Two a penny

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New South Wales police say they hold “grave concerns” for a New Zealander who disappeared since last month.

Oliver Sims, 26, was last seen on September 18 at a university in Wollongong, where he worked in a function centre, NSW police said in a statement. .

Mr Sims, who lived in Wollongong, 82km south of Sydney, failed to return home after his shift and did not show up for work the next week.

“I was at home and he sent me a text message about 11pm, saying `Don’t wait up, I will be home late.

In the six weeks since he was last seen, his girlfriend of seven years, Pauline Cook, has retraced his steps, kept a constant vigil and made a public appeal for information to help find him. And that was the last I heard from him,” Ms Cook told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper. I love you’.

“I have been in contact with his family in New Zealand pretty much every day and they’re very distraught and extremely worried,” Ms Cook said.

Mr Sims, who did not have a driver’s licence, usually used public transport or got a lift home with a workmate. I’ve gone to places locally where he might be or go, and I’ve gone up to Sydney to places where we used to hang out.

“We’re all scared for his welfare and there’s not much we can do.”

Ms Cook and Mr Sims had talked of a future together that included marriage, and she said he was a “quiet and gentle kind of guy”.

“We’ve tried everything we can think of to find him.

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Family members have set up a “find Oliver Sims” Facebook group

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NZ Bus will lift its lockout notice and resume services on Thursday morning “as a gesture of good will”, if the unions stop strike action and agree to reach a settlement, the company says.

But parents and school children still face another day of disruption tomorrow as a lockout of about 900 bus drivers in Auckland continues.

A statement from the company said it would remove the lockout notice but only on the “proviso that by 1:30pm tomorrow the unions also lift their strike notice and agree to work with the facilitator to reach a ratified settlement”, NZ Bus operations general manager Zane Fulljames said.

No NZ Bus services have run since then and the disruption became greater yesterday on the first day of the fourth school term. .

Students and around 80,000 other commuters have had to find alternative transport to get to school or work.

The Auckland Combined Unions will meet with their members tomorrow at 11am to discuss developments.Most travellers had coped by switching to trains, taking buses provided by other companies, car pooling or using their own cars.An offer by the drivers to drive pupils for no pay was rejected by the company as “at best misguided and is at worst mischievous”.But yesterday, with pupils returning after the school holidays, many of the buses used for public services last week were switched back to school routes.co.Frustrated passengers have been told to go to the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) website maxx.Arta spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said it had scraped together a skeleton bus service and the trains into the city were packed.nz for alternatives.She said the daily subsidy of $160,000 paid to NZ Bus had been suspended while the buses were not running.She said the daily subsidy of $160,000 paid to NZ Bus had been suspended while the buses were not running.”If this dispute is not settled, I will be calling on Arta to start the process of terminating the existing contracts and finding someone else who will deliver the services that Auckland expects and pays for.”Like any commercial contract, NZ Bus contracts can be terminated for non-performance,” Mr Lee said.”If we terminated NZ Bus completely then we’d leave a 700-bus gap overnight, and we couldn’t do that to the public,” Ms Hunter said.”However, Arta spokeswoman Sharon Hunter said it would take up to two months to terminate the contract and it would be impossible to replace the bus service in that timeframe.

.NZ Bus spokeswoman Megan McSweeney said Mr Lee’s comments were “not helpful”

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A senior public servant has been committed for trial facing an assault charge.

At a depositions hearing before two Justices of the Peace in Wellington District Court today, the man, whose name and occupation have been suppressed, denies the charge following an incident in central Wellington on August 29 last year.

Prosecuting lawyer Paul Dacre told the court the teenage victim had taken credit cards belonging to the defendant’s wife and withdrawn $700 from an ATM, spending $200 of that on a cellphone, cigarettes and a bag.

Once in the car he punched the victim five or six times, with one blow hitting him in the head, he said.

On finding the victim the defendant grabbed him and walked him back to his car, threatening to break his legs if he tried to run away, Mr Dacre said.

