TGIF Edition 3 April 09

NZTONIGHT

NZTONIGHT

ANALYSiS

WORLD

Crime in the genes

Union backs apprentices

Black calls Whites right

Madoff loses homes

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EDITION

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ISSN 1172-4153 | Volume 2 | Issue 32 |

Top judge prime suspect in car crime

| 3 April 2009

on the

INSIDE

By Ian Wishart

A top judge is under criminal investigation tonight after an incident in Auckland’s Brown’s Bay last week.

TGIF Edition has learned the judge, with a long and distinguished career, was seen by witnesses vandalizing a car partially blocking a driveway by running a key along the paintwork.

The incident happened outside the Flax Café, in front of a number of patrons of the restaurant.

Auckland businessman Richard Cummins has told TGIF he’d parked his car in Beach Front Lane,outside the café,on Monday March 23rd,but hadn’t realized he was partially blocking an entrance to a building.

He says he received a phone call from Browns Bay police whilst he was in a business meeting at 12:30 to advise his car was blocking a driveway and would be towed if he didn’t move it immediately.

“I returned to the vehicle (tow truck was in attendance) and spoke with the Police officers present. I received the ticket and some notes on the windscreen (from disgruntled residents).

“I then drove to my home in Forrest Hill to briefly collect some items. Upon returning to the car I noticed marks on the paintwork on the driver’s door then saw other similar marks on most other panels of the car. The marks had not been present prior to the vehicle was parked in Browns Bay. I concluded that they had been inflicted by some disgruntled apartment occupant that had been blocked by my car.

“I immediately called back to the Police Officer that had rung me and advised him of the damage to the car.The officer advised that I could make a complaint at the local Police station.

“Approx. 2 hours later I was contacted by the Police offering to come to my work and take a statement and take pictures of the damage. This was done the following day. In the meantime I contacted my insurance company, lodged a claim and took the

VACCINE DAMAGE NZ girl injured Page 3

CARBON COST Up to $7,500 each car to a local panelbeater for assessment.

“When at the panelbeaters I was approached by one of the staff who was the driver of the tow truck at Browns Bay. He asked if I was making a complaint to Police and he said that the Police had taken details of a person at the scene that had been observed by a café patron inflicting some of the damage with a key. The alleged ‘Keyer’ was immediately approached by one of the officers and asked about the alleged damage.This person said ‘I would not do that- I am a Judge’.

“Last Thursday I was contacted by the officer and advised that he had completed taking statements from the various witnesses and was handing the file over to ‘higher beings’ for a decision as to

whether charges would be laid.The name and title of the alleged offender was not divulged. He was confident that one of the witness accounts could verify some of the damage being inflicted by the suspect. He asked that car not be repaired until after a decision had been made as it may be necessary to have forensic experts compare the scratches and try to establish if they all could have been done with the same item etc,”Cummins told TGIF Edition.

The newspaper has verified that Detective Sergeant Kim Libby at North Shore Police has the file, and a spokesman for the office of Attorney-General Chris Finlayson says they have not yet been formally advised by police that the judge is under investigation.

The Judge involved is still serving on the bench.

Skateboarder slammed with $750 fine Wellington, April 3 – A Gisborne skateboarder is refusing to pay a $750 police fine for skating on an empty footpath.

Skater Reuben Baker was riding his skateboard on a deserted CBD street when fined by a police highway patrol officer, the Gisborne Herald reported.

“I don’t know of anyone else who has ever got a fine of $750 for skateboarding. Everyone I’ve spoken to thinks it’s ridiculous ,”Mr Baker said.

“He said to me, `I don’t want to give you this, but I have to.’ He didn’t have to, though – I can think of plenty of times where police have seen us skateboarding and have driven past.”

Mr Baker is refusing to pay, saying the fine amount is excessive.

“People who don’t restrain their children in car seats, or drink and drive get lower fines than this,” he said.

Council bylaws allow staff to issue warnings or fines up to $200, while police can fine skaters up to $750.

Gisborne Sergeant Trent Higgs said very few of the large fines had been handed out.

“Most of our actions are related to time, place and circumstances.The officer obviously believed it was appropriate at the time to issue the fine,”he said.

– NZPA

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NEW ZEALAND

off BEAT Police: Foiled robbery suspect cried TRENTON, N.J., April 3 (UPI) – Police in New Jersey said an attempted liquor store robber sat down and cried when foiled by a locked door.

Investigators said Edwin Calix, 19, was charged with robbery after he allegedly tried to rob Sykes Liquor Store in Trenton and was foiled Monday when clerk Jeff Wadkins, 76, locked the suspect inside the store, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported today.

Police said Calix showed a handgun to the clerk and demanded to be released but Wadkins did not believe the gun was real and refused to unlock the door. Officers said they arrived to find the suspect sitting on the floor and crying.

Cat rides on roof of news truck NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) – A New York state TV station said it had to call emergency responders after a stray cat became stuck inside the satellite dish base of a news truck.

The WCBS-TV, New York, news crew said they were driving to Nassau County Police headquarters for a news conference when other motorists pointed out that a cat was wedged under the satellite dish, WCBS reported today.

“When you guys came in to our press conference we thought it was an April Fool’s joke, so we didn’t take it seriously at first. But then all of a sudden you were insistent that there was a cat stuck in the truck so we immediately called our emergency service responders,” Detective Sgt. Anthony Repalone said after the incident.

An emergency services unit arrived at the scene and freed the animal by dismantling a panel on the satellite dish. The cat was adopted on the spot by CBS radio reporter Sophia Hall.

“I am a cat lover, I have to bring him home,” she said.

“I already have two others at home. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity!”

IN-CAR GPS FOR DUMMIES WOLF RIVER, Wis., April 3 (UPI) – A Wisconsin woman said her GPS navigation unit left her stranded miles into the woods on a snowmobile trail in Langlade County.

The woman called 911 at 10:44 a.m. Tuesday and told the operator that her GPS had instructed her to turn down a snowmobile trail while she was travelling to Laona, Wis., from the state’s White Lake area, the Antigo (Wis.) Daily Journal reported today.

The woman said she stopped about four or five miles down the trail, but was unable to turn her Pontiac Grand Am around because nearly a foot and a half of snow surrounded the car on the ground.

The Department of Natural Resources and the nearby Silver Birch Ranch brought in heavy equipment to free the car after a tow truck and a sheriff’s department vehicle were unable to reach the woman.

“It took a while to first find her and then get her out,” Deputy Keith Svoboda said. “She was really stuck.”

The woman was dropped off at an area motel for the night while mechanics examined her car, which responders were unable to shift out of park after the battery died, authorities said.

Speed Demon device promotes safe driving LUNENBURG, Mass., April 3 (UPI) – The U.S. inventor of the Speed Demon device that monitors drivers’ speeds in relation to their location says it is intended to promote safe driving.

Massachusetts resident Jonathan Fischer, 20, said while his invention could be used by parents to monitor their teenage children’s driving habits, his main focus in creating Speed Demon was basic driver safety, The Boston Globe said today.

“As a teenager, I feel that teens deserve their privacy,” he said. “My device only alerts when you’re driving dangerously. Drive safe, and you get to keep your privacy.”

The $250 device can be programmed to alert a driver when speed limits are exceeded. The device, which also has a $15 a month service fee, uses global positioning system navigation to determine if a driver is on the interstate or a basic road.

The Globe said the device also comes equipped with an emergency panic button that contacts the Speed Demon owner’s home, along with a curfew setting that creates an alert if the car is used during designated hours.

