Two a penny

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Rescue services evacuated 668 travellers who were trapped on the Napier-Taupo Rd by snow that reached up to a metre high overnight.

A state of emergency was declared in Taupo after heavy snow left trapped dozens of people in their vehicles on State Highway 5 through the night.Police said 368 travellers were rescued from the Napier side of the highway with another 300 evacuated to Taupo.Taupo Mayor Rick Cooper drove one of the evacuation buses and was now visiting the welfare centres.The last busload of cold and tired travellers were rescued by 9am from the Taupo side of the road and were resting at the Taupo Events Centre before being sent to a local marae.Napier Area commander Inspector Kevin Kalff said the priority was the welfare of those stranded.Efforts were now being turned towards feeding the rescued people.”We are working to get drivers back to their vehicles as soon as practicable.There were no concerns for the welfare of anyone stranded or rescued. But a lot will depend on weather conditions and the state of the road,” he said. Some motorists had been picked up by family and friends. .Mr Kalff said there had been great support from the businesses along the Napier-Taupo Rd who had taken the evacuees and from organisations such as four-wheel drive clubs.Hukarere Girls College at Eskdale, north of Napier, was also acting as a centre for those evacuated.Hastings District Council had established a public inquiry number through its main number phone number 06 871 5000 for people wanting to find out if their family members were safe.Hastings District Council had established a public inquiry number through its main number phone number 06 871 5000 for people wanting to find out if their family members were safe.Meanwhile, State Highway 1 at the Desert Road has been closed since yesterday afternoon and snow continued to fall in the area this morning.Police were asking all drivers who had to abandon their cars last night and went to Napier to report back to Hukerere Girls College at 10am so the road could be cleared of vehicles.

.A heavy rain warning also remained in place for the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay

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The United Nations’ Human Rights Council has reviewed New Zealand’s record and says it is up to the Government to meet its commitments through legislation and policy initiatives.

The council is reviewing human rights in every member state and Justice Minister Simon Power went to New York in May to present New Zealand’s report.

Mr Power said the Government was seeking to remedy these inequalities, even in the face of global economic problems and the recession.

He told the council the Government acknowledged there were challenges to meet and disparities persisted for Maori in education, health, employment, crime statistics and income.

The challenge now was for the Government “to reflect these commitments in legislation and policy initiatives and financial decisions”, it said. .

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Mr Power was tonight studying the council’s full report before commenting on it

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Police want to hear from anyone who sees unexplained damage on a four-wheel-drive vehicle with bull bars following an incident which left a Tokoroa teen in hospital. .

Detective Sergeant Kevan Verry said it appeared the incident happened after an altercation in the centre of the Waikato township between two groups.30am yesterday.

It was not known if the vehicle had sustained any damage in the incident.

Police were treating the incident as a serious assault.

The scene examination had been completed and several witnesses spoken to.

“If any person knows of someone who drives or owns a vehicle of this type that has some unexplained damage, they are urged to contact police,” Mr Verry said.

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The teenager remains in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital

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An aunt caring for a young boy severely beaten up by his mother is to appear in court today facing multiple charges of assaulting a child.

Itupa Julie Mikaio, 40, of Blockhouse Bay, Auckland, was found guilty yesterday of wounding with intent to injure her four-year-old son Benjamin and guilty of neglecting to provide the necessaries of life for the boy.

But she was found not guilty of a more serious charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, after a jury in the High Court at Auckland deliberated for just over two hours.

Today the aunt who was entrusted with the care of Benjamin and some siblings is to appear in Waitakere District Court today on 23 charges of assault on a child, Radio New Zealand reported.

She was remanded in custody for sentence in the High Court on November 27.

Child, Youth and Family had since been involved.

The officer in charge of the case against Mikaio, Detective Constable John Kennedy, said Benjamin was removed from his aunt’s care when the new allegations surfaced.

Mr Kennedy told said yesterday it was a particularly sad case, and Benjamin would suffer the physical effects of the assault by his mother for the rest of his life.

“It’s not just about Benjamin, it’s about the other children in the family.

“This was a completely unprovoked attack by a mother on her infant child,” he said.

“It’s been particularly difficult for the child witnesses. They are the innocent victims.

“I saw Benjamin last Saturday, and it is quite clear to see he is still physically and mentally affected by this. The violence that raged that day will have mentally affected them forever.

“He is still wearing a skull cap to protect his head, and he will live with the physical effects and memories of what happened to him for the rest of his life,”

Mr Kennedy added that the extended family had been present in court and this case had divided the family.

“He is still wearing a skull cap to protect his head, and he will live with the physical effects and memories of what happened to him for the rest of his life,”

Mr Kennedy added that the extended family had been present in court and this case had divided the family.

