Two a penny

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A review of pathology services in Auckland will be carried out to see what can be learned from problems during a change over in providers, Health Minister Tony Ryall says.

But first the problems need to be fixed.

Ten per cent of the services will be handed back to Diagnostic Medlab (DML), the provider that lost the multi-million dollar contract to rival Labtests, it was announced today.

The arrangement would last four years and comes after much criticism over Labtests’ performance.

DML will start before the end of the month.

It should take pressure off Labtests, he said.

Mr Ryall said the arrangement would help fix the problem but it would still be “some time before things were fully remedied”.

The problems with services were unacceptable and not “what we were promised in Auckland”. .

Aucklanders were promised a quality laboratory service which has not been delivered, he said.

“Right now, I don’t want people looking in the rear-vision mirror I want them focused on the urgent issue of fixing this.

The main focus now was “putting every effort in making sure this gets fixed” and the review would follow that, Mr Ryall said.

Labtests is owned by Australian company Healthscope.

“There will be a focused review at the end of this to uncover the learnings for the health sector so something like this can never be repeated,” Mr Ryall told reporters.

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A Waikato woman has found her Irish husband’s body in a Laos river three days after he went missing in a tragic end to their Asian honeymoon.

Michael O’Sullivan, 39, a publican, got into difficulty after a river “tubing” ride with his wife Ilana James 29, and 18 other holidaymakers.They had planned to renew their vows in the presence of Mrs O’Sullivan’s mother in New Zealand.Mr O’Sullivan and Ms James, from Raglan, had been enjoying a belated honeymoon backpacking around Asia after marrying last November, the Evening Herald in Dublin reported.But the river had swollen dangerously because of the rainy season, and locals had to use ropes and sticks to rescue them.Last Thursday, the pair went on the “tubing adventure” on the Nam Xong river in Vang Vieng, in the north of Laos, described by backpackers’ guide Lonely Planet as “one of the rites of passage of the Indochina backpacking circuit”. He was not wearing a lifejacket. .For three days she hired boats and scoured the river banks looking for her husband and she was among a search party that found his body yesterday.Ms James insisted on being part of the search team that combed the river.The couple met in England.Ms James suffered a further blow when she was mugged on the way back to her hotel during the search.They had already visited India, Malaysia and Thailand after heading off backpacking in June. They were married last year and moved to Ireland.

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Actor Patrick Swayze, whose turn as a smoldering dance instructor in Dirty Dancing made him one of the iconic film stars of the 1980s, has died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.

Swayze, an actor and dancer who cemented his status as sex symbol opposite Demi Moore in the 1990 romance Ghost, died at his home.

Swayze became one of Hollywood’s top stars with 1987′s Dirty Dancing, which defied Hollywood expectations to become one of the most-watched movies of all time. .

Swayze was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, one of the most deadly forms of the disease, in January 2008.

The Texas-born actor played the swaggering dance instructor Johnny Castle in the film opposite Jennifer Grey’s sheltered teenager Frances “Baby” Houseman, who becomes smitten with him while on vacation at a New York resort during the 1960s. Pancreatic cancer sufferers are only given a five percent chance of survival. He said at the time that the cancer had already spread to his liver.

The series was broadcast in America earlier this year.

But he vowed to fight the disease and had treatment with an experimental drug, surprising Hollywood by filming a new detective series for television called The Beast in which he played the lead role..

“I think everybody thought I was out of my mind . thinking I’m gonna pull off a TV show,” Swayze said in an interview in January 2009, adding that he was scared and angry at his diagnosis..

Dirty Dancing, which was made for a modest budget and almost scrapped by its studio, became a massive box-office hit, earning Golden Globe nominations for both stars and spawning the Oscar-winning hit single (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.

Swayze was working on a memoir with his wife of more than 30 years, Lisa Niemi, earlier this year.

Swayze co-wrote and performed the song She’s Like the Wind for the movie’s soundtrack, which went to No.

Producers did not have high hopes for the film but it reaped US$64 million at the US box office and US$214 million worldwide. The film remained widely popular more than two decades later and recently spawned a stage musical version. 3 on the pop music charts.

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The mother of murdered schoolgirl Marie Davis will ‘always feel anger, hatred and bitterness towards’ her killer Dean Cameron who has been sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in prison.

