Two a penny

.European champion Spain has qualified for the 2010 World Cup with two games to spare with goals from Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata sealing a 3-0 qualifying win over Estonia in Merida.
Bosnia Herzegovina’s 1-1 earlier draw with Turkey meant Spain could book its ticket to South Africa with victory over Estonia and its did not disappoint reeling off an eighth successive win to reach the World Cup.
Spain qualifies as the winner of Group Five and will go to the World Cup as one of the favourites to land the trophy for the first time after following up its Euro 2008 triumph with a flawless qualifying campaign.
Arsenal captain Fabregas scored only his third international goal on 33 minutes to give Spain the lead and Cazorla scored late on to ensure Estonia didn’t gatecrash the World Cup party.
Italy leads Ireland by four points with two games remaining and needs only a draw in Dublin or a win at home to Cyprus next month to ensure it tops the group.
– Italians on brink –
Meanwhile defending champion Italy took a huge step towards qualifying for next year’s World Cup with a competent 2-0 Group Eight victory over Bulgaria. .
Juventus pair Fabio Grosso and Vincenzo Iaquinta, among seven team-mates who started for Italy, scored the goals that ended a run of four games without a single Italian player notching a goal.
“They showed they can play spectacular football.
“It was a great first half, two goals, many chances, we could have scored a third or fourth, I was very happy with that,” he said. We changed a few things and a few players but we couldn’t do any more. In the second half we controlled the game.
France is four points clear in second of Austria, which drew 1-1 away in Romania, whose desperate home form has cost it dearly with just two points from a possible 12 this campaign.
– France closer to safety –
Elsewhere, 2006 finalist France and Portugal looked to be on safer ground for qualifying as the French drew 1-1 away at Group Seven leader Serbia, despite playing most of the match down with 10 players – goalkeeper Hugo Lloris getting his marching orders.
Portugal may still be outside the top two but Denmark being held 1-1 in Albania and Sweden beating Malta, only thanks to an 81st minute own-goal, sees it just two points off second and five off the Danes with two games to go.
Portugal gained a much needed 1-0 victory over Hungary in Budapest with Pepe getting a goal in the ninth minute – and putting his side in even with a chance of winning Group One with two matches remaining.
Germany took care of Azerbaijan as expected with a 4-0 win – Miroslav Klose scoring a brace – while Russia was briefly drawing 1-1 with Wales before running out 3-1 winners in Cardiff to remain a point behind the Germans.
The Group Four dogfight between 2006 semi-finalists Germany and Euro 2008 semi-finalists Russia is all set for a mouth-watering, potential table-topping, decider in Moscow on October 10 after both were comfortable winners.
The Czechs won 7-0 at home to minnows San Marino but it was more memorable for the return of playmaker Tomas Rosicky after 20 months out with injury.
Slovakia looks the likeliest winners of Group Three as it won 2-0 in impressive style in Northern Ireland meaning its neighbour the Czech Republic can only hope at best for the runners-up spot.
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Armenia grabbed its first win of the campaign beating former European finalist and 1986 World Cup semi-finalist Belgium 2-1 in Yerevan in Group Five leading to the resignation of coach Frankie Vercauteren

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A man, who boasted about being “the youngest don in Christchurch”, was today committed for trial for kidnapping and beating another man.

Tasi Faitala Selini, 29, who police said represented himself as a leading figure in the criminal underworld, was remanded him in custody to a pre-trial conference in the High Court on October 2.

Selini faces 10 charges of kidnap, threatening to kill and assault using an assortment of weapons including a knife, a bar stool, a fire extinguisher, and num-chukkas.

They hung out together, getting up in the afternoons and smoking cannabis.

The alleged victim told the court today of meeting Selini through a friend and moving into his house.

The witness said he was initially impressed by Selini’s stories including him being “the youngest Don in Christchurch”.

They got on well for about a week but then the relationship deteriotated.

He thought this was a reference to “some type of high ranking gang member”.

When the deal went slower than expected the money was used on other expenses and Selini blamed his flatmate and threatened to kill him if his mother was affected. .

The witness said that on February 13 Selini accompanied him as he set off to Brighton to pick up cannabis.

She had also borrowed to provide the money.

The attack continued as they drove across Christchurch to Rolleston and flared when a person Selini was to visit proved to be out.

He said Selini had become “psycho” by then, and threatened him with nunchukkas and repeatedly punched him in the head.

Selini sat in the car making growling noises at him.

Selini sat in the car making growling noises at him.

He and Selini drove to Selini’s mother’s home in Bromley early next day.

