Two a penny

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A rugby referee has been king-hit by a spectator holding a baby, after a controversial end to a game in Auckland.

The attack happened during a Samoan United Rugby Shield game between the Auckland Eagles and Laulii Liona at Williams Park in Mangere at the weekend.

Tournament organiser Moe Mata’afa said the event happened after the Eagles scored the winning try in injury time before one of the Laulii players made a late tackle.

Auckland rugby referees manager Mike Elliott confirmed the incident and said it was being investigated by the disciplinary committee.

Mr Mata’afa said that, soon after, as the referee stood in the officials’ tent talking to some of the players, the man – understood to be a spectator – entered the tent and punched the referee from behind.

As the referee spoke with the Laulii captain after he awarded the Eagles a penalty, he was allegedly abused by one of the Laulii team’s support staff and ended the game. . The man then fled…”

“But it wasn’t a real [bad punch] because he had a baby in one hand. they were talking to him in the tent and someone just from nowhere punched the referee.

Mr Mata’afa said they had called police but the unidentified man had already fled.”

He believed the incident was sparked by the referee’s decision to end the game won by the Eagles 14-12, early.

The tournament is played following the regular rugby season and consists of teams made up by players from the same villages in Samoa.

He said the incident was the first of its kind in the tournament’s six-year history.

Mr Elliott said the referee had not suffered any serious injuries and would referee again this weekend.

It was made up of Auckland and Counties Manukau club and secondary school rugby players.”

Otahuhu Senior Sergeant Laurie Culpan confirmed the assault but said they had not located the offender.

“We would like to find the culprit but a member of the public is pretty hard to find when they disappear into the woodwork.

Mr Culpan said since it was not a serious assault, the enquiries were being left to the Auckland Rugby Union, with police to act on any information provided by them.

“Police were called but obviously by the time we got there the spectator had disappeared, which is fairly common for these sort of things,” he said.”

He said the rugby union had measures they could take such as bans on individuals or standing clubs down in order to get the person to come forward.

“As you can imagine from our perspective, everybody’s gone, there are that many lines of inquiry for a minor assault, it would chew an inordinate amount of police time.

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Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele has attacked news media for claiming tsunami aid to his country was being misused.

He challenged media to go to the scene and see for themselves.

But as he made the claim Porirua College’s head of Pacific Studies has questioned what happened to aid they gave to tsunami damaged villages.

“The only stories you are sending overseas are bad, unfounded stories.

According to the Samoa Observer, Tuilaepa said there were many “under-educated journalists” in Samoa.

He denied aid relief rorts were taking place and challenged the media to go and see. I urge your journalist association to form a special council to rule the reports by these boys and girls who write these make up stories,” the prime minister said.

“Stop relying on statements from the government.

He blamed the rain for delays in aid reaching the damaged southern coast. You go see,” he said.

“Some houses are up.

“The rainy season is here, the people fixing roads should look at fixing roads because of the dirt,” he said. . But others should begin this week.

The principals of both colleges cancelled planned trips and went shopping to spend funds on buying kitchenware necessities, such as knives, forks, plates, bowls, bush knives, pots, saucepans, and food.

The principals of both colleges cancelled planned trips and went shopping to spend funds on buying kitchenware necessities, such as knives, forks, plates, bowls, bush knives, pots, saucepans, and food.

“We were about to distribute the materials, to about 10 or 12 families when a senior government official arrived and asked us to take our donation to their village council committee who were allocating gifts to the village,” Aliimuamua wrote.

They travelled to Lalomanu to give it to the worst affected village.”

Their gift was not distributed however.

“We told him we would like to give our cash money to the Red Cross for distribution, but he was very convincing that the best way to go about distribution of our meaalofa (gift) is through the village committee, which we didn’t mind in the end.

“He hesitated as if not sure of anything and said, ‘Some materials have been given to the victims, but not the money, we are waiting until all donations had been received before we dish it out to the victims and then thanked everyone in the newspaper and let us know’.

“When I left on 12th October, I met the government official at the airport, I asked him if they had distributed our meaalofa, so far we haven’t heard of what happened or had seen any report in the paper about it.

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Aliimuamua said they “hope that our gifts have been distributed already to all the Lalomanu families of tsunami victims as we wanted to help them

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A Masterton man who achieved a degree of fame through a near-death experience last year was today convicted of assaulting his former partner.

John Edmonds’ heart stopped beating for 25 minutes after a collapse in November.

After his recovery he fielded requests to share his story from a United States radio show, an author and the New York Times.

He was now a illness beneficiary, and the only way he could make money was by capitalising on the interest generated by his survival, she said.

