Two a penny

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BREAKING NEWS:
US Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America’s most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, has died at age 77, his family said today.

“Edward M. . Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night [local time] at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts),” the Kennedy family said in a statement.

His death marked the twilight of a political dynasty, and dealt a blow to Democrats as they seek to answer President Barack Obama’s call for an overhaul of the healthcare system.

“We’ve lost the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” the family statement added.

Known as “Teddy,” he was the brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, Senator Robert Kennedy, fatally shot while campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, and Joe Kennedy, a pilot killed in World War 2. Kennedy had made healthcare reform his signature cause.

Yet during his close toly half century in the chamber, Kennedy became known as one of Washington’s most effective senators, crafting legislation by working with lawmakers and presidents of both parties, and finding unlikely allies.

When he first took the Senate seat previously held by John Kennedy in 1962, he was seen as something of a political lightweight who owed his ascent to his famous name.

He helped enact measures to protect civil and labour rights, expand healthcare, upgrade schools, increase student aid and contain the spread of nuclear weapons.

At the same time, he held fast to liberal causes deemed anachronistic by the centrist “New Democrats,” and was a lightning rod for conservative ire. “I think most of all it’s the injustice that I continue to see and the opportunity to have some impact on it.

“There’s a lot to do,” Kennedy told in 2006. But in 1969, a young woman drowned after a car Kennedy was driving plunged off a bridge on the Massachusetts resort island of Chappaquiddick after a night of partying.”

After Robert Kennedy’s death, Edward was expected to waste little time in vying for the presidency. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and received a suspended sentence.

Kennedy’s image took a major hit after it emerged he had failed to report the accident to authorities.

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A drop in gale-force winds has offered hard-pressed Greek firefighters a brief respite after wildfires raged for two days north of Athens, burning houses and swathes of forest and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.

Officials warned that the vast blaze was still threatening inhabited areas on the capital’s northern fringes and near Marathon – site of one of history’s most famous battlegrounds.

“There are fewer hazardous points,” Fire Brigade spokesman Yiannis Kappakis said.”

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said the fire – one of more than 90 that broke out across Greece over the weekend – was still very hard to tackle. “But the blaze is still developing. “The enormous (firefighting) effort will continue on all fronts throughout the night.

“The situation remains very difficult,” he said after a fire brigade briefing.”

Firefighters were set to gain a new booston Monday, when water-dropping aircraftresume operations, assisted by aircraft from France, Italy and Cyprus.

In many afflicted areas, however, despairing residents pleaded for firefighters and equipment that were nowhere to be seen. Nearly 2000 firefighters and soldiers are engaging the blaze on the ground, together with hundreds of volunteers. The fire destroyed several houses as it advanced across an area more than50km in circumference.

Earlier on Sunday, thousands of residents of Athens’ northern outskirts evacuated their homes, fleeing in cars or on foot. The Athens blaze started north of Marathon plain, and spread over Mount Penteli – on the city’s limit to the north – threatening outlying suburbs.

Six major fires were burning early on Monday across Greece. .

Driven by gale-force winds, the blaze grew fastest near Marathon, from which the long-distance foot race takes its name, born from a legendary run after the 490 BC Athenian victory over an invading Persian army. Rhamnus is home to two 2500-year-old temples.

“The Museum of Marathon is being encircled by fire and flames are closing in on (the archaeological site of) Rhamnus,” he said.

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The mayor of Marathon said he had been “begging the government to send over planes and helicopters” to no avail

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Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has proposed a novel way to cut his travel costs – he will hitch-hike around his electorate.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Mr Harawira, who with travel expenses totaling $67,000 in the first six months of the year was one of Parliament’s more prolific travelers, said hitch-hiking was one way to cut costs but it carried a number of other benefits.

He said that by travelling this way he would run into people that he would not otherwise meet and it allowed him to relax and “enjoy the day”.

“It’s not a big deal, I’ve been doing it for the last three years,” he told Radio New Zealand.”

He said it was the best way to talk to people about what was important.

“You get into a car and sooner or later they’ll start talking to you about the issues that are important to them.

“It doesn’t matter who picks you up, you get to enjoy talking to everyone,” he told the broadcaster.

Mr Harawira said it wasn’t difficult to know who was potentially one of his voters and who was not, but it wasn’t necessarily important. .

The MP for the northern-most Maori electorate defended his high expense bill, saying his home was remote and it took him two planes and a taxi ride to get to work.

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A jury has been told that child witnesses who said a car was doing 200kmh before it crashed and killed a four-year-old boy cannot be relied on.

In the High Court at Wellington this morning lawyer Jock Blathwayt said not even the Crown’s crash investigator was suggesting the car was doing that speed at the time of the crash, or shortly before. That was not a dangerous speed, he said.

Outlining the defence case to the jury, Mr Blathwayt said the defence would also call a crash expert who estimated Wendy-May Connon’s car was doing no more than 120kmh when it started to leave tyre marks on the road.

Mr Blathwayt said the trial of Connon, on a charge of manslaughter, was not a commission of inquiry into the cause of the crash that killed her son Konrad Truger.