Two people visited the house, but did not remark on his state and he said nothing to them about the continuing attack because they were Selini’s friends.

The witness said Selini then cried about it being a jail sentence and got his mother to take him to hospital. The attack continued on the way and at the house Selini stabbed him in the right leg with a knife.”

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Defence counsel Rupert Glover questioned the witness’s evidence about the timings of the travelling and the beating but he replied: “You don’t take notice of times when you have someone yelling and screaming and hitting you

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Former MP Taito Phillip Field will have to wait until next week to find out if he is guilty of criminal charges.

The jury considering Field’s guilt on 35 charges retired for the night at 4.

Justice Rodney Hansen reminded the six women and four men of the jury it was critically important not to speak to anybody else about the case over the weekend. .35pm yesterday and have been considering the case for about 11 hours.

Jurors began deliberations about 12.

He also faces 23 charges of wilfully attempting to obstruct or pervert the course of justice, alleging he tried to derail investigations into his dealings with the Thai tradesmen.

Field faces 12 charges of bribery and corruption as an MP, alleging he accepted work on his homes from Thai tradesmen in return for giving them immigration help.

Earlier in the day a group of Maori protestors occupied a foyer in the Auckland High Court where people were waiting for the verdict in the trial.

The trial before Justice Rodney Hansen is into its 15th week.

As well as protesting, they had been filming their own activities earlier today.

The 30-strong group, calling themselves the Mauri Nation State Hapu, had returned to the court earlier today after six members yesterday halted the trial briefly to protest at the ‘syntax’ of the charges laid against Field.

Police had earlier told the group they must leave the building after they ignored demands not to film and racially abused a court official. Use of cameras in the High Court is banned without permission.

The protestors are led by Tass Davis – an uncle of Maori Party MP Hone Harawira – who in June announced a planned campaign of civil disobedience targeting the homes of high-profile judges and occupying courtrooms to draw attention to the group’s bid for a Maori sovereign nation.

However it seems the group has now been allowed to stay.

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The 75-year-old former Auckland police constable said at the time that he expected between 300 and 400 Maori would be involved in the non-violent campaign

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The Auckland actor shot by police in suburban Auckland lured officers to the scene with false claims of domestic violence before advancing on attending officers with a meat cleaver and two knives.

Rob Mokaraka, 36, was shot by a police officer in Smale Street, Pt Chevalier on Monday afternoon.

Detective Superintendent Rod Drew said police telephone records had revealed the man enticed police to his home after making false reports of a violent domestic incident involving a man armed with a concealed gun.

“After some verbal interaction with police he advanced into the street and threatened police who had responded to the 111 calls, with what appeared to be a firearm wrapped in a towel.

“It is now apparent that, having given a distinctive description of the ‘angry man’ he said was armed with a concealed firearm, the man dressed himself to fit the description and waited for police to arrive,” Mr Drew said. . When he refused to stop, an officer fired one shot and the man was disarmed. He is in a stable condition and is expected to remain in hospital for a week or more.

The officer who fired the shot is expected to complete a formal interview today, as are the other officers involved with the incident. A decision regarding charges will be made in the next day or so. He has not been stood down from duty. The officer is off work while he completes the full medical and psychological de-briefing required by the Police Trauma Policy.

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The investigation continues

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Police have launched a fresh appeal for witnesses following the brutal slaying of two young women in the Porirua suburb of Titahi Bay on Friday.

The bodies of Joeline Rangimaria Edmonds, a 21-year-old mother of two, and 16-year-old Jashana Maree Robinson were found by police in house in Morere Street about 10am on Friday.

Ms Edmonds’ two children, both under the age of two, were in the house at the time the killings.

They were called by neighbours after a heavily blood-stained man was seen running around outside the property.

A 28-year-old man, who was granted name suppression, appeared in Porirua District Court yesterday morning accused of murdering the two women and breaching a protection order in respect of Ms Edmonds.

Ms Robinson had been a boarder at Ms Edmonds’ home for less than a week.

The officer-in-charge of the investigation Detective Inspector Shane Cotter said that there had been a good response from the public for help but they still needed “key information”. .

“The public may be able to add something further to what we already know, so it’s important that we speak with them.

‘We’ve received some positive responses so far but we’re still keen to hear from anyone else who may have information,’ he said.

The bodies of the two women were removed from the house yesterday afternoon as family members said a karakia.’

Mr Cotter said he was especially interested in sightings of a male carrying a baseball bat, walking between Tawa and Titahi Bay between 6am and 10am on Friday.

Post mortems were carried out yesterday but the results were not expected for several days.

Mr Cotter said police and forensic scientists were likely to be at the house for a few more days.