Cameron, 39, was found guilty of raping and murdering the 15-year-old Papanui High School pupil on April 6 last year. In the days following Marie’s disappearance, people – including Cameron – put up missing posters around Christchurch, while police launched an investigation. He was also sentenced earlier today to serve a minimum of 10 years for rape.

“I cannot understand why it had to happen.

Marie’s mother, Janet Davis, said in a victim impact statement that she read out in court earlier today that Cameron had “destroyed her family for no good reason”. I will always feel anger, hatred and bitterness towards Dean Cameron. It’s just an utter waste of her life.

Justice Lester Chisholm said Cameron’s apparent lack of remorse for Marie or Marie’s family was “despicable”.”

Davis’s life was “empty” without her daughter, she told the court.

“This current offence occurred only nine months after you had been released from prison in relation to the sexual violation of your former partner.

Aggravating features of the case included previous convictions, including a sexual violation against his former partner.

“It doesn’t take me to say that offending of this type against a young victim strikes at the very heart of our community.”

The community, along with Marie’s family, had “agonised” from Marie’s initial disappearance, then shared “unbridled anger” at her murder.”

On April 14, eight days after Marie’s disappearance, two young dirt-bikers found bedding snagged on a log on the northern banks of the Waimakariri River. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. .After an extensive land and water search, her body was found three days later on a braided section of the river, 5 kilometres downstream from where the bedding was found.The court was told Cameron, who had practised martial arts since childhood, knew how to use the hold. The Crown said Marie was most likely killed by a neck compression hold, known as the carotid hold or sleeper hold.

. On June 11 2009 a High Court jury in Christchurch found Cameron guilty of rape and murder

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The Government does not appear to be concerned about the reopening of an inquiry into one of its MPs.

The inquiry, involving list MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi over immigration allegations, is back on after police were provided with fresh information.

There have also been allegations swirling around about attempts to silence witnesses.

Mr Bakshi has denied allegations he accepted money for false job offers to bolster Indian immigrant applications.

“There have been allegations around for a while, it’s my understanding that the Department of Immigration has been looking into those and they should follow the proper processes.

“As far as I understand, he’s quite clear he hasn’t done anything he shouldn’t have done,” Acting Prime Minister Bill English told reporters today.

It has now provided police with further information on the allegations after interviewing a new informant, The New Zealand Herald reported.”

Immigration New Zealand started an inquiry last year but closed it in March as a result of a lack of evidence.

Police said they were looking at the role of former immigration consultant Darshan Singh Bains, who took job offers from Mr Bakshi and gave them to Indians to use as part of their applications to migrate to New Zealand.

The service also provided police with a sworn statement, obtained by Labour MP Pete Hodgson from another new informant, which said complainants were encouraged by people in India to drop the matter; “because he was going to be the first Sikh MP in New Zealand”. .

“Police are currently assessing that Immigration NZ information to determine criminal liability,” police said.

In Parliament today Mr Hodgson read an affidavit sworn by Darshan Singh Saran, a resident of the Punjab and a friend of Kuldip Singh, the man who says he paid for a job offer for his wife.

Mr Bakshi has been away from work after a heart bypass operation but is expected back soon.

It recorded how “influential people” urged Kuldip Singh not to speak out against the MP.

The affidavit said the money was paid to Darshan Singh Bains, and Kuldip Singh’s attempts to recover it failed because the immigration consultant had disappeared.

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A bruised teenage girl clung to the wreckage of a Yemeni plane for more than 13 hours before rescuers found her floating in the Indian Ocean, a French official said on Wednesday.

