New Zealand Herald
French paraglider pilot fined $1500 for Queenstown stunt
New 3:31PM Monday January 28, 2008
A French paraglider pilot has been fined $1500 for flying low past a train near Queenstown earlier this month.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched an investigation after media reports that two French tourists stunned passengers when they flew past the Kingston Flyer train in motorised paragliders on January 9.
CAA said today it had issued one of the pilots with two infringement notices totalling $1500.
The first notice and $500 fine relates to a breach of minimum height rules. The other relates to the requirement to hold a New Zealand pilot certificate and attracts a $1000 fine.
The second paraglider pilot involved in the incident was understood to have left New Zealand and efforts were being made to find him to discuss the matter.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489207
Businessman faces court over death of tagger
11:25AM Monday January 28, 2008
By Beck Vass and Wayne Thompson
A 50-year-old businessman was remanded in custody when he appeared in a south Auckland court today charged with the murder of a teenage boy.
Bruce William Emery was remanded in custody by consent to reappear in Manukau District Court on Thursday. He was not required to enter any plea.
Emery was charged over the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Pihema Clifford Cameron in Southview Place, Manurewa, on Saturday night.
His address was given as Mahia Road, off which Southview Place runs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489186
Cororner revisits 1961 missing girl case
11:48AM Monday January 28, 2008
Wellington coroner Garry Evans plans to revisit the mystery disappearance of an attractive teenager nearly half a century ago.
Mr Evans' office confirmed today an inquest into the baffling case of 16-year-old Wendy Mayes would be held in the next few months but no date has been set.
Wendy Mayes answered an advertisement in a Wellington newspaper on September 15, 1961 for a photographer's model and an interview was arranged for three days later on September 18.
At 7.30am that morning Ms Mayes left her home for work in the city - the last time her parents saw her alive.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489200
Kiwis tuck into record pork consumption
1:13PM Monday January 28, 2008
New Zealanders tucked into a record 21.4kg of pork per capita last year but producers are struggling with rising costs.
The Pork Industry Board';s annual report states there has been an increase of 0.8 kilograms in pork consumption in the year to September 2007.
Board chairman, Chris Trengrove says New Zealanders' appetite for pork, bacon and ham continues to grow, which is good news.
However he says pork producers have been unable to benefit from the increasing demand because they are being squeezed between increasing costs and decreasing returns.
Mr Trengrove says the most pressing issue is the rising cost of feed, which is being driven by a global demand for grain as biofuel production steps up.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489204
'Sexual' Charlie's Soda ad is branded indecent
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
A complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about a "crude" and "sexual" advertisement for Charlie's Soda has been upheld.
The complaints board ruled the TV advert was indecent, used sexual appeal to sell an unrelated product and did not meet the required sense of social responsibility.
The complainant objected to the cartoon-style depiction of two young boys spying on a woman sunbathing nude in her backyard before cutting to the boys squeezing lemons to make homemade lemonade.
"It was not cute, funny or entertaining," he said. "Making a point of focusing on the woman's barely hidden breast, then the boys simultaneously squeezing/rotating lemons ... is a very crude sexual innuendo."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489116
Obama, Clinton face challenges heading to 'Super Tuesday'
12:29PM Monday January 28, 2008
COLUMBIA - Next week's sprawling "Super Tuesday" is the biggest single day of voting in a presidential nominating campaign - and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton approach it with unique and separate challenges.
Two dozen states vote on February 5, including big prizes like California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey, as the campaign goes coast-to-coast after Obama's crushing win on Saturday over Clinton in South Carolina.
The two are neck-and-neck after splitting the first four contests, with Obama winning Iowa and South Carolina and Clinton winning New Hampshire and Nevada.
The goal for all candidates in the early state battles had been to build enough momentum to roll into February 5 on a wave of energy that would carry them to a decisive and clinching win.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489202
Whale-watching vessel will take hydrogen power to sea
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
A view of the Elding boat in Reykjavik.
At first glance, the red ship hardly looks like a herald of the future. Even its owner admits the hull needs a coat of paint and the interior some spit and polish.