3 April 2009

House buyers return with a “vengeance” Wellington, April 3 NZPA – Barfoot & Thompson reported Auckland house sales at a 20-month high in March, with the agency saying home buyers returned to the market with a “vengeance”.

The agency sold a total of 924 homes last month, up 65.3 percent on those for February and up 46.2 percent on those for March 2008.

At the same time, the average price achieved for sales in March was $491,780, down 4.1 percent on February’s average price and down 5.8 percent on the average in March 2008.

“We sold close to 300 homes more in March than in any month in the whole of 2008,” Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said today.

The size of the recovery was greater than any expectation.

“Buyers may be sensing that market prices are close to the bottom of the cycle and have made the decision to act,”Mr Thompson said.

“At the same time sellers are accepting that a price that is on average only 6 percent below values being achieved 12 months ago is realistic in the current market, and are ready to accept.

“It means that the market is active, and the housing market is edging further back to normality.”

Goldman Sachs JBWere analyst Shamubeel Eaqub said the surprise and huge bounce in sales was consistent with mortgage approvals.

There were uncertainties around the durability of the surge, with job losses yet to fully flow through the economy, he said.

“The level of sales, while still historically low, shows the first encouraging signs of traction from lower interest rates.”

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the level of sales was the highest since November 2007.

Barfoot & Thompson’s Mr Thompson said another indicator of returning confidence was the level of interest shown at auctions.

Attendance numbers were the best in a year last month, and some 65 to 70 percent of all the homes put to the market sold.

Factors affecting sales activity last month were the traditional March spike, further falls in the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, bank mortgage rates reaching new lows and knowledge that tax cuts were about to kick in.

At the end of March the agency had 6416 listings, the lowest number in 13 months.While new listings in March were a healthy 1398, the number of homes sold during the month meant the number of homes listed was the lowest for 14 months.

“Currently, there is an excellent window of opportunity for those keen to sell,”Mr Thompson said.

During March the agency rented out 741 houses and units, 19.1 percent more than in March 2008, and at an average rent of $392, the same average as that achieved in March last year.

– NZPA

Bain trial hears of blood spots Christchurch, April 3 – Bloodspots and expert scientific testimony dominated the end of the fourth week of the retrial of David Cullen Bain for the 1994 murders of five members of his family.

Witnesses told the jury at the High Court at Christchurch about tests conducted on bloodspots in the Bain family home.

Deputy Solicitor-General Cameron Mander asked forensic scientist Dr Peter Cropp about blood smeared door-frames and door-jambs in the house.

They all showed that it was either siblings Stephen or Laniet Bain’s blood on them.

The pantry door-frame showed the blood could also have been David’s, and the blood found in the bathroom basin could have come from all three of them as well.

The curtain in the lounge between it and the alcove had nine spots of blood on it and one was tested. It was father Robin Bain’s blood.

Justice Graham Panckhurst asked why only one of the nine spots was tested, and was told that all the spots seemed to have come from the same source.

In 1997 Dr Cropp was asked to try to determine from what position the blood spots on the curtains would have come.

He did the testing at the ESR in Auckland and had the curtain, photographs and measurements to work from.

His results were that the blood came from an area less than one metre above the floor.

In cross examination defence counsel, Helen Cull QC asked if it was possible that the blood could have come from Robin’s head when he was falling down, and Dr Cropp agreed that it could.

He also agreed that he couldn’t say where Robin Bain was, or what position his head was, at the time of the shooting.

Dr Cropp said he did not receive any blood

A witness with the murder weapon, at David Bain’s retrial for the murder of his parents and three siblings in Dunedin in June 1994, High Court, Christchurch. NZPA / The Press

smears, fingernail scrapings or blood drops from Robin Bain’s hands to test for blood grouping.

He also did not receive the rifle magazine found

by Robin Bain’s body with blood on it, to test, even though a previous scientific witness, Dr Peter Hentschel’s, notes said he had sent the magazine to him.

Dr Cropp said he was not given Robin Bain’s shoe to test, but it was tested a few years later in Britain, and found to have a spot of blood on the top of it.

Ms Cull asked Dr Cropp if blood was found on the top of Robin’s shoe, would it be consistent with him kneeling?

“If that blood came from this incident, no,”he said.

He also said that when he went to any crime scene he took notes, drew diagrams and had police photographers take a photo of where each sample was taken from.

Also when in the laboratory, he would take notes and draw diagrams.

None of this was done by Dr Peter Hentschel, who was the forensic scientist at the scene at 65 Every Street, Dunedin in 1994.

The trial has concluded for the day and resumes on Monday.

– NZPA

NZ dollar peaks near 11-week high Wellington, April 3 NZPA – The New Zealand dollar reached its highest level against the greenback in more than 11 weeks today, then retreated.

The kiwi peaked at US59.01c but eased back to US58.56c by 5pm, which was still up from US56.80c at 5pm yesterday.

The rise came care of a fall in the US dollar as gains in Wall Street stocks eroded the greenback’s safe-haven appeal.

The improvement in investors’ risk appetite sparked a rally in higher-yielding, commodity currencies such as the Australian and NZ dollars.

US stocks jumped after world leaders at the Group of 20 summit agreed to pump an addi-

tional trillion US dollars into the global economy to fight the financial crisis, and on US accounting rule changes aimed at giving banks flexibility when dealing with toxic assets.

BNZ Capital currency strategist Danica Hampton said the NZ dollar also rose on buying by speculators and when the run was over the currency retreated.

“We had short-term speculative players talking about stop-loss orders around US58.50c and some targeting to try to break those stops went on,”she said.

Once the currency got near US59c traders took profits and squared up positions ahead of non-farm

payroll data in the US.“So it wasn’t news specific,just market positioning,”she said.The kiwi rose strongly against the Japanese currency and by the local close was at 58.36 yen from 56.05 yen yesterday.

The NZ dollar was up to 0.4355 euro from 0.4278 at the local close yesterday, and rose against the Australian dollar to A81.85c form A80.78c. The trade weighted index was up to 58.10 from 56.69 yesterday.

The euro rose strongly against the greenback and yen after the European Central Bank cut lending rates by just 25 basis points to 1.25 percent, confounding expectations for a deeper cut to 1 percent.

– NZPA

NEW ZEALAND

3 April 2009

Crime is in the genes: claim

Calls for urgent review of HPV vaccine Wellington, April 3 – Women’s Health Action “We would like to see the guidelines adhered to says the new school-based immunisation programme and a system set up to ensure this. Serious questions to help protect girls from cervical cancer has been need to be asked about why these guidelines have brought in too fast and an urgent review is needed. been ignored,”she said.

The vaccination against the human papilloma “But this is only one of many problems emerging virus (HPV) – the most common cause of cervical and we are calling for the programme to be delayed cancer – has been offered to girls in year eight (12 so we can get the fundamentals right.” years-old) at most New Zealand schools since the The materials being used to promote the vaccinaend of January. tion also needed to be looked However, Director of at, Ms Fitzpatrick said.

Her parents are Women’s Health Action “The use of `fear’and coerfurious after Trust Jo Fitzpatrick said cive tactics to promote a vaca number of problems discovering the vaccine cine is unacceptable, and the were emerging with the contains aluminium and reports starting to surface programme and a review about the implementation borax, an ingredient in of the HPV vaccination prowas needed.

“The signs are that this commercial detergents gramme are very concerning.” programme was rushed Meanwhile, a 17 year old and the cracks are showing,”Ms Fitzpatrick said.

