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Big bucks for small chip off the old block
Friday, 12 December 2008
/The
YELLOW GOLD: Hailey White and son Blitz, 4, outside Chaffers New World in Wellington yesterday. .29 she parted with to purchase it was "quite ridiculous" and meant she only bought cheese in small blocks.
The mother of two, from the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn, said the $5. "But the price definitely needs to go down.
"I think it's more expensive to buy it in the smaller block, but we don't use much," she said. His joke about the "Colby cheese Budget review" resonated with families who struggled with rising day-to-day costs and the humble block of "yellow gold" became the standard to which price rises were compared."
A simple block of cheese hit the spotlight after John Key labelled Labour's proposed tax cuts of an average $16 as "worth a family-size block of cheese" early this year.2 per cent this year compared with October 2007, despite international dairy prices falling to half what they were a year ago.
Figures published by Statistics New Zealand yesterday showed the price of cheddar was up 35. "I don't really look at the price of fruit and vege, though, because it's a necessity in myself and the kids' diets.
Ms White said her weekly shopping bill had gone up by as much as $50 since this time last year, and she did not get any more for her money."
But she was philosophical about future price rises: "If it goes up, I guess we'll just have to work harder."
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Drunken mayhem in Christchurch ‘shocking’
JO MCKENZIE-MCLEAN – Monday, 01 December 2008
Christchurch's inner city at the weekend was "absolute mayhem" with drunk people, particularly women, "at each other's throats", police say. . I don't know how many arrests there were.
"It was absolute mayhem. There were just so many confrontations, scuffles and violence going on; people getting bashed and robbed. We just didn't have time to make arrests; we were just pushing people apart. It was just incredible. It was just shocking, you know, with that 24-hour drinking. You couldn't afford to be off the street for an hour because it was just mayhem out there.
"You could not arrest someone, which takes (a police officer) off the street for an hour to process them.
"I could not get over the number of drunk women who were at each other's throats."
Some women had shown their nasty, drunken side, Johnston said.
"There is nothing wrong with alcohol, but I don't know why people stay out till after 3am and continue to drink and get written off and turn into nasty violent drunks. A lot of guys were trying to keep them parted and that would escalate and, from there, you would get a massive brawl," Johnston said.
Between 10pm and 3am there were 31 arrests."
The chaos started unusually early – about 11pm.
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A large number of people were summonsed to appear in court for breaching the liquor ban
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Police still hunting taxi driver’s attacker
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Police are still hunting for a knife wielding man who stabbed a taxi driver in Auckland on Friday night.
Alexander Ershov, 23, who received multiple wounds, remained in Auckland Hospital today in a serious but stable condition.30pm on Friday driving him to Bertrand Road, Mt Wellington.
Mr Ershov picked up his passenger from Auckland's Viaduct area about 11.
The victim drove himself to a nearby service station where members of the public assisted him until the arrival of ambulance staff.
He was then stabbed a number of times before his attacker fled.
"The injuries are extremely serious and the victim is lucky to be alive.
Mr Ershov, a Russian, later underwent emergency surgery at Auckland Hospital.
Police spent much of yesterday searching the area in case the offender had thrown the knife away. He is not out of the woods yet," Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Cramer said yesterday.
The offender is described as a brown-skinned male, about 180cm tall, of solid to athletic build and wearing a grey or sandy coloured 'hoodie'. .
Anyone with information that might be of interest to the Police should contact the investigation team at the Glen Innes Police Station on 0508 OPGLADE.
Police would like to hear from anyone who may have seen him nearby the Sebel Hotel getting into a dark green Lexus, or in the vicinity of Bertrand Rd, Mt Wellington last night.
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Maori men ‘need to take responsibility’ for violence
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
An unacceptable level of domestic violence among Maori communities has to end, a senior Maori leader says.
Anglican Minister Hone Kaa told the national White Ribbon Day men's breakfast in Wellington yesterday that Maori aged 15 to 24 were seven times more likely to need hospital treatment as a result of assault than non-Maori.
"Men need to take responsibility for the violence perpetrated against women and children," said Dr Kaa, who chairs a charitable trust that advocates for Maori children.
White Ribbon Day marks a zero-tolerance stand on domestic violence. His Te Kahui Mana Ririki trust intended to run "anti-smacking" workshops with iwi and hapu throughout the country to teach parents other ways of disciplining their children.
Events were held throughout New Zealand, with more than 500,000 white ribbons handed out for wearers to show they did not condone domestic violence. The day was started by a men's movement in Canada in 1991 and has been officially adopted by the United Nations as its International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. . It's also about the man who after an argument with his wife, takes the rifle out and cleans it on the kitchen table.
"It's not only about the kicks and the slaps.
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Police commissioner Howard Broad said police had pledged to cooperate more closely with Australian police in developing strategies and programmes aimed at reducing family violence
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Visitor drought means holiday bargains for Kiwis
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Kiwi holidaymakers are likely to reap bargains this summer as the tourist industry turns to the domestic market to drum up business and cheaper baches are made available to rent.
Tourism Industry Association chief executive Tim Cossa said the global recession meant fewer international visitors to New Zealand and Kiwis were more likely to stay closer to home.
Cossa recommends people approach operators directly for discounts and special offers.
Cossa said summer beach destination bookings were holding up but word from the association's 2000 members, including accommodation, attraction and transport operators, suggested most people were delaying their decision on where to go.
Peter Blackwell, AA Tourism general manager, told the Sunday Star-Times he expected some "eye-opening behaviour" from operators this summer. "I'm convinced there will be some good deals this summer," he said."
Many would have to change their attitude towards Kiwi tourists who would become the key to their future. "I believe a lot have built their businesses based on foreign visitors. The top end of the market, such as beachside apartment owners, would be more likely to feel the pinch.