But in a few weeks, the Elding - Icelandic for Lightning - will be transformed into the world's first hydrogen-equipped commercial vessel, the latest sign that Iceland is pushing hard to become the first nation to break free from the constraints of fossil fuel.
Come April, visitors to Reykjavik, Europe's northernmost capital, will get a taste of that future by taking whale-watching tours on the ship, or renting one of the world's first hydrogen-powered hire cars.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489107
Comic take on whaling
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008By Lincoln Tan
He used to eat whales. But now Hiroshi Nakatsuji feels so strongly about the killing of the giant sea mammals he is staging a protest against it.
The stand-up comedian will do what he does best, use a comedy stage show as a platform to drive home his anti-whaling message.
He is also gathering signatures for an anti-whaling petition addressed to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda which he will hand to the Japanese Consul-General next week.
In an interview with the BBC the Japanese PM was quoted as saying: "We should try to continue with our efforts to try to explain that we are engaged in this research whaling activity from a scientific viewpoint."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489124
Charles becomes longest serving king in waiting
11:32AM Monday January 28, 2008
A milestone today for Prince Charles, as he become Britain's longest serving king in waiting at the age of 59 years and 74 days.
That surpasses the age of his great great grandfather Edward VII when he succeeded Queen Victoria to the throne in 1901.Last month the Queen became Britain's oldest monarch, at the age of 81.
Newstalk ZB
Strongman Suharto dies, leaving controversial legacy
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
Former Indonesian President Suharto (C) in 1996. Photo / Reuters
Former President Suharto, hailed as the father of development by some Indonesians during his 32 years in power - and accused of corruption and rights abuses by others - died yesterday after a long illness.
He was 86. He died in hospital after lapsing into a coma and suffering multiple organ failure.
The former strongman steered Indonesia through three decades of rapid economic growth and stability, only to see much of his work unravel in months as the country was plunged into chaos.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489155
Palestinians mourn founder of PFLP
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
RAMALLAH - George Habash, the founder of a radical movement that staged hijackings and kidnappings to highlight the Palestinian struggle, died in Jordan on Saturday, Palestinian officials said. He was 80.
Habash founded the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1968.
A refugee from fighting which broke out over the creation of Israel in 1948 in British-ruled Palestine, he lived in exile and died of a heart condition in a hospital in Amman, the officials said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' office declared a three-day mourning period.
The PFLP favours armed struggle to establish a Palestinian state and was sidelined in 1993 when Yasser Arafat, then leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, signed interim peace deals with Israel.
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489142
Woods clinches 62nd PGA Tour title by eight shots
2:03PM Monday January 28, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Tiger Woods shrugged off three consecutive bogeys on the back nine on his way to an eight-shot victory at the Buick Invitational on Sunday for his 62nd PGA Tour golf title.
Eight ahead of the chasing pack overnight, the American world number one fired a one-under-par 71 in increasingly blustery conditions on the South Course at Torrey Pines.
Woods, hunting his fourth successive victory at the coastal venue and sixth overall, piled up five birdies and four bogeys for a 19-under total of 269.
Japan's Ryuji Imada closed with a 67 to finish a distant second at 11 under, two ahead of South Africa's Rory Sabbatini (67) and American Stewart Cink (73).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10489205
$8b on domestic travel
7:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
New Zealanders spent $8 billion on domestic travel in the year to September 30, $1 billion more than the year before, according to a Tourism Ministry survey.
Tourism Minister Damien O'Connor, who released the figures, said it was good news for local businesses. He said domestic tourism was the backbone of the tourism industry, which now contributed 9 per cent of New Zealand's gross domestic product.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10489174
Irrigation pumps make men too tired for sex
7:15AM Saturday January 26, 2008
Malawi will investigate fears that labour-intensive manual irrigation pumps distributed to poor farmers are hurting their sexual performance.
The farmers say using the pump makes them too tired for sex and have voiced their anger to the Government.
