Two a penny

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Michael Phelps won a leading five ESPY Awards, including male athlete of the year, ending the five-year reign of Tiger Woods, who earned his record 22nd trophy.

The 14-time Olympic gold medalist also collected trophies for record-breaking performance, championship performance, and male Olympian while sharing the best moment award as part of the victorious 400-meter freestyle swimming relay at the Beijing Games.

Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven golds in a single games.

The show honoring the previous year’s top athletes, events and teams airs Sunday on ESPN. Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin won female athlete of the year.

He wasn’t the only swimmer honoured.

Phelps’ only other ESPY came in 2005, when he was chosen male Olympian following his haul of six gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games. Dara Torres, who at 41 won three silver medals in her fifth Olympics, received the comeback award. Liukin defeated Wimbledon winner Serena Williams, Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker, Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin and Connecticut basketball player Maya Moore for female athlete.

She asked for a chair to sit on backstage to rest her ailing left knee that will require surgery later this summer. He is in Scotland playing the British Open.

Woods won male golfer honors for the fifth consecutive year, giving him a career total of 22 ESPYs.

Bryant still took home some hardware, sharing the team award with his NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers team. . Phil Jackson, who earned his record 10th NBA title, won the coaching award. Phil Jackson, who earned his record 10th NBA title, won the coaching award. Jackson returned for the fourth time as host of the show taped at the Nokia Theatre.

Samuel L.

They also won for best play, when Ben Roethlisberger connected with Santonio Holmes for the game-winning touchdown in the closing seconds. The Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers were honored in the best game category for their title win over the Arizona Cardinals. His daughter Zindzi Mandela and grandson Zondwa Mandela accepted from presenters Serena and Venus Williams.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Winners in all but the Jimmy V, Arthur Ashe and comeback categories were determined by online and mobile phone fan voting.

The Jimmy V Award for Perseverance went to Northern State men’s basketball coach Don Meyer, who battled cancer after surviving a close to-fatal car accident.

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The Auckland housing market has emerged from its hibernation as sellers are forced to accept lower prices, the city’s leading real estate firm says.

Barfoot and Thompson – which sells around one in three houses in the Auckland market – says it sold 924 homes in March, the most number of houses sold by the firm in 20 months.

Sales are up 65.2 percent from the same period last year. . When this year’s sales are compared to March 2007, sales are down 36 percent.

However, March 2008 was something of an aberration, seeing the fewest sales for that month in more than a decade.

Meanwhile, sellers have had to accept lower prices, with the average sales price in March down 4. Compared to March 2008, prices were down 5.1 percent from February to $491,780.

Barfoot and Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said March’s surge in sales was the combined result of a spike in sales traditionally seen in March, falls in the Official Cash Rate, bank mortgage rates falling to new lows and tax cuts.8 percent, where the average sale price was $522,336.

He said the firm sold close toly 300 more homes in March than in any month in the whole of 2008.

“Buyers may be sensing that market prices are close to the bottom of the cycle and have made the decision to act,” said Thompson.

“At the same time sellers are accepting that a price that is on average only 6 percent below values being achieved 12 months ago is realistic in the current market, and are ready to accept.

“At the same time sellers are accepting that a price that is on average only 6 percent below values being achieved 12 months ago is realistic in the current market, and are ready to accept.

He said while it was too early to call a bottom, and sales levels were still historically low, this month’s data from Barfoot shows the first encouraging signs of traction from lower interest rates.2 percent year-on-year surge in sales in March is the highest since November 2007. Still, falling average prices suggests softer prices and lower interest rates are combining forces to bring buyers and sellers together,” said Eaqub.

“This is a positive sign that lower interest rates are beginning to work, enticing buyers back into the market.

Thompson noted the increased level of interest in auctions, with 65 to 70 percent of all sales in March attributed to auctions.

However, he warned there remained considerable uncertainty around the durability of a property market uplift, as job losses had yet to hit the economy and local and global economic conditions remained challenging.

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March’s surge in sales, along with a 1398 new listings, have trimmed the company’s existing stock of unsold houses down to 6416 listings, the lowest number in 13 months

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About 35 police and fisheries officers busted a black market fishing ring worth tens of thousands of dollars
in Southland.

