Two a penny

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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.

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Spied on since she was 10

By MARTIN VAN BEYNEN – Thursday, 29 January 2009

/The
I SPY: Activist Marie Leadbeater, 63, discovered that she has had her own SIS file since was 10-years-old.

You are never too young to be regarded as a potential subversive, a Security Intelligence Service file shows.
Maire Leadbeater, now 63 and a long-time activist on peace issues, was an early target because of her Christchurch parents, Elsie and Jack Locke, who were prominent members of the New Zealand Communist Party and community activists.
One of Leadbeater's siblings is Green MP Keith Locke, a former Trotskyist and member of the Socialist Action League who has also received his SIS file.
Elsie Locke left the Communist Party in 1956 when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary, but her husband stayed.
The next item refers to her membership of a junior drama group that the file says was connected with the William Morris (a Fabian socialist) Group, regarded by the SIS as a front for the Communist Party.
Leadbeater's file, which she received late last year, begins when she was 10, with a note that she delivered the Communist Party newspaper, the People's Voice, to the mother of twins in Bangor St, in central Christchurch. Elsie Locke performed in the group. "They lost me for about 13 years," she said.
The file continues to track Leadbeater's life, although the SIS lost track of her when she married and took her husband's name.
"I find that the hardest to accept," Leadbeater said.
Her file, like most of the others released, contains material from private meetings.
"It's pretty shocking really. "That small groups of people gathering together in private homes and offices should have someone planted in the meetings. It's potentially very bad for democracy because it makes people anxious about involving themselves in free discussion of ideas and has a big impact on trust if you have to think to yourself `one of us could be a source'. It's potentially very bad for democracy because it makes people anxious about involving themselves in free discussion of ideas and has a big impact on trust if you have to think to yourself `one of us could be a source'.
“It's all wrong anyway,'' Leadbeater said.
Her file contained references to the state of her parents' marriage, which the SIS thought would be strained by Elsie's departure from the party. . “It's unpleasant, inaccurate speculation about highly personal family issues.
"Does this mean that snooping is less or done in a different way?'' she said.
Leadbeater's activities on behalf of the Fiji Coalition for Democracy, the anti-bases campaigns and the Ahmed Zaoui campaign are not mentioned in the file. He had yet to view his file and was not prepared to comment.
Keith Locke confirmed he had received his own file, which was thick, and his mother's biographer was in possession of his mother's file.
He was not sure the SIS kept a file on him, but said he would feel a bit insulted if it did not.
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, who was once prominent in a number of radical movements, said he would be travelling to Wellington to uplift his file as part of a TV3 news programme. I suspect they would have got a lot more detail if they had just read my book Bullshit and Jellybeans,'' he said. I suspect they would have got a lot more detail if they had just read my book Bullshit and Jellybeans,'' he said.
Shadbolt said he had led at least five radical organisations, including the Radical Students Association and Auckland University Students for the Prevention of Cruelty to Politically Apathetic Humans.
"If they figured out what [the latter organisation] was about, then good luck to them because we never could,'' he said.

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Family wins second Madagascar trip

The Thursday, 22 January 2009

PATRICK HAMILTON/
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES: Chrystiana, 8, and Chase, 5, Wright are old enough this time to accompany parents David and Shelley after the family won a trip to South Africa for the second time in a Madagascar movie promotion.

