-"Now, the difference between the “future” price and the “spot” price is narrowing, indicating that the momentum is changing, and soon, the “spot” price will move the “future” price and that direction will be down."
The New Zealand Herald
Are biofuels the solution to upcoming fuel and climate challenges?
8:12AM Friday April 4, 2008
Updated: 10:56AM Thursday July 3, 2008
Some are urging caution over biofuels, particularly because it was likely that some would have to be imported to meet the mandatory sales levels the Government is proposing.
International debate about the merits of biofuels is heating up, and concerns about the destruction of rainforests and rising food prices are making headlines around the globe.
Are biofuels the solution to upcoming fuel and climate challenges? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
Moerangi (Taumarunui) At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I believe there have been a number of engines invented over the past 100 years that don't use any form of fossil fuel or biofuel. Why not dredge these up from the archives of those big conglomerates that have them stashed away.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/4/4/are-biofuels-solution-upcoming-fuel-and-climate-challenges/?c_id=39
Australian stocks: Weakness drives ASX down
7:00PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
The Australian stock market closed in negative territory today to its lowest level in more than three months after falls from the resource sector and big retailers.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 44.1 points, or 0.86 per cent, lower at 5094.8, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 49.5 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 5211.6.
It was the lowest close for both indices since the week of March 21.
At 1615 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 37 points lower at 5101, on a volume of 30,714 contracts.
"The resource sector has been the main drag on the market, while falls from some of the big retailers like Woolworths has added some pressure," CMC Markets senior dealer Dominic Vaughan said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519610
Sharemarket dives to three-year low
7:00PM Thursday July 03, 2008
By Melanie Carroll
The sharemarket hit a fresh three-year low today, and a handful of blue chips sank to multi-year lows, after US markets spiralled downwards and selling spread across the globe.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index closed down 2.2 per cent, or 68.97 points, at 3094.4, and is down 13 per cent since the start of June. Turnover totalled $141 million.
"Normally you have fear and greed driving markets - last year it was greed, and now it's fear," said David Price of Forsyth Barr.
"We're seeing a liquidation from offshore, and they've been relatively aggressive, and on the flip side of that we're seeing a lot of people just not wanting to go into the market because it's been pretty much one-way traffic."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519815
Wall St a bear market after oil hits record
10:46AM Thursday July 03, 2008
Wall Street resumed its sell-off last night after oil hit a new record and a bearish analyst report renewed concerns that car making giant General Motors could run out of cash.
The stock market's pullback, which accelerated in the final hours of the week's last full trading day, left the Dow Jones industrial average officially in bear market territory, with the blue chips having fallen more than 20 per cent from their October highs.
Oil surged to new records above $144 a barrel as the government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in US supplies and as investors worried about tensions in the Middle East.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519755
World commodity prices at record high - beef up 4 pc
4:30PM Thursday July 03, 2008
New Zealand's monthly commodity price gauge remained near record high levels in June, despite another fall in world dairy prices.
The ANZ Commodity Price Index was virtually unchanged in terms of world prices, down one decimal place, to be 11.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.
In New Zealand dollar terms, the index was up 2.1 per cent, to be 12.5 per cent higher annually, and a touch below the record high reached last November. The kiwi eased against the country's main trading partners, except Japan, last month.
World beef prices rose 4.3 per cent, to be 26 per cent above a year ago, while aluminium was up 2 per cent for the month, venison rose 1.3 per cent, and wool was up 1.2 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519799
Kiwi productivity growth speeding up, thanks to new investment
1:40PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
Technical factors are temporarily exaggerating the size of an acceleration in labour productivity during the past year, Westpac economists say.
But the remainder of the improvement could be a belated payoff from high investment activity during the past few years, and could be more long-lasting.
Based on Statistics New Zealand's figures for gross domestic product and its Household Labour Force Survey, labour productivity had averaged 3 per cent annual growth over the past four quarters.
Westpac economists Brendan O'Donovan and Dominick Stephens said they were pleased to see that acceleration from growth that had been running at an "alarmingly low" rate of around 1 per cent a year from 2000 to 2006.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519582
Dark days in Detroit as US market stalls
1:36PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
America's automotive love affair is waning, with manufacturers reporting the worst June in 17 years.
DETROIT - Nearly all the major automakers reported steep sales declines for June, but for General Motors at least there was consolation: Toyota, its leading international competition, had it worse.
Even Toyota, with its flexible, efficient factories, couldn't make the shift from trucks to cars as quickly as American drivers. Its sales for June shrank 21 per cent.
So the Japanese automaker fell short of some analysts' predictions that it would overtake GM as the US sales leader. June sales at GM had a still-dramatic drop of about 18 per cent.