Waihi College student,Stevie Richards,has been laid up “We need to slow down and do it right.’ with a paralysed arm since receiving the Gardasil vacShe pointed to an announcement by the Privacy cine’s second dose more than a week ago.Her parents are Commissioner that she would investigate complaints furious after discovering the vaccine contains aluminabout schools handing over personal information to ium and borax,an ingredient in commercial detergents, district health boards without notification as one of and they claim some of the pro-vaccination literature a number of issues. issued by the Ministry of Health is misleading.

Guidelines were developed by the Ministry of TGIF Edition carried a warning about the danHealth with the commissioner’s input to support gers of the Gardasil campaign on the front page of the implementation of the school-based phase of last week’s issue. the programme, Ms Fitzpatrick said.

– NZPA

Wellington, April 3 – Genes and environment combine to influence whether someone is likely to exhibit violent or anti-social tendencies,a researcher told a crime conference today.

The Drivers of Crime meeting was held in Parliament to try and address the causes of criminal behaviour as opposed to how to address post-crime issues.

Over a hundred leaders from non-government organisations and government departments around the country attended and heard talks from Justice Minister Simon Power and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples before breaking for group discussions.

Human health and development researcher Professor Richie Poulton also presented studies exploring the relationship between genetics and upbringing, and anti-social behaviour.

He said questions were often asked as to whether it was nature or nurture which sparked criminal behaviour, but the issue was more complex.

Trying to identify a direct linear relationship between genes and anti-social behaviour or crime was naive, Prof Poulton said.

He said there were plenty of cases where two people experienced the same type of adversity and one could succumb while the other got through and often became stronger as a result.

He referred to a study in which resulting data suggested certain gene activity was directly related to violent or anti-social behaviour when combined with a range of environmental conditions involving maltreatment.

“It’s proof in principle that nature interacts with nurture, and that’s what gives a prediction.”

He said with medical conditions, pharmacological interventions were often the answer, but in the case of violent tendencies the answer lay in early human intervention with both child and family.

Mr Power said some people would write today’s meeting off as a“talk-fest of do-gooders”, but it was helpful to get a consensus about the causes of crime from people who cared about the justice system.

Crime in the 2005/2006 year was estimated to

have cost New Zealand over $12 billion, he said.

He said a human cost couldn’t be put on crime, but it was well known that the worse off members of society were more commonly the victims.

“We need an approach that is new to reduce offending and victimisation. An approach that addresses the underlying drivers of crime.”The meeting was an important first step, he said. Dr Sharples said statistics showed Maori were apprehended, convicted and jailed out of proportion to other ethnicities, and that questions needed to be asked as to why New Zealand society appeared to have become more violent.

“What has happened to our beautiful Aotearoa,” he said.

“Why is there so much anger in our communities, in our houses, on our streets.”

He questioned whether alcohol and drug abuse had been normalised and whether New Zealanders were becoming immune to violence and extreme criminal behaviour.

– NZPA

Some like it hot…

Union backs apprentices sectors to try to absorb any apprenticeship redundancies, not just DHBs and councils.

“Local government is under pressure to manage rate increases appropriately in the current economic climate, therefore has to balance its own staffing accordingly,”Mr Williams said.

“DHBs and other government-funded agencies and service providers are also under tight budgetary obligations.”

Mr Williams said councils could provide leadership and intervention by maintaining close relationships with industry and employers to ensure every opportunity was taken advantage of to keep apprentices training on site.

Wellington City Council chief executive Gary Poole said the council already employed 14 apprentices and it was conscious of the importance of keeping them on and building skills.

However, the main objective for companies at this time was to stay in business, he said.

A lot of work was contracted out and apprentices might do better to approach those contracting companies.

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Wellington, April 3 – A union is calling on district health boards, regional and city councils and their trading organisations to give work to apprentices made redundant by local firms.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union’s (EPMU) Public Services Industry Council said such a scheme would help combat unemployment and increase the skill base of workers and their communities.

EPMU national public services organiser Ron Angel said one of the big issues of the last post-recession boom was a shortage of skilled workers.

“That will happen again unless we use this recession to develop the kind of skilled and productive workforce we need to make sure we enter the next upswing in a strong position to take advantage of it.”

The industry council wanted DHBs and councils and their trading organisations both to employ apprentices and help create new apprenticeship positions.

Otorohanga District Mayor Dale Williams, who is also the chairman of a mayors’taskforce set up to improve young people’s employment chances,said he understood where the EPMU was coming from.

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EDITORIAL

3 April 2009

Editorial

Family Matters

Time for a reality check It seems last week’s front page TGIF story about the HPV schoolgirl vaccine for cervical cancer was sadly a forewarning – with revelations in the media this week that NZ girls are indeed falling ill as a result of using Gardasil.

You’ll recall that the Ministry of Health last week chose to skate around the edges when responding to our story about the dangers of Gardasil, trotting out the party line about safety of vaccines and dismissing claims of deaths with a vague wave of the hand.

Yet, as we reported,American girls are dead after receiving the Gardasil vaccine.

And now a Waihi College student has been left with a paralysed arm for more than a week after getting her second Gardasil jab.

It’s time for the parents of New Zealand to stop swallowing the Ministry of Health line about vac-

cine safety, hook line and sinker.When are we going to realize that pharmaceutical companies make their money out of mass scare campaigns, and we’re the guinea pigs.

There’s a fairly simple cure for combating the spread of cervical cancer – be very careful who you sleep with. Cervical cancer is an STD, caused in more than 90% of cases by the same virus that causes genital warts.

Avoidance of promiscuity, and a sexual health test before beginning a relationship would go a long way towards reducing rates. So would a national TV advertising campaign, a la the anti-smoking or family violence ones.

Imagine a TV campaign that ostracized the sexually diseased in the same way we ostracize smokers, using the same tactics. Imagine the impact of a campaign that warned women that wanton nookie,

By Bob McCoskrie

even using condoms, could leave them diseased for life or even dead.

Why is it we can use exactly these tactics for smoking, obesity or road safety, but we shy away when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases?

We don’t even have to play them on public TV,necessarily.A saturation video blitz in every high school classroom or school assembly might do the trick.

Maybe I’m being a redneck,but I suspect a dose of reality wouldn’t hurt in getting the message across.

Speaking of messages, this week’s TGIF is shorter because we’re on deadline to get the AIR CON book to the printer.There won’t be a next Friday, either, because of Good Friday, so all subscriptions will automatically be extended by a further week.

If you haven’t seen the Air Con preview, you’ll find it here: http://issuu.com/iwishart/docs/aircon_preview SUBSCRIBE TO TGIF!

Comment

Dollar will retain supremacy

By Andres Oppenheimer Miami Herald

China’s agreement with Argentina to trade in their local currencies instead of U.S. dollars – following similar deals between China and Malaysia, South Korea, Belarus and Indonesia – raises new questions about the future of the U.S. dollar. My advice: Don’t kiss the dollar goodbye.

Under a deal signed Sunday, the central banks of China and Argentina agreed to a $10 billion currency swap. Under the deal, Argentina will be able to pay for Chinese imports in yuans and China will be able to import Argentine goods in pesos.

The agreement, whose details remain to be worked out, comes amid growing questions about the future of the U.S. dollar as President Barack Obama and leaders of the G-20 group of the world’s richest countries meet in London to discuss how to solve the world’s economic crisis.

Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the $2 trillion People’s Bank of China, recently proposed replacing the dollar with a super-currency fashioned after the International Monetary Fund’s unit of account, the Special Drawing Rights or SDRs. And Venezuela’s narcissist-Leninist President Hugo Chavez proposed earlier this week at a South America-Arab League meeting in Qatar to create a “petro-currency” to challenge the global prominence of the dollar.

China’s currency swap with Argentina has raised eyebrows in both financial and diplomatic circles because it was China’s first such agreement in Latin America. China is believed to be seeking to maintain its exports to countries that are having a hard time getting hard currency loans, boosting the yuan as a world currency and turning Beijing into an increasingly influential world power.

“It’s significant because it signals China’s intention to turn the yuan into a major world currency,”Javier Gonzalez Fraga, a former two-time head of Argentina’s Central Bank, told me Wednesday.“Two years ago, China’s currency wasn’t on anybody’s agenda.”

One pretty sure outcome of these currency swaps is that they will put U.S. exporters at a disadvantage. It will be cheaper for Argentine importers, for instance, to buy Chinese goods, among other things because China has consistently undervalued its currency in order to boost its exports.

But that does not mean that China’s currency is likely to rival the dollar as an investment or as the world’s reserve currency anytime soon, economists say.

“There’s no way you can now replace the breath and depth of the dollar market: It is still the global currency,” says Tony Villamil, a former U.S. undersecretary of commerce.“You are not going to see many investors converting dollars into yuans for investment purposes because it is riskier.”

There is little transparency in China’s Central Bank policies and there are growing questions over whether China’s dictatorship will be able to control social tensions amid much lower than expected economic growth rates.

“Private investors will continue seeing the dollar as the safest bet,” says Daniel Canel, a partner of the Quantek Asset Management investment firm.

“This is a global crisis and you’re still not seeing in the United States the level of subsidies you see in Europe, nor the level of state intervention you see in Asia.”

My opinion: For now, we are not likely to see investors flocking to buy yuans – or euros. At the most, we will see a greater use of non-U.S. currencies on the margins.

China is a rising giant but one with little trans-

parency, which will continue to make investors nervous. And Europe is going downhill on several fronts. Just consider the European Union’s member countries’ failure to act in unison to face the economic crisis or some European nations’ lack of social consensus to change their Alice in Wonderland labor laws allowing six-week vacations or their long-term demographic troubles because of dismal birth rates.

For the near future, the U.S. greenback will continue being the world’s leading currency, not because of any smart U.S. policies but by default.Two years down the road, if U.S. government spending leads to higher-than-expected U.S. inflation rates, all bets are off.

Andres Oppenheimer is a Latin America correspondent for the Miami Herald

-Marriage matters to causes of crime If the ‘crime summit’ held in Wellington today wants to get down to the “nitty gritty” of crime, they should have read a 2006 UK report which said that the breakdown of the traditional married family was at the root of teenagers being involved in violent acts, taking more drugs, drinking more, and having sex at a younger age.

But the report didn’t come from a ‘right wing think-tank’ or lobby group with a ‘moralist agenda’. It was from UK’s most prominent and influential left-leaning policy group, one of Tony Blair’s favourite think-tanks – the Institute for Public Policy Research. It contradicted years of ideology that family structure doesn’t matter.

This week’s ‘crime summit’ must acknowledge that the increasing levels of violent juvenile crime, drug use, gang affiliation, sexual crimes and teen pregnancy, and increasing levels of mental sickness are closely related to the breakdown of families, and in particular the effect of minimising the importance of committed marriage.

It’s not simplistic. It’s not intolerance. And it’s not unrealistic to teach our young and future generations that the best environment for them, and their children, is within the covenant of marriage.

For example, in the Ministry of Justice’s Crime and Safety Survey 2006, the incident rate of domestic violence for legally married couples was 11 per 100 adults.

The rate for de facto relationships was 31 per 100, and for single adults 50 per 100.

Has marriage ever been mentioned as a safety factor against domestic violence?

The 2006 CYF report on child abuse quoted research showing children living in households with an adult unrelated to them were almost 50 times as likely to die of an inflicted injury as those living with two biological parents.

The 2007 UNICEF report on child wellbeing identified single-parenthood, low maternal age at birth, and weak family ties as some of the factors increasing the likelihood of a child being injured or killed.

And according to The Heritage Foundation, an influential US research institute, an analysis of social science literature over 30 years shows that the rise in violent crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers. The research indicated that a 10% increase in children living in single-parent homes leads typically to a 17% increase in juvenile crime.

Are all children from solo parented homes criminals?

No. Does marriage necessarily prevent crime – no again.

But research has shown time after time that a mother’s strong affectionate attachment to her child and the father’s authority and involvement in raising his children are great buffers against a life of dysfunction and crime.

The Heritage Foundation research found that while the finger often gets pointed at certain racial groups, the real variable is not race but family structure. It’s just that the incidence of broken families is much higher in the racial groups often cited.

According to Why Marriage Matters – a report coauthored by 13 leading social-science scholars, including Professor William Galston, who was a domestic policy adviser to the Clinton administration – parental divorce or non-marriage appears to increase children’s risk of school failure, the risk of suicide, psychological distress, and most significantly, delinquent and criminal behaviour.

A recent report by the NZ Institute of Economic Research estimated that the ���������������������������� fiscal cost to the taxpayer of family breakdown and decreasing marriage rates is at least $1 billion per year and has cost approximately $8 billion over the past decade.

Political correctness has strangled the ability to tell the truth about these matters. ��������������������������� As Chief Youth Court judge Andrew Becroft has indicated, so many young offenders are coming from families where there is family breakdown, the absence of a father, and parenting difficulties.

Yes, there are other factors to be tackled including drug and alcohol abuse, violence in the media, and a weak approach to enforcement and justice.

But if we’re serious about tackling crime, we need to include a family approach. ���������������������������������� Crime starts at home, and �������� it will continue to increase as long as we downplay the importance and significance of having two parents, a mum and a dad, committed to each other and to their children for life.

Sign Up Now to receive FREE regular updates about the issues affecting families in NZ http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index. cfm/Sign_Up

ANALYSIS

3 April 2009

Carbon taxes could hit US$7,500 each, per year

By Rosalie Westenskow

The U.S. Congress kicked off a long-anticipated battle over climate-change legislation this week, when two Democratic representatives released draft legislation that could dramatically cut emissions – and raise energy prices, Republicans say.

The 684-page American Clean Energy and Security Act includes sweeping energy-policy changes, ranging from a mandate that 25 percent of U.S. electricity come from renewable sources by 2025 to a funding program for states that adopt energyefficiency codes for new buildings.

The most controversial aspect of the bill is its proposal to place a price on carbon and other climatechanging gases by implementing a cap-and-trade system.The program would require any entity that emits more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year – such as oil companies, electric utilities or large industrial plants – to own a federal share, or allowance, for every ton they emit.The program would cover entities responsible for 85 percent of total U.S. emissions.

Each year the number of allowances available would decrease, forcing companies in the program to cut their emissions by 83 percent of 2005 levels by 2050.

“This legislation will create millions of cleanenergy jobs,put America on the path to energy independence and cut global warming pollution,”said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who released the proposal with Rep.Edward Markey,D-Mass.,chairman of the Select Committee on Global Warming.

But Republicans say the bill will harm consumers.

“Waxman and Markey say this carbon-trading scheme will improve the economy, but I call it capand-tax for a reason,”said Rep.James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.,ranking member of the global warming committee.“It takes money from the taxpayers and gives it to government to dole out to special interests.”

Less than a year ago a similar bill reached the Senate floor, where it was blocked by a Republican filibuster after Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to place a time limit on amending and debating the legislation.