“She (Mikaio) is very remorseful for the bodily injuries.

Defence counsel Ted Faleauto said the case was upsetting for the whole family.

“She was pregnant and the children were sick. She was under a lot of stress with a lot of young children to look after.”

Mr Faleauto said that the doctor’s reports appeared to show the boy wasn’t suffering any long-term effects as a result of his head injury. That particular child was a bit slow, and obviously she needed a bit more help.

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Mikaio was charged after her son Benjamin was taken to Auckland’s Starship Hospital unconscious with head injuries that could have been fatal on June 30 last year

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Police “did the right thing” in shooting dead armed drug addict Lee Mettam, but her death was still a tragedy, says anti-drug campaigner Brett Sawyers.

It was his Whangarei Vodafone shop which Mettam robbed at gunpoint and one his workers whom she took hostage before being shot by an armed offenders squad member on October 23 last year.

In findings released today after an independent investigation, police said the officer involved, known as Constable A, acted legally in shooting Mettam.

She was gunned down when she opened the store door and pointed her gun, which turned out to be an air rifle, at the officer taking cover across the street.

“If the officer had not taken this defensive action then he would have been neglecting his duty through not protecting himself and other people in the vicinity.

He was justified because he was concerned for his safety, that of other officers and the public, said Northland police district commander Superintendent Mike Rusbatch.

“Lee’s death was a tragic thing that should never have happened but, having said that, the police did the right thing,” Mr Sawyers told .”

Mr Sawyers said it was important to learn from the incident in the hope such a thing would not happen again.

The Northland P Project is a community-based initiative fighting the spread of the highly-additive drug.

He is putting his words into actions, having become an anti-methamphetamine campaigner since the shooting.

Its first goal is to raise $400,000 to pay for a DVD educating locals about the perils of ‘P’. It was set up as a direct result of Mettam’s death.

Fundraising had only just begun but locals were enthusiastic about the cause, Mr Sawyers said. .”

He said it was important that something positive came out of the “tragic incident” that he was unwittingly caught up in.

“I have people walk in my shop with cheques for thousands of dollars.

The matter has also been referred to the coroner for an inquest into Mettam’s death.

While the criminal investigation has been completed, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) is yet to complete its investigation, which involves looking at police policies, practices and procedures.

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OPINION:
The official website of the mayor of Wanganui is a fascinating monument to a man who simply cannot get enough of himself. It is a site absolutely awash in self-love.

Visitors to the cosily titled mayormichael. .co. Oh, and there’s some stuff about Wanganui, too. The site’s latest thrilling additions are magazine photos of Michael Laws’ family dating back to 2003 – just in case any of us neglected to cut them out at the time of publication – but there are also shots of his kids’ birthday parties, updates on the state of his relationship with his partner, and photos of Laws that stretch back to boyhood.

If there is any glimmer of a redeeming feature in this exercise in narcissism, it is that Mr Laws appears to have almost as soft a spot for children as he has for himself.

All of which makes it a surprise to see the level of contempt with which he treated a group of Otaki children who had the temerity to write to him last month. Mr Laws clearly adores his own kids, and has written in the past about the evils of child abuse.

In response, he wrote the girls a letter suggesting their teacher be sacked, urging them to control their anger, and saying he wouldn’t take their views seriously unless they first looked at the rate of child abuse and murder within Maori society.

The seven students of Otaki School’s kura kaupapa unit, aged from 11 to 13, wrote to Mr Laws in Maori to say what they thought about the controversy over whether Wanganui should have an “h” in its name. But here’s the thing: whatever.

There has since been much debate about whether the Maori word used by all seven students in their letters and translated by Mr Laws’ team as “anger” should instead have been “frustration”. It shouldn’t be news to Mr Laws, father of many, that pre-teen girls are stroppy, and that 12-year-olds have yet to learn the social bullshit that enables us to express our opinions in a detached manner. It shouldn’t be news to Mr Laws, father of many, that pre-teen girls are stroppy, and that 12-year-olds have yet to learn the social bullshit that enables us to express our opinions in a detached manner. Children of their age should, he said, care only about Harry Potter.

Firstly, this champion of direct democracy argued that “it’s wrong for kids to be angry about something inanimate”.

AN ARGUMENT this ludicrous doesn’t fly for long, so Mr Laws then argued that their teacher had put them up to it. In others words, it’s not just that their views are wrong; they shouldn’t be allowed to have views. As any parent knows, it’s impossible to convince a 12-year-old girl to turn her music down if she doesn’t want to. Who is this classroom Svengali? Again, I come back to the legendary stroppiness of pre-teen girls.