The overall market fell 18.3 per cent, according to Autodata It was the worst June for the industry in 17 years, said Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for auto information site Edmunds.com, who predicted more misery ahead.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519584
US speeders face police fuel surcharge
10:17AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
Drivers pulled over for speeding in a US town face a surcharge to cover the cost of fuel used by the police.
Fuel prices in the US, as in much of the rest of the world, have spiralled in the past two years prompting the move in Holly Springs, Georgia.
On top of the usual fine, drivers will pay US$12 to cover the cost of them being pulled over.
Police Chief Ken Ball told USA Today: "I was hearing that Delta (Air Lines), pizza deliverers, florists were adding fuel charges to their services, and I thought, why not police departments?"
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519549
Video: US woman dies on floor - ignored
12:52PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By David B. Caruso
NEW YORK - A woman died on the floor of a psychiatric hospital emergency room, and workers watched without helping her for an hour after she fell out of her chair and was writhing on the ground, according to surveillance footage.
Esmin Green, 49, had been waiting at Kings County Hospital for nearly 24 hours when she toppled from her seat at 5.32am on June 19 and fell face down on the floor. She was dead by the time someone on the medical staff finally came to her aid.
Green's collapse barely caused a ripple. Other patients waiting a few feet away didn't react. Security guards and a member of the hospital's staff appeared to notice her prone body at least three times, but made no visible attempt to see if she needed help.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519573
Video
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multimedia/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10519573&gallery_id=1339
World economy turns investors from NZ
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Adam Bennett
Spooked by ongoing concerns about the global economy and surging oil prices, overseas investors bailed out of the New Zealand sharemarket last month, deepening its losses compared with most overseas bourses, NZX trading data for June shows.
With the MSCI World Index falling by 8.2 per cent during June as stormclouds darkened over the global economy, the NZX-50's fall at 11.9 per cent was even worse, "with significant selling by offshore investors", said First NZ Capital's Jason Wong.
Hardest hit stocks were retailers, Sky City and Fletcher Building.
Skyrocketing oil prices, however, were good news for New Zealand Oil and Gas, which posted a gross return of 11.9 per cent for the month, the best performance among the market's top 50 stocks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519465
Zimbabwe offers starkly contrasting tales
1:30PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Donna Bryson
The two paths of Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are telling: Mugabe, newly sworn in as Zimbabwe's president again, is at a summit of African leaders while the opposition leader holes up in a Western embassy in Zimbabwe's capital.
Tsvangirai is hemmed in by Mugabe's policemen, soldiers and ruling party thugs as well as the president's cozy relationship with fellow African leaders.
The round-faced, ever-affable Tsvangirai insists he is hopeful - "As far as we are concerned we are nearer a resolution than we have ever been," he says - but his options appear few.
He wants African leaders to guide negotiations on forming a coalition government to oversee a transition to democracy in Zimbabwe. While some leaders have publicly endorsed that idea, it is unclear how hard they will or can push Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980.
The African Union summit in Egypt, attended by Mugabe, approved a resolution calling for him to "negotiate" with Tsvangirai.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519578
Andrew Austin: 'Quiet diplomacy' can let Mugabe leave with dignity intact
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Andrew Austin
Who would want to be South African President Thabo Mbeki these days? Not only is he a lame-duck president - having lost the leadership of the ruling African National Congress - but he is now being scorned for his "inaction" on Zimbabwe.
Mbeki was given the unenviable task by the Southern African Development Community of mediating the mess in Zimbabwe and now he is being pilloried for his quiet diplomacy. People view Mbeki's perceived silence as a reluctance to criticise a fellow liberation comrade, but the problem is more complex.
Let's face it, this job was never going to be easy. There are some big obstacles in Mbeki's way, not least that he is dealing with the despotic Robert Mugabe, who culturally is contemptuous of a younger man telling him what to do. Added to this is that like many African leaders, Mbeki does not want to be seen to be taking instructions from the white West.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519480
The shame of a Mugabe torturer: 'I am being forced to kill someone'
2:12PM Thursday July 03, 2008
By Daniel Howden
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Photo / AP
He has whipped strangers with barbed wire and hit them with iron bars. He has stood by while old men were beaten half to death, as he chanted songs glorifying the violence.
Gibson became one of Robert Mugabe's foot soldiers when the 84-year-old President turned an election into a guerrilla war. He is one of thousands of members of the armed youth militias who have turned on their own people in a vicious campaign of looting, torture and murder. But now Gibson is risking his life to tell his story. He was forcibly recruited into the campaign of terror and now he can see no way out. Not yet 25, his life is now completely "alien" to him he says. There is no end in sight, even now the elections have come and gone and the terror tactics have succeeded in overturning the opposition's first round lead and returned Mr Mugabe to office.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519791
Cricket: Nations divided over Zimbabwe issue
8:46AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
DUBAI - The International Cricket Council's fragile unity looks set to crack if the four-nation Asian bloc, as expected, comes out in support of Zimbabwe retaining full member status at an executive board meeting this week.