Some Republicans, including Sensenbrenner, said they like this year’s version even less than last year’s.

“Studies conducted last year on a similar bill

said Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy, a non-profit policy group. Encouraging developing countries to take stronger unilateral actions to reduce their emissions greatly depends on strong U.S. reduction targets.

“This bill does that in particular by addressing deforestation,” said Richard Moss, vice president for climate change at the World Wildlife Fund, an environmental organization.

“The draft bill recognizes the need to reduce emissions globally by promoting clean-technology cooperation and providing incentives for reducing tropical deforestation … (which) accounts for roughly 20 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions each year,”Moss said.

So far, the international community has reacted positively to the bill.

“We very much welcome the draft legislation released today by Congressmen Waxman and Markey,”said Antonio Palocci and Serys Slhessarenko, congressional leaders from Brazil attending this week’s G20 summit in London, a gathering of the world’s major economies.“Ambitious leadership by the (United States), as outlined in this bill, is essenStudies conducted last year on a similar bill tial if we are to secure an ambitious and effective showed the price of gasoline…could rise by 141 post-2012 framework to tackle climate change.”

If the bill passes, though, free-market economists percent, while the electric bill might surge by as say the rest of the world will be singing a different much as 177 percent tune – all the way to court.The legislation includes provisions that try to equalize the price of goods showed … the price of gasoline in Wisconsin could use less energy in an attempt to lower their utility produced outside the United States, free from carrise by 141 percent, while the electric bill might bills. For instance, it would give low-income families bon-price mechanisms, with those manufactured surge by as much as 177 percent, according to a living in pre-1976 manufactured homes taxpayer- domestically. study by the National Association of Manufactur- funded rebates that could be used toward buying a “These measures are illegal under World Trade ers,”Sensenbrenner said.“What’s worse, last year’s new, Energy Star-rated manufactured home, which Organization rules and will likely incite other counbill wasn’t nearly as taxing as the newly released would use less energy. However, the draft does not tries to challenge the law,”said Iain Murray, a senior ACES proposal, so expect those numbers to grow include specific consumer-assistance mechanisms fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a even higher.”

– a section its sponsors say will be added later. think thank that promotes free-market policies.

Free-market economists said these higher energy Energy prices aside, environmentalists are her“This is nothing more than a tariff aimed at elimiprices would hurt the poorest Americans the most, alding the bill for its tough action on carbon emis- nating the competitive advantage of other nations,”he but the bill’s proponents disagreed, saying the pro- sions. Not only will it cut emissions at home, many said.“These provisions represent the first shot in what gram would create new, green jobs and assist poor environmentalists said, but if it’s passed, the bill will is likely to prove a disastrous carbon trade war.” regions and families. give President Barack Obama the clout he needs Just a few weeks ago senior White House aide “We will create jobs by the millions, save money to lead international talks this December. During Jason Furman told reporters that although the by the billions and unleash energy investment by that month, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Obama administration was estimating the cost of the trillions,”Markey said.“Chairman Waxman and Denmark, to draft a global climate-change treaty to cap and trade at US$646 billion a year, this was I will work with our colleagues to ensure that we are replace the current agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, likely to be an underestimate and the bill to US protecting American consumers and that our clean- which expires in 2012. consumers once carbon taxes and cap and trade are energy future helps all parts of the country.”

“Successfully engaging developing countries in in full swing is likely to be closer to US$1.8 trillion The legislation provides ways to help consumers the international negotiations is within our reach,” a year, or more than US$7,500 per taxpayer.

Zuma calls Afrikaners ‘true South Africans’ Johannesburg – South Africa’s presidential front-runner Jacob Zuma today blasted what he called his country’s “soft approach” on crime and hinted he was not adverse to vigilante justice.

Zuma was addressing leaders of the country’s Afrikaner minority, whom he praised as the only “true South Africans” among the country’s white population.

Zuma is campaigning for general elections on April 22 that his African National Congress (ANC) party is expected to win.

Crime is a key election issue, given the country’s high levels of violent crime. Around 50 people are murdered each day in South Africa.The same number experiences an attempt on their life every day.

In some instances, police have been found to be complicit in crime.Thousands of firearms go missing from police stocks every year, some of which are suspected to have been sold.

Zuma called for police officers who are found guilty of crimes to be given double the punishment of a civilian offender.

The popular politician also hinted that he supported vigilante justice, which is widely practiced in the country, saying:“I don’t kill, but if they did such a thing (if someone killed another) I’m sure I would have to do instant justice.”

In his Zulu culture, he said,“If you did something wrong, you’re dealt with now.”

This election is more exciting than previous

elections since democracy in 1994 because of the emergence of a breakaway party of former senior ANC members.

The Congress of the People was formed by a group of ANC members who remain loyal to ex-president Thabo Mbeki after the ANC ousted him as president in September last year.

Since 2007, the year in which he toppled Mbeki as ANC leader, Zuma has been reaching out to white South Africans, some of whom feel alienated by 15 years of affirmative action aimed at uplifting the previously subjugated black majority.

Zuma assured them affirmative action would“die a natural death”as the majority gradually became empowered.

Praising Afrikaners as deeply rooted in the African continent, where Dutch settlers first landed at the Cape in 1652, he said that, of all the white groups in South Africa, Afrikaners were the only “true South Africans.”

Zuma skimmed over apartheid, which was implemented by the Afrikaner National Party, in his address to the mostly middle-aged, male religious and cultural leaders.

He even had praise for the controversial Afrikaner enclave of Orania, a privately-owned town in the remote Northern Cape province, to which around 40 white families retreated after apartheid to govern themselves.

Orania’s self sufficiency was an inspiration in the

fight against poverty, according to Zuma.

Zuma has been criss-crossing the country for months to try to shore up support for the ANC, which has more than two-thirds of seats in Parliament but has been damaged by the party split and several corruption affairs.

Zuma himself is accused of corruption in relation to a 1990s arms deal, when he was deputy president.

His trial has been set for August but his lawyers

have been pleading with state prosecutors to drop the charges before the election.

The prosecutors are due to announce their decision on Friday.

“He’s a nice guy,”Louis Meintjes, deputy president of TAU, a union of mainly white farmers, told the German Press Agency dpa“He’s looking for answers and he listens.”

– DPA

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WORLD

update

in 60 seconds ‘WE WERE QUITE TOUCHED’ LONDON, April 3 (UPI) – A representative for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II says no offence was taken by the royal gaffe by Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States.

The unidentified Buckingham Palace official said while media reports have criticized Mrs. Obama for apparently violating royal policy by touching the queen without invitation, the incident did not represent a “breach of protocol,” “Inside Edition” reported tonight.

“It’s obvious that it was a mutual sign of affection and appreciated between the queen and Michelle Obama,” the royal representative said. “There is no offence. The reception was an informal occasion. There’s no breach of protocol.”

Time magazine said yesterday that Obama, wife of U.S. President Barack Obama, fuelled a media uproar when she touched Elizabeth’s back during a recent reception in London.

Royal regulations significantly limit any touching of the British royal, only allowing for handshakes when the queen offers her hand.

Time said a similar uproar occurred in 2000 when then Australian Prime Minister John Howard appeared to touch the queen while guiding her through a crowd.

QUEENSLAND DREAM JOB SHORTLIST Sydney (dpa) – There are two men for every woman among those shortlisted for the dream job of caretaker on a paradise island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The 15 candidates that organizer Tourism Queensland named Friday will be summoned for interviews next month on Hamilton Island along with Taiwan’s Clare Wang.