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Setting a trial date for a man charged with murdering Grant “Granite” Adams has been postponed for two months as he is dying.

The case for Tauranga man Brett Michael Ashby, 50, was called in the High Court at Rotorua before Justice Judith Potter yesterday when his lawyer explained he was terminally ill.
“He is terminally ill.
Lawyer Elizabeth Hall said her client was under hospice care at home and it was likely he would not survive to stand trial and asked for a two-month stand down. . . . it is a critical situation with his declining health getting worse. If he is alive [in two months] it would be something of a surprise,” she said. .
It is believed Mr Adams was a methamphetamine user with gang connections
Mr Adams’ remains were found in June 2007 in a grave dug with a digger.
Police allege Ashby, a company director, shot Mr Adams in the upper back and head with a semi-automatic pistol before dumping his body at Wairakei, close to Taupo, in December 2005.
Another Tauranga man, Craig Cullen, 44, was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention on April 23, last year, on a charge of being an accessory after the fact of murder.
Justice Potter adjourned the case to be recalled in the High Court at Rotorua on June 4, for a trial date to be set if Ashby was still alive.
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A former ESR scientist says he found blood which could have come only from Laniet or Stephen Bain on David Bain’s socks.

Peter Cropp, now an independent forensic scientist, told the High Court in Christchurch hearing murder charges against David Bain, he had tested socks taken from David Bain on June 20, 1994, the day of the murder of the Bain family.Each had blood staining on the soles and sock one had two stains visible on the sole’s edge. He had received the socks on August 4, 1994 and labelled them sock one and sock two. Blood grouping tests showed the blood was either from Laniet or Stephen Bain. The droplets had quite clear edges and the stains had soaked right through the material suggesting the blood was more likely to have dropped onto the socks than to have adhered to the sock by stepping into blood. He gave evidence yesterday of testing he carried out in 1994 of items taken from David Bain or from the Bain house.Cropp also told the court he could find no animal blood on the rifle used to shoot the Bain family.DNA tests showed all the blood spots tested on trackpants worn by Robin Bain were his own blood, the High Court was also told.The defence case is that David Bain fingerprints alleged to have been found on the rifle were placed there before the murders by a hand with animal blood on it.Two of the spots had a mix of DNA, one of which could have had a minor contribution from another Bain family member and the other had a minor contribution from someone outside the Bain family.Dr Stephen Gutowski, from the Victorian Forensic Services Centre (VFSC), said he tested the samples taken from the trackpants in 1997 and found all the samples contained Robin Bain’s DNA. His conviction was quashed by the Privy Council in 2007.Gutowski did his testing two years after David Bain’s first trial. Bain’s counsel Michael Reed has previously told the court that if blood from other members ofthe Bain family was found on Robin it would help to exonerate his client.The defence argues David Bain’s father Robin killed his wife and three children before turning his rifle on himself. He found human blood only on one part of the rifle, the sight.Nigel Hall, another scientist from the VFSC said he tested in 1997 samples taken from 13 areas of the rifle used in the killing.

During cross-examination Reed told Hentschel, who examined many items from the Bain house in 1994, that defence experts would say his lack of notes and diagrams of the examinations he carried out would be attacked as inadequate.

Retired ESR scientist Peter Hentschel today also gave evidence in the High Court trial of Bain.

Hentschel said he had relied on police officers in charge of each section of the Bain house to take notes and his recordings were of a standard used by ESR in 1994.

They would say, Reed said, that the shortcomings meant insufficient material was available for them to do proper reviews of the examinations.

Reed concentrated much of his cross-examination today on the murder weapon, a .

It would be different now, he said.

Hentschel examined the rifle in the week of the murders and said he had not made a diagram of where he saw four fingerprints because he relied on the fingerprint expert to do that.

Hentschel examined the rifle in the week of the murders and said he had not made a diagram of where he saw four fingerprints because he relied on the fingerprint expert to do that.

The Crown alleges the fingerprints were made by David Bain while the defence says the fingerprints were made by fingers covered in animal blood.

Nor had he made notes or made a diagram of where he saw smearing on the rifle which did not extend to the fingerprints, the retired scientist said.

Hentschel maintains the smearing over the rifle was “shielded” by the fingerprints.

He could not explain how tests done in 1997 found blood smearing between the fingerprints but the rifle must have been handled many times in the intervening three years, he said.

Hentschel agreed he had not made a diagram showing where he took a sample of blood from the firearm where the fingerprints were.

The sample was taken from smearing 5mm to 10mm from the fingerprints.