Outgoing ICC president Ray Mali placed the issue on the agenda of the two-day ICC meeting scheduled for today and tomorrow as his native South Africa and England severed all cricketing ties with Zimbabwe in protest at what many Western states say was the lack of free and fair elections that allowed Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to win a sixth term last week.
Niranjan Shah, the secretary for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has said that his organization "would like to fully support Zimbabwe Cricket" in its retention of full member status within the ICC.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519524&pnum=0
Tracey Barnett: Dr Evil beats Mugabe every time
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Tracey Barnett
Just when you think Robbie Mugabe is stealing the Wicked Witch of the West's best lines lately, I can do you one evil do-er better. I'll bet a fiver that you've never even heard of him.
Mugabe may win for the best baddie this week, but nobody says a peep about the bundle of joy who truly deserves the title of Africa's worst leader, hands down.
Meet Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the resident dictator of Equatorial Guinea.
His credentials? Obiang seized power in 1979 by killing his own uncle, a man who was even creepier than the current "democratically elected" despot. Uncle Francisco Macias Nguema broke away from Spain and declared independence in 1968.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519418
A business plan for peace in Palestine
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Donald Macintyre
There aren't many people who would build a replica of La Rotonda, Antonio Palladio's 16th century high Renaissance architectural masterpiece, on top of a mountain overlooking the troubled and impoverished West Bank city of Nablus.
There are even fewer who would choose to complete it during the second intifada, when Palestinian militants and armoured Israeli forces were trading daily fire a mere 15 minutes' drive down the hill in the city's casbah and the teeming alleys of the Balata refugee camp.
But at 74, Munib al-Masri has the self confidence - and the money - not to worry about what many people would or wouldn't do.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519476
Bulldozer driver's deadly rampage (video)
5:00AM Thursday July 03, 2008
A woman is helped from a bus overturned by the Palestinian bulldozer driver during his attack. Photo / AP
A Palestinian bulldozer driver went on a deadly rampage on a busy Jerusalem street last night, ploughing into vehicles and pedestrians, killing at least three people and wounding 30 others before he was shot dead by police.
The attack wreaked havoc and left a swathe of damage in the heart of downtown Jerusalem.
Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Israeli police referred to the attacker as a "terrorist".
At the scene of the attack, a half-dozen cars were flattened and one was overturned by the enormous Caterpillar tractor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519722
Gaza crossings opened
5:15AM Thursday July 03, 2008
Israel is expected to allow cement into the Gaza Strip today for the first time in a year as crossings with the Palestinian territory are reopened in accordance with the ceasefire.
Four crossings between Israel and Gaza reopened on schedule yesterday, Israel and the Hamas rulers of Gaza said. Since a truce began on June 19, Israel has closed the passages for a total of six days in retaliation for the firing of rockets.
The Hamas Interior Ministry said Israel would allow in fuel, wheat and animal feed, in addition to five trucks of dry cement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519703
9/11 memorial behind schedule (+video)
2:30PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
NEW YORK - The head of the foundation building the September 11 memorial in Manhattan told supporters today it is "essential" to open the memorial by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, disputing a report that the project could not be finished on time.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's executive director, Chris Ward, announced this week that nearly every project under construction at the World Trade Center site is behind schedule and that the memorial would not be able to open by its target of September 11, 2011.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519594
Video
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multimedia/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10519594&gallery_id=1338
Pregnant soldier found slain
9:25AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
A pregnant soldier lay dead in the bathtub. Reportedly scrawled on the motel-room mirror in lipstick was a crosshair design - the same symbol contained in a letter that arrived at the local newspaper four days later.
"The following is to inform that I am responsible for the dead body," the typewritten letter read.
"It was a master piece. I confess, that I have killed many times before in several states, but now I will start using my role-model's signature. There will be many more to come."
At the bottom was the same circle-and-cross drawing used a generation ago by San Francisco's infamous Zodiac Killer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519540
Suicide study casts shadow over gun ownership ruling
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners in the United States use the weapons on themselves.
Suicides accounted for 55 per cent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
There was nothing unique about that year - gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years.
In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 per cent of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 per cent. The remaining 2 per cent included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519475
Archbishop speaks against conservative fellowship
5:15AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out against plans by conservative Anglicans to set up their own global fellowship of those who rejected the liberal teachings of north American and British churches.