At sentencing in Wellington District Court today, lawyer Louise Elder pressed for Edmonds to be discharged without conviction.

But Judge Stephen Harrop said Edmonds had three previous convictions dating back to 1986, including one for assault.

A conviction could prevent him travelling to interviews or speaking engagements overseas. .

He was also convicted of intentional damage to his former partner’s paintings and fined $1200 reparation.

He convicted Edmonds and sentenced him to six months supervision for assault with intent to injure and fined him $500 in emotional harm reparation.

The pair were getting along until Edmonds received text messages from one of his former partners, Judge Harrop said.

On August 5 this year, Edmonds had visited the home of his on-again off-again partner Sarah Alexander, 33, an amateur artist.

She snapped the phone – which Edmonds had borrowed – and this made him snap as well, Judge Harrop said.

Ms Alexander asked to look at his phone and was annoyed to see who the messages were from.

“You got very angry and you punched one of her paintings two or three times.

“You got very angry and you punched one of her paintings two or three times.”

Ms Alexander told police Edmonds had kicked her about four times in the legs as she collapsed under his blows.

“You then punched her a number of times in the head and face.

She said Edmonds was a high profile member of the community and other cases like his were heard every day and went “entirely under the radar”.

Edmonds’ lawyer, Ms Elder did not hide her contempt for “the press”, telling the court a Wairarapa Times-Age interview with Ms Alexander following the attack, which ran on the front page, had been “a huge punishment in itself”.

Since his heart attack, Edmonds could no longer work in the fitness industry and was now a illness beneficiary, she said.

It had a huge impact on Edmonds, and his teenaged children had received a barrage of text messages “which destroyed them”, Ms Elder said.

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Judge Harrop noted a discharge without conviction was opposed by police and by Ms Alexander who, in her victim impact statement, said she felt “gutted” by Edmonds’ continued denial of what happened and the lack of an apology

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Police have launched an investigation into allegations of sabotage and assault at a Waikato cheese factory where a pay and contracts dispute between workers and management is turning increasingly dirty.

Open Country factory union members have been barred from returning to the Waharoa plant by management while an inquiry into alleged sabotage of factory equipment by a worker is investigated.The Dairy Workers Union members have been trying to return to work this week at the end of an eight-day strike but the company is refusing allow them on the premises. .It was too risky to allow the striking employees back to work until a police investigation had sorted out who was guilty for the alleged sabotage, he said.Factory chairman Laurie Margrain claimed that just before the industrial action started, somebody had loosened fittings, turned off valves and altered pressure gauges.”They’re presenting themselves for work and we’re paying them,” he said.But workers who did turn up for their shift were being sent home on full pay, he said.Mr Margrain said a disgruntled employee was behind the dumping.Police are also investigating an allegation of sludge dumping from the factory into close toby the Waitoa River.But Dairy Workers Union national secretary James Ritchie said untrained workers hired by the company during the strike had released the sludge into the Waitoa river, causing environmental damage.

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An Australian man raped his daughter almost daily for 30 years and fathered her four children, in a case that echoes Austria’s Fritzl incest horror, according to reports.

A News Limited newspaper reports the alleged rapes started in the 1970s when the victim was about 11 and continued until 2007.

It reports all four children were born with birth defects in major Melbourne hospitals.

The woman reportedly spoke to police at Morwell, in Gippsland, eastern Victoria, in 2005 after a neighbour intervened, but she declined to cooperate because she feared for her safety.

The man, in his 60s, has been charged with more than 80 offences and is due to appear in court in November. Police conducted DNA tests on the father and, in February, laid 83 charges of sex abuse against him.

However, she went to police again in June last year and gave a statement against her father, the Herald Sun reports. .

The newspaper says the accused man’s wife had denied knowing of any assaults or who fathered her daughter’s children.

The victim’s mother claims she was unaware of any abuse despite sharing a house with her daughter, husband and grandchildren until 2005.

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The Herald Sun newspaper quotes sources saying the case could be “every bit as bad” as that of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who imprisoned his daughter and fathered seven children with her

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The number of deaths involving swine flu has risen to seven, after a Taranaki man who died earlier this week was confirmed as having the illness.

The man had an underlying medical condition, but his family had asked that no details about him be released to the public, a Ministry of Health spokesperson told .

Swine flu has become New Zealand’s dominant flu strain, accounting for about 75 percent of confirmed flu cases in the week ending Sunday, the reported.

The number of confirmed cases of swine flu was unchanged at Friday’s total of 1555, because the system that collated the figures was down for scheduled maintenance, he said.