The Taipei interpreter qualified as the wildcard entry by getting the most votes in a field of 49.

Tourism Queensland, the ostensible employer in what is a tourism campaign masquerading as a recruiting effort, said the quality of the field was such that 15 had been chosen for the interviews rather than 10 as originally planned.

All the interviewees are under 40, none are from the Middle East, Africa or South America, and two are Australians.

Tourism Queensland will announce the winner on May 6, and the six- month posting will begin July 1.

For cleaning the swimming pool, feeding fish and producing a blog to relay to the world his or her impressions of Hamilton as a holiday destination, the lucky winner will earn the equivalent of a six-figure salary plus travel expenses.

In what is regarded as one of the world’s most successful tourism promotions, 34,634 people submitted 60-second video-clip applications. The finalists can be found on the website http://www.islandreefjob.com PIRATES TAKE LUXURY YACHT London (dpa) – Pirates hijacked a British luxury yacht off the Seychelles on Wednesday, the tour group that owns the boat reported today.

The ship’s passengers had disembarked shortly before the attack, said a spokeswoman for Aquatours.

However, the seven- person crew of the Indian Ocean Explorer was taken hostage.

The attack occurred near the Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean. The site, a UNESCO world heritage site, is a favourite for divers and naturalists.

The ship was taken into Somali waters after the attack, said a spokesman with the International Maritime Bureau in London. The group has noted a sharp spike in piracy incidents in the last month along the eastern coast of Somalia, with 15 successful hijacks in March, up from two in February and none in January.

Mexico arrests drug cartel leader PETALAN, Mexico, April 2 (UPI) – Mexican authorities have arrested an alleged leader of one of the country’s most notorious drug cartels.

Vicente Carrillo Leyva, a suspected deputy of the Juarez drug cartel, was arrested in Mexico City, El Universal reported Thursday.

The arrest of Leyva follows President Felipe Calderon’s decision to increase the Mexican army’s role in fighting drug traffickers.

Calderon has deployed about 45,000 troops – nearly 50 percent of Mexico’s combat-ready military personnel, along the U.S. border and throughout the country to deal with the drug cartels – described by officials as a widening narco-insurgency, The Washington Post reports.

3 April 2009

‘The One’ calms the other 19 at G20 London – US President Barack Obama swept onto the world stage at this week’s summit of the world’s top economic powers with a charm offensive that helped to mark the launch of a new era in American foreign relations.

Obama said he came with the intention of showing leadership by“listening and learning”during a two-day visit to London for the Group of 20 (G20) summit, which included advanced and emerging economies.

While he failed to overcome resistance to increased fiscal measures to boost global economic growth, the American president still managed to present a pop star aura at the G20 summit.At a press conference winding up his visit, Obama declared the agreement a success, marking “a turning point in our pursuit of global economic recovery.”

During Obama’s two-day debut on the world stage, curious onlookers lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the president’s bomb-proof limousine known as The Beast, which was flown in for the visit.

At the same time,global leaders jostled for an audience with the charismatic American leader,witnessing first hand the“element of humility” Obama said he would bring to US relations with the world.

Obama also pointed to a new era for America’s economic relations with the world, cautioning that the US was unlikely to return to its role as a“voracious consumer market”that would pull the world economy out of its downward spiral.

In a series of bilateral talks, Obama took first steps in mending relations that had soured under his predecessor, George W Bush.

A meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev augured well for the chances of a new, improved era between the two powers, which had reached a low during Russia’s military intervention in Georgia last summer.

Invited by Medvedev to Moscow, Obama elicited a smile from the Russian leader, saying he wouldn’t be visiting Russia during the tough winter months.

The US and Russian leaders signed a joint statement outlining concrete steps towards a new nuclear disarmament deal, the result of weeks of frenetic behind-the-scenes negotiations.

Obama’s dealings with Medvedev showed a new approach to the relationship, as senior US officials said Obama was determined to “find ways to work on common interests,”whilst also being“very candid where we disagree.”

Officials said Obama’s strategy towards Russia was to “develop an agenda based on interests,” rather than the personal style of his predecessor, considered to have played a part in the souring of the partnership.

Asked at a press conference for a catch phrase that would define US relations with China, Obama deflected the question, although a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao held the seeds for renewed cooperation.

The US and Chinese leaders found new avenues to work jointly to combat the global recession, just a week after disagreement between the two states had threatened to escalate over Chinese demands

The US and Russian leaders signed a joint statement outlining concrete steps towards a new nuclear disarmament deal, the result of weeks of frenetic behind-the-scenes negotiations for a new international reserve currency to replace the dollar.

Words were immediately put to practice, and a meeting was set up between US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan, to take place very late today in London.

Throughout the G20 summit, Obama squeezed in meetings with South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whom he praised at a press conference as a“wise and decent man” who had done a wonderful job of leading India and improving economic growth.

Singh, it transpired, had earlier shown Obama another kind of deference, when he asked the American president for an autograph to take back to India for his daughter.

Obama undoubtedly clinched the popular vote during the summit, as support staff, including med-

ics and cleaners, stepped forward for a glimpse of the mighty man as he was ushered through the corridors of the East London conference centre.

Even the journalists covering the event suspended their trademark indifference toward celebrity, taking mobile phone snaps and jostling for prime position at the press conference ending Obama’s public appearance in London.

On Thursday evening, the Obamas’ star factor was briefly eclipsed during their private audience with Queen Elizabeth.

The monarch also showed herself willing to embrace change – quite literally – as she reciprocated when First Lady Michelle Obama placed an arm around her, a gesture that raised eyebrows amongst royal observers who noted pointedly that it was a breach of protocol to touch the Queen.

– DPA

Obama brokers crucial deal

By Steven Thomma McClatchy Newspapers

LONDON – The G-20 economic summit reached a final agreement to restore the world’s economy today only after President Barack Obama personally intervened and negotiated a compromise between France and China, White House officials said.

It was a remarkable stroke of personal diplomacy by a new president who’s making his debut this week on the world stage.

The pact calls for added spending to stimulate growth, new regulation over all“systemically important”financial institutions including hedge funds, $1 trillion for the International Monetary Fund and

an effort to list tax havens, as a way to “name and shame”them into becoming more transparent and cooperating with international rules.

Heading into the summit’s final hours, however, it appeared that the group would fail to reach a consensus, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy pushed to have the G-20 spotlight offending tax havens based on a list published Thursday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and China objected, largely because it doesn’t belong to the OECD. That was when Obama, long a champion of ending or curbing tax havens, decided to float a compromise and pulled Sarkozy aside, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as a matter of policy.

“The president thought he could be helpful in resolving the differences,”the official said.

Obama proposed that the G-20 merely“take note” of the OECD list, thus opening the door to implicit but not direct endorsement of that list.

“He sent a message to the Chinese. They were considering it (Obama’s message) for some time,” the official said.

Obama then met with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Sarkozy in a corner of the summit meeting room, as the other world leaders waited.

Upon the trio’s reaching agreement, the G-20 summit then agreed to note the list of tax havens.

Sarkozy, who’d threatened days earlier to walk out of the summit if he didn’t get his way, said the final agreement represented“great progress.”

WORLD

3 April 2009

Bailiffs move in on Madoff Washington – Prosecutors started seizing the property of the fraudster-financier Bernard Madoff this morning, taking possession of his multimilliondollar waterfront home in upscale Palm Beach,Florida, and three boats, the US Attorney’s Office said.