Rowan Williams said proposals to set up a separate global council of bishops who would train priests and interpret Scriptures would create more problems than they solve.
"A Primates Council which consists of only a self-selected group ... will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519485
Baby boom for Australian gays
8:15AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
More than 100 gay Australian couples have paid A$80,000 ($101,664.76) to create a baby using rent-a-womb women in the United States.
The controversial scheme, branded as "one-stop baby shopping", is becoming increasingly popular among professional gay men in Sydney and Melbourne, according to the Fertility Institutes based in Los Angeles.
"We've seen more than 125 gay couples from Australia who have gone home with a baby," said the clinic's medical director, Dr Jeffrey Steinberg.
"We're up to six to eight a month now, which is a four-fold increase over two years ago."
The first programme dedicated to two-father families allows gay men to pay for surrogate children, a practice which is illegal in Australia.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519490
Starbucks closing 600 US stores
9:16AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
SEATTLE - Starbucks Corp said Tuesday it will close 600 stores in the United States in the next year and cut back the number of new stores it had planned to open.
Starbucks said 70 per cent of the stores slated to be closed had opened since the start of the 2006 fiscal year. The total includes 100 previously announced store closures.
The company expects charges between US$328 million (NZ$432.7 million) and US$348 million related to the closures, including a charge of US$200 million in the third quarter.
Once those underperforming stores have shut down - a process the company said will happen gradually from now until the first half of 2009 - Starbucks said it expects the change to boost earnings by $100 million a year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519538
Cousteau joins hunt for orcas
5:00AM Tuesday July 01, 2008
By Phoebe Falconer
Jean-Michel Cousteau says orcas are easy to tell apart. Photo / AP
The great orca hunt is on.
Jean-Michel Cousteau is, like his late father Jacques-Yves Cousteau, an ocean explorer. He is in New Zealand this month to find and film orcas, or killer whales, using the experience and contacts of whale researcher Dr Ingrid Visser.
Orcas are the largest species of the oceanic dolphin family, and this is the time of year to spot them, said Dr Visser.
"Because it's cold, they come in closer to shore to hunt rays for food."
Dr Visser relies on the public to help spot orcas. "We have an 0800 number, and people just ring and let us know where they are."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10519267
What name would you like to give an Antarctic landmark?
8:05AM Wednesday July 2, 2008
Updated: 4:39PM Wednesday July 2, 2008
The search is on for new names of Antarctic geographical features to be gazetted next year.
At the Annual Antarctic Conference in Dunedin, a significant new mapping project over a large area to the south of Ross Island, with naming rights, was made public for the first time.
New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw says New Zealand last did considerable mapping in Antarctica about 50 years ago.
What name would you like to give an Antarctic landmark? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/7/2/what-name-would-you-give-antarctic-landmark/?c_id=1501154
Dirty water posing Olympic-sized problem
2:30PM Tuesday July 01, 2008
BEIJING - To host the Olympic sailing events, the graceful eastern China port city of Qingdao moved a massive boat yard, relocated industries and spent about US$850 million on transport links, parks, pollution controls and coastal green belts.
But with a little more than a month to go until the games, a whole different kind of challenge is cropping up: A forest of blue-green algae is choking the coastal waters, suffocating beaches and lying in thick layers along sailing routes.
Authorities have ordered an all-out drive to catch it, clear it, and block any more drifting into the area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519375
Truck overturns releasing 12 million bees
11:32AM Tuesday July 01, 2008
A truck carrying 12 million honey bees overturned on the Trans-Canada Highway in northwest New Brunswick. Photo / AP
Twelve million honey bees were released along Canada's largest highway in northwest New Brunswick, Canada, after a transport truck overturned.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a truck carrying 330 crates of bees was negotiating a ramp when the load shifted and the truck overturned.
Police said a downpour of rain has helped to contain the bees in and around the truck.
"Mother Nature has been very cooperative with us. Bees don't like the rain ... thousands of bees are hanging on the back of this truck and on the pavement right behind," said RCMP spokesman Derek Strong.
Bee experts from Agriculture Canada were called in to help deal with the accident.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519353
Schapelle Corby visits beauty salon
7:15AM Thursday July 03, 2008
Convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby was spotted yesterday at a beauty salon on the resort island of Bali, where she is serving a 20-year jail term.
Corby - who was hospitalised last month with depression - was escorted by two armed police officers as she emerged from the Gardenia Salon, an AFP correspondent said.
Wearing a blue cap and matching tank top, the 30-year-old tried to hide her face from journalists as she left the salon and was escorted back to an adjacent hospital where she is being treated.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519699
continued...
Are biofuels the solution to upcoming fuel and climate challenges?