"The Government is aware of the problem, the parliamentary committee on irrigation is also concerned about it and we intend to start probing and finding out if the pumps are really to blame for the problem," said an official.
The high-capacity treadle pump, touted as a leading reason for improved food security in the southern African country, is designed to lift water from shallow wells.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10488867
Gwynne Dyer: Might loses fight in new-look Thailand
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008By Gwynne Dyer
The Thai Army hasn't the faintest idea what to do next. Sixteen months ago, after weeks of anti-Government demonstrations by opposition party supporters in Bangkok, the military overthrew the elected Government of billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accusing him and his wife of corruption.
They put in a former general as interim Prime Minister, promised a swift return to democracy, and set about rewriting the constitution to give themselves a bigger permanent role in politics. They also raised the military budget sharply, presumably as a reward to themselves for saving the country from Thaksin.
For a while, things went well. The coup was popular at first, at least in Bangkok. In May the military regime got the courts to order the dissolution of Thaksin's party, Thai Rak Thai, and to ban 110 of its senior officials from taking part in politics for five years.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489114
Afghans want general not Ashdown
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
LONDON - Afghanistan wants a British Nato commander to become its UN envoy rather than politician Paddy Ashdown, said the country's Ambassador to the United Nations.
A Western source close to talks over the post said this month that Britain's Ashdown, the former UN High Representative and EU special envoy for Bosnia, had agreed with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take the job.
However, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had been seeking clarity about Ashdown's role, newspapers reported.
UN Ambassador Zahir Tanin told the BBC World Service that Afghanistan had now proposed Britain's General John McColl as its preferred candidate.
"Our current proposal is that we would like to see General McColl as the new special representative for Afghanistan. That is what President Karzai has made clear to the Secretary-General."
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489141
Sicilian governor quits after Mafia conviction
8:48AM Sunday January 27, 2008
SICILY - Sicily's governor has resigned after being convicted of helping people linked to the Mafia.
Salvatore Cuffaro denied all charges and said he did not know at the time that the people he was helping were involved with the Mafia. He plans to appeal.
After his conviction by an Italian court last week, Cuffaro said he would not quit.
His resignation on Saturday followed reports that the national government was planning a move to oust him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489073
Falling spy satellite may hit Earth
9:52AM Sunday January 27, 2008
An American spy satellite has lost power and may hit Earth in late February or March, according to government sources.
Officials told Associated Press that the satellite can no longer be controlled and may contain hazardous materials.
The quoted source remained anonymous as the information is classified as secret.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489078
Key Mexican drug hitman arrested near US border
2:39PM Sunday January 27, 2008
TIJUANA - A key hitman for Mexico's Arellano Felix drug cartel was arrested on Saturday in this crime-ridden border city, in another coup for President Felipe Calderon's clampdown on traffickers.
After an anonymous tip-off, soldiers stormed a house and arrested Alfredo Araujo Avila, also known as Popeye, Tijuana's military chief Gen. German Redondo told reporters.
"He is considered one of the most dangerous hitmen of the Arellano Felix cartel," Gen. Redondo said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10489098
Can't shake that passion for plastic
5:00AM Monday January 28, 2008
American shoppers use around 100 billion plastic shopping bags a year. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey
Australia and China are phasing them out, Germany and Ireland tax them, but in the United States, the plastic shopping bag is still king.
Outside supermarkets across the country, Americans push shopping carts laden with a dozen or more plastic bags full of groceries to their cars. Even the smallest purchase, such as a magazine at a news-stand, seems to come in a plastic bag.
Americans use 100 billion plastic shopping bags a year, according to Washington-based think tank Worldwatch Institute, or more than 330 a year for every person in the country. Most are thrown away.
A handful of US cities and states have made moves to cut that number and Whole Foods Market, a supermarket pitched at the organic and natural food shopper, said last week that it would phase out plastic bags out by Earth Day on April 22. But critics say the United States is years behind countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10489118
Amazon rain forest destruction quickens
5:00AM Monday January 21, 2008
Deforestation of the Amazon has accelerated, in recent months and is likely to increase this year for the first time in four years, says a senior Brazilian government scientist.
