Australian minister heads to Sri Lanka amid asylum seeker talks

Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister is to hold talks during a visit to Sri Lanka on Monday as a standoff involving a group of asylum seekers on board an Australian Customs ship enters its fourth week. The 78 Sri Lankans are refusing to get off the Oceanic Viking because they do not want to be taken to Indonesia. The minister, Stephen Smith, has ruled out sending the group back to Sri Lanka and will use a day-long visit to Sri Lanka to talk about how to stop people smugglers, the ABC reports. He said returning the group in advance of a proper assessment of their claims would be in breach of Australia's international obligations and of the refugee convention.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Ski fields attract record numbers this winter

The New Zealand ski industry has passed a major milestone this winter, with more than 1.5 million people taking to the slopes across the country. A total of 1,536,000 people have donned boards and skis during the five month winter season, which closes this weekend. The figure is more than 100,000 up on last year's record. Ski Areas Association executive director, Miles Davidson, says numbers have been climbing for a number of years. He says the industry has invested in good lift systems, snow making and improved marketing both domestically and in Australia.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

NZ accuses UN of bias against Israel

New Zealand has accused a high-ranking United Nations body of being biased against Israel. The comment came during a debate at the UN General Assembly which castigated Israel. The resolution being debated at the assembly called for Israelis and Palestinians to investigate possible war crimes during the conflict in the Gaza Strip in January this year. The resolution saw 114 countries voting in favour, 18 against and 44, including New Zealand, abstained. On its official website, the UN quoted the New Zealand delegate as saying the UN Human Rights Council, which originated the war crimes allegation, displayed what he called a continued bias against Israel. He said New Zealand could not support a vote on a biased, one-sided resolution.
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Clark does not miss being PM

Helen Clark is enjoying her new job as the head of the United Nations Development Programme, a year after being ousted as Prime Minister. The former Labour leader says she gets to do a lot of travel, has a large organisation to lead, and is involved in interesting issues. Miss Clark told TVNZ's Q&A programme this morning she went into politics because of a passion for international affairs. She says being Prime Minister seems almost as long ago as the day she started university in 1968. Miss Clark says she likes to think she can close the door on one thing and open the door on the next, and become fully involved. She says she does not miss her old job at all.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Clean-up begins after flash flooding in NSW

A major clean-up operation is continuing on the New South Wales mid-north coast where hundreds of people remain cut off by floodwaters on Sunday. The region was lashed with torrential downpours in the 48 hours to Saturday morning, with some areas recording 528 millimetres of rain. At the peak of the disaster, about 5,000 residents were stranded in the towns of Bellingen and Bowraville and in areas on the upper Bellinger and Kalang rivers, the ABC reports. About 200 people are still stranded on the Couts crossing area, west of Coffs Harbour on Sunday, according to the State Emergency Service.
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Tsunami service today

The Prime Minister will attend a special memorial service in Auckland today, for those who lost their lives in the recent tsunami in the Pacific. John Key says families of the New Zealand victims and the wider Pacific community are all invited to take part. He says it is fitting to remember the New Zealanders, Samoans and Tongans who died, by way of a national memorial service. It is being held at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Parnell at four o'clock.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Big berg floats closer

A huge iceberg is floating in waters southwest of New Zealand and could be moving closer. Australian scientists working at Macquarie Island spotted the iceberg and believe it is about 50 metres high and the length of five rugby fields. It is moving at between two and three kilometres an hour, so it could be a couple of weeks before it comes into sight.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Remembrance Sunday services today

Remembrance services are being held throughout the country today, for Armistice Day. The 91st anniversary of the symbolic end of World War I actually falls on Wednesday, but it is usually marked on the nearest Sunday. Dunedin has an event at St Paul's starting at 10 o'clock, while the Auckland War Memorial Museum is holding two services at 11 o'clock and one o'clock. RSA branches all over the country mark Remembrance Sunday today, and on Wednesday the Governor-General will attend a service at the National War Memorial in Wellington.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Rugby-ABs beat Wales 19-12