8:12AM Friday April 4, 2008
Updated: 10:56AM Thursday July 3, 2008
Some are urging caution over biofuels, particularly because it was likely that some would have to be imported to meet the mandatory sales levels the Government is proposing.
International debate about the merits of biofuels is heating up, and concerns about the destruction of rainforests and rising food prices are making headlines around the globe.
Are biofuels the solution to upcoming fuel and climate challenges? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
Moerangi (Taumarunui) At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I believe there have been a number of engines invented over the past 100 years that don't use any form of fossil fuel or biofuel. Why not dredge these up from the archives of those big conglomerates that have them stashed away.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/4/4/are-biofuels-solution-upcoming-fuel-and-climate-challenges/?c_id=39
Australian stocks: Weakness drives ASX down
7:00PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
The Australian stock market closed in negative territory today to its lowest level in more than three months after falls from the resource sector and big retailers.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 44.1 points, or 0.86 per cent, lower at 5094.8, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 49.5 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 5211.6.
It was the lowest close for both indices since the week of March 21.
At 1615 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 37 points lower at 5101, on a volume of 30,714 contracts.
"The resource sector has been the main drag on the market, while falls from some of the big retailers like Woolworths has added some pressure," CMC Markets senior dealer Dominic Vaughan said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519610
Sharemarket dives to three-year low
7:00PM Thursday July 03, 2008
By Melanie Carroll
The sharemarket hit a fresh three-year low today, and a handful of blue chips sank to multi-year lows, after US markets spiralled downwards and selling spread across the globe.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index closed down 2.2 per cent, or 68.97 points, at 3094.4, and is down 13 per cent since the start of June. Turnover totalled $141 million.
"Normally you have fear and greed driving markets - last year it was greed, and now it's fear," said David Price of Forsyth Barr.
"We're seeing a liquidation from offshore, and they've been relatively aggressive, and on the flip side of that we're seeing a lot of people just not wanting to go into the market because it's been pretty much one-way traffic."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519815
Wall St a bear market after oil hits record
10:46AM Thursday July 03, 2008
Wall Street resumed its sell-off last night after oil hit a new record and a bearish analyst report renewed concerns that car making giant General Motors could run out of cash.
The stock market's pullback, which accelerated in the final hours of the week's last full trading day, left the Dow Jones industrial average officially in bear market territory, with the blue chips having fallen more than 20 per cent from their October highs.
Oil surged to new records above $144 a barrel as the government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in US supplies and as investors worried about tensions in the Middle East.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519755
World commodity prices at record high - beef up 4 pc
4:30PM Thursday July 03, 2008
New Zealand's monthly commodity price gauge remained near record high levels in June, despite another fall in world dairy prices.
The ANZ Commodity Price Index was virtually unchanged in terms of world prices, down one decimal place, to be 11.6 per cent higher than a year earlier.
In New Zealand dollar terms, the index was up 2.1 per cent, to be 12.5 per cent higher annually, and a touch below the record high reached last November. The kiwi eased against the country's main trading partners, except Japan, last month.
World beef prices rose 4.3 per cent, to be 26 per cent above a year ago, while aluminium was up 2 per cent for the month, venison rose 1.3 per cent, and wool was up 1.2 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519799
Kiwi productivity growth speeding up, thanks to new investment
1:40PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
Technical factors are temporarily exaggerating the size of an acceleration in labour productivity during the past year, Westpac economists say.
But the remainder of the improvement could be a belated payoff from high investment activity during the past few years, and could be more long-lasting.
Based on Statistics New Zealand's figures for gross domestic product and its Household Labour Force Survey, labour productivity had averaged 3 per cent annual growth over the past four quarters.
Westpac economists Brendan O'Donovan and Dominick Stephens said they were pleased to see that acceleration from growth that had been running at an "alarmingly low" rate of around 1 per cent a year from 2000 to 2006.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519582
Dark days in Detroit as US market stalls
1:36PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
America's automotive love affair is waning, with manufacturers reporting the worst June in 17 years.
DETROIT - Nearly all the major automakers reported steep sales declines for June, but for General Motors at least there was consolation: Toyota, its leading international competition, had it worse.
Even Toyota, with its flexible, efficient factories, couldn't make the shift from trucks to cars as quickly as American drivers. Its sales for June shrank 21 per cent.
So the Japanese automaker fell short of some analysts' predictions that it would overtake GM as the US sales leader. June sales at GM had a still-dramatic drop of about 18 per cent.
The overall market fell 18.3 per cent, according to Autodata It was the worst June for the industry in 17 years, said Jesse Toprak, chief industry analyst for auto information site Edmunds.com, who predicted more misery ahead.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519584
US speeders face police fuel surcharge
10:17AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
Drivers pulled over for speeding in a US town face a surcharge to cover the cost of fuel used by the police.
