Free Republic

DECEMBER 17, 2009 Officials Probe Auckland Firm's Role in Seized Arms Cache By PATRICK BARTA, DANIEL MICHAELS and SIMON LOUISSON New Zealand officials are investigating whether an Auckland-based company has links to a weapons-filled plane from North Korea that was detained in Bangkok last week. Investigators are still unsure where the plane -- carrying 35 tons of missiles, explosives and other armaments -- was heading or who coordinated the flight plan. Its five-member crew, from Kazakhstan and Belarus, remains in detention in Bangkok and all five have denied knowledge that there were weapons onboard. Officials in Kazakhstan and the Republic...

Folks, I stumbled upon this article published by the BBC. I invite you to read it. I won't republish it due to its prurient subject matter, and out of a sense of decorum and respect for Our Lord, His Mother, and his earthly father, Joseph. Read it carefully and then contact this "church" here and let them know what you think. This is what I told Glynn Cardy, the pastor:Dear Reverend Cardy: I've just read a news report published in the BBC website about your billboard distorting the meaning of Christ's virginal conception and mangling the marriage and family life...

A "Progressive" Anglican church in Auckland New Zealand paid to have this billboard placed near their parish. Here are some excerpts written by the Vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy on the church's website touting what he did. ________________ To make the news at Christmas it seems a priest just needs to question the literalness of a virgin giving birth. Many in society mistakenly think that to challenge literalism is to challenge the norms of Christianity. What progressive interpretations try to do however is remove the supernatural obfuscation and delve into the deeper spiritual truth of this festival. Christian fundamentalism believes a...

NZ link to plane seized with North Korea weapons Liam Baldwin | Tuesday December 15 2009 - 03:42pm A New Zealand company has been linked to a cargo plane seized in Thailand suspected of smuggling North Korea arms this week, possibly to the Middle East. Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted Georgian officials linking New Zealand registered company SP Trading to renting the plane – an Ilyushin-76 aircraft – to deliver its cargo. The plane was seized at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport late last week during a refuelling stop. It was discovered that it contained 30 tonnes of weapons from North...

An HIV-positive man has infected his sleeping wife with the virus, which can cause AIDS, by pricking her with a sewing needle dipped in his own blood. It's believed he wanted to give her the disease so she would start having sex with him again, the Sunday Star Times reported. It's the first case of its kind in New Zealand. Other cases have seen HIV-positive people infect others through unprotected sex. The man, 35, admitted infecting his wife, 33, and has been remanded in prison awaiting sentence for wilfully infecting another with a disease, an offence that carries a maximum...

An HIV-positive husband injected his wife with his contaminated blood while she slept, infecting her with the virus so that they would be 'equals' and she would start having sex with him again. The 35-year-old man wanted to give her the disease because she had refused to have sex with him, fearing she would be infected. But he took things into his own hands and pricked her twice with a sewing needle laced with his infected blood while she slept. On one occasion she caught him handling a syringe full of his blood. The horrifying story has emerged in New...

The CRU scandal has already ensnared Britain's leading climate "scientist" Phil Jones (whom one principled leftie says has only "a few days left in which to make an honourable exit") and his American counterpart Michael Mann (as in "Mann-made global warming"). Given that these two men and their respective institutions are the leading warm-mongers on the planet, and the guys who dominate the IPCC, Copenhagen et al, it would be most unlikely if the widespread data-raping were confined only to the United Kingdom and the United States. Here's an interesting snippet from my colleagues at Investigate magazine in New Zealand...

The New Zealand Government’s chief climate advisory unit NIWA is under fire for allegedly massaging raw climate data to show a global warming trend that wasn’t there. The scandal breaks as fears grow worldwide that corruption of climate science is not confined to just Britain’s CRU climate research centre. In New Zealand’s case, the figures published on NIWA’s [the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research] website suggest a strong warming trend in New Zealand over the past century:

The latest story exciting the denialosphere is being put about by Anthony Watts and is based on a "news alert" from the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition. (Note: New Zealand Climate Science Coalition contains no actual climate scientists.) The New Zealand Government's chief climate advisory unit NIWA is under fire for allegedly massaging raw climate data to show a global warming trend that wasn't there. The scandal breaks as fears grow worldwide that corruption of climate science is not confined to just Britain's CRU climate research centre. ... Gareth Renowden explains how the NZCSC concocted their result -- they made...

Oops! If the mainstream media was hoping that the Climategate scandal would be limited to the University of East Anglia's Climate Reasearch Unit (CRU) in Norwich, England, they are out of luck. This scandal has now reared its ugly head on the other side of the globe at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric research (NIWA) which is that nation's chief climate advisory unit. Watts Up With That? reposting from New Zealand's TBR.cc Investigate magazine's breaking news forum explains this latest development in the widening Climategate scandal: The scandal breaks as fears grow worldwide that corruption of climate...

UPDATE 15:49 NZDT - NIWA's news release in response to this story appears to have been delayed, and according to a radio news report a few minutes ago Rodney Hide, leader of the minority Act Party and a minister in the National Government, is now calling on his Cabinet colleague, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith, to "please explain" [normal transmission now resumes] The New Zealand Government's chief climate advisory unit NIWA is under fire for allegedly massaging raw climate data to show a global warming trend that wasn't there. The scandal breaks as fears grow worldwide that corruption of climate...

SYDNEY (AFP) – More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday. An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast. Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs -- some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across -- were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more. He said they were the remains...

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - New Zealand was on Wednesday named the world's least corrupt nation out of a list of 180 countries, unseating Denmark after a year in which the global recession and ongoing conflicts proved challenging. The annual index by Transparency International ranked 180 countries on a scale of zero to 10 according to 13 independent surveys, with zero being perceived as highly corrupt and 10 as having low levels of corruption. New Zealand topped the table with a score of 9.4 after coming second last year. In second place was last year's leader, Denmark with 9.3 followed by...

New Zealand PM will not meet Dalai Lama IANS 18 November 2009, 01:17pm WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Wednesday that he would not meet the Dalai Lama when he visits the country next month. "The reason simply is I've decided that I wouldn't get a lot out of that particular meeting," he told reporters. "I don't see every religious leader that comes to town. I've seen him in the past, I may see him in the future." Key, who said before he was elected a year ago that he would meet the Dalai Lama on future...

A salute to our Kiwi cousins. Be proud of your heritage. I know this is tough these days. Have a good weekend, gents.

The SPCA is calling out for any information that could help them find the person responsible for a shocking attack on a domestic cat in Christchurch. The cat was found by the side of the road with over a dozen large nails lodged in its head. “Definitely since I’ve started this has probably been the worst case that I’ve been involved in. I know there's other cases that have been as horrific but this one has definitely hit home,� says SPCA inspector Christoff Heyns. This could be one of the worst cases of animal cruelty New Zealand has ever seen....

A 10-year-old New Zealand girl has been honoured for recognising the approach of Samoa's deadly tsunami and running up and down a beach to warn people. Wellington schoolgirl Abby Wutzler has been presented with a certificate of commendation for her actions in warning of the approach of the tsunami on September 29. The honour was bestowed by New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defence. The tsunami, triggered by a 