The illness was more serious than it had sometimes been portrayed, with the country’s death rate likely to be about the same or higher than the roughly 400 deaths from seasonal flu each year, Massey University mathematical biologist Professor Mick Roberts said.

Swine flu has rapidly replaced seasonal influenza, and was putting health services under particular pressure in Wellington, Taupo and Rotorua.

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US naval forces have rescued cargo ship captain Richard Phillips from captivity at the hands of Somali pirates in a dramatic shootout that ended a five-day standoff.

Phillips’ life was in danger when naval forces shot the pirates, freeing him unharmed and killing three of four pirates who had held him hostage on a lifeboat after trying to seize his vessel, the navy said. The fourth pirate was in custody.

The US Navy believed that Phillips, who tried to escape on Friday, faced imminent danger amid tense hostage talks with his captors and deteriorating sea conditions.

“I can tell you that he is free and that he is safe,” Navy Lieutenant Commander John Daniels said. William Gortney, head of the US Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.

“They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain,” Vice Adm.

President Barack Obama had granted the Pentagon’s request for standing authority to use appropriate force to save the life of the captain, he said.19am NZT and the lifeboat had drifted to about 20 miles from lawless Somalia’s coast.

The US Navy 5th Fleet in Bahrain said the rescue took place at 4.

“We are all absolutely thrilled to learn that Richard is safe and will be reunited with his family,” Maersk Line chief executive John Reinhart said in a statement.

Phillips, captain of the US-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, had contacted his family, received a routine medical evaluation, and was resting comfortably aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.

Phillips’ crew let off flares, hoisted an American flag and jumped for joy at news of their captain’s rescue.

CNN showed a photo of a smiling Phillips after his rescue.

“We are very happy.

“We are very happy.

Three US warships had been watching the situation.

Phillips, 53, was the first American taken captive by Somali pirate gangs who have marauded in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes for years.

“To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes,” he said in a statement.

PIRATES VOW REVENGE

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Obama, spared from having another thorny foreign policy crisis added to his troubles with the US economic meltdown and Afghanistan, welcomed the rescue, praised the US military and vowed to curb rampant piracy.

“The French and the Americans will regret starting this killing.

Somali pirates were quick to vow revenge over Sunday’s shooting, as well as a French military assault to rescue a yacht on Friday. We shall do something to anyone we see as French or American from now,” Hussein, a pirate, said by satellite phone. We do not kill, but take only ransom.

Phillips volunteered to go with the pirates in a Maersk Alabama lifeboat in exchange for the crew, said Vice Adm.

The Maersk Alabama, a container ship carrying food aid for Somalis, was attacked far out in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, but its 20 American crew apparently fought off the pirates and regained control.

“The actions of Captain Phillips and the civilian mariners of Maersk-Alabama were heroic.

“The actions of Captain Phillips and the civilian mariners of Maersk-Alabama were heroic. They fought back to regain control of their ship, and Captain Phillips selflessly put his life in the hands of these armed criminals in order to protect his crew,” he said in a statement.

Joseph Murphy, whose son, Shane, was Phillips’s second in command and took over the Alabama after pirates left with Phillips, said in a statement read by CNN, “Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday.”

“My son and our family will forever be indebted to Capt. Phillips for his bravery. If not for his incredible personal sacrifice, this kidnapping – an act of terror – could have turned out much worse,” said Murphy.

“The captain is a hero,” one crew member shouted from the 17,000-ton ship as it docked in Kenya’s Mombasa port under darkness on Saturday. “He saved our lives by giving himself up.”

LEGAL SYSTEM NEEDED

Experts had expected a quick end to the standoff, but the pirates held out for both a ransom and safe passage home. Friends said the gang wanted $2 million.

The saga has drawn world attention to the long-running piracy phenomenon off Somalia that has hiked shipping insurance costs and disrupted international trade.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said the rescue would change the stakes in future pirate attacks.

“This is a big wake-up to the pirates. It raises the stakes. Now they may be more violent, like the pirates of old,” he said.

Pirates have generally treated hostages well, sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even passing phones round so they can call loved ones. The worst violence reported has been the occasional beating and no hostages are known to have been killed by pirates.

The drama underscored a need for new international agreements to allow other countries to protect shipments in Somali waters and try pirates, US Coast Guard Commandant Adm. .”

The US Justice Department said in a statement it “will be reviewing the evidence and other issues to determine whether to seek prosecution in the United States.”