He said New Zealanders were holding out for deals but he urged those planning a camping or holiday park getaway to book now or risk missing out. But visitor numbers were expected to be on a par with other years. ."
Rental rates were down by about 10%.
"The Thames Coromandel District Council rates have gone up so much, more bach owners are renting their properties during the peak season.
"More people are wanting to sleep eight to 10. There was also a glut of baches that slept five or fewer.
Turner said he had 30 properties available for the summer holidays."
This was possibly because families, examining to spread the cost of a holiday, were joining forces. Days in the Bay spokeswoman Marilyn Jones said she had noticed more cases of house owners giving up their properties to rent out.
The trend in the Bay of Islands is the same."
Demand between Christmas and January 10 was still very high, but there were vacancies on either side of those dates, she said. "We do have more properties on the books than we did last year."
It was similar in the South Island's Golden Bay. Demand for bigger houses was also high: "We have two or three families wanting to holiday together. Bookings for the summer were on a par with other years but there had been fewer forward bookings, she said. Bookings for the summer were on a par with other years but there had been fewer forward bookings, she said.
"I think we will really suffer during February and March."
Most of this summer's holidaymakers were from the South Island, she said.
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NZ cardiac study hailed
– Saturday, 01 November 2008
A single gene could be the difference between a middle-aged man dying from a heart attack or surviving, ground-breaking Canterbury research has found. .
With more research, a test should be available to screen people who have had minor heart incidents to see if they have the defective gene.
The research, which has been published in this month's American Heart Journal, has been hailed by the New Zealand Heart Foundation as "cutting-edge and world-beating".
Lead researcher Barry Palmer said the findings would allow doctors to tailor treatment for patients most likely to die of a heart attack.
Researchers remain unsure what percentage of the population carries the defect, only one indicator of surviving a heart attack. This is particularly in middle-aged males who have acute coronary syndromes, or reduced flow of blood to the heart.
"It's been known for some time that a defective ACE2 gene is associated with high blood pressure, but our research has also clearly linked one variant of this gene to a greater likelihood of mortality after heart attack. They found, after adjusting for variables such as age, that male patients were almost twice as likely to die if they had one particular variant (defective) of the ACE2 gene."
The Otago University Christchurch scientists carried out the study over three years on 1075 people (males and females) recruited from Christchurch and Auckland hospitals.
In its normal form, the ACE2 gene produced an enzyme that controlled blood pressure by influencing hormone levels, Palmer said.
Men were more prone to the effects of the defective gene than women because males had one copy in each cell of the ACE2 gene, whereas females had two.
Palmer said if doctors could identify people at greatest risk, they could do more earlier in their treatment.
When the gene was defective, blood pressure increased.
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Getting jet set for takeoff
Friday, 31 October 2008
RichardNowlandwants to be the world's fastest Wellingtonian.
The 27-year-old Ngaio resident is so passionate about his bid to build a jet-car and break all Australasian land speed records that he ordered two former RAF jet engines on the Internet. .
He was inspired by a film about Thrust SSC, the vehicle that set the world land speed record of 1228kmh in 1997.
Previously a real estate developer, Mr Nowland said he was spending up to 70 hours a week on the project, dubbed "JetBlack", which was launched in Lower Hutt last night. It was amazing. "You could see 50-foot shockwaves out each side of it."
He had also watched The World's Fastest Indian "three or four times" and wanted to channel such New Zealand ingenuity – with a hi-tech flavour, he said."
Mr Nowland, who has no background in engineering, said at first he planned to convert a truck engine for his project, but realised it would not be up to the job.
"This has the spirit of guys like Bill Hamilton, Burt Munro and John Britten, but we can't do it in the back shed anymore. "Then I got a message saying I was now the proud owner of two new jet engines.
An air force commander told him a jet engine could cost $1 million, but he decided to put a "cheeky bid" of a few thousand dollars on the 1200-kilogram, 22,000-horsepower monsters on a British website.5km/h toward the end of next year."
His first goal was to knock off the New Zealand land speed record of 347. That done, he would head to a giant salt lake in Australia in 2010 and go for 1000kmh – not too far off the speed of sound. That done, he would head to a giant salt lake in Australia in 2010 and go for 1000kmh – not too far off the speed of sound."
Several businesses had signed up to provide work on the car, but more sponsors were still needed for the multimillion-dollar project, Mr Nowland said. "Everyone who sees the model says it looks like the Batmobile.
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Nats release bond plan for indebted doctors and nurses
Thursday, 18 September 2008
National would wipe up to $10,000 a year off student loans for doctors, and $3500 for nurses who agreed to work in hard-to-staff areas.
National is releasing its health policy in parts and today's was on workforce. National say a batch of policies were accidentally left in a public place.
Labour released National's health policy last week saying it was leaked to them.
"We expect to be able to offer eligible candidates write-offs of up to $10,000 a year.
Today National leader John Key confirmed the party would set up voluntary bonding of health professionals to address shortages."
Mr Key said between 50-100 doctors and 200 nurses and midwives would qualify for the scheme per year.
"The amounts would be payable at the end of three years, with the option to continue in the scheme for an additional two years after that.
The scheme was costed at about $3 million in its first year increasing to $9m in the third year. He said the annual debt write-off for nurses would be around $3500 based on average debt levels at graduation. This programme will incentivise them to do so, and relieve some of the staffing pressure in those areas.
"We want more of our doctors, nurses and midwives staying in New Zealand and working in areas that are hard-to-staff. Remaining write-offs would be annual."
The first three years of annual write-offs would be made at the end of the full three years.
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The scheme would be flexible to allow for training and maternity leave; would be extended to other health professionals in time; would operate alongside graduate's compulsory minimum loan repayments and would be open to those who graduated since 2005