The children who had said she was doing 200kmh did not give statements topolice till months after the crash and there would be evidence that one had said just two days after the crash that she did not know if Connon had been speeding. He and Connon were thrown from the car.

Konrad died after Connon’s car went off the road in rural Wairarapa in January last year.

No approved child safety car seats were found at the crash site and it is alleged Konrad was in the middle of the back seat where there was just a lap-style belt, the jury has been told.

Two other children, aged five and 10, in diagonal seat belts, stayed in the car and were less seriously injured.

Connon, 40, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter of Konrad.

The Crown alleges Connon was speeding and had been smoking cannabis. .

Mr Blathwayt said the jury was not a commission of inquiry to establish how a tragic accident occurred. The jury would have to decide if those possibilities could be excluded, Mr Blathwayt said.

The jury would not be asked to find there was no fault at all but a defence expert would explain a number of possible causes for the car going out of control.

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Former Reserve Bank Governor and National Party leader Don Brash has been confirmed as the head of a taskforce to increase productivity and close the income gap between New Zealand and Australia by 2025.

He is to be joined by four more members in the next few weeks.

The 2025 Taskforce’s first job will be to write by October a prescription to improve productivity.

In the past Dr Brash had advocated privatisation of state owned assets and a flatter tax system to increase economic performance, but today he said he did not want to prejudge the taskforce.

Regulatory Reform Minister Rodney Hide said this would identify the policy settings and changes that would deliver the productivity growth necessary for a stronger economy. I don’t think anybody thinks that continuing business as usual will do the trick,” Dr Brash said.

“There are a number of things that need to be changed.

The income gap between Australia and New Zealand has grown in recent decades as Australia’s productivity has improved faster.

Productivity would have to grow by about 3 percent a year to close the gap, which at present is about 30 percent.

Mr Hide said the long term goal was not meaningless and there would be annual progress reports from the taskforce on how the Government was performing.

Both Dr Brash and Mr Hide dismissed the idea that New Zealand could not outperform Australia due its mineral wealth.

New Zealand’s productivity growth has been around 1 percent for the past 10 years.

The taskforce was budgeted to cost $477,000 over three years and would be funded through the existing budget.

New Zealand had wealth and many countries with less resources outperformed Australia, Mr Hide said.

Labour leader Phil Goff said Dr Brash’s appointment showed a privatisation agenda.

Labour leader Phil Goff said Dr Brash’s appointment showed a privatisation agenda. .

Finance Minister Bill English praised Dr Brash’s economic credentials and said he believed the taskforce would be balanced. It just won’t be from one political persuasion or one sort of approach to how we resolve these issues,” Mr English said. It is going to be balanced.”

Prime Minister John Key said the target was an ambitious one as the trend had been heading in the wrong direction for some time, but it was not impossible.

“If they come up with things that the Government finds politically unacceptable then they are not going to make progress. In my view the New Zealand economy grossly underperforms and there is a real capacity for us to lift our game,” Mr Key said.

“We are a small economy, we are nimble and that gives us some real advantages.

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Police have released the names of two teenagers killed in a head-on accident in Paremata in which one car flipped on to its roof.

Udo Fourie and Nathan John Laurenson, both 18, died in the crash on Grays Rd on Sunday evening.

The Impreza flipped on to its roof, landing in water in Pauatahanui Inlet.

Detective Sergeant Glenn Barnett said an eastbound Subaru Impreza driven by a 22-year-old lost control on a corner and crossed the centre line into the path of a Subaru Legacy. The 22-year-old driver is in hospital with serious injuries.

The deceased pair were passengers in the Impreza. Her three-year-old daughter suffered bruising.

A teenager from the Legacy was also in hospital with serious injuries, and a 19-year-old mother was in a critical condition.

“At this point in time, it is too early to comment on any of the factors to the crash or whether any charges will be laid”.

Mr Barnett said police were examining the scene and both vehicles. .

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A team of social workers dedicated to child abuse prevention is included in jobs cuts confirmed this afternoon by the Social Development Ministry. .

Child, Youth and Family head Ray Smith said it was closing 12 administration service centres, and cutting a team of 18 child abuse education social workers, with a total of 80 jobs to go.

The child abuse team education had been cut, because it carried out a role he wanted a wider range of CYF staff to be able to carry out, Mr Smith said.

However, 12 new social worker positions to support foster families had been created and also new centralised administration roles. .

“I don’t want the responsibility for talking to community groups. .

“I want many more of the people that work in this organisation to play an active role in their communities.left to a small number of people.

Reporting of child abuse and neglect was not the major issue – it had increased dramatically over the past decade, Mr Smith said.”

He wanted staff to lead a much more responsive public education strategy, which helped people to learn how to deal with difficult situations. So if you encounter.

“The real issue is teaching people how to respond to situations they see. . .

“It’s difficult for staff that go through change processes like this and we need to support them so that we can help them find a way to be in a job that they feel effective in.someone that’s struggling with a teenager or a young baby, how do you respond?”

Overall CYF wanted to put a stronger focus on its frontline people while it got some efficiency gains, Mr Smith said.

“In an overall sense we have a large number of positions, that’s why my expectation is that we should be able to offer the vast majority of our people a job.”