Four witnesses, including two teenagers and two shop staff from across the road, today gave varying accounts of seeing the defendant strike the victim about the upper body while the pair were in the car.

When spoken to by police the man denied the threat and punches.

Some said they witnessed just a couple of blows while another said he saw up to 10 blows with a closed fist.

What they thought were punches could have been the man trying to get the bag off the boy and lock the car doors.

The defendant’s lawyer, Mike Antunovic, questioned the witnesses’ recollections and statements about the event. .

The witnesses were spoken to by police earlier this year, up to nine months later.

The defendant will next appear in Wellington District Court on January 19 for a jury trial call over.

Mr Antunovic conceded there was a prima facie case to answer.

Arguments for continued name suppression will be heard before a District Court judge before Christmas.

Arguments for continued name suppression will be heard before a District Court judge before Christmas.

. If he was acquitted then the damage done by publicity would be irreversible

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An earthquake measuring 5.9 magnitude centred in Fiordland was felt widely in the lower South Island tonight, following two other quakes earlier in the evening.31pm was centred 120km west of Te Anau.

The latest tremor at 8.9, the US Geological Survey registered it at 6.

While GNS Science measured it at 5. Geologists say the measurements of quakes are often more accurate from a long distance as a result of how shock waves travel through the earth.1.

”The phones are quiet,” a police spokesman said.

Invercargill police said there were no immediate reports of any damage.8 magnitude Fiordland quake that struck on July 15.

A GNS spokesman told Radio New Zealand residents should not be concerned as the quakes were all aftershocks from the 7.

There were two earlier quakes – one measuring 5. They could be expected to continue for the next few weeks, he said. .2, 100km west of Te Anau, at 4.07pm.8, at 7.

The 5. It was centred in Fiordland, 110km west of Tuatapere.

More than 200 people had logged reports on tonight’s latest quake on the GNS website, she said.9 quake was one of the largest aftershocks recorded since that, duty seismologist Lara Bland said.

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For now, Ashton Kutcher is the king of Twitter. But there is a new challenger – Oprah.

Kutcher triumphed over CNN in their much ballyhooed race to be the first to reach a million followers on the microblogging website.

Speaking in a live webcast, Kutcher took the tone of a revolutionary.

Kutcher surpassed that benchmark in earlier today, narrowly edging out the breaking news feed from the Time Warner-owned network.tv shortly after passing the million mark.

“We have shown the world that the new wave is here,” Kutcher said on ustream.

“It is present and it is ready to explode.”

Kutcher had long trailed CNN, but he staged a rally in recent days that captured the attention of the web. You guys are all of it because I can’t follow me.

In recent months, the site has increased exponentially in visitors. The million mark race was taken by many as a symbol of huge upswing of Twitter’s popularity.

The site allows users to type “tweets” of 140 characters or less on their computers or cell phones, which others “follow” on Twitter like a stock ticker.

The search engine Yahoo said that searches for Twitter over the past four months increased more than 5559 percent over the same time last year.

Kutcher, who’s an avid user of the site along with wife Demi Moore, said Twitter is democratising media and removing filters between celebrities and fans, big media companies and their customers.

Kutcher, who’s an avid user of the site along with wife Demi Moore, said Twitter is democratising media and removing filters between celebrities and fans, big media companies and their customers.

CNN’s Larry King posted a video earlier in the week, playfully threatening Kutcher: “CNN will bury you!” Kutcher was to appear on King’s program Friday evening.

Sean “Diddy” Combs was among the celebrity “Twitteratti” who supported his run. Among the many new users to join was Oprah Winfrey, whose entry caused ripples across Twitter.

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King was far from the only person sucked into Twitter by the million-mark showdown.

Kutcher, CNN and Winfrey pledged to mark the occasion by purchasing mosquito bed nets to combat malaria.

She gained more than 130,000 followers in less than a day, suggesting Winfrey – so successful in television, magazines, books and other media – would thrive on yet another platform.17) to the Malaria No More Fund, the charity said. Kutcher donated US$100,000 (NZ$177,746. She also sent her first tweet. .