The All Blacks have beaten a determined Wales 19-12 in the first match of their European rugby tour in Cardiff. A try to Andrew Hore midway through the second half effectively won the game for New Zealand, who were twice held up over the line and had a third try disallowed. Daniel Carter kicked four penalties and a conversion for the All Blacks. It was six-all at halftime. Stephen Jones kicked all the points for Wales, with four penalties. The last time Wales beat the All Blacks was 1953 Meanwhile Australia has beaten England 18-9 at Twickenham. Samoa have become the second team to reach the 2011 rugby World Cup in New Zealand via qualifying after hammering Papua New Guinea 73-12 in Port Moresby to win 188-19 on aggregate in their two-leg playoff. Samoa are the 14th team to take their place in the tournament to be held in New Zealand and will play in Pool D along with 2007 winners South Africa, Wales and Fiji.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Skin cancer costs $123m a year

New figures from the Cancer Society have put the cost of skin cancer to New Zealand at $123 million a year. Treatment costs the health system more than 57 million dollars, the other 66 million is calculated from the loss of life and income. The report was written by Des O'Dea, from the Wellington School of Medicine, who says the cost is needless, because most skin cancer is avoidable. He says while skin cancers usually appear in old age, the damage is often done at a much younger age. The Cancer Society says the figures show how important it is to spend more on prevention. New Zealand has the world's highest death rate rate from skin cancer.
Source: Newstalk ZB

Rare stamp fetches $27,000

One of New Zealand's rarest stamps has gone under the hammer in Wellington, selling for $27,000 to an overseas buyer. The stamp was printed to coincide with the planned 1949 visit of King George VI to New Zealand which was cancelled because the king was unwell. The stamps were ordered to be destroyed. "During the destruction process the person responsible for overseeing it accidentally or deliberately put some in his pocket...they have survived today. We believe there's four of them known in the world," says John Mowbray from Mowbray Collectibles. It also included one of the country's first stamps from 1855 which sold for $12,500.
Source: ONE News

Torrential rain leads to flash flooding in NSW

The New South Wales Government has declared three centres natural disaster areas, after torrential rain led to widespread flash flooding. Homes and businesses in the city of Coffs Harbour were inundated on Saturday morning and up to 90 people were evacuated from homes along Coffs Creek, ABC reports. The inland township of Bellingen has been cut off by the floodwaters and the road between the town and the Pacific Highway is under water. The state's Emergency Services Minister Steve Whan says the natural disaster declaration will help the region. "The Government is able to declare Coffs Harbour, Bellingen and Nambucca natural disaster areas and that of course means access for councils to funding to assist with the repair of infrastructure," he said.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Hide repays second tax-payer funded trip

ACT Party leader Rodney Hide has repaid more than $10,000 after taking his girlfriend to Hawaii on another taxpayer-funded trip. Mr Hide has been defending using his MP's travel privileges to pay for the cost of Louise Crome accompanying him on a trip to the United States, Canada and London in October. However, it has been revealed the couple also went on a five-day holiday to Hawaii in July. The Local Government Minister did not disclose the Hawaiian trip when first questioned about using his travel privileges to pay the $25,000 tab for their travels, including 90% of Ms Crome's costs. Mr Hide is known for his views that MPs' perks are too generous.
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Low-lying nations appeal for help over climate change

Low-lying Pacific and Indian Ocean nations have put out a desperate call for help ahead of the United Nations' climate change talks in Copenhangen. The islands, already threatened by rising seas, are meeting in the Maldives this weekend to try to negotiate an agreement for a new climate deal, the ABC reports. Kiribati President Anote Tong is leading the call for developed countries to help finance poorer nations to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Mr Tong says communities have already been resettled and crops destroyed due to rising sea levels and a new climate treaty must be delivered at Copenhagen in December if countries such as his are to be saved. "We don't have the resources to deal with this; we are asking the international community to come to our assistance. We need to do this together as a global community," he says.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Thousands default on student loans

By KATIE CHAPMAN, NATHAN BEAUMONT - The Dominion Post
Thousands of people with student loans are defaulting on payments, leaving the Government to chase hundreds of millions of dollars. More than one in five borrowers – or 114,000 people – have overdue payments and thousands of students are leaving tertiary education with no qualification and big bills. The Education Ministry's student loan scheme annual report shows that $306 million in payments is overdue, a $100m increase from a year ago. The substantial growth includes a big rise in the level of payments owed by people now living overseas, more than doubling to $114m. The report also showed about 39 per cent of students who left tertiary education with a loan did so without achieving a qualification.