Fuel prices in the US, as in much of the rest of the world, have spiralled in the past two years prompting the move in Holly Springs, Georgia.
On top of the usual fine, drivers will pay US$12 to cover the cost of them being pulled over.
Police Chief Ken Ball told USA Today: "I was hearing that Delta (Air Lines), pizza deliverers, florists were adding fuel charges to their services, and I thought, why not police departments?"
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519549
Video: US woman dies on floor - ignored
12:52PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By David B. Caruso
NEW YORK - A woman died on the floor of a psychiatric hospital emergency room, and workers watched without helping her for an hour after she fell out of her chair and was writhing on the ground, according to surveillance footage.
Esmin Green, 49, had been waiting at Kings County Hospital for nearly 24 hours when she toppled from her seat at 5.32am on June 19 and fell face down on the floor. She was dead by the time someone on the medical staff finally came to her aid.
Green's collapse barely caused a ripple. Other patients waiting a few feet away didn't react. Security guards and a member of the hospital's staff appeared to notice her prone body at least three times, but made no visible attempt to see if she needed help.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519573
Video
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multimedia/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10519573&gallery_id=1339
World economy turns investors from NZ
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Adam Bennett
Spooked by ongoing concerns about the global economy and surging oil prices, overseas investors bailed out of the New Zealand sharemarket last month, deepening its losses compared with most overseas bourses, NZX trading data for June shows.
With the MSCI World Index falling by 8.2 per cent during June as stormclouds darkened over the global economy, the NZX-50's fall at 11.9 per cent was even worse, "with significant selling by offshore investors", said First NZ Capital's Jason Wong.
Hardest hit stocks were retailers, Sky City and Fletcher Building.
Skyrocketing oil prices, however, were good news for New Zealand Oil and Gas, which posted a gross return of 11.9 per cent for the month, the best performance among the market's top 50 stocks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10519465
Zimbabwe offers starkly contrasting tales
1:30PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Donna Bryson
The two paths of Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are telling: Mugabe, newly sworn in as Zimbabwe's president again, is at a summit of African leaders while the opposition leader holes up in a Western embassy in Zimbabwe's capital.
Tsvangirai is hemmed in by Mugabe's policemen, soldiers and ruling party thugs as well as the president's cozy relationship with fellow African leaders.
The round-faced, ever-affable Tsvangirai insists he is hopeful - "As far as we are concerned we are nearer a resolution than we have ever been," he says - but his options appear few.
He wants African leaders to guide negotiations on forming a coalition government to oversee a transition to democracy in Zimbabwe. While some leaders have publicly endorsed that idea, it is unclear how hard they will or can push Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980.
The African Union summit in Egypt, attended by Mugabe, approved a resolution calling for him to "negotiate" with Tsvangirai.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519578
Andrew Austin: 'Quiet diplomacy' can let Mugabe leave with dignity intact
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Andrew Austin
Who would want to be South African President Thabo Mbeki these days? Not only is he a lame-duck president - having lost the leadership of the ruling African National Congress - but he is now being scorned for his "inaction" on Zimbabwe.
Mbeki was given the unenviable task by the Southern African Development Community of mediating the mess in Zimbabwe and now he is being pilloried for his quiet diplomacy. People view Mbeki's perceived silence as a reluctance to criticise a fellow liberation comrade, but the problem is more complex.
Let's face it, this job was never going to be easy. There are some big obstacles in Mbeki's way, not least that he is dealing with the despotic Robert Mugabe, who culturally is contemptuous of a younger man telling him what to do. Added to this is that like many African leaders, Mbeki does not want to be seen to be taking instructions from the white West.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519480
The shame of a Mugabe torturer: 'I am being forced to kill someone'
2:12PM Thursday July 03, 2008
By Daniel Howden
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Photo / AP
He has whipped strangers with barbed wire and hit them with iron bars. He has stood by while old men were beaten half to death, as he chanted songs glorifying the violence.
Gibson became one of Robert Mugabe's foot soldiers when the 84-year-old President turned an election into a guerrilla war. He is one of thousands of members of the armed youth militias who have turned on their own people in a vicious campaign of looting, torture and murder. But now Gibson is risking his life to tell his story. He was forcibly recruited into the campaign of terror and now he can see no way out. Not yet 25, his life is now completely "alien" to him he says. There is no end in sight, even now the elections have come and gone and the terror tactics have succeeded in overturning the opposition's first round lead and returned Mr Mugabe to office.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519791
Cricket: Nations divided over Zimbabwe issue
8:46AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
DUBAI - The International Cricket Council's fragile unity looks set to crack if the four-nation Asian bloc, as expected, comes out in support of Zimbabwe retaining full member status at an executive board meeting this week.