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Hentschel said he had not told the jury in David Bain’s trial he had taken the sample from the fingerprints themselves. .

When re-examined by Kieran Raftery for the Crown he said he found extensive smearing of blood on the butt of the rifle and its forearm.

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Almost 800 getting redundancy benefit

Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Nearly 800 families are already claiming support under a redundancy rescue package rushed through before Christmas – evidence that the recession is hurting people as the Government prepares to host a top-level jobs summit.
The package is expected to ease the financial pain for as many as 70,000 workers over two years.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said yesterday there were 771 people getting some form of assistance under the package.
Low-income workers with families can get as much as $160 a week, on top of the unemployment or domestic-purposes benefit, under the scheme, introduced to help families cope with mortgage payments and other costs after redundancy. Ms Bennett said the payments were designed to give families "breathing space".
But the payments run out after 16 weeks, and the outlook for new jobs could be bleak, as unemployment continues to rise.
Papers prepared ahead of Friday's summit paint a bleak picture saying numbers on the unemployment benefit are likely to rise to 50,000 by October up from fewer than 20,000 early last year. . The Government is fielding a big contingent of ministers, including Mr Key and Finance Minister Bill English.
Nearly 200 of the country's top business leaders have so far signed up for the jobs summit in Auckland from companies including Telecom, Air New Zealand, Foodstuffs, Fletcher Building, Lion Nathan, Icebreaker, SkyCity, Fonterra and the major banks.

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Trio building up Wellington fan base

The Monday, 09 February 2009

MAARTEN HOLL/The
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI: Terence Turner (top) and Harley Durst are watched by Tiago Miranda as they bounce around buildings in Wellington’s Civic Centre in an exhibition of the French discipline of parkour.

They run up walls, bounce off balustrades, leap across roofs and all but defy gravity.
Spiderman-like exponents of the French discipline of parkour Harley Durst, Terence Turner and Tiago Miranda ran and bounced around the architectural features in Wellington's Civic Centre on Saturday.
They were the star act in New Zealand's first national parkour meet – a showcase for a sport that combines balance, speed, agility and strength in an athletic mix of running and climbing obstacles in the quickest way possible. .
Tutoring was provided by a top Australian exponent.
Shahir Daud, the group's cameraman, said more than 50 young people interested in the sport turned up to get tips on how it was done, starting with instructions on how to jump safely as well as jumping and rolling on hard surfaces without suffering injuries.
"I've been filming them for a year and they're very safety-conscious and I've not seen one injury."
The sport, which originated in France more than a decade ago, has become popular through films such as The Bourne Identity, Casino Royale and Die Hard 4. The whole point is training the body to absorb impact and fall correctly.

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Nazi collectible sales ‘abhorrent’

By KEITH LYNCH – Saturday, 07 February 2009

The continued sale of Nazi memorabilia in New Zealand is "disgraceful", Jewish leaders say.
A search of online auction site Zillion this week found several Third Reich collectibles up for sale, including medals, pins and armbands, most adorned with swastikas.
Despite bans in many European countries, the sale of Nazi artefacts is legal in New Zealand.
"It is disgraceful when people make a profit from the sale of items that commemorate the crimes committed by others.
New Zealand Jewish Council president Stephen Goodman said the sale of the items was disgraceful, but stopped short of calling for a ban.
"In many ways, we'd like it to be made illegal, but that said, doing so might give it publicity that would only encourage certain elements. There is, of course, a balance between the freedom of choice and censorship, but profiting from the sale of these items is abhorrent."
Wellington Regional Jewish Council chairman David Zwartz said the sale of Nazi items was deeply offensive.
"After media publicity last year, the prominent auction house Dunbar Sloane changed their policy and now will not handle Nazi material.
"The publicised sale of Nazi memorabilia is offensive to Holocaust survivors and returned servicemen and women from World War II," he said.
Trade Me business manager Mike O'Donnell said the history associated with Nazism made banning the sale of the items an easy decision. . We ban items that relate to anti-semitism, extermination and racial dominance.
"Nazism is a school of thought and there is hate literature associated with it. It's a no-go area for us. It's a no-go area for us.
"That said, we support consumers' freedom and right to do as they please within the law and do not feel that it is Zillion's place to act as a moral censor.
"Firstly and most importantly, Zillion in no way endorses the Nazi regime or those who continue to espouse its rhetoric," he said.
"In the case of Zillion, we simply provide a mechanism for New Zealanders to buy and sell items that are legally tradeable in an open and efficient online auction environment," the spokesman said.
"These same objects, like wartime memorabilia from many nations, are common collector's items and can be purchased in antique and second-hand shops across New Zealand.