The rise raises questions over Brazil's assertion that its environmental policies are effectively protecting the world's biggest rain forest, the destruction of which is a major source of carbon emissions that cause global warming.
"I think the last four months is a big concern for the government and now they are sending people to do more law enforcement," Carlos Nobre, a scientist with Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, told a seminar in Washington. "But I can tell you that it [deforestation] is going to be much higher than 2007."
Nobre, whose government agency monitors the Amazon, said that 6000sq km of forest had been lost in the past four months.
That compares with about 9600sq km in the year to July, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since the 1970s.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10487854
US blocks Arctic report as oil and gas get go-ahead
5:00AM Thursday January 24, 2008
By Daniel Howden
The United States has blocked the release of a landmark assessment of oil and gas activity in the Arctic as it prepares to sell off exploration licences for the frozen Chukchi Sea off Alaska, one of the last remaining intact habitats of the polar bear.
Scientists at the release of the censored report in Norway said there was "huge frustration" that the US had derailed a science-based effort to manage the race for the vast energy reserves of the Arctic.
The assessment was meant to bring together work by scientists in all eight Arctic nations to give an up-to-date picture of oil and gas exploitation in the region. It was also supposed to give recommendations on how to extract safely what are thought to be up to one quarter of the world's energy reserves.
Speaking from Tromso, Norway, one of the report's lead authors, who asked not to be named, said: "They [the US] have blocked it. We have no executive summary and no plain language conclusions."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10488409
Aussie floods upset coal market
5:00AM Saturday January 26, 2008
BHP Billiton and other coal miners in Australia's Queensland state may lose at least 10 million tonnes of coking coal due to flooding, driving up prices, Merrill Lynch & Co said.
The price for annual contracts for coal used in steelmaking may surge to at least US$210 ($272) a tonne in the Japanese fiscal year starting April 1, up from US$98 this year, due to the loss of supplies, Merrill said in a report on Thursday.
Discussions on the annual contract price would be "prolonged", it said.
BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance, the world's biggest exporter of the type of coal used in steelmaking, said deliveries would be delayed due to "extreme" wet weather in northeastern Australia.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=37&objectid=10488897
Fight against global warming goes into the deep
5:00AM Friday January 11, 2008
Scientists will send an unmanned submersible to track climate change by studying coral at unprecedented depths.
In the United States-Australian project, the submersible will dive to 2.5km in seas south of Tasmania to locate and film live and fossilised deep-sea coral, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said.
Growth rings on coral reflect changes over centuries and millennia in ocean chemistry and environment, Australia's science agency said.
"Deep ocean corals are a litmus test of the deep ocean when it comes to identifying how temperature and salinity have changed over decades and centuries," said Ron Thresher, chief scientist on the voyage.
The Autonomous Benthic Explorer, on loan from the US, will be launched during the 23-day voyage which leaves Hobart today.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10486262
Greenpeace quits whale fleet effort
9:04AM Sunday January 27, 2008
Greenpeace has been forced to abandon its efforts against the Japanese whaling fleet.
The protest ship Esperanza has managed to disrupt the whalers in the Southern Ocean for two weeks, but is running low on fuel and has to return to port.
Expedition leader Karli Thomas says the ship sent a last radio message to the whalers on board the factory ship the Nisshin Maru.
She says Greenpeace Japan campaigner Sakyo Noda told the fleet that the activists believe the whalers are under orders from Tokyo not to allow anyone to witness their "fake science programme."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10489076
'Weirdos' are close to dying
5:00AM Wednesday January 23, 2008
What do a blind salamander that can go without food for a decade, a frog so small that it fits on a drawing pin and another that lives only in human burial grounds have in common?
The answer is that, as well as being among the weirdest amphibians on the planet, they are some of the most endangered, yet they have been ignored by conservationists and the public. London Zoo's new list of 10 of the world's most unique and threatened amphibians is part of a project to pinpoint the most unusual species of imperilled animals and plants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10488166
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