Outgoing ICC president Ray Mali placed the issue on the agenda of the two-day ICC meeting scheduled for today and tomorrow as his native South Africa and England severed all cricketing ties with Zimbabwe in protest at what many Western states say was the lack of free and fair elections that allowed Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to win a sixth term last week.
Niranjan Shah, the secretary for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has said that his organization "would like to fully support Zimbabwe Cricket" in its retention of full member status within the ICC.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519524&pnum=0
Tracey Barnett: Dr Evil beats Mugabe every time
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Tracey Barnett
Just when you think Robbie Mugabe is stealing the Wicked Witch of the West's best lines lately, I can do you one evil do-er better. I'll bet a fiver that you've never even heard of him.
Mugabe may win for the best baddie this week, but nobody says a peep about the bundle of joy who truly deserves the title of Africa's worst leader, hands down.
Meet Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the resident dictator of Equatorial Guinea.
His credentials? Obiang seized power in 1979 by killing his own uncle, a man who was even creepier than the current "democratically elected" despot. Uncle Francisco Macias Nguema broke away from Spain and declared independence in 1968.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519418
A business plan for peace in Palestine
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
By Donald Macintyre
There aren't many people who would build a replica of La Rotonda, Antonio Palladio's 16th century high Renaissance architectural masterpiece, on top of a mountain overlooking the troubled and impoverished West Bank city of Nablus.
There are even fewer who would choose to complete it during the second intifada, when Palestinian militants and armoured Israeli forces were trading daily fire a mere 15 minutes' drive down the hill in the city's casbah and the teeming alleys of the Balata refugee camp.
But at 74, Munib al-Masri has the self confidence - and the money - not to worry about what many people would or wouldn't do.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519476
Bulldozer driver's deadly rampage (video)
5:00AM Thursday July 03, 2008
A woman is helped from a bus overturned by the Palestinian bulldozer driver during his attack. Photo / AP
A Palestinian bulldozer driver went on a deadly rampage on a busy Jerusalem street last night, ploughing into vehicles and pedestrians, killing at least three people and wounding 30 others before he was shot dead by police.
The attack wreaked havoc and left a swathe of damage in the heart of downtown Jerusalem.
Traffic was halted, and hundreds of people fled through the streets in panic as medics treated the wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Israeli police referred to the attacker as a "terrorist".
At the scene of the attack, a half-dozen cars were flattened and one was overturned by the enormous Caterpillar tractor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519722
Gaza crossings opened
5:15AM Thursday July 03, 2008
Israel is expected to allow cement into the Gaza Strip today for the first time in a year as crossings with the Palestinian territory are reopened in accordance with the ceasefire.
Four crossings between Israel and Gaza reopened on schedule yesterday, Israel and the Hamas rulers of Gaza said. Since a truce began on June 19, Israel has closed the passages for a total of six days in retaliation for the firing of rockets.
The Hamas Interior Ministry said Israel would allow in fuel, wheat and animal feed, in addition to five trucks of dry cement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519703
9/11 memorial behind schedule (+video)
2:30PM Wednesday July 02, 2008
NEW YORK - The head of the foundation building the September 11 memorial in Manhattan told supporters today it is "essential" to open the memorial by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, disputing a report that the project could not be finished on time.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's executive director, Chris Ward, announced this week that nearly every project under construction at the World Trade Center site is behind schedule and that the memorial would not be able to open by its target of September 11, 2011.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519594
Video
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/multimedia/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10519594&gallery_id=1338
Pregnant soldier found slain
9:25AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
A pregnant soldier lay dead in the bathtub. Reportedly scrawled on the motel-room mirror in lipstick was a crosshair design - the same symbol contained in a letter that arrived at the local newspaper four days later.
"The following is to inform that I am responsible for the dead body," the typewritten letter read.
"It was a master piece. I confess, that I have killed many times before in several states, but now I will start using my role-model's signature. There will be many more to come."
At the bottom was the same circle-and-cross drawing used a generation ago by San Francisco's infamous Zodiac Killer.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519540
Suicide study casts shadow over gun ownership ruling
5:00AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gun ownership last week focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from intruders in their homes. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners in the United States use the weapons on themselves.
Suicides accounted for 55 per cent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
There was nothing unique about that year - gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years.
In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 per cent of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 per cent. The remaining 2 per cent included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519475
Archbishop speaks against conservative fellowship
5:15AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke out against plans by conservative Anglicans to set up their own global fellowship of those who rejected the liberal teachings of north American and British churches.
