Two a penny

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New South Wales police say they hold “grave concerns” for a New Zealander who disappeared since last month.

Oliver Sims, 26, was last seen on September 18 at a university in Wollongong, where he worked in a function centre, NSW police said in a statement. .

Mr Sims, who lived in Wollongong, 82km south of Sydney, failed to return home after his shift and did not show up for work the next week.

“I was at home and he sent me a text message about 11pm, saying `Don’t wait up, I will be home late.

In the six weeks since he was last seen, his girlfriend of seven years, Pauline Cook, has retraced his steps, kept a constant vigil and made a public appeal for information to help find him. And that was the last I heard from him,” Ms Cook told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper. I love you’.

“I have been in contact with his family in New Zealand pretty much every day and they’re very distraught and extremely worried,” Ms Cook said.

Mr Sims, who did not have a driver’s licence, usually used public transport or got a lift home with a workmate. I’ve gone to places locally where he might be or go, and I’ve gone up to Sydney to places where we used to hang out.

“We’re all scared for his welfare and there’s not much we can do.”

Ms Cook and Mr Sims had talked of a future together that included marriage, and she said he was a “quiet and gentle kind of guy”.

“We’ve tried everything we can think of to find him.

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Family members have set up a “find Oliver Sims” Facebook group

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A senior public servant has been committed for trial facing an assault charge.

At a depositions hearing before two Justices of the Peace in Wellington District Court today, the man, whose name and occupation have been suppressed, denies the charge following an incident in central Wellington on August 29 last year.

Prosecuting lawyer Paul Dacre told the court the teenage victim had taken credit cards belonging to the defendant’s wife and withdrawn $700 from an ATM, spending $200 of that on a cellphone, cigarettes and a bag.

Once in the car he punched the victim five or six times, with one blow hitting him in the head, he said.

On finding the victim the defendant grabbed him and walked him back to his car, threatening to break his legs if he tried to run away, Mr Dacre said.

Four witnesses, including two teenagers and two shop staff from across the road, today gave varying accounts of seeing the defendant strike the victim about the upper body while the pair were in the car.

When spoken to by police the man denied the threat and punches.

Some said they witnessed just a couple of blows while another said he saw up to 10 blows with a closed fist.

What they thought were punches could have been the man trying to get the bag off the boy and lock the car doors.

The defendant’s lawyer, Mike Antunovic, questioned the witnesses’ recollections and statements about the event. .

The witnesses were spoken to by police earlier this year, up to nine months later.

The defendant will next appear in Wellington District Court on January 19 for a jury trial call over.

Mr Antunovic conceded there was a prima facie case to answer.

Arguments for continued name suppression will be heard before a District Court judge before Christmas.

Arguments for continued name suppression will be heard before a District Court judge before Christmas.

. If he was acquitted then the damage done by publicity would be irreversible

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LATEST:
Winds of up to 140kmh will batter New Zealand today and tomorrow, with heavy rain forecast for the northern part of the North Island tomorrow.

The Metservice is predicting northwesterly winds for Wellington, Wairarapa and Marlborough, rising to severe gales with rain expected tomorrow.Severe northwest gales should also hit Canterbury tomorrow afternoon and evening.In Northland, northern Taranaki, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Taupo and Taumarunui showers will increase to heavy rains tomorrow night.Otago and Southland may also experience severe northwesterly gales tomorrow morning. .The Automobile Association warned motorists travelling on State Highway 57 overnight on Sunday that 100 to 150mm of rain was expected in the Tararua Ranges.In Otago, the risk of avalanche has closed SH94 between Lower Hollyford and Milford Sound from Saturday until Sunday morning.

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An earthquake measuring 5.9 magnitude centred in Fiordland was felt widely in the lower South Island tonight, following two other quakes earlier in the evening.31pm was centred 120km west of Te Anau.

The latest tremor at 8.9, the US Geological Survey registered it at 6.

While GNS Science measured it at 5. Geologists say the measurements of quakes are often more accurate from a long distance as a result of how shock waves travel through the earth.1.

”The phones are quiet,” a police spokesman said.

Invercargill police said there were no immediate reports of any damage.8 magnitude Fiordland quake that struck on July 15.

A GNS spokesman told Radio New Zealand residents should not be concerned as the quakes were all aftershocks from the 7.

There were two earlier quakes – one measuring 5. They could be expected to continue for the next few weeks, he said. .2, 100km west of Te Anau, at 4.07pm.8, at 7.