The lucky dip gods might soon start examining twice at a Stoke family. They will soon pack their bags for a second trip to South Africa as winners once more of a national competition run in conjunction with the launch of a movie.
The Wright family has won national competition draws more times than the odds would normally allow.
Last week, they learned they had won again, after entering a competition to promote the sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Four years ago, their names were drawn from the barrel of entrants in a nationwide competition run through the TV Guide to promote the animated movie Madagascar. The family then sent in a couple of entries, tempted by the smaller prizes available, Shelley Wright said.
The competition involved counting the number of times the logo of the movie's character Alex the Lion featured during a recent television screening of Madagascar."
Last week they got a call from the movie's distribution company, Paramount Productions, announcing them as winners.
"I thought it would be a waste of time entering, but they had such great runner-up prizes, and the kids love the movie.
Paramount Productions spokesperson Matt Andree Wiltens said the competition, run with TVNZ (TV2) and the TV Guide, had a great response, with thousands of entries.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to win again," said her husband, David Wright, operations manager at the Nelson City Council. I know they put in more than one entry to the competition, and I guess it goes to prove the adage that you've got to be in to win.
"The Wright family were the lucky winners drawn out of the barrel.
He said that while there were many memorable highlights from their first trip to South Africa, sharing a picnic with other winners from around the world, who were then gatecrashed by a mob of 20-30 hungry baboons, stood out."
The Wrights' two children, Chrystiana, 8, and Chace, 5, were too young to travel the first time, so the second opportunity was a rare blessing, Mr Wright said. They attacked the van, and the authentic African barbecue we were having.
"They came charging over the sand dunes. . One baboon grabbed the bag of an Irish lady, but she held on and screamed loudest and the baboon let go," Mr Wright said. I had four because no one else was eating anything," Mr Wright said.
"That day we went to an ostrich farm and got offered steaks for lunch. The couple also won their honeymoon to Sydney in 1995, and then a competition in December 1999 to meet American actor and comedian Robin Williams while he was in Auckland promoting his movie Bicentennial Man.
Mrs Wright has the lucky hand and regularly enters competitions.
The family plans to take up their latest prize during the April school holidays.
The family plans to take up their latest prize during the April school holidays.

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Fox Glacier ice collapse recovery postponed

Melbourne brothers named

Friday, 09 January 2009

BROTHERS: Ashish Miranda, 24, and Akshay Miranda, 22, of Melbourne, at World Youth Day in Sydney last year.

Photo 1 of 3

DOC/Supplied
ICE FALL: Two tourists lost their lives when they were buried by falling ice at the face of Fox Glacier.
Ashish Miranda, 24, and Akshay Miranda, 22, of Melbourne, were crushed by ice after crossing safety barriers at the terminal face to take photos around 4.