There was no word on any other survivors, but French officials said one of the plane’s black boxes had been found.An Associated Press reporter saw 14-year-old Bahia Bakari in a Comoros hospital Wednesday as she was visited by government officials.The Yemenia Airbus 310 jet carrying 153 people to island nation of Comoros crashed into the sea early Tuesday as it attempted to land in the dark amid howling winds.”It is a true miracle. She was conscious with bruises on her face and a gauze bandage on her elbow. “She held onto a piece of the plane from 1:30 a. She is a courageous young girl,” Alain Joyandet, France’s minister for international cooperation, said at the hospital.m.m to 3:00 p. Her father arrives tomorrow. She has lost her mother.Kassim Bakari said he spoke with his oldest daughter by phone after Tuesday’s crash.”The girl’s father told French radio that his daughter was “fragile” and could “barely swim” but managed to hang on.He said she was ejected and found herself beside the plane. Bahia had left Paris on Monday night with her mother to see family in the Comoros. She heard people speaking around her but she couldn’t see anyone in the darkness,” Bakari said on France’s RTL radio.”She couldn’t feel anything, and found herself in the water.”Said Mohammed, a nurse at El Mararouf hospital in the Comoros capital of Moroni, said the girl was doing well and doctors would release more on her condition later Wednesday. “She’s a very timid girl, I never thought she would escape like that. Said Abdilai told Europe 1 radio that Bahia was too weak to grasp the life ring rescuers threw to her, so he jumped into the sea to get her.Sgt.The crash a few kilometers off this island nation came two years after aviation officials reported equipment faults with the plane, an aging Airbus 310 flying the last leg of a Yemenia airlines flight from Paris and Marseille to the Comoros, with a stop in Yemen to change planes. He said rescuers gave the trembling girl warm water with sugar. Sixty-six on board were French nationals. Sixty-six on board were French nationals.Turbulence was believed to be a factor in the crash, Yemen’s embassy in Washington said.Gen. 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 14.4 kilometers north of the Comoran coast and 34 kilometers from the Moroni airport.A French military cargo plane flew Wednesday over a zone 80 kilometers north of Grand Comoros Island, while two inflatable dinghies sent by French forces on La Reunion island combed waters closer to the coast.”The search is continuing,” Joyandet said. “No other survivors have been found for the moment.”Col. .A French tug arrived from the French island of Mayotte to recover survivors, corpses and debris, while a French frigate diverted from anti-piracy operations, the Nivose, and another French military ship headed to the scene.Both France and Airbus sent experts to the Comoros to aid in the investigation.The tragedy – and dwindling hopes that anyone else made it out alive – prompted an outcry in Comoros, where residents have long complained of a lack of seat belts on Yemenia flights and planes so overcrowded that passengers had to stand in the aisles.The Comoros, home to some 700,000 people, is an archipelago of three main islands situated 2,900 kilometers south of Yemen, between Africa’s southeastern coast and the island of Madagascar.French aviation inspectors found a “number of faults” in the plane’s equipment during a 2007 inspection, French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said.European Union Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said the airline had previously met EU safety checks but would now face a full investigation amid questions why passengers were put on another jet in the Yemeni capital of San’a.The vice president of Comoros criticized French officials for not telling his nation about any suspected problems.”We wish the French could have informed us of any irregularity or any problems with that plane,” Idi Nadhoim said Wednesday on France-24 television.”Most if not all of the planes of Yemenia are Airbus,” he said. “They are supposed to be serviced by Airbus.”"We trust the civil aviation authorities of the countries we are working with,” he added, suggesting that French authorities discriminated against “those French who are left by themselves to fly this type of plane” – French citizens from former French colonies.Airbus 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 since 1999.

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A 19-year-old Dunedin man who tortured and killed a dog has been jailed for a year – the longest sentence yet for animal cruelty.

Jeffrey Hurring, a supermarket shelf-filler, tortured an 18-month-old male Jack Russell for 30 minutes, before killing it with a spade on February 2.

He was sentenced in Dunedin District Court to 12 months’ jail and barred from owning an animal for 10 years, The Otago Daily Times reported. .

Hurring admitted killing the dog, named Diesel and owned by a friend, by first trying to strangle it using a chain, his hands and his feet.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said the maximum previous sentence handed down in New Zealand for cruelty to an animal was nine months’ jail, but the cruelty of this case was a significant aggravating factor in sentencing.

The impact broke the dog’s back and jaw, killing it.

Hurring was ordered to pay $1178.

SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger hailed the sentence and said it “sends a very clear message”.50 reparation to the SPCA and to continue counselling for his drinking and other issues related to his offending for at least six months after his release from prison.

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An Air New Zealand flight to Australia was grounded today after cabin crew members were suspended for donning wigs.

