Two a penny

.The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief said he had given Iran and three world powers a draft text of a deal for approval by their capitals by Friday to help allay concerns over Tehran’s nuclear program.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general Mohamed ElBaradei spoke at the conclusion on Wednesday of two-and-a-half days of tense, high-stakes talks plagued by delays, involving Iran, France, Russia and the United States at IAEA headquarters.
Diplomats said Mr ElBaradei’s draft contained the powers’ call for Iran to send some 75 per cent of its enriched uranium reserve abroad before the end of this year for conversion into fuel for a Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes.
Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.
This would reduce the high risk cited by the West of Iran, under suspicion over nuclear secrecy and restrictions on IAEA inspections, using a growing low-enriched uranium stockpile for further enrichment into material suitable for atom bombs. . Its delegation chief said the Vienna talks were constructive but did not say whether the Islamic Republic’s leadership would endorse the draft accord. The deadline for the parties to give, I hope, an affirmation action is Friday,” said Mr ElBaradei.
“Everybody is aware [this] transaction is a very important confidence-building measure that can defuse a crisis going on for a number of years, and open space for [further] negotiations” on other outstanding disputes, Mr ElBaradei said.
“I cross my fingers that by Friday we have an okay by all the parties concerned,” he said, underlining uncertainty whether Iran would come on board after it cast doubt on details of the deal it tentatively agreed to in Geneva talks on October 1.
Diplomats said a face-saving compromise had been drafted by Mr ElBaradei.
Mr ElBaradei said France was part of the deal drawn up after exhaustive consultations with the parties, despite Iranian statements saying Paris must be excluded and accusing it of reneging on past contracts to deliver nuclear materials.
Western diplomats say Tehran must ultimately curb the program to dispel fears of a growing LEU stockpile being further enriched, covertly, to produce nuclear weapons. Under this, Iran would sign a contract with Russia which would then sub-contract further work to France.
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Auckland bus drivers will decide earlier today whether to accept recommendations made by an employment facilitator to end a bitter pay dispute that has seen 80,000 commuters stranded over the last week. .The company and the coalition of four unions that make up the Auckland Combined Unions have been in facilitation with the Employment Relations Authority since the lockout to try and resolve the five month dispute.”We will take the recommendations from facilitation .Union negotiators will meet their members at 11am to discuss developments… to a meeting and will vote on whether to accept,” union spokesperson Karl Andersen said.”This is on the proviso that by 1.NZ Bus operations manager Zane Fulljames said that as a gesture of goodwill the company would lift the lock-out notice and resume all normal services, with effect from 4am on Thursday..30pm.the unions also lift their strike notice and agree to work with the facilitator to reach a ratified settlement..”We have confidence in the facilitation process, and trust that the unions will join with us to get our buses back on the roads,” Mr Fulljames said.”We have confidence in the facilitation process, and trust that the unions will join with us to get our buses back on the roads,” Mr Fulljames said.

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More New Zealand aid and specialist help has arrived in tsunami-ravaged Samoa today.