Photo 2 of 3

FOX GLACIER

Photo 3 of 3

LATEST: The recovery of the body of one of two Australian brothers crushed by falling ice on Fox Glacier yesterday has been postponed because it is too dangerous, police say.
The body ofAshish Miranda, an aerospace engineer for Boeing, was recovered last night while the body of his brother Askhay – presumed dead – is thought to be right at the bottom of the ice shelf, an area believed to be exceedingly dangerous.20pm yesterday. Some piecesof the ice werethe size of large vehicles.
More than 100 tonnes of ice was believed to have fallen on the men.
"We are pretty certain we know where he is and a decision will be made on whether we try and get him out.
Constable Paul Gurney, of Franz Josef police station,said the search was continuing today and had been narrowed down to a specific area where searchers thought the body of Akshay Miranda had fallen… . There is a possibility that he will be left there," he said.
The body of Ashish Miranda was found buried beneath the fallen ice around 10 to 15metres away from the ice face.
"The guys took a risk yesterday getting the other man out and this guy will be even more at risk," he said. The rain is not expected to ease until later tonight.
The recovery attempt is set to be hindered by heavy rain as the Metservice have issued a severe weather warning for the South-Westland area.
The parents were in the Fox Glacier township, Constable Tony LeSueur, of Hokitika, said.
TRAGEDY ON FAMILY HOLIDAY
Thetwo men were the only children of their parents who they lived with in Melbourne.
The brothers attended World Youth Day in Sydney in last year, with the younger brother Akshay describing it as "the most kick ass week ever'' on his Facebook profile.
The family was due to fly back to Australia on Sunday morning.
He was an engineering student at Monash University, due to finish his studies this year.
The profile also revealed Akshay as a football fan who proudly celebrated his Indian heritage.
According to Indian website Daijiworld Media Network, the family had migrated to Melbourne from Indian city Mangalore.
According to Indian website Daijiworld Media Network, the family had migrated to Melbourne from Indian city Mangalore.
The boys parents, Ronnie and Winnie Miranda, were original from Mumbai, it said.
Tributes to Ashish were already being posted on his Facebook page.
"Rest in peace, Akshay,'' wrote Elise Aycardo. "You'll be forever missed, forever loved, and always, forever, in our hearts. I'm sorry … And my thoughts and prayers are with your family.''
John Oddo wrote: "You were such a great man and such a valuable friend. I will really really miss you and I know you're making fun of me right now from up there but I love you and thanks for putting up with me.''
An aunt of the brothers told Daijiworld the family was still praying Akshay, whose body has not been recovered, would be found alive.
On Sunday, Akshay proudly boasted on Facebook that he had completed a 134-metre bungee jump.
GLACIER RISKS
Conservation Minister Tim Groser said it was a "tragedy of almost unimaginable proportions (for the parents) to lose both sons in one tragedy".
Mr Groser was at Fox Glacier but was staying out of the way of the operational staff conducting the search.
"There are extensive safety procedures in place, these are reviewed annually, there's also been independent assessment of these procedures.
"We're dealing with a situation that is a highly dangerous and dynamic natural environment involving rock, ice and rivers."
The procedures were last reviewed in August last year.
He said the facts of the latest incident would be reviewed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), police and probably the coroner.
There will always be risk, but also "some responsibility on the part of these individuals who go into these areas".
In 2007, DOC said almost a third of the 600,000 visitors to the West Coast glaciers ignored warning signs and entered danger zones.
In February that year, a tourist standing beside an ice cave at the terminal face of the Franz Josef Glacier was injured when the roof collapsed.
He had walked past signs warning of the danger of falling ice.
– With Michael Fox, , Arjun Ramachandran

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Holiday traffic at a crawl

Saturday, 27 December 2008

Heavy holiday traffic was causing problems throughout the North Island today and police were urging caution.
Drivers heading to destinations in the Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Coromandel regions were warned to expect long delays in traditional bottleneck areas such as the Kopu Bridge at Thames, where there is a 10km tailback, and the Northern Motorway at Orewa.
Policeare urging motoristsheading to Waikato and Coromandel to use the alternative route of State Highway 2 towards Paeroa and then turn into Hubbard Road, then left into State Highway 26.
Traffic on Auckland's Northern Motorway was at a crawl.
Thoseheading to the Northland region the alternative route of State Highway 16 is available.
Motorists simply had to display tolerance, said Inspector Ken Climo, of police central communications.
Further south on the Kapiti Coast there were traffic delays both north and south bound on State Highway One between Waikanae and Otaki.
"Police are starting to receive information about a number of incidents involving poor driving, like tailgating, silly overtaking and cutting other traffic off at the end of passing lanes," he said."
Mr Climo said traffic was also starting to build on the Desert Road, both north and south bound.
"Please take care and live to enjoy another Christmas.
Mr Climo said there would be extensive delays for traffic travelling north through the area, and contractors were working to ensure delays are kept as short as possible. .
"Motorists who must travel to the Hutt Valley may consider using State Highway One, then State Highway 58 (Haywards) as a means of getting into the Hutt Valley.
"This remedial work will be on going over the next three days and contractors will be working up until 7pm hours daily," he said."