. The thought of a teacher being able to persuade seven of them to write letters against their will is simply inconceivable, unless electric cattle prods were involved

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LATEST:
Nai Yin Xue has been sentenced to a minimum non-parole period of 12 years in prison for the brutal murder of his young
wife.

Xue, 55, a newspaper publisher and self-styled martial arts expert, was found guilty last month of the September 2007 murder of An An Liu, 27.

Justice Williams said Xue had killed his wife by strangulation.

At the High Court in Auckland earlier today Justice Hugh Williams said that when considering his sentence, he had taken Xue’s history of violence towards his wife and his attempts to avoid detection after the murder into account. Here you subjected your wife to 45 seconds of what must have been excruciating terror. “Everyone has choked on occasion and knows how frightening it is to be unable to breathe – even for a few seconds.

During a three-week week trial in the High Court at Auckland, the Crown alleged that Xue strangled Ms Liu with a neck tie before fleeing to Australia with his daughter two days later.”

Ms Liu’s naked body was found inside the boot of Xue’s company car, which was parked outside their Auckland home.

As authorities tried to establish the girl’s identity, she became known by the Pumpkin Patch label of clothing she was wearing. .

Xue did not give evidence at his trial.

In February last year, after more five months on the run, Xue was captured after six members of a Chinese family in Chamblee in Georgia recognised him and tied him up until police arrived.

It also said Ms Liu could have died as a result of a sexual act gone wrong with one or two other men.

His defence told the court Xue did not know his wife was dead when he left his daughter in Melbourne.

Her granddaughter still expressed “bewilderment and incomphrension” at her mother’s absence.

At the High Court today, Justice Williams said a letter from Madam Liu, the victim’s mother, spoke of her feelings of devastation over her daughter’s murder. This was in marked contrast to last month when the all-woman jury found him guilty of the murder.

Xue remained subdued earlier today as he listened to proceedings through an interpreter.

“I am innocent,” he called as two security guards took him away.

Xue had to be hauled from the dock at the High Court Auckland screaming and punching the air, yelling “unfair, unfair”.

– With

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A plane flying from Great Barrier Island to Auckland with around 11 people on board was forced to turn back yesterday when one of its propellers broke apart shortly after take-off.

Traffic Accident Investigation Commission chief investigator Tim Burfoot said they knew very little about the incident involving the Great Barrier Airlines plane but an investigator had been sent to the island.

He said the rear-propeller of the tri-engine plane, believed to be a Britten Norman Trilander, had broken apart and either one or both blades had detached themselves from the rear engine’s propeller hub mid-flight.

Mr Burfoot said pilots were trained to handle such situations and it was standard practice for planes to find a suitable spot for an emergency landing.

“The plane made a successful return and nobody was injured,” he said.”

It was unclear what damage there was to the plane.

“The plane had three engines, that particular plane, so they obviously would have lost one and [the pilot] would have shut that down when it happened and he would have had the other two.

The investigation was expected to take several days. .

Great Barrier Island fire and police said they were not aware of the incident.

– By Michael Field and Clio Francis,

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LATEST:
Lock Jason Eaton and wing Hosea Gear have been handed international recalls as Graham Henry today unveiled his 30-strong All Blacks squad for the Tri-Nations.

The selection of Eaton and Gear, who both toured with the All Balcks at the end of last year, and the return from injury of experienced performers Richie McCaw, Rodney So’oialo and Sitiveni Sivivatu are the features of the squad named this morning by Henry and his assistant coaches Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen.

Dropped from the Iveco Series squad is exciting young Counties Manukau wing Lelia Masaga, who could claim to be hard done by after being given only a fleeting chance to shine, and Waikato loose forward Liam Messam who seems to have paid the price for a shoddy performance in Dunedin against France.

Toeava has been named in the squad but Henry confirmed he will miss the first three tests of the Tri-Nations with a stress fracture in his foot.

The squad has a 17-13 forwards-backs split, but it continues to be dogged by injury with utility back Isaia Toeva the latest to join the list of walking wounded.

The return of All Blacks captain McCaw will be a massive boost, with the skipper now fully recovered from the knee injury that kept him out of the Iveco Series. Five-eighth Stephen Donald is also carrying a hamstring strain that may put his participation in the July 18 competition opener against the Wallabies in doubt. .

Both last played for the All Blacks on the 2008 Grand Slam tour, with the pair returning to New Zealand yesterday after helping the Junior All Blacks to victory in the recent IRB Pacific Nations Cup in the Pacific Islands.

The big movers have been 26-year-old Hurricanes and Taranaki lock Eaton and 25-year-old Hurricanes and Wellington winger Gear who have both been whistled up out of the Junior All Blacks. They will then reassemble in Auckland next Sunday to start preparations for the competition opener.