The 5. It was centred in Fiordland, 110km west of Tuatapere.

More than 200 people had logged reports on tonight’s latest quake on the GNS website, she said.9 quake was one of the largest aftershocks recorded since that, duty seismologist Lara Bland said.

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The country’s top judge is suggesting giving some prisoners an amnesty as a way of relieving prison overcrowding, but the Government has ruled out the idea. .

“We need to look at direct tools to manage the prison population if overcrowding is not to cause significant safety and human rights issues.

Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias sparked the debate in a speech where she said the controversial idea should be considered.

“Such solutions will not please many.”

Dame Sian pointed to the system working in other countries to prevent overcrowding. . .”

She also criticised the denial of bail and parole to inmates – an area the Government is considering tightening further. but the alternatives and the cost of overcrowding need to be weighed.

Dame Sian said if attitudes in relation to bail and parole were not relaxed, then the focus would have to go on the length of prison sentences.

“I question whether that strategy can reasonably be maintained,” she said.

“Are we ready for solutions such as these?

“If not we will have to keep building prisons and diverting resources into incapacitation.

She said this could result in either shorter sentences, changes to parole and bail laws or early release amnesty. . .

Justice Minister Simon Power said inmates would not get amnesties.,” Dame Sian said.

“This is not government policy.

He also made a pointed remark about the role of the judiciary versus Parliament.”

Mr Power said the Government would “decide its own policy agenda”. The Government was elected to set sentencing policy, judges are appointed to apply it.”

SST spokesperson Garth McVicar was outraged by the idea.

Asked if that could include amnesties, he said: “I have ruled out such a move. . . . start talking about how people have choices and how they choose to commit crime or they don’t and why are so many people choosing to commit crime in this country.

“That seems to me to be a total cop out.”

Mr McVicar said already many offenders received single sentences for multiple crimes.

“Until we get back to holding people accountable for the crimes they commit then ultimately we are going to have more crimes committed.”

An amnesty would dilute the deterrent effect of prisons and was unfair to victims of crime, he said.

“It’s totally, totally corrupt.”

Kim Workman, director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment, said Dame Sian had not suggested anything unusual.

“Over half the states in the USA are currently implementing or planning to implement early release schemes for prisoners to alleviate overcrowding,” he said.

“What they now accept is that it can be done without increasing the recidivism rate or the crime rate. Internationally, there is no proven connection between the crime rate and the rate of imprisonment.”

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Interest-free loans for first-home buyers are among a second wave of job-creation measures being worked on by the Government as its job summit gets mixed reviews close toly two months on.

Documents made public under the Official Information Act show interest-free first-home-buyer loans of up to $10,000 were among proposals put up and worked on by private-sector chairs and senior Government officials in the lead-up to the jobs summit.

Many did not make it into the jobs summit “top 20″ thrashed out after a brainstorming session on February 27 involving public service and private sector bosses and Government ministers.

Others included a housing upgrade plan to fix leaky buildings, interest-free loans for home owners to improve heating and water efficiency; incentives for early retirement and paying employers a subsidy to hold on to apprentices.

Registered Master Builders chief executive Warwick Quinn said the proposals to steer more first-home buyers into building their own home were among those sent off for more work.

But many continue to be worked on by ministers, including loans to people to build their first home or renovate their existing one.

“We know there is an appetite within the [Government] to look at leaky homes .

Work was also being done on a proposal to cut delays around leaky building disputes so builders could “just get on and fix the problem”…. and we know they are examining also at trying to encourage people into their first homes . so yes, I think they’re serious about it,” Mr Quinn said..

Cabinet ministers are due to get an update on job-summit progress today but as job losses accelerate, the Government faces criticism that it is not doing enough.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson has confirmed the Government is examining at “an alternative approach” to leaky buildings, with more emphasis on “getting homes fixed”.

The extra work arising out of the summit bringing forward $216 million in school building projects and $124 million refurbishing state houses would make a difference “particularly to the `smaller builder, with the dog, the ute and apprentice’.

But Mr Quinn was positive about the outcome of the summit.”

In recent weeks there had been more inquiries to builders about work, though those inquiries were slow to convert into jobs. But whether it makes enough of a difference we have to wait and see. .

Unemployment hit 4.

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“Not a big tick there.

Council of Trade Unions economist Peter Conway said the summit’s success so far in creating jobs had been “pretty modest to say the least, when you consider all the pressures they’re putting on the public service and laying people off.