Maori Party considers action against Harawira

The Maori Party says it is considering taking disciplinary action against its MP for Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira. Mr Harawira has been under fire for skipping a day of a 12-day taxpayer-funded trip in Europe to go sightseeing in Paris, and has also used swear words in an email exchange about the trip with a former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere. The MP was leader of a parliamentary delegation to the European Parliament in Brussels in October and missed a day of the meeting to take his wife sightseeing in the French capital, which he paid for. In the expletive-filled email with Mr Mikaere, Mr Harawira refers to concern about the trip as "white man bulls***". Mr Harawira went on to say white people have been "raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries and all of a sudden you want me to play along with their puritanical bulls***". Mr Mikaere replies that Mr Harawira is no better than MPs and others he complains about.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Footprints discovered in Nelson may be dinosaur

A scientist believes he has found New Zealand's first dinosaur footprints dating back 70 million years in Nelson. GNS Science sedimentologist Greg Browne has been studying the marks for years in northwest Nelson and has concluded they could only have been made by a large animal. The geology of the area indicates that the prints are about 70 million years old. Dr Browne says keen international interest will focus on northwest Nelson where about a dozen prints have been discovered.
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No Dancing With The Stars next year

TVNZ has decided to can its hit show Dancing With The Stars next year. The network says it has had to make the decision because the current market conditions do not support such an expensive show. It says despite the show's popularity, it has been a marginal venture even in strong market conditions. TVNZ says it is treating the decision as a 'rest' for the programme and will reevaluate the situation the following year.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Key defends Government's first-year performance

Prime Minister John Key says his National Government has achieved what it set out to do in its first year, given the economic conditions it inherited. The Labour Party has accused the Government of lacking an economic plan a year on since it took power. Deputy leader Annette King says National has no plan to deal with rising unemployment and has criticised Mr Key's political management. On Thursday, ACT Party leader and National ally Rodney Hide said Mr Key had done nothing in a year apart from launching the national cycleway. Mr Key told Morning Report on Friday that National inherited a government in some of the worst conditions since the Great Depression. The Prime Minister says the Government has made progress in several areas, such as law and order, tax cuts, reforms to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and free trade agreements.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

NZ Govt gives $4m extra tsunami aid to Samoa

The New Zealand Government is providing Samoa with a further $4 million for tourism reconstruction as the country begins a multi-million dollar rebuilding programme following the recent tsunami. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says the Samoan government will receive a report shortly outlining what is needed to get its tourism industry up and running properly. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi says his country is pleased with the support from New Zealand and the country is in a reconstruction phase. He says roads, water and electricity reticulation to new settlements are the priority over the next three years in a rebuilding programme that will cost more than $200 million.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Yachting-Alinghi proposes Australia as America's Cup venue

Swiss yachting syndicate Alinghi has proposed Australia as an alternative venue for its defence of the America's Cup in a bid to end a court battle with US challenger Oracle. A New York judge had earlier ruled out plans to stage the defence of the 33rd America's Cup in waters off the United Arab Emirates in February. The judge ruled the Swiss defenders must stage the event either in the southern hemisphere in accordance with the Cup's Deed of Gift, or in Spain's Valencia where the last regatta was held. Alinghi has proposed that the Cup be held on the east coast of Australia ahead of a court hearing on Friday.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Harawira wasn't straight with me - vexed Turia

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says that one of the party's MPs, Hone Harawira, told her he was sick on an official trip to Europe, when in fact he wanted to get away and visit Paris. Mr Harawira has admitted he skipped an official engagement at the European Parliament in Brussels last month in order to go sightseeing in the French capital with his wife Hilda. Unrepentant about his action, he says only "boring" people would deny someone an opportunity to see Paris. Ms Turia says Mr Harawira wasn't straight with her at the time. The worry now, she says, is that the party will be questioned about whether it can guarantee that this could never happen again - and it can't. The Labour Party says Mr Harawira should have delayed his trip to Paris until parliamentary business was complete.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

'Horrendous' abuse of Fijian historian before deportation

Fiji-born historian Brij Lal is describing his detention by soldiers on Wednesday night before his deportation from Fiji as "horrendous". Professor Lal, one of the architects of Fiji's annulled constitution, is an Australian citizen but his wife works in Suva and he regularly travels there to be with her. He says he was interrogated by soldiers about an Australian radio interview he'd done in which he was critical of the expulsion of New Zealand and Australian diplomats from Fiji. He says he was subjected to verbal abuse and "explosive anger" for several hours. The soldiers told him, he says, that publicly criticising the interim regime in Fiji was not acceptable. Professor Lal, from the Australian National University, is now back in Australia.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Yes, you will be able to bring your super home