Rowan Williams said proposals to set up a separate global council of bishops who would train priests and interpret Scriptures would create more problems than they solve.
"A Primates Council which consists of only a self-selected group ... will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519485
Baby boom for Australian gays
8:15AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
More than 100 gay Australian couples have paid A$80,000 ($101,664.76) to create a baby using rent-a-womb women in the United States.
The controversial scheme, branded as "one-stop baby shopping", is becoming increasingly popular among professional gay men in Sydney and Melbourne, according to the Fertility Institutes based in Los Angeles.
"We've seen more than 125 gay couples from Australia who have gone home with a baby," said the clinic's medical director, Dr Jeffrey Steinberg.
"We're up to six to eight a month now, which is a four-fold increase over two years ago."
The first programme dedicated to two-father families allows gay men to pay for surrogate children, a practice which is illegal in Australia.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519490
Starbucks closing 600 US stores
9:16AM Wednesday July 02, 2008
SEATTLE - Starbucks Corp said Tuesday it will close 600 stores in the United States in the next year and cut back the number of new stores it had planned to open.
Starbucks said 70 per cent of the stores slated to be closed had opened since the start of the 2006 fiscal year. The total includes 100 previously announced store closures.
The company expects charges between US$328 million (NZ$432.7 million) and US$348 million related to the closures, including a charge of US$200 million in the third quarter.
Once those underperforming stores have shut down - a process the company said will happen gradually from now until the first half of 2009 - Starbucks said it expects the change to boost earnings by $100 million a year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519538
Cousteau joins hunt for orcas
5:00AM Tuesday July 01, 2008
By Phoebe Falconer
Jean-Michel Cousteau says orcas are easy to tell apart. Photo / AP
The great orca hunt is on.
Jean-Michel Cousteau is, like his late father Jacques-Yves Cousteau, an ocean explorer. He is in New Zealand this month to find and film orcas, or killer whales, using the experience and contacts of whale researcher Dr Ingrid Visser.
Orcas are the largest species of the oceanic dolphin family, and this is the time of year to spot them, said Dr Visser.
"Because it's cold, they come in closer to shore to hunt rays for food."
Dr Visser relies on the public to help spot orcas. "We have an 0800 number, and people just ring and let us know where they are."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10519267
What name would you like to give an Antarctic landmark?
8:05AM Wednesday July 2, 2008
Updated: 4:39PM Wednesday July 2, 2008
The search is on for new names of Antarctic geographical features to be gazetted next year.
At the Annual Antarctic Conference in Dunedin, a significant new mapping project over a large area to the south of Ross Island, with naming rights, was made public for the first time.
New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw says New Zealand last did considerable mapping in Antarctica about 50 years ago.
What name would you like to give an Antarctic landmark? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/7/2/what-name-would-you-give-antarctic-landmark/?c_id=1501154
Dirty water posing Olympic-sized problem
2:30PM Tuesday July 01, 2008
BEIJING - To host the Olympic sailing events, the graceful eastern China port city of Qingdao moved a massive boat yard, relocated industries and spent about US$850 million on transport links, parks, pollution controls and coastal green belts.
But with a little more than a month to go until the games, a whole different kind of challenge is cropping up: A forest of blue-green algae is choking the coastal waters, suffocating beaches and lying in thick layers along sailing routes.
Authorities have ordered an all-out drive to catch it, clear it, and block any more drifting into the area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519375
Truck overturns releasing 12 million bees
11:32AM Tuesday July 01, 2008
A truck carrying 12 million honey bees overturned on the Trans-Canada Highway in northwest New Brunswick. Photo / AP
Twelve million honey bees were released along Canada's largest highway in northwest New Brunswick, Canada, after a transport truck overturned.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a truck carrying 330 crates of bees was negotiating a ramp when the load shifted and the truck overturned.
Police said a downpour of rain has helped to contain the bees in and around the truck.
"Mother Nature has been very cooperative with us. Bees don't like the rain ... thousands of bees are hanging on the back of this truck and on the pavement right behind," said RCMP spokesman Derek Strong.
Bee experts from Agriculture Canada were called in to help deal with the accident.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519353
Schapelle Corby visits beauty salon
7:15AM Thursday July 03, 2008
Convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby was spotted yesterday at a beauty salon on the resort island of Bali, where she is serving a 20-year jail term.
Corby - who was hospitalised last month with depression - was escorted by two armed police officers as she emerged from the Gardenia Salon, an AFP correspondent said.
Wearing a blue cap and matching tank top, the 30-year-old tried to hide her face from journalists as she left the salon and was escorted back to an adjacent hospital where she is being treated.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10519699
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