An Air Force Boeing 757 landed at the Pacific Island today carrying police dog search teams, medical personnel and a surgical team, including Samoan-speaking doctors and nurses.”We are working closely with Australian and Samoan health authorities, as well as the New Zealand Defence Force, to put people with the right mix of skills in place in a planned and managed fashion.”The timing is at the request of the Samoan authorities, so that the team will relieve some of the Australian team, and also allow local staff to take a break to be with their own families,” Health Minister Tony Ryall said.Their arrival will boost the numbers of New Zealand Defence Force personnel helping with the aftermath of Wednesday morning’s earthquake and tsunami to 99, Radio New Zealand reported.”The surgical team would take with it medical equipment and supplies requested by Samoa.HMNZS Canterbury was expected to sail from New Zealand on Tuesday with more aid and equipment.Medical and food supplies were also aboard.Yesterday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed two New Zealand children died in the tsunamis and a third was missing, presumed dead.Meanwhile, the Defence Force said a water purification system delivered on yesterday should be operational by today.”Grave concerns” were held for Matamata sisters Petria and Rebecca Martin, who were staying at Taufua Lodge resort in Lalomanu, the worst-hit area.Two adult New Zealanders had also died as walls of water swamped the island nation: Raglan woman Mary Ann White and an unidentified person, the ministry said.South Auckland woman Tauaavaga Tupuola – the 84-year-old grandmother of Kiwis rugby league star Matt Utai – was swept to her death with her granddaughter, Bula Okei, 28, and three-year-old great-granddaughter Sima, The reported.Also staying at the resort was two-year-old Auckland toddler Alfie Cunliffe, who is missing and believed to have died when he was swept out to sea as the tsunami hit.Hopes were also fading for Matamata sisters Petria and Rebecca Martin, who have been missing since Wednesday.The ministry was investigating earlier today whether Mrs Tupuola was a New Zealand passport holder, a spokesman told today. It was expected to rise further.The death toll stands at 189 – 149 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga.He has since returned to New Zealand, but has promised the nation more aid to help in the disaster’s aftermath.Prime Minister John Key arrived in Samoa yesterday to see firsthand the devastation wreaked by the tsunamis. The title, given as he drank kava in the village’s meeting house, meant he would be known as “To’osavili Sione Key”. reported he had been made a chief, or “ali’i”, of the devastated village of Poutasi.”We are keeping a register of skilled health professionals and co-ordinating our resources with Australia to ensure that we provide the most effective help possible in conjunction with the Samoan health service,” he said.Meanwhile, more than 250 New Zealand health professionals had volunteered to help in Samoa, Mr Ryall said.Medical help would be needed for weeks to come and Mr Ryall asked that health professionals able to assist phone (09) 263 1381, fax (09) 261 3396 or email Incident.Medical help would be needed for weeks to come and Mr Ryall asked that health professionals able to assist phone (09) 263 1381, fax (09) 261 3396 or email Incident.Controllermiddlemore. .nz outlining their details.

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A senior police officer has failed in a bid to be discharged without conviction after he drove home “grossly” drunk from a police bar.

Detective Sergeant John Gualter, an instructor at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua, earlier pleaded guilty to drink-driving and dangerous driving.

This afternoon, through his lawyer, he sought a discharge without conviction in Porirua District Court.

She said she did not consider a conviction would necessarily see the end of Gualter’s career.

But Judge June Johnston rejected the discharge application.”

Gualter was disqualified from driving for nine months and fined $1800 plus court costs.

“In my view the police will be in a better position to assess your ongoing employment than this court.

He will now face an employment investigation. His breath-alcohol reading of 1039 micrograms was more than 2½ times the legal limit of 400mcg.

Gualter was stopped by police close to his home in Linden, north Wellington, after 10pm on November 14.

Members of the public saw Gualter join State Highway 1 north of Porirua and weave back and forth across all three lanes.

The previously published details from the police statement of facts describing the incident.

During the journey, his car was seen straddling lanes, swerving to miss a pedestrian-crossing pole and a power pole, mounting footpaths, driving “completely on the incorrect side of a road” and narrowly missing moving cars. They rang police and followed him as he drove into Porirua and on to Linden.

“When he got out of his vehicle he was so grossly intoxicated that he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred, and he had to lean on the vehicle to support himself,” the police summary said.

“When he got out of his vehicle he was so grossly intoxicated that he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were glazed and bloodshot, and his speech was slurred, and he had to lean on the vehicle to support himself,” the police summary said

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Police handling of the search of the house in Christchurch where the bodies of two murdered women were found has been slammed by Maori Party MP Rahui Katene.

The MP for Tai Tonga is critical of the way police treated the family living next door to the “murder house” in the Christchurch suburb of Wainoni. .

“I just don’t think it’s good enough that the family living in the other half of the semi-detached house in Christchurch had to learn through the media that there was a murder investigation going on next door. Their children – and the parents too – don’t want to go back there again.

“This family has been severely traumatised by what has happened right next door to them.”

Ms Katene said she would take the matter up with senior police in Wellington. And I’m appalled that the police have suggested that they can move back in again.

“As a local ratepayer I support the move and encourage the council to pull it down and turn the site into something useful for the community.

But she applauded efforts by Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker to get council to consider buying the house.”

The bodies of 28-year-old Tisha Lowry and the 35-year-old wife of the man charged with her murder were recovered from beneath the house this week. I hope he doesn’t take notice of the people complaining about that move.