Legislation will be introduced to Parliament in two weeks' time to allow New Zealanders returning home from Australia to bring their retirement savings with them. It could lead to billions of dollars being repatriated to New Zealand. Australia's tax office estimates that it holds $13 billion in lost accounts in the Australian superannuation system. Finance Minister Bill English thinks much of that money belongs to New Zealanders who have already returned. He says the new law will enable them to bring the money back here, but they will have to invest in KiwiSaver accounts. Provided the same law changes are made in Australia, Mr English says, the new arrangement should take effect from the second half of next year.
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No pay rise for MPs this year

The Remuneration Authority has decided MPs' salaries and allowances will not be changed this year. Currently Prime Minister John Key is paid $393,000 a year. His deputy Bill English receives almost $277,000. Cabinet Ministers get just under $244,000, while Ministers outside of Cabinet earn just over $204,000. Opposition Leader Phil Goff is on $243,700 while other party leaders get a base salary of $144,500 a year. Back bench MPs get $131,000 annually, but are paid more if they hold senior positions on select committees.
Copyright 2002 - 2009, TelstraClear Ltd

Legislation to lift ban on marine farming areas

Bans on marine farming areas will be lifted under proposed reforms announced on Thursday. Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley told an aquaculture conference in Nelson on Thursday the recommended legislation will remove regulations that have held back the industry. Mr Heatley says the reforms will allow marine farming outside the current aquaculture management areas. The minister says the changes could be the most important ever in marine farming, creating a $1 billion industry and potentially worth double that by 2025.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Gender gap widens among university graduates

By Isaac Davison
Two-thirds of bachelor degrees last year went to women, the highest figure on record in New Zealand. Women have outnumbered men in the tertiary sector for more than a decade, but a new Ministry of Education report shows the number of men who finish bachelor degrees is falling. Education experts warned that if the trend continued, it would have far-reaching social and economic consequences. Reasons for the widening gender gap include an increase in men going into trades and a secondary school system which may discourage or poorly prepare boys for further learning. Between 2006 and 2008 the number of male students completing a bachelor degree fell from 7600 to 6900. In the same period the number of female students completing bachelor degrees increased by 100 to 12,900.

Oldest immigrant Eric King-Turner dies

New Zealand's oldest immigrant, 104-year-old Eric King-Turner, has died in Nelson. Mr King-Turner was 102 when he left his home near Southampton, England, to move here with his New Zealand-born wife Doris, now 90, with whom he had lived in Britain for 12 years. The retired dentist arrived in Wellington on the Saga Rose cruise ship in February 2008 to a media frenzy. Mrs King-Turner met her husband while researching her ancestry. Despite sharing the same last name they were not related, but decided to meet anyway. Mr King-Turner suffered a stroke at the Mapua, Nelson, home he shared with his wife, and died in Nelson Hospital on Sunday.
NZPA

NZ war hero Keith Park honoured in London

A statue has been raised to Sir Keith Park in central London for his role in the Battle of Britain during World War II. The New Zealander commanded Royal Air Force squadrons which defended London and south-east England from Luftwaffe attacks in the summer of 1940. The statue was commissioned by the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign. Chairman Terry Smith says the statue symbolises the help New Zealand gave Britain in times of peril. Mr Smith says Sir Keith's contribution in particular stands out, as it is likely that he saved London from invasion by Germany. More than 1000 invited guests, including RAF veterans and members of Sir Keith's family and New Zealand High Commissioner Derek Leask, attended the event on Wednesday.
Copyright © 2009 Radio New Zealand

Scathing assessment of financial advice industry

A consumer watchdog has issued a scathing assessment of the financial advice industry after saying it has found evidence of widespread incompetence. Consumer New Zealand sent mystery shoppers to gather advice on investment and pre-retirement plans. Out of 17 plans, an expert review panel failed all but three of them. Consumer New Zealand chief executive Sue Chetwin says commission incentives were the reason why many of the advisers pushed particular products, without strong reasons for doing so. She is calling for a complete ban on such payments. Ms Chetwin says that, in general, the advice was "scandalously poor" and the Government needs to do more to regulate the finance industry and protect investors. The panel found poor analysis, unclear and large costs, bad products and advisers portraying themselves as independent when they were clearly not, she says.
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