The operation involved two commercial fishermen allegedly supplying blue cod, rock lobster and oysters to associates, who then on-sold the seafood illegally to the wider community.
The men had been under serious surveillance for the last six months before earlier today’s raids of about eight Southland houses, whose occupants had allegedly received stolen fish, Ministry of Fisheries district compliance manager Reece Murphy told .
“We’re talking high value species.
He could not put a dollar value on the scam but said it would have been in the tens of thousands of dollars. .”
The investigation was in its early stages and a decision about what charges the men would face would be made over the next week, Mr Murphy said.
They could also have to forfeit their fishing gear, including boats.
“Unfortunately there continues to be those amongst the general public who are willing to buy cheap but illegal fish.
Mr Murphy said continued black market activity could place the sustainability of fish stocks in jeopardy.
“If you’re offered cheap fish and it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
“It is these buyers that create the market for illegal fish sellers to operate.
“Anyone who now on reflection believes that they may have unwittingly bought suspect rock lobster, blue cod or oysters recently is encouraged to contact the Ministry of Fisheries Invercargill office before fishery officers have to contact them.”
Fishery officers would be contacting a number of people who had been buying the illegal fish, he said.”
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Air New Zealand crash report released

– Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Read the air crash report

A preliminary report into a crash of an Air New Zealand jet last November, which killed seven people, is pointing the cause toward its aircrew who were performing low-speed tests.
The report says the plane was too low to perform the low speed test which was not authorised.
As a result of the interim finding air safety regulators have issued urgent advice on tightening up procedures on non-commercial or “non-revenue” flights.
France’s Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses (BEA) this morning released an interim report showing why the plane crashed but not what caused it to behave the way it did.
The plane, an Airbus A320, was being flown by two German flights while an Air New Zealand pilot, Brian Horrell, was performing flight deck checks.
“The Air New Zealand pilot had undertaken two simulator training sessions…”
The report also includes a safety alert which says a common factor in non-revenue flight accidents was “the flight crew’s failure to adhere to standard operating procedures”.
“The crew had not received any specific training for this type of flight,” the BEA say.
The Airbus had been under lease to Germany’s XL Airlines and had been repainted into Air New Zealand colours prior to handing back. .
The BEA report included text of the last conversations on the flight deck just before the plane crashed into the sea at 3.
The data includes a conversation between the unnamed German pilot and Captain Horrell.
The flight recorders show the plane was trying to perform low speed tests off Perpignan ahead of flying to Frankfurt.
“We need to go slow with err recover from … recovery,” Captain Horrell said.
“Down below the clouds so you want what?” the German said.
During the process the plane's stall alarms sounded and the last sound on the flight recorder is that of a ground proximity alarm.
During the process the plane's stall alarms sounded and the last sound on the flight recorder is that of a ground proximity alarm.
“Under such conditions, the accident was not survivable for the occupants.
“The airplane wreckage and its spread bear witness to the violence of the impact with the surface of the sea,” the report says.
BEA said it was unable to find prescribed operating procedures for such flights or formal constraints on aircrews.”
The report said the flight was intended to check the condition of the airplane in service, at the end of a leasing agreement.
“The investigations initial findings brought to light the fact that there is a great diversity in the description made by operators of non-revenue flights, in the context that they establish for the preparation and execution of these flights, and in the selection and training of pilots.
“As a result, operators are obliged to define for themselves the programme and the operational conditions for these flights in their operations manual, without necessarily having evaluated the specific risks that these flights may present,” the BEA report says.”
BEA called for the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to issue advice on what kind of non-revenue flights airlines can perform.
“This diversity, along with the almost total absence of any indications or standards on non-revenue flights, can also lead to more or less improvising the performance of tests or to performing tests or checks in inappropriate parts of airspace and/or during flight phases with a high workload.
“As a temporary measure, EASA require that such flights be subject to an authorisation, or a declaration by the operator, on a case-by-case basis.
It wants such flights to be described precisely in the operations manual.
It said 25 percent of accidents involving jets in the past decade have involved non-revenue flights.
It said 25 percent of accidents involving jets in the past decade have involved non-revenue flights.
“Two common factors found … to have been contributory in non-revenue flight accidents are:
“(1) the flight crew’s failure to adhere to standard operating procedures and
“(2) the flight crew’s failure to operate the airplane within its performance limitations.”
The New Zealanders killed in the flight were Auckland’s Captain Horrell, 52, and Christchurch engineers Michael Gyles, 49, Noel Marsh, 35 and Murray White, 37, and Civil Aviation Authority airworthiness inspector Jeremy Cook, 58, of Wellington.
The two Germans have not been named.