Madoff, 70, faces 150 years in prison for the largest Wall Street swindles ever, and now faces loss of his personal property to pay back angry clients.

The Florida property alone was reportedly valued at 14 million dollars.

The US Attorney’s Office said it wanted the assets “to maximize recovery for victims” as part of the forfeiture ordered by the New York federal judge who accepted his guilty plea last month.

Over more than a decade, Madoff tricked clients out of 50 billion dollars by paying some of them off with money from new clients rather than investing the funds in securities as he had promised.

His office produced fake investment statements for clients, and his accountant, David Friehling, 49, has been charged with securities fraud.

In a statement, Lev Dassin, the acting US attorney for the southern district of New York, said his office would ask that the property being seized be sold and used to compensate victims.

The boats included the 18-metre yacht “Bull,” parked in Florida, the 13-metre boat“Sitting Bull” in New York and an 8-metre motorboat and trailer, Dassin said.

The boats and home belong to Madoff and his

wife, Ruth. US marshals carried out the seizures.

Madoff,currently in jail,faces sentencing on June 16.

According to a US court filing last month, prosecutors also intend to go after three other homes owned by the Madoffs, including the property and contents of a 7-million-dollar Manhattan luxury apartment, a 3.4- million-dollar beachside home on Long Island and a home in the south of France.

Other assets subject to seizure include a fourth boat, four cars, a 39,000-dollar Steinway piano and 65,000 dollars worth of silverware.

Ruth Madoff has argued that cash and other items in her name could not be seized to pay the victims of the scandal and were not the result of the fraud. But prosecutors said they intend to seize 17 million dollars in cash and 45 million dollars in bonds held in her name.

Madoff’s net worth is estimated at 823 to 826 million dollars.

Madoff bilked thousands of investors around the world, including individuals and charity groups, of their money – many of their entire life savings.At least one investor and an investment manager have committed suicide since December over the revelations.

The scandal has been a major embarrassment for government regulators.An independent fraud investigator, Harry Markopolos, testified before Congress last month that he had warned the SEC of Madoff’s shady operations some nine years ago.

– DPA

German family seeks asylum in US Washington – Asylum seekers in the United States normally come from places like Iran, Myanmar or Africa. But Uwe Romeike is an unusual case.

The 37-year-old’s home is in an idyllic German village of 3,000 outside Stuttgart,more known for its peaceful surroundings than political persecution.

“I feel politically persecuted,”he said in an interview in German from his new home in Tennessee, where he fled to several months ago with his wife and five children, aged 3 to 11.

For Romeike, asylum is not a political issue and he does not face opposition from the government in Berlin. Rather, it is a matter of religion, Christian values and the right to raise his children outside what he calls the “un-Christian” German school system.

The Romeike case, now before a US immigration judge, raises questions in both countries about political persecution and religious rights.The first hearing was on Thursday, but it will likely take months for the case to be resolved.

Romeike and his wife, Hannelore, want to educate their children at home – a common practice in the United States, but one that is strictly forbidden in Germany, where all children are required by law to attend schools to ensure that education meets the same standards and gives every child the same opportunities.

The drama began in 2006, Romeike told dpa, the German news agency, when the couple could no longer tolerate the“un-Christian goings-on”at their children’s school.“The lessons are neither Chris-

tian nor value neutral,”Romeike said.“In reality, the children were being educated in an anti-Christian worldview.”

He complains of lessons and school books with obscene phrases, curses and blasphemy.“It was more

welfare officials and moved to a safe house, but then returned home to Rees.

The brother had taken Gulsum’s purse so as to make the killing look like a fatal mugging.

Honour killings occur in conservative Islamic societies which view female premarital sex as a stain on their reputation.

In a similar case, a 24-year-old ethnic Tajik youth from Afghanistan was convicted in February of stabbing to death his schoolgirl sister, Morsal O, aged 16, in Hamburg last year.

they taught the children at home, with Romeike, a pianist, conducting lessons for his children in the morning and teaching his music students in the afternoon.

“Then the police came to our door,”he remembers with fear and anger.

“At first we simply did not want to open the door,” said Romeike.

“Then they threatened to kick in the door, so I opened it.”

He said he watched helplessly as police took the crying children to school, but we“couldn’t resist.”

He describes the month of home schooling as a positive time, with the entire family together all day. The children also enjoyed learning at home, he said.

The school’s principal urged the family to send the children to school, authorities threatened with fines and prison, and even the mayor got involved.

The family’s defiance grew and they were brought to court, where they lost their case.Yet even that did not change the father’s mind, although he admitted, “I was afraid I would have to go to prison.”

Then came the call from the US. Lawyer Michael Donnelly from the Home School Legal Defence Association had heard about the case.The organization supports the 1.5 million children who are taught at home by their parents in the United States, many for religious reasons or as an alternative to poor quality public schools.

Donnelly said the practice was a growing trend in the US and he wanted to help the German family be able to raise their children as they saw fit.

So in August 2008,Romeike sold his beloved piano and rented out the family home. They fled to the United States, moving to Morristown,Tennessee.

“Here we finally have the freedom that we did not have in Germany,”he said.“Our new neighbours are also home schoolers.”

In order to stay in the country, the Romeikes have applied for political asylum. Donnelly said it is unclear how authorities will view the application as it is the first such case in the US. The German Foreign Ministry in Berlin said it did not want to weigh in on an ongoing court case. But a spokesman said every citizen is free to emigrate to another country.“It is the job of the responsible US authorities to decide if a German citizen is allowed to stay or not,”he said.

– DPA

– DPA

about vampires and witches than God,”he said, noting that it was too much for a serious Christian to tolerate.

That year, the family pulled its three oldest children from their elementary school. For a month,

Victim of ‘Religion of Peace’ Kleve, Germany – German police charged today that the grisly death of a 20-year-old ethnic Kurdish woman had been an “honour killing,”and that her brother had confessed to the crime.

Germans have been outraged at a recent series of execution-style honour killings of young women by Muslim immigrant families.

The murder of Gulsum S, 20, on a lonely country road one month ago had been made to look as it were a robbery, said police in Kleve, near the Dutch border, as they announced the arrest and remand in custody of the victim’s brother, 20, and father.

Prosecutors said Gulsum was lured by a false story to the side road near the small town of Rees on March 2. Her sibling, who was also a triplet to Gulsum, allegedly choked her unconscious with a clothes line. She was then clubbed to death.

The brother admitted to the killing, but the father denied the charge of joint murder, police said.

Police said the family had attempted to force Gulsum into a planned marriage and then discovered she was not a virgin and had undergone one or more abortions.

Gulsum had left home last year with the help of

3 April  2009

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3 April 2009

11

All Whites to play world champions Wellington, April 3 – New Zealand will play World Cup soccer champions Italy in a first evermeeting in June.

In a stunning announcement today from New Zealand Football (NZF), a June 10 date has been set for the historic international friendly in the Pretoria township of Atteridgeville.

It will serve as a leadup for both teams to the Confederations Cup tournament in South Africa.

The match comes just four days before the All Whites take on European Champions and current world No 1 Spain in their Confederations Cup opener, with coach Ricki Herbert delighted at the prospect of playing the“perfect pair.”

“Playing the best team in the world is a highlight and a stern test for any player or coach but playing the best two teams in the world back-to-back is a real coup,”Herbert said.

The match against the Azzurri will complete a three-game African buildup in which the All Whites will visit both Tanzania and Botswana for friendlies on June 3 and June 6 respectively.

That will acclimatise them to African conditions before returning to South Africa for the match against the four-time World Cup winners.