Neither can be named due to suppression orders.

The 33-year-old man who lived at the house has been charged with his wife’s murder and is expected to face a second murder charge when he appears in Christchurch District Court on Friday.

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A New Zealand military chaplain, Father Darren O’Callaghan, has held a memorial service in the Solomon Islands for one of the New Zealanders killed in the Tongan ferry disaster.

Fr O’Callaghan held the service so members of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) could farewell Sisiliah Puleheloto, 24, a member of the Niue police force. A cousin, Dwenelle Luani, 25, last saw her on the sinking MV Princess Ashika grasping at seats inside the passenger lounge as the ferry rolled over.Ms Puleheloto had taken leave to visit relatives in Tonga. A total of 54 people – all men – were rescued, and two bodies were recovered.She remains one of the 73 people missing after the ferry sank in Ha’apai waters on August 5.RAMSI special coordinator Graeme Wilson said the young policewoman, who worked in the community relations team, had made an enormous contribution, showing a big heart and working to help Solomon Islanders build a better, safer future. .She would be missed not only by the remaining 15 members of the Niue police force, but by the many friends she had made around the world in her short life, Mr Buchhorn said.The commander of the Participating Police Force (PPF), Wayne Buchhorn, said “Sisi”, as she was known, was one of only two officers who made up RAMSI’s Niue contingent and the first female officer to represent her nation in an overseas mission.Ms Puleheloto is the fifth active member of RAMSI to die in the six years since RAMSI first deployed to the Solomon Islands in July 2003.

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A police checkpoint within Kiwi soldiers’ area of responsibility in Afghanistan, has come under attack from insurgents in the run-up to presidential elections.

Insurgents with rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s sparked a three-hour gunfight on Thursday, leaving one policeman injured and another missing.

Only hours later, a Kiwi patrol rushed to investigate a loud explosion near the Ish Pesta checkpoint, possibly an IED (improvised explosive device) attack.

It’s thought that Taliban threats scared voters and dampened turnout in the militant south.

No further details on the second attack were available last night.

The checkpoint targeted in the first attack sits in a mountain gorge in the Pashtun enclave, on the border of Bamiyan and Baghlan provinces, and falls within the New Zealand provincial reconstruction team’s (PRT) region. Insurgents killed 26 Afghans in scattered attacks, but officials said militants failed to disrupt the vote.

It has been repeatedly targeted, but yesterday’s attack was the worst.

Police officers returned fire, but did not have the weapons needed to repel the onslaught. Bullets tore through windows, becoming embedded in walls as insurgents in the mountains across a river fired repeatedly.

A Kiwi patrol inspected the checkpoint as soon as it heard about the attack. The gunfight ended when the attackers ran out of ammunition.

“My guess is they would have moved to Baghlan province, which is outside our PRT boundaries,” he said.

However, patrol commander Corporal Matthew Pearce did not hold out much hope of finding the insurgents.

Policeman Ahmed Zia said he feared he was “going to die” in the gunfire.

Policeman Ahmed Zia said he feared he was “going to die” in the gunfire.

“When I heard the shots, I took my weapon and fired back.

There were six men at the checkpoint when fighting broke out “around midnight”. The enemy was yelling at us to put our weapons down, but we fired back.

“It was really frightening, very loud.”

Pearce walked around the area yesterday, and checked the condition of the injured man.

“It went on so long because they used up all their rounds.

“Given the time of the month, it coincides with all the other new moon attacks, and being on the eve of the election, it’s really no surprise at all.

He said it was the type of incident the Kiwis had expected. .

“I always expect more, but it’s possible that this may have been the token effort for this group of insurgents

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More New Zealanders are diagnosing their illnesses online instead of going to their GP, according to a new survey.

More than a third of those surveyed in the 2009 NetGuide Telecom broadband survey had looked for medical advice from the many internet-based resources available rather than visiting their GP. .com, diagnoseme.

There are also many websites providing medical advice including answers.com.com and healthline.

But New Zealand Medical Association chairman Peter Foley warned there was no substitute for a face to face consultation with a doctor for diagnoses. Many illnesses can have similar symptoms and the internet can’t provide you with a fully informed diagnosis or be relied on to provide factual and balanced information, Dr Foley said.