In the private sector, the flagship policy to come out of the summit the nine-day fortnight has had limited take-up.

In the private sector, the flagship policy to come out of the summit the nine-day fortnight has had limited take-up. Just two companies have signed up, saving 160 jobs. Mr Conway said he was aware of a third, while about 50 companies have begun the process.

That earned the Government “a small tick”. But there had also been talk at the summit about more support for redundant workers “we’re still waiting to see some of those initiatives roll out”.

Overall, the Government did not appear to be acting with enough urgency.

“We’re still positive about the initiatives [the Government] has looked at but we’d have to say it’s not tracking close toly as strongly as we think is required given the forecasts for rapidly rising unemployment Treasury is working on.”

But NZ Exchange chief executive Mark Weldon, handpicked by Prime Minister John Key to chair the summit, said there was intense work behind the scenes.

“It’s pretty extraordinary. Everyone wants everything done and announced yesterday. We’ve got to trust [the Government] a bit on this one.”

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For now, Ashton Kutcher is the king of Twitter. But there is a new challenger – Oprah.

Kutcher triumphed over CNN in their much ballyhooed race to be the first to reach a million followers on the microblogging website.

Speaking in a live webcast, Kutcher took the tone of a revolutionary.

Kutcher surpassed that benchmark in earlier today, narrowly edging out the breaking news feed from the Time Warner-owned network.tv shortly after passing the million mark.

“We have shown the world that the new wave is here,” Kutcher said on ustream.

“It is present and it is ready to explode.”

Kutcher had long trailed CNN, but he staged a rally in recent days that captured the attention of the web. You guys are all of it because I can’t follow me.

In recent months, the site has increased exponentially in visitors. The million mark race was taken by many as a symbol of huge upswing of Twitter’s popularity.

The site allows users to type “tweets” of 140 characters or less on their computers or cell phones, which others “follow” on Twitter like a stock ticker.

The search engine Yahoo said that searches for Twitter over the past four months increased more than 5559 percent over the same time last year.

Kutcher, who’s an avid user of the site along with wife Demi Moore, said Twitter is democratising media and removing filters between celebrities and fans, big media companies and their customers.

Kutcher, who’s an avid user of the site along with wife Demi Moore, said Twitter is democratising media and removing filters between celebrities and fans, big media companies and their customers.

CNN’s Larry King posted a video earlier in the week, playfully threatening Kutcher: “CNN will bury you!” Kutcher was to appear on King’s program Friday evening.

Sean “Diddy” Combs was among the celebrity “Twitteratti” who supported his run. Among the many new users to join was Oprah Winfrey, whose entry caused ripples across Twitter.

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King was far from the only person sucked into Twitter by the million-mark showdown.

Kutcher, CNN and Winfrey pledged to mark the occasion by purchasing mosquito bed nets to combat malaria.

She gained more than 130,000 followers in less than a day, suggesting Winfrey – so successful in television, magazines, books and other media – would thrive on yet another platform.17) to the Malaria No More Fund, the charity said. Kutcher donated US$100,000 (NZ$177,746. She also sent her first tweet. .

“OK, here goes,” she said, pressing a key.

“OK, here goes,” she said, pressing a key.

It didn’t go, actually. Winfrey’s representatives said she hit the wrong key. Her next attempt, also all in capital letters, went through: “HI TWITTERS. THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY.”

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Human jawbone riddle

Saturday, 14 February 2009

A human jawbone at Castlepoint Beach has created mystery and intrigue for the Upper Hutt family who stumbled across it. . First we thought it must be from a dog or some sort of animal but then we realised it was from a human skeleton," Mrs Ward said.
"They saw this jaw lying there in the sand. `Was it a murder? What was the story behind it?"'
The jawbone was carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed in the bach's letter box for safe keeping during the night. "We were totally shocked and then all these thoughts went through our head."
The Wards then took it to Masterton police. "There is no way I could have that in the house. A police spokesman said the jawbone was very old. It has been confirmed as human and is being tested by pathologists.

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Missing Te Papa pieces down to nine

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

/The
BACK ON DISPLAY: Visitors to Te Papa can again view Jeffrey Harris’s ‘My Lai’, after the painting was found in a warehouse in Petone. But nine other artworks are still missing.
Te Papa curators have whittled down the museum's original list of 39 missing artworks to nine pieces, documents released under the Official Information Act show.