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Stay out of the water

Harbour sewage alert after deluge

and PAUL EASTON Saturday, 21 February 2009

A massivedownpour that brought a month's worth of rain in just a few hours has sparked health warnings after raw sewage poured into Wellington Harbour and Lyall Bay.
The downpour overwhelmed the city's drainage system yesterday morning sending untreated sewage into a street near Courtenay Place, a day before the entertainment zone holds the Cuba St Carnival parade.
The city copped 69 millimetres of rain yesterday, well over the expected entire February average of 62mm.
The overflow also sparked warnings about swimming at several beaches.
Wellington City Council spokesperson Richard MacLean confirmed last night that warning signs had been erected at Lyall Bay beach.
The lashing caused surface flooding and slowed traffic to a crawl, sparking a slew of accidents, and slips that blocked Rimutaka Hill Rd.
There were further discharges near the international passenger terminal and Kaiwharawhara stream which also discharges into the harbour.
Similar advisories were in place for Wellington Harbour after sewage diluted by stormwater was discharged at the long outfall at Moa Point.
"But it is very diluted sewage.
"People should probably stay out of the water," Mr MacLean said. The council would review results before lifting the warnings." Water quality testing would be carried out by council officials and Regional Public Health during the weekend. An "absolutely nauseating" smell had enveloped her property towards the bay's western end.
A Lyall Bay resident said the sewage had been leaking into the area for the past week."
The council spent $4 million on a stormwater upgrade in 2004 after a similar incident with sewage in Bond St in 2004. .
"Large amounts of fat are not supposed to get into the sewerage system so we'll be doing a check of grease traps in the area to make sure they're operating and being maintained properly.
Mr MacLean said the sewer blockage that resulted in untreated sewage spew near the intersection of Courtenay Place and Tory St was caused by a combination of the heavy rain and a buildup of congealed fat in the sewer.30am to complain."
StarMart manager Priyank Jain said he was first alerted to the spillage after customers came in to the store about 8.
The low was anchored off Westland yesterday.
Yesterday's onslaught came as a deep low brought warm moist air from the subtropics, MetService duty forecaster Oliver Druce said.
Mr Druce said the rain was forecast to ease in the North Island. An associated front sent heavy rain up the North Island.

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Power lines fall on 20 Auckland homes

Friday, 13 February 2009

All residents have been safely evacuated from their homesafter power lines fell onto around 20 suburban Auckland houses this morning.
Some residents had been trapped for hours.
Transpower spokeswoman Adele Fitzpatrick said the cause of this morning's line plunge was still under investigation.
Inspectors from Transpower are currently at the scene attempting to clear away the broken 200,000v line which lies sprawled across homes, gardens and road. .
She said the Otahuhu to Whakamaru conducter had "detached and fallen" on homes around 10.
"Our second priority is to restore the conductor," he said.
Transpower's general manager of systems operations Kieran Devine said Transpower's first priority had been to ensure the safety of members of the public.
It is understood representatives from Transpower are spending the afternoon talking with affected residents and have pledged to make full financial restoration to any damaged properties.
Transpower said they expected to fully repair the conductor over the weekend.
"I heard a huge explosion and I looked around the corner and there was a huge puff of smoke and then a smaller explosion.
Resident Malina Paoo was hanging washing on the line outside her house when the cable fell metres away from her Belinda Avenue home.
Emergency services cordoned off Te irirangi Drive between Dawson and Orimiston roads."
It wasn't until the smoke cleared that she saw the fallen cable blocking two lanes of startled motorists.

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Hung jury in knifepoint rape trial

By GLENN McLEAN – Thursday, 05 February 2009

A jury last night failed to reach a verdict in a New Plymouth rape trial. .
The jury, which had heard six days of evidence in the New Plymouth District Court, was unable to make a decision after 10 hours of deliberation.
The jury last week was told Walden had repeatedly raped a young woman in her home after he armed himself with two knives in February last year.
Walden, 28, faced four charges of rape, two of unlawful sexual connection, two of threatening to kill, kidnapping and possession of an offensive weapon. The defence said the sex was consensual.
The complainant also told the jury Walden threatened to kill both her and her infant son during the attack.