“People risk being misinformed if they rely solely on the internet.”

Ralph Brayman, Telecom’s director of home services, said the survey was a useful way to track the fast changing internet habits of New Zealanders.

“It is important that there is some balance between people seeking basic information for themselves with the role experts play in sorting the complexity of symptoms and expectations in our modern health systems.

About 1600 people took part in the survey, which included various other questions about New Zealanders’ internet habits.

“While the quantity and variety of information available on the internet is fantastic, as in all good things, moderation and balance are important,” Mr Brayman said.

* Do you prefer using the internet or going to the doctor? below.

* Do you prefer using the internet or going to the doctor? below

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A stolen car struck a policewoman and then drove on its wheel rims after running over road spikes during a high speed chase close to Taupo earlier today, say police.

The officer, who had stopped and was speaking to the driver after he allegedly drove off without paying for fuel, was struck on her left side.

The incident happened about 7.

She suffered minor bruising and a sore left knee but did not require medical help, said Sergeant Greg Weston of Taupo police.

Police pursued the car for about 40km from Wairakei toward Rotorua, at speeds of up to 170kmh, he said.30am on State Highway 5, just north of Wairakei. The car drove on for another 9km, during which time one tyre disintegrated before the driver pulled over.

Police put down road spikes in front of the car, which punctured three tyres.

The charges include theft, reckless driving, driving while disqualified (third or subsequent), failing to stop for police, driving with excess breath alcohol and aggravated assault.

Mr Weston said a 19-year-old Lower Hutt man will appear in Taupo District Court tomorrow, facing nine charges arising from the incident.

Further charges may be laid.

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New Zealand’s international reputation has bounced back from the Bastareaud affair, New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) boss Steve Tew says.

Tew today returned from Japan to news French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had written to New Zealand counterpart John Key, to apologise for the “unacceptable behaviour” of countryman Mathieu Bastareaud .Rugby centre Bastareaud, 20, lied over an alleged assault in Wellington following France’s 14-10 defeat against the All Blacks on June 20.He said he had drunk too much and hit his head on a hotel table, but there have been reports his injuries were due to being hit by a teammate.Police investigated the incident, which had the potential to damage the New Zealand tourism industry, for several days, until Bastareaud admitted he made it up.”Ironically, given how much the story has snowballed over the last week, we’ve probably repaired all the damage and gone some way, so .Tew told reporters that, based on headlines he had seen overseas, widespread publicity about the incident might turn out to be a positive for New Zealand.. if there’s a positive out of this, that would be it,” he said…”The initial story didn’t do New Zealand any good, but the story’s become such a big issue now . it’s getting headlines, including that New Zealand’s international reputation has been restored..”We would have all preferred for it not to happen, but the way it has unfolded now is probably as good as we can expect.”We would have all preferred for it not to happen, but the way it has unfolded now is probably as good as we can expect.”By his false statements, as a result of which you had to intervene publicly, he seriously tainted the image of your country and its people.Mr Fillon said that “France’s tour of New Zealand has been marked by the unacceptable behaviour of one of its players”.Tew echoed the response of Mr Key.”Mr Fillon said he regretted the incident and wanted the culture of rugby shared by the two countries to continue. .”It’s totally appropriate, I think our prime minister’s summed it up very well, we now support his position that it’s time to move on.”Bastareaud was welcome to return to New Zealand, he said.”We’d also like to say we wish the player all the best, he clearly has some issues he needs to deal with and we’d like him to be able to move on and get well.”Bastareaud was admitted to hospital in France with serious psychological problems on Monday after allegedly trying to commit suicide.”He’s a member of the wider rugby community, he made a mistake, he’s got to live with that mistake for the rest of his life, he now needs to get on – we hope he will be back here in 2011 playing against the All Blacks.”The FRF is shocked that one of the French XV has lied.”The FRF is shocked that one of the French XV has lied. The New Zealand nation and the world of rugby can legitimately feel wounded by the player’s initial statements which have also tarnished the image of French rugby.”Camou has contacted the FRF’s disciplinary commission and has called for an inquiry into the episode.