has done all he can to emphasise that there will be no dramatic change, particularly as South Africa faces its first recession in 17 years as a result of the global financial crisis and cannot afford to discourage investment.”

Financial markets wary of a policy shift to the left under a Zuma presidency may welcome a limit on the party’s power. .

In his speech, he addressed both business interests and the leftist allies who helped his rise to power during eight years of struggling against corruption charges, which were dismissed early this month on a technicality.

Zuma, who said he was not disappointed that the ANC did not achieve a two-thirds majority, also called on South Africans to get over the divisions of the past. We will work with all stakeholders, especially business and labour, to find ways to prevent and cushion our people against job losses and other difficulties that may arise,” he said. We must enter a period in which South Africa reclaims its position and image as a thriving nation, which can overcome all its difficulties, and which is able to put the country first above sectional and party political interests.

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“It is now time to put it all behind us.

The Independent Electoral Commission said the ANC will be allocated 264 seats in South Africa’s 400-seat parliament after it won 11.”

He said South Africa will continue with its efforts to find lasting solutions for political stability in neighbouring Zimbabwe and other flashpoints in Africa.68 million valid votes cast in the April 22 election.65 million votes out of 17.

Zille’s DA was the ANC’s closest rival with 16.

The ANC also lost control of the Western Cape province, centre of the tourist industry, to the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Helen Zille, a white woman. The Congress of the People (COPE), formed by politicians who broke from the ruling party, stood at 7. The Congress of the People (COPE), formed by politicians who broke from the ruling party, stood at 7.42 percent. The DA will get 67 seats in parliament and COPE 30.

Inkatha Freedom Party support waned to 4.56 percent, giving it 18 parliamentary seats, of the vote from 6.97 percent in 2004. The ANC also made inroads into the IFP’s traditional support base in KwaZulu-Natal province, home to South Africa’s Zulus — the biggest tribal group, of which Zuma is a member.

Electoral officials said the turnout was 77.3 percent, a little higher than in 2004.

The rand currency firmed well over 2 percent against the dollar to a new 6-1/2-month high late on Friday, aided by a strong euro and higher stocks as well as the smooth election.

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Somali pirates seize another ship

– World Homepage -

ANC wins big in South Africa

.

South Africa’s ruling ANC has won a sweeping election victory and party leader Jacob Zuma pledged that as president he would work with unions and business to ensure stability amid global turmoil.

“There will be no surprises in the next administration’s programme of action,” Zuma said in a victory speech.

“The electorate has endorsed our call for an equitable, sustainable and inclusive growth path that will bring decent work and sustainable livelihoods,” Zuma, who is due to be sworn in as president on May 9, said.9 percent of the vote, a big victory but just short of the two-thirds needed to ensure a parliamentary majority big enough to make constitutional changes unchallenged.

Official results of Wednesday’s election gave Zuma’s African National Congress 65. Despite some market concerns over whether the ANC would get the two-thirds majority, the party repeatedly has stressed it has no intention of changing the constitution.

The margin that would let the ANC change the constitution is largely symbolic.

Although a newly formed party of ANC dissidents failed to make a dramatic impact, the ruling party has seen its share of the vote fall for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Political analyst Steven Friedman said the result meant the ANC now had to worry more about the opposition than it had since the party took power 15 years ago. It won close toly 70 percent in 2004.

“The ANC has to worry more about the opposition now than it has had to do since democracy.

“The effect of them not getting the two-thirds, despite the euphoria, really underlines that there has been a drop in the ANC vote,” he said.

RECESSION THREAT

But Zuma has done all he can to emphasise that there will be no dramatic change, particularly as South Africa faces its first recession in 17 years as a result of the global financial crisis and cannot afford to discourage investment.”

Financial markets wary of a policy shift to the left under a Zuma presidency may welcome a limit on the party’s power. .

In his speech, he addressed both business interests and the leftist allies who helped his rise to power during eight years of struggling against corruption charges, which were dismissed early this month on a technicality.

Zuma, who said he was not disappointed that the ANC did not achieve a two-thirds majority, also called on South Africans to get over the divisions of the past. We will work with all stakeholders, especially business and labour, to find ways to prevent and cushion our people against job losses and other difficulties that may arise,” he said. We must enter a period in which South Africa reclaims its position and image as a thriving nation, which can overcome all its difficulties, and which is able to put the country first above sectional and party political interests.

Ad Feedback –>
loadAd(’300×250′,’STORYBODY’,300,250);

“It is now time to put it all behind us.

The Independent Electoral Commission said the ANC will be allocated 264 seats in South Africa’s 400-seat parliament after it won 11.”

He said South Africa will continue with its efforts to find lasting solutions for political stability in neighbouring Zimbabwe and other flashpoints in Africa.68 million valid votes cast in the April 22 election.65 million votes out of 17.

Zille’s DA was the ANC’s closest rival with 16.

The ANC also lost control of the Western Cape province, centre of the tourist industry, to the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Helen Zille, a white woman. The Congress of the People (COPE), formed by politicians who broke from the ruling party, stood at 7. The Congress of the People (COPE), formed by politicians who broke from the ruling party, stood at 7.42 percent. The DA will get 67 seats in parliament and COPE 30.

Inkatha Freedom Party support waned to 4.56 percent, giving it 18 parliamentary seats, of the vote from 6.97 percent in 2004. The ANC also made inroads into the IFP’s traditional support base in KwaZulu-Natal province, home to South Africa’s Zulus — the biggest tribal group, of which Zuma is a member.

Electoral officials said the turnout was 77.3 percent, a little higher than in 2004.

The rand currency firmed well over 2 percent against the dollar to a new 6-1/2-month high late on Friday, aided by a strong euro and higher stocks as well as the smooth election.

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Somali pirates seize another ship

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Dressings delay ’caused fly-blown legs’

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A Wanganui rest home resident has complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner after bandages were left on her ulcered legs so long that maggots grew in the wounds.

Christine de Roo, 50, from Marton, but now living at Wanganui’s Aubert Home of Compassion, said her dressings should be changed two to three times a week but they were left untouched for 13 days the previous month.

Ms de Roo is wheelchair-bound with multiple sclerosis and has serious kidney problems and lymphoedema.

When the bandages were finally pulled back, her legs were crawling with maggots, she told the Wanganui Chronicle.

Small cracks in her skin mean there is a high risk of infection and fluid leakage, requiring both legs to be heavily bandaged from her knees to her feet.

The lymphoedema means her legs are often swollen due to a build-up of fluid.

“I was left until March 21.

Ms de Roo said her bandages were changed on March 8 but not again for almost another two weeks. . . By then my legs had become so itchy it was painful and I was desperate to have them done. it was a Saturday afternoon.

It was “the worst kind of nightmare anyone could ever have”, she said.”

A nurse removed the bandage from one leg and discovered the maggots. They were in shock.

Ms de Roo said she would never forget the look on the faces of the nurse and caregiver.

“I never thought I’d ever be fly-blown like an old sheep. .”

She demanded a specimen jar to scrape the maggots into. There were dozens of them – it was revolting. .

“I told her if she didn’t get me one I would scrape them into a cup. and I would’ve too, believe me. . Maggots were found under them too, she said. Maggots were found under them too, she said.

Ms de Roo has complained to the Health and Disability Commissioner and is now awaiting his report.

A Ministry of Health investigation and an internal investigation are also being undertaken.

Home of Compassion nurse manager Ruth Portland told the Chronicle that she would not comment on Ms de Roo’s case until the investigations were not completed.

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