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Edgeware inquiry backs police action

By CLIO FRANCIS – Thursday, 18 December 2008

POLICE PRAISED: The actions of police who attempted to control the party at which Hannah Rossiter and Jane Young died last year has been praised by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. Lipine Sila is in prison for their murders.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) review has found no fault in the police response to the Edgeware Road party in Christchurch at which two schoolgirls were killed.
Lipine Sila was sentenced to 17 years in jail for their deaths in June this year.
Hannah Rossiter and Jane Young, both 16, died from injuries they suffered when a car was driven into them at the out-of-control party on May 5 last year.
"There was no relationship between those actions and the timing of the police decision to close down the party.
Justice Goddard, who led the IPCA inquiry, said police could not have predicted Mr Sila's actions. .
"No doubt the release of the IPCA report will bring back all the emotions and memories for those involved, including police and emergency services staff who were involved in the aftermath of this incident," he said
He said his heart went out to all those involved and their families.
Canterbury District Commander Dave Cliff said nothing could ever bring back the two young women or change the life long consequences suffered by some of those injured."
He said the report has gone further to commend the conduct of two Sergeants.
"For my staff involved and the Canterbury Police District, this independent report has validated the approach taken.

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Vandals stall help for cancer battler

By – Wednesday, 03 December 2008

David Hallett
SETBACK: Darren Anderson, left, and Placemakers operations manager Brent Stanley-Joblin look over damage to the charity home.

A charity home being built for a Christchurch brain-tumour sufferer has been rendered "a bomb site" by vandals.
The damage will delay the construction and auction of the Hillmorton house by three or four weeks.
Organisers hope to generate $200,000 from its sale for Darren Anderson, who has resorted to expensive treatment in his battle with a brain tumour.
His colleagues have created the Build for a Life charitable trust, from which Anderson will be the first to benefit. .
The portable toilet had been pushed over and there were cuts in the timber framing and nails scattered around.
Project manager Alastair Christie said the vandals, who attacked the house in a Ngai Tahu Property development, Linden Grove, during the weekend, had damaged most of the pre-lining board and the fence. There doesn't seem to have been an objective other than total destruction," Christie said. "It's so mindless. It almost destroys your faith in human nature. "To have this happen after so much open generosity has just set us back like you don't believe.
Christie said it was unlikely the home would be ready for auction before March."
Construction has been under way for seven weeks, with about 50 people offering labour and materials.
He went overseas after Christchurch oncologists gave him five years to live in February.
Anderson, who was married last year and has a six-month-old son, has a hefty medical bill to pay after consulting United States cancer specialists. It's just not good enough.
"I'm too young for this.
US specialists from Duke University Hospital prescribed Anderson a strong course of chemotherapy that is not government-funded in New Zealand.
"I'm not accepting it," Anderson said of his reaction to the news.
The money raised by the Linden Grove house will go towards the cost of this treatment, thought to be about $200,000.
He is about to start the fifth of 12 sessions, with initial results suggesting the tumour has slowly shrunk.
"Even if it was young lads that did it for the hell of it, it's still a really mindless thing to do, especially when there's a big sign out the front saying `charitable trust'," he said.
Anderson, who is working part-time at Placemakers, said the vandalism was horrible.

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Info sought on stolen items after attack on schoolgirl

– Monday, 17 November 2008

STOLEN: Police are seeking information on a backpack and a cellphone stolen from a schoolgirl after she was attacking by a man posing as a truancy officer.

Police have released pictures of items stolenfrom a schoolgirl sexually assaulted by a man posing as a truancy officer in Auckland last week.
A well-dressed man pulled up alongside the 15-year-old school girl as she walked home along Hobsonville Rd between 12.
The man, who posed as a truancy officer, invited the girl into his car so he could check she was not wagging school. .
The schoolgirl was on study leave and had been heading towards her West Harbour home to prepare for exams, which start this week. He then drove her home in his white station wagon, which had a tidy grey interior, and then assaulted her as soon as he got in the door.
Police today released pictures of a backpack and cellphone stolen from the student "in the hope members of the public may have seen them", Detective Sergeant Steve Salton from Henderson CIB said.
"We hope someone will be able to tell us where these two items are.
"We've received a lot of good information from the public," he said.
The alleged attacker is described as a short, stocky Maori or Polynesian man in his early 40s.
"They are of considerable importance to our ongoing enquiries," Mr Salton said.