Nine artworks remain missing from Te Papa's collection, including four by Georgian-era artists, one of whom has had paintings sell for more than $1 million overseas.3 million. The nine remaining missing works include three by British painter George Dawe (1781-1829), whose works have sold at auction for between $7500 and $1.
The artworks are not believed to have been stolen.
A portrait by Scottish-born artist Andrew Geddes (1783- 1844), whose work has reached $50,000, is also unaccounted for.
Te Papa art and collection services director Jonathan Mane-Wheoki said staff had accounted for 20 "missing" works since 2005, some of which had been incorrectly listed on its database. Their absence is probably due to cataloguing errors or because they were loaned before adequate records were kept."
Valuations of the missing works were not available, but Mr Mane-Wheoki believed the Dawes and Geddes paintings could be "quite valuable".
"The collection managers have done brilliantly by connecting the dots and being able to account for the whereabouts of the painting, or have found the document which says we never had it in the first place.
Seven artworks have been found since 2005, including two works by New Zealand artists. The other artists were less well known and therefore worth considerably less. . Jeffrey Harris's My Lai and Michael Smither's Gifts were found in a Petone warehouse 13 years after they disappeared.
"We have found other things that we didn't know were missing," Mr Mane-Wheoki said, including two sculptures by Christchurch's Russell Clark. They have a combined value of at least $250,000. Staff would try to trace the others at least one is believed to be incorrectly attributed but Te Papa did not have the resources to "turn the place upside down" for them.
Mr Mane-Wheoki said that, when the National Art Gallery was absorbed into Te Papa 15 years ago, Te Papa inherited the missing-artwork list.

WHERE ART THOU?
Thenine unaccounted for artworks are:
* The Eagle's Nest, George Dawe (oil painting)
* Bust of the Poet Coleridge, George Dawe (ink, paper)
* Meditation, George Dawe (oil painting)
* Portrait of Alexander Colquhoun, Archibald D Colquhoun (oil painting)
* Portrait of Mother and Child, Andrew Geddes (oil painting)
* The Battleship `New Zealand', F Wylie (oil painting)
* The Strayed Princess, George F Wetherbee (oil painting)
* Mt Aspiring from Matukituki River, Charles H Howorth (oil painting)
* Fields, Julius Isaacs (oil painting) Source: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

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Wellington art collector Jim Barr, who criticised Te Papa for its handling of the missing Smither and Harris paintings, said the remaining list was an acceptable size, considering the size of the national collection

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Shark warning after surfers chased

– Friday, 16 January 2009

South Island police have released a warning after a "very large shark" chased two surfers out of the water near Dunedin.
The surfers were in the water at Karitane Beach, 30 kilometres north of Dunedin, when they spotted the shark.
They left the water and reported the incident at the local store.
"So for him to bail out of the water it means that he's frightened enough obviously to get out so it's fairly serious.
Constable John Paul Tremain said it was a very large shark and one of the surfers chased out of the water was a veteran surfer in the area.
"I don't know if it's a white shark or a mako or a tiger – its lurking in the surf and in the inlet."
At this stage it was unknown what type of shark it was."
Mr Tremain said he did not think the shark could be seen from the beach..
"It's not like . Jaws where it's cruising with its dorsal out.."
Local man Allan Anderson, who owns a kayaking business in the area, said shark sightings were common and he often saw up to two a day but they were generally small and harmless. It's in the surf there and the guys have seen it in the surf and it's chased them on their boards.
It was probably just a small blue shark, grey shark or a seven-gill shark, he said.
It was probably just a small blue shark, grey shark or a seven-gill shark, he said.
"We do get a lot of them in shallows, especially when the water is dirty like this.
Mr Anderson said a seven-gill shark had attacked a young boy there a few years back, leaving him with eight stitches. .
Mr Anderson said he did not want the shark scaring people away from the beach and said there was nothing to worry about.
Mr Tremain said that it was probably not wise for people to be swimming in the area.
He would be taking his clients to another area, he said.
Hastings man Greg Sims, 49, was swimming near the Tukituki River mouth earlier this month when he was bitten on the back of his leg by what was believed to be a broadnose seven-gill shark.
The warning follows a spate of shark attacks in Australia, with three last weekend alone.

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While in December, fisherman Ken Lindberg spent five days in hospital after being bitten by a shark, believed to be a bronze whaler, while fishing with a friend off Maraetai near Auckland