“OK, here goes,” she said, pressing a key.

“OK, here goes,” she said, pressing a key.

It didn’t go, actually. Winfrey’s representatives said she hit the wrong key. Her next attempt, also all in capital letters, went through: “HI TWITTERS. THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY.”

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Teen holds up dairy for Toffee Pops

By CLIO FRANCIS – Tuesday, 03 March 2009

A knife-wielding boy held up a South Auckland dairy and stole Toffee Pops, milk and nappies, police say.
Counties Manukau police are investigating the aggravated robbery which occurred at Dissmeyer Supperette in Otara yesterday afternoon.Detective Sergeant Chris Barry said the shopkeeper was threatened with a knife by the 13-year-old boy, while another youth kept a lookout outside, and a third person acted as a getaway driver. The knife-wielding teen is currently in police custody and going through the Youth Aid process, he said. "The offenders stole a packet of nappies, a bottle of milk and two packets of Toffee Pops," Mr Barry said.The robbery came three days after another trio of youths robbed an Auckland city dairy at gunpoint. "There are still two more offenders to be located," he said.Edendale Dairy in Sandringham Rd was attacked early on Saturday morning by three males, who demanded cash, cigarettes, ice-cream and chocolate. Anyone with information on the Otara robbery is asked to contact Crime Squad on (09) 261 1300. Auckland police arrested a 14-year-old and another teenager in relation to the robbery last night.

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Severe weather warning for North

– Friday, 27 February 2009

Northern New Zealand has been told to brace for a belting after a severe weather warning was issued for much of the North Island.
The MetService said a deep low currently over the Tasman Sea would cause a broad band of rain and easterly gales to head south from Northland over the next two days.
Northland would feel the effects tonight, followed by Auckland and Coromandel tomorrow morning, and Bay of Plenty and Waikato tomorrow afternoon.
This could cause surface flooding, and streams and rivers are likely to rise quickly.
The rainfall could be between up to 30mm per hour at times in the Waikato and western Bay of Plenty, where it was expected to be the heaviest. Coromandel would be hardest hit, with up to 250mm of rain predicted.
The MetService said up to 150mm of rain was expected in parts of Northland and Auckland.
Waikato Police acting Inspector Freda Grace urged people to consider staying at home where possible with a particular warning aimed at those considering a fishing trip or bush walk.
Police are also warning high-sided vehicles and motorcyclists to be particularly cautious in the central North Island tomorrow afternoon as severe easterly gales are forecast.
"There's not too much pleasure to be taken tramping in atrocious weather conditions and we'd rather not risk the lives of police staff and civilian volunteer Search and Rescue teams if we could avoid it," she said.
"Winds of this strength could damage trees, powerlines and insecure roofs, and make driving hazardous for high sided vehicles and motorcyclists," said Ms Grace. .
The Auckland Region Emergency Management Office has advised people to take precautions to prevent weather-related problems.
Auckland Civil Defence is on stand-by and the MetService has warned of localised flooding and rising rivers.
Tips include clearing drains and spouting of any blockages, keeping pets inside, securing loose objects that could fly around in strong winds, and staying off the roads if possible.
Tips include clearing drains and spouting of any blockages, keeping pets inside, securing loose objects that could fly around in strong winds, and staying off the roads if possible

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Human jawbone riddle

Saturday, 14 February 2009

A human jawbone at Castlepoint Beach has created mystery and intrigue for the Upper Hutt family who stumbled across it. . First we thought it must be from a dog or some sort of animal but then we realised it was from a human skeleton," Mrs Ward said.
"They saw this jaw lying there in the sand. `Was it a murder? What was the story behind it?"'
The jawbone was carefully wrapped in tissue paper and placed in the bach's letter box for safe keeping during the night. "We were totally shocked and then all these thoughts went through our head."
The Wards then took it to Masterton police. "There is no way I could have that in the house. A police spokesman said the jawbone was very old. It has been confirmed as human and is being tested by pathologists.