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Court told of sexual attack on six-year-old

Tuesday, 04 November 2008

Achance encounter and quick thinking by a community patroller resulted in a man being arrested and charged with sexually molesting a six-year-old girl, a court has been told.
Richard Miller, 46, appeared in the High Court at Napier yesterday accused of sexual offences against two girls.
The unemployed Napier man faces one charge related to the six-year-old. Five further charges relate to sexual offences, including two of rape, against a 10-year-old girl in 1990. The jury will need to decide between alternate charges of attempted rape or committing an indecent act. He noticed a car near the yard with a man in its passenger's seat moving in a manner that suggested a sexual activity.
Crown prosecutor Clayton Walker told jurors that volunteer community patroller Brooke Ibbotson was returning a patrol car to its parking yard in Nelson Park at the end of his shift on the afternoon of September 19 last year.
As Mr Ibbotson drove away from the yard, he decided to return "as it was a strange time and place to be doing what he was doing", Mr Walker said. In its passenger seat was a young girl.
On driving back into the park, he saw the car approach him.
Mr Ibbotson followed the car out of the park and through several streets to an address in Onekawa, where the girl got out.
"You can imagine the horror," Mr Walker said. .
He waited in order to get a better look at the driver. Mr Ibbotson contacted police, who spoke to the girl and arrested Miller that day. Mr Ibbotson contacted police, who spoke to the girl and arrested Miller that day.
He does not dispute talking to Mr Ibbotson in Onekawa, but denies the girl's allegations and claims he took her straight home from school without going into the park.
Miller was a friend of the girl's mother and often took the girl to and from school.
The girl is one of 13 witnesses being called by the Crown.
Mr Walker said jurors would hear from ESR scientists who would say dna found on the girl's underwear was 44 times more likely to be Miller's than anyone else's. Another witness is the woman, now 29, who alleges Miller sexually assaulted her in 1990 when he was her babysitter. She will give evidence over closed-circuit television from another courtroom.

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Chat via hologram could be household reality

By KRIS HALL Wednesday, 17 September 2008

CHRIS GORMAN/
MIND BOGGLING: Live chat via hologram is a step closer to being a household reality. Auckland comedian Jeremy Corbett has a chat with Aussie celebrity Rove McManus – or at least his hologram, beamed across the Tasman.
In what TelstraClear says is a national first, a walking, talking image of Australian chat show host Rove McManus was beamed across the Tasman yesterday to appear live on stage at Auckland's Vector Arena.

Forgetconference calls or video crosses – beaming your hologram for a live chat is a step closer to becoming a household reality.
It was all rather mind-boggling for the 500-plus business leaders invited to see what the company's Next IP network could do.
There "Rove" joked with Auckland comic Jeremy Corbett and TelstraClear chief executive Allan Freeth, before making way for musician Che Fu, who performed alongside a pre-recorded hologram of himself. "Next IP is about very fast, very capable networks .
"IP network, that just means fibres and computers instead of coppers and switches," Dr Freeth said… Imagine every second of every game played – Next IP can transport that from Auckland to Sydney in under 75 seconds.
"Take the Bledisloe Cup.4 billion, the IP, or Internet protocol, allows the company's network to stretch from Whangarei to Invercargill, as well as across the Tasman, where it meets parent company Telstra's Next IP global network, which in turn links to 35 countries."
Costing TelstraClear $1.
"It can turn what many think of as science fiction into reality.
"It opens a new frontier for business and a more productive way of using technology to bring the world to you," said Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo, who was also present in hologram form.
TelstraClear plans to roll out TelstraPresence lounges in Auckland and Wellington, where businesses separated by the length of the North Island may conduct meetings."
Though the likelihood of Kiwis using the hologram technology to chat to family members overseas is several years away, businesses will be able to tap into the technology sooner than they might think.
"It's so good you'll be able to see the beads of sweat dripping when the decision making gets a little heated," Dr Freeth said.
High-definition screens built into boardroom-like desks will give users the impression that they are sitting across the table from each other."

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"It's not quite holograms – we're not quite there yet – but it's not too far away