Oceania champions New Zealand begin their Confederations Cup campaign against Spain in Rustenburg on June 14, play hosts South Africa at

the same venue three days later before meeting Asian champions Iraq in Johannesburg on June 20.

Three years ago, New Zealand played the thenWorld Champions Brazil in Geneva, Switzerland ahead of the 2006 World Cup, losing 0-4.

Brazil went on to exit in the quarterfinals in Germany while Italy claimed their fourth World Cup title with victory over France in the final.

NZF chief executive Michael Glading said the Italian match offered something for football fans and the “unconverted”alike.

“The names of Buffon, Pirlo, Gattuso and Del Piero are household names for any sports fan who has ever turned on their TV and caught a World Cup, European Championship or a Champions League game,”Glading said.

“Playing Italy and Spain are two huge highlights in a big year for football but of course it all culminates in October-November with two games for the biggest prize – a place at the 2010 World Cup.” Italy are currently top of group eight in World Cup European qualifying.

New Zealand Confederations Cup buildup schedule: June 3: v Tanzania, Dar es Salaam June 6: v Botswana, Garborone June 10: v Italy,Atteridgeville, Pretoria – NZPA

Warriors wary about Rabbitohs

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

Auckland, April 3 – It will be mate versus mate in the National Rugby League in Auckland on Sunday and the prospect has New Zealand Warrior centre Jerome Ropati on his toes.

The Warriors host South Sydney, who have plenty of players with New Zealand connections, including skipper Roy Asotasi and fellow Kiwis Issac Luke, David Fa’alogo and David Kidwell.

On one wing is Auckland-born Tonga representative Fetuli Talanoa, while Christchurch-born forward Eddy Pettybourne will start on the bench.

Ropati, himself part of the Kiwis’World Cup-winning campaign last year, scoring in the final against the Kangaroos, said the sense of homecoming for many of the Rabbitohs increased their threat.

“They are really dangerous when they’re back home and they’re playing in front of family,” the centre said.

“That gets them going quite a bit, so we’ll have to watch out for them.”

The fact that match will be a tribute to promising Warrior Sonny Fai is also sure to raise emotion levels on both sides.

The second rower/centre, who would have turned 21 a fortnight ago, is presumed drowned after going missing while rescuing his brother and cousins at a west Auckland beach in early January.

Fai was well known to the South Sydney New Zealanders, and Luke said his try celebration against Newcastle last Sunday, when he pointed to the heavens, was in honour of his former age-group team-mate.

The Fai factor apart, recent history suggests that Ropati’s wariness of South Sydney is wellfounded.

The Rabbitohs did the double over the Warriors last year and the earlier victory, at Mt Smart Stadium in June, was an especially notable one.

They had gone in with just one win in 11 matches, hadn’t beaten the Warriors for nine years and were down 14-0 early on.

But they came from behind twice to complete a 35-28 upset, negating the six tries the home side

scored, including one to Ropati and a hat-trick by now-departed winger Michael Crockett.

This time around, Souths arrive in Auckland as one of the NRL’s early season high-flyers, sitting in second place.

They have a similar 2-1 win-loss record as the ninth-placed Warriors, with their 52-12 round-one thrashing of the Sydney Roosters giving them the best points differential in the competition.

However, the Warriors, despite a long injury list, remain favourites with bookmakers to get pass the Rabbitohs.

The latest Warriors unavailable are two of the club’s most experienced – skipper Steve Price, with a throat problem, and centre Brent Tate, with a season-ending knee ligament rupture.

Ropati said the similar knee injury suffered by fullback Wade McKinnon in a pre-season trial last year had helped the squad come to terms with the loss of Tate.

“We’ve gone through that before and we’ve been able to pull through,”he said.

“We’re just hoping that the guys who are on the short-term injury list come back soon.”

Apart from Price and Tate, other first-grade regulars on the sidelines are Lance Hohaia, Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino and Evarn Tuimavave.

NRL rookie Leeson Ah Mau and fellow forward Mataupu Poching, who is yet to play first-grade, are other squad members also out.

Ropati, who this week re-signed with the club until the end of 2012, was confident the replacements called up would do a more than adequate job in filling in.

After last weekend’s defeat to new competition leaders Brisbane, he said areas for improvement included ball control and defence.

He noted that the Warriors had conceded 68 points in the first three rounds and he pointed particularly to the defensive effort out wide against the Broncos.

“On the edges we were terrible,”he said.

“We’ve given up more than 60 points and that’s not great in term of where we want to be in the premiership.”

New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder celebrates the lbw wicket of India’s Yuvraj Singh for 9 on the 1st day of the 3rd international cricket test at Basin Reserve, Wellington. NZPA / Ross Setford.

Franklin laments flood of runs

By Chris Barclay of NZPA

Wellington, April 3 – After enduring 69 overs without a wicket, James Franklin’s third cricket test against India could hardly have started better at the Basin Reserve.

But at the close of a frustrating day for New Zealand, Franklin shared his teammates disappointment as the last remnants of India’s tail survived to bat on tomorrow.

India reached stumps at 375 for nine – Ishant Sharma’s 15 and 14 by Munaf Patel the final insult as the last pair helped the tourists recover superbly from 204 for six.

The Indian lower order lashed the bulk of the 185 runs added in the final 35-over session as New Zealand’s luckless bowlers flagged.

Franklin, who ended a two-test drought when trapping Gautam Gambhir leg before wicket with his sixth ball, was as upbeat as possible.

“It’s probably balanced at the moment,”he said of the game situation.

“We got nine wickets in the day and the game is well progressed. As long as we can get that wicket quickly tomorrow and then set about batting for a day and a half, two days then that sets the game up well for us.”

New Zealand might have been in a stronger position had luck been on their side.

“They got away with a few lucky shots and the ball didn’t quite go to hand. Sometime’s that’s the way it can be with the tail,” said Franklin, who acknowledged New Zealand had probably leaked 60 runs to many in the lead-in to stumps.

Franklin, who has one for 38 from 14 overs, felt 320 would have been a fairer reflection on the way a fluctuating day panned out but Harbhajan Singh’s streaky 60 from 78 balls and Zaheer Khan’s 33 from

23 were innings typified by riding their luck effectively.

Harbhajan’s seventh test fifty – and fifth in 15 months – may not have been timed to perfection throughout but the spinner was delighted with his contribution when India looked to be vulnerable when he joined captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“It was crucial to contribute lower down the order and if you look at the scoreboard we have got some decent runs,” said Harbhajan, who clouted seven boundaries and a six.

“Thankfully me, Dhoni and all the other guys got some runs.Those 180-odd runs in the last session .... it was fantastic, a good effort.”

Potentially fragile at 204 for six when the last specialist batsman Rahul Dravid was dismissed, Harbhajan was still confident the remaining batsmen could prolong the innings.

“Many teams would think they were in control but I knew that we have done it before and that there was a very good chance for me to go out there in a pressure situation and deliver.

“Me and Dhoni we had a great partnership, those were crucial runs and obviously it will help us in the game.”

Dhoni, scored 52, and Harbhajan put on 79 for the sixth wicket – the first of four fruitful partnerships that kept New Zealand in the field longer than they imagined.

Khan and Harbhajan smacked 32 before the fast bowler dominated a ninth-wicket stand worth 33 with Sharma.

The last pair put on 28 at seven an over – and also fulfilled an Indian goal.

“We were looking to bat the whole day and we achieved that,’Harbhajan said.

“It would have been nice to get these runs with losing six or seven wickets but we are still very happy.”

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