The incident is the latest in an ongoing pay dispute between the airline and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents cabin crew members of Zeal, the company that supplies Air New Zealand with cabin crew for its A320 services on Pacific and trans-Tasman routes.
Air New Zealand said the crew due to operate on a flight from Christchurch to Sydney had been suspended, resulting in the cancellation of the flight.
Nine cabin crew were also suspended yesterday for wearing feather boas, wigs and stickers.
An EPMU spokesman said four members had been suspended after they refused to remove wigs they were wearing.
Air New Zealand welcomed the withdrawal, calling the strike notice ”futile”. .
Group general manager short haul airlines Bruce Parton said the EPMU decision came after being faced with an interim injunction filed by Zeal and due to be heard by the Employment Court at 10am tomorrow.
EPMU national secretary Andrew Little said the application for an injunction was on the grounds that one aspect of the strike notice was unclear.
”Clearly, the EPMU has accepted that there is a more mature path to resolving this employment dispute,” he said.
He said the strike notice was withdrawn following legal advice and a directions conference with the Employment Court, when the union negotiating team considered the strike notice was unlikely to survive the court action.
The aspect related to the question of what constituted being ”in New Zealand” while on flying duties, Mr Little said.”
Mr Little said current notified industrial action, involving non-compliance with the company’s ”uniform police” and non-availability of staff for stand-by rosters, would continue indefinitely.
”With other litigation initiated by both the company and the union it was better to focus our legal resources on these other issues.
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Executives at Air New Zealand are to act as cabin crew for the airline’s subsidiary, Zeal 320 Ltd, during next week’s planned strike action on trans-Tasman and Pacific routes.

Talks between the airline and the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) are continuing.
But the EPMU said it did not believe the airline had staff available to replace striking cabin crew.
Air New Zealand told Radio New Zealand it had 100 fully qualified staff, including top executives who have volunteered to keep planes flying over the Easter period.
Air New Zealand’s group general manager of short-haul airlines, Bruce Parton, said senior staff, including Glen Sowry, who is heading the negotiations, will act as crew on the Zeal 320 flights. .
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Mr Parton said the airline may consider sacking and replacing the 250 Zeal cabin crew if the industrial action is drawn out

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Call-centre workers to receive ‘Kiwi’ training

Saturday, 07 February 2009

Telecom'scall-centre workers in the Philippines will be trained to talk like New Zealanders, learning slang words and mastering the Kiwi accent as part of a move to outsource 250 jobs.
Telecom, which has announced it will axe the call-centre jobs in New Zealand and shift them to Manila, will put the new employees through a two-month training session.
Once completed, some would sound like "authentic Kiwis".
"You wouldn't know they are in Manila.
British-based Rob O'Malley, whose company employs more than 3500 call-centre workers in the Philippines, said the results were often "staggering".
"The call-centre workers have to be the real deal and do everything better than if they were in New Zealand. You would think they are in an office somewhere in Auckland that's how good they are. Someone from the Philippines with no training would struggle to understand someone with a strong Kiwi accent, straight off the street.
"Call it a crash course in the Kiwi experience," he said."
Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the training would also give workers information about New Zealand's customs, geography, education, sports and events.
Mr O'Malley said criticism that call-centres in the Philippines were poor quality and a way for companies to save money was true several years ago, but the standard had now changed.
Training also included listening to New Zealand phone calls and a "virtual backpacking" exercise that took workers around the country, learning how to pronounce the names of cities and towns.
But call-centre workers in the Philippines still earned above the average wage, which was more than nurses, but lagged a long way behind pay rates in New Zealand.
Companies were attracted to outsourcing work to the Philippines because Filipinos spoke good English and would do the jobs for lower wages.
The jobs were highly sought-after, with Mr O'Malley's company employing one person for every 25 applications it received.
The jobs were highly sought-after, with Mr O'Malley's company employing one person for every 25 applications it received. . Workers were also highly valued by employers."
But Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little had heard mixed stories about working conditions in the Philippines and thought it was "dodgy" for Telecom to take advantage of the workers. The Philippines' economy has not had much going for it and this has created a lot of opportunity. It's not a good look for a big corporate to take advantage of that.
"It is a low-income country with a poor economy."
BUSY SIGNAL
Kiwi call-centre workers
Salary: $35,000Hours per week: 37Annual leave: 20 days a yearSource: Trade Me Jobs and CallCentre People Ltd
Manila call-centre workers
Salary: $9389Hours per week: 37. Low pay, long hours it doesn't sound like much fun.5Annual leave: 20 days a yearSource: Call-centre managing director Rob O'Malley