There were currently just under 300 available positions, including 90 social workers, available at CYF across the country, he said. Between 60-70 front line jobs were expected to be created as part of the process.”

The ministry said the restructuring will save up to $22 million a year.

Chief executive Peter Hughes said the move was aimed at giving greater efficiency and redirecting resources towards front-line positions.

A proposal for the axing of 200 jobs at the ministry was first revealed in May.

It said that with unemployment set to double to around 80,000 by early next year, more case managers would be required to cope with demand.

The ministry said then it intended to hire 100 extra case managers to cope with the increased workload.

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“Superb” March and April weather has contributed to what winemakers expect to be a very good 2009 vintage with exports set to top the $1 billion mark this year, a year ahead of expectations.

The viticulture industry group, New Zealand Winegrowers, said today this year’s total grape harvest was 285,000 tonnes, marginally above pre-harvest expectations of 275,000 tonnes, but in line with last year’s output.

The wine producing area in 2009 was estimated to have increased by 2000 hectares from a year ago, to 31,000 hectares. .

Winegrowers’ chief executive Philip Gregan said the industry had worked hard to keep volumes at last year’s levels to maintain quality. This meant our growers and wineries were able to pick the grapes at optimal ripeness,” said Gregan. Some early humidity and weather pressure in February was replaced by a superb March and April.

He noted the Marlborough harvest was down 1 percent due to lower Pinot Noir volumes and close management of Sauvignon Blanc to avoid volume pressure.

He said the record 2008 vintage has driven export growth of 28 percent for the year to date, meaning the industry would achieve $1 billion of wine exports in 2009, a year earlier than forecast.

Meanwhile, the Hawke’s Bay harvest was up 20 percent on last year’s levels, back up to normal levels after a low 2008 vintage due to frost damage.

Nationally, the sauvignon blanc crop was 5 percent larger than last year, driven by 10 percent more plantings.

He said there was downward pressure on prices in the short-term due to the global recession, but a strong vintage and the prospect of some outstanding wines would help underpin prices.

Last season, 169,000 tonnes of sauvignon blanc was harvested, a sharp jump on the 100,000 tonnes harvested the previous year. Gregan said the crop would have been even larger but for “unprecedented cooperation” between wineries and grape growers who reduced yields to avoid another unexpectedly large vintage.

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A woman who gave birth and abandoned her baby in a toilet on an Auckland-bound plane has been deported to Samoa.

Karolina Maika has been forced to leave the baby, named Grace, behind in New Zealand. .
An Immigration Department spokeswoman confirmed that Ms Maika, 29, left for Apia last Saturday.
Long-term care arrangements were still being considered, she said.
This month, Maika pleaded guilty to abandoning a child under the age of six. She would not give further details, citing reasons of privacy. She was convicted but no further punishment was imposed.
She had planned to give birth while working in New Zealand as a seasonal fruit picker and leave the baby with her brother but went into labour while on the Pacific Blue flight from Apia to Auckland on March 19.
The court was told that Maika was ashamed she had conceived a child out of wedlock and had concealed her pregnancy from her family and the small Samoan village where she lived with her son.
As everyone left the plane, she went into the toilet and gave birth, then put the baby into a rubbish bin and disembarked.
During the flight she complained of stomach pains but told a concerned passenger she had diarrhoea.

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The newborn was quickly discovered by cleaners

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A popular author whose work focuses on the challenges faced by migrants is fighting a real-life battle to gain New Zealand residency.

Marina Lewycka, who wrote the international bestseller A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and Two Caravans, wants to join her husband of 22 years, Dave Feickert, in Wanganui. .

Mr Feickert said the Immigration Service had told the couple they had to prove they were in a relationship by providing copies of their email correspondence, and by living together for an unspecified amount of time in New Zealand. “I thought New Zealand was a ‘can do’ society.

“How utterly ridiculous,” Lewycka said.

Lewycka lives in Sheffield, England, where she is preparing for the publication of her third book, We Are All Made of Glue, in July.”

Because of her promotional obligations as an author, and Mr Feickert’s job as an international coalmine safety adviser, the couple are rarely in New Zealand at the same time for a long period.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, which has sold millions of copies, tells of two Ukrainian sisters who grew up in England.

She has spent the last five summers in Wanganui and writes her books at the house she shares with Mr Feickert while in New Zealand.

Lewycka was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany to Ukrainian parents after World War II and was taken to England when she was three months old. Two Caravans details the lives of migrant strawberry pickers.

“To me it’s just completely absurd.

Mr Feickert described the situation as Kafkaesque.. I know they have rules they have to follow . but why go through all the rigmarole of rejecting someone like Marina?”

He did not think the couple’s situation was unusual in the modern world, and said his wife wanted to become a Kiwi..”

After inquiries from The yesterday, a senior Immigration Service official in Palmerston North told Mr Feickert the couple no longer had to live together in New Zealand for a set period, and said they had to provide only an email heading rather than full copies of their correspondence.

“She loves New Zealand and it’s as simple as that.

By SIMON WOOD, The

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The Immigration Service would not comment yesterday