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Wife intent on seeing accused man

Thursday, 05 February 2009

A 22-year-old gang associate charged with murdering Hawke's Bay farmer Mark McCutcheon will appear in court today before the dead man's grieving widow and a big crowd of supporters.
Police charged the Waipukurau man with murder yesterday. He had previously been charged with assault.
Police say he assaulted and stabbed Mr McCutcheon outside the Sandford Arms Hotel in the central Hawke's Bay settlement of Ongaonga on January 23.
The man, who has name suppression, will appear in Hastings District Court earlier today. He also has name suppression.
A 26-year-old patched gang member will also appear charged with assaulting a female outside the hotel. Mr McCutcheon, 34, a father of three young children, is understood to have tried to help the woman. Police believe he ran off the road about 1.
He was found dead in his car off State Highway 50 about 7am the next day. An autopsy showed he died from stab wounds.5 kilometres from the hotel.
"She's been very strong and she really wants to see this case through no matter how long it takes," Mr Hume said.
Family friend Nick Hume said Mr McCutcheon's widow, Paula, was determined to see the man accused of killing her husband.
"We're not sure how she'll feel after it, or before it.
"We're not sure how she'll feel after it, or before it."

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"A large contingent of family and friends will be making the trip north to Hastings court

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Dad jailed for ‘old fashioned discipline’ on child

The Timaru Herald Tuesday, 03 February 2009

A Timaru man who used "old-fashioned discipline" on his children has been sent to prison for nine months for his fourth assault on them.
John Harry Lagataua, 45, received a second cumulative sentence of five months for assaulting his former partner in a separate incident.
Timaru District Court heard that the storeman had assaulted one child three times, and been convicted of assault on another sibling. .
In the latest incident, the child was having a tantrum so Lagataua put him into "time out".
Defence counsel Teresa Lawrence said Lagataua loved the child, and those feelings were reciprocated as the child, who was now in care, had been asking to see him. The child screamed and was left with a small abrasion and minor bruising to his neck, according to evidence presented.
She suggested Lagataua was using old-school methods of discipline like those that were used on him when he was a child.
Ms Lawrence suggested Lagataua simply did not have the skills to deal with a "challenging" child.
The two prior assaults on the child involved having his mouth washed with soap for using bad language and being disciplined with a wooden spoon, the court heard.
Lagataua had completed an anger management course in 2007 and was enrolled in a parenting programme.
All five children were now in Child, Youth and Family care. The woman was in the driver's seat, and Lagataua had leant across attempting to remove the keys from the ignition.
Ms Lawrence said the assault on his partner arose when the pair had been trying to talk through their separation. A struggle ensued, Ms Lawrence said. A struggle ensued, Ms Lawrence said.
"It is clear you have issues with appropriate behaviour with children," he said, adding that the latest assault on a child happened only six weeks after he was sentenced for assaulting another child.
Judge Colin Doherty noted the assault on the woman had occurred while Lagataua was on bail for assaulting the child. Home detention or community detention would be totally inappropriate.
"This is your fifth conviction for violence within a domestic relationship."

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Animals go missing

By SUSANA TALAGI – Tuesday, 20 January 2009

SUSANA TALAGI/
LOST: Bonny Tawharu wonders where all the pets in her neighbourhood are disappearing to.

Animal lover lover Bonny Tawharu says something sinister is going on in her neighbourhood.
The Ranui resident’s cat went missing last month and is presumed dead.
She says numerous cats have vanished in the area in the same period.
But Ms Tawharu isn’t the only resident to lose a pet in recent weeks.
Three dogs, three rabbits, 17 chickens and numerous ducks are either missing or dead.
But that’s not all.
The problem came to Ms Tawharu’s attention after her eight-year-old cat Havok didn’t return home to Elvira Place on December 20.
"I only got up in the morning to feed him.
"I got him after a separation, he kept me alive," she says.
"I would do anything to get him back, but I think someone’s done him in, that’s the honest truth. Without him I wouldn’t be here now.
"I thought that’s weird," she says."
Ms Tawharu went doorknocking and learned two neighbours had the same problem.
"Then I went around the corner and another woman said she had lost her cat.
"Then I went around the corner and another woman said she had lost her cat.
She had a "phenomenal response"."
Ms Tawharu delivered 470 leaflets seeking information about her cat and urging people to contact her if they were in a similar predicament. .
"How come all these animals are disappearing and dying?" she says.
"They were murdered," she says.
The chickens were savaged, presumably by a dog, and she believes her dog was poisoned."
Animal Welfare Centre officer Priya Sundar also thinks the situation is strange.
"I’m on my own and have cancer – those creatures were my friends.
"It would suggest something out of the ordinary is going on.
"The number of animals disappearing in the area sounds unusual," she says.
"Ms Tawharu is on the right path.
"Ms Tawharu is on the right path. Making other people aware is good because people might not know to ring us."
If you’ve lost or found a pet call the centre on 836-0400.