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All-you-can-tan offers have critics seeing red

By KEITH LYNCH and KIM THOMAS – Monday, 16 February 2009

Salons offering all-you-can-tan sunbed promotions have been branded as irresponsible by doctors, who say such promotions highlight the need for stricter controls over solarium operators.
Dr Judith Galtry, a skin cancer adviser with the Cancer Society, said offering people the opportunity to tan many times in a month was potentially unsafe. Those who used the beds at any age were 15 per cent more likely to develop skin cancer.
"Research from an international agency on cancer found people who used sunbeds before they were aged 18 were 75 per cent more likely to develop melanoma.
Manager Kerry Middleton said the salon strictly monitored its all-you-can-tan customers."
Christchurch salon Skin Deep Solariums is offering an all-you-can-tan promotion for $60 a month.
"In the vertical [tanning bed], it's a max of nine minutes; in the lay-down [tanning beds], it's a maximum of 25 minutes.
"All-you-can-tan is a one-month offer that is strictly within the health boundaries."
Some customers did flout the guidelines, and tanned every day, but the all-you-can-tan system was closely monitored, Middleton said. And we recommend people tan at most every second day, as the skin needs time to recover. We are looking after their skin.
"Our customers are in a controlled environment where we can check exactly how much time they go in for."
Parental consent was required for customers under the age of 18, but sunbeds were off limits to people under 16, Middleton said. .
Galtry said the Cancer Society would carry out "stings" on sunbed operators this year to gauge how many were flouting the guidelines.
This year, Standards NZ and Australia published new guidelines for the tanning industry, including advising against the use of tanning machines by people under 18.
"Good salons should offer people the benefits of tanning without the risk of burning," she said.
Gabrielle Brown, of the Indoor Tanning Association, advised people to tan moderately.
"We've tried to get together with a couple of our critics to talk to them about educating people on how to moderate their tanning behaviour and how to avoid sunburn.
"But our critics' position is they see no benefit to tanning and would like to see the industry completely disappear."

. But they've said, `we can't work with you'

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Helen Clark’s UN job interview

By ANTHONY HUBBARD – Sunday, 08 February 2009

Former Primeminister Helen Clark is in the running for a top United Nations job, and the National government is supporting her bid.
Clark is a candidate for the post of administrator of the UN Development Programme, third behind UN secretary-general and deputy secretary-general.
It was too early yet to predict whether she would be successful, Key told the Sunday Star-Times.
Prime Minister John Key confirmed yesterday that Clark was a candidate, "and she has all the support of the New Zealand government".
If Clark was successful her appointment would be comparable with former Labour leader Mike Moore's job as director-general of the World Trade Organisation or former National foreign affairs minister Don McKinnon's post as secretary-general of the Commonwealth.
Auckland University foreign policy expert Steve Hoadley said the UNDP post was one of "major international importance".
The present administrator, former Turkish economic affairs minister Kemal Dervis, is due to retire at the end of his four-year term in August this year.
The UNDP had the largest budget of any UN agency, Hoadley said, and was a major presence throughout the world. A government source said she would be "a very strong candidate".
It has long been expected that Clark, a foreign affairs specialist all her adult life and with a wide international network, would try for an international post. It's a very senior position and will be hotly contested by a number of candidates.
Clark said: "This position came up at short notice. Hoadley said the government would have to lobby General Assembly members for the job. .
The UNDC is the UN's global development network, overseeing a budget of $US5 billion. It would be interesting to see how much it was prepared to spend in supporting the Clark candidacy in a time of financial stringency.
The Clark-led government in its final term increased its aid budget to $400 million, about 0. Its head office is in New York, and it has 140 offices around the world.

.3 percentof gross national income

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Funeral held for South Korean backpacker

By KIRAN CHUG Thursday, 04 December 2008

The brother of Jae Hyeon Kim has thanked the people of New Zealand for the love they showed the Korean backpacker before he was killed.
Jaekyung Kim spoke only a few words at an emotional funeral service he attended with his mother Leebun Kim in Nelson today.
The funeral service, held in English and Korean, was also attended by members of Nelson's Korean community, detectives who investigated Mr Kim's disappearance, representatives from the Korean Consulate, and other community members.
Mr Kim's body was recovered by police in dense bush close to Charleston in October, five years after his disappearance.
Tasman police district crime manager Detective Inspector John Winter said it had been an emotional week for Mr Kim's mother and brother, who arrived in Nelson on Monday. .
Tomorrow they will attend the sentencing in Wellington of a man who has admitted murdering Mr Kim.
On Wednesday they visited the site close to Charleston where police recovered Mr Kim's body.
Nelson fisherman Shannon Brent Flewellen, 29, has denied a charge of murdering Mr Kim and will stand trial in the High Court at Greymouth next June. His name is suppressed.