The All Blacks squad will get together in Wellington for a two-day camp next week (Wednesday and Thursday) with four players added as cover.

Players not considered for selection due to injury include lock Ali Williams (Achilles), wing Rudi Wulf (shoulder), flanker Adam Thomson (hand), centre Richard Kahui (shoulder), lock Anthony Boric (toe), halfback Andy Ellis (ribs), hooker Corey Flynn (forearm), flanker Scott Waldrom (back) and first-five eighths Daniel Carter (Achilles).

They are: Hurricanes and Wellington utility back Tamati Ellison, Crusaders and Canterbury first five-eighths Stephen Brett and 2008 All Blacks Ben Franks and Anthony Tuitavake, who were all members of the victorious Junior All Blacks squad.

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A Yemeni Airbus A310 jet carrying 153 people crashed into rough seas as it came into land in the Comoros Islands on Tuesday but rescuers plucked a child survivor from the water, officials said.

There were 142 passengers and a crew of 11 Yemenis on board when the Airbus A310, which had set off from the Yemeni capital of San’a, went down shortly before landing in Moroni, on the main island of Grand Comore, Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader said.

It was the second time in less than a month that an Airbus has crashed into the ocean.

Bodies and wreckage from the Yemenia airline flight were spotted in the Indian Ocean near the capital, Moroni, aviation officials said. This time French authorities said the Yemeni carrier had been under surveillance and that problems had been reported with the jet.

The child was being taken to land where an ambulance waited to take the child to hospital.

But a child among the 142 passengers and 11 crew on Flight IY 626 was rescued alive, a surgeon at the main Moroni hospital said.Most of the passengers were from Comoros, returning from Paris. France said 66 on board were French nationals. Those on board included families with children and there were at least three babies on the flight, he added. She said that three bodies have also been retrieved, along with debris from the plane, but that no other survivors have been recovered so far.Comoros immigrations officer, Rachida Abdullah, told The Associated Press that a child was rescued from the sea. He said it was too early to speculate on the reasons for the crash, adding that the flight data recorder hadn’t been found.Abdul Qader, the Yemeni official, said the child was 5 years old.”The weather was very bad .”The weather was very bad . the wind was very strong,” he said, adding the windy conditions hampered rescue efforts..Gen. Abdul Qader said wind speed was 40 miles per hour (61 kilometers per hour) as the plane was landing.2 miles) north from the Comoran coast and 18 nautical miles (21 miles) from the Moroni airport. Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus 310 crashed in deep waters about 8 nautical miles (9.m.And on the Indian Ocean island of Ile de la Reunion, an official statement from the French prefecture said the crash occurred at 02:50 GMT Tuesday (10:50 p.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said French aviation and naval support was heading to help in search operations at the Comoros government’s request. EDT Monday).Kouchner expressed “sincere condolences” and said the French Embassy in Moroni was “fully mobilized” to help families.Kouchner expressed “sincere condolences” and said the French Embassy in Moroni was “fully mobilized” to help families. The French junior minister for cooperation, Alain Joyandet, is heading Tuesday to Moroni, the statement said.The Comoros is an archipelago of three main islands situated about 2,900 kilometers south of Yemen, between Africa’s southeastern coast and Madagascar.Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesperson, says that patrol boat, the Rieuse and fregate Nivose, a reconnaissance ship, were being sent to crash site as well as Transall, a military transport plane. The French were sending divers as well as medical personnel on the plane, he said.In Paris, a crisis cell was set up at Charles de Gaulle airport. Most of the passengers on board were from the French city of Marseille, which has a large Comoros community.Another crisis cell has been established in Marseille, according to Stephane Salord, the consul general of the Comoros in the Provence-Alps-Cote d’Azur region of France.”There is considerable dismay,” Salord said. “These are families that, each year on the eve of summer, leave Marseille and the region to rejoin their families in the Comoros and spend their holidays.”In France, this week is the start of annual summer school vacations.An Airbus statement said the plane that crashed went into service 19 years ago, in 1990, and had accumulated 51,900 flight hours. It has been operated by Yemenia (Yemen Airways) since 1999.Airbus identifies the plane’s serial number as 535, and said it was sending a team of specialists to the Comoros. . There are 214 A310s in service worldwide with 41 operators.France’s transport minister Dominique Bussereau said French aviation inspectors found a “number of faults” during a 2007 inspection of the plane. He told France’s i-Tele television that the Airbus A310 was inspected by France’s civil aviation agency DGAC and “they noticed a certain number of faults.”On May 31, an Airbus A330 operated by Air France ran into thunderstorms after leaving Brazil and crashed into the Atlantic. Fifty-one bodies were recovered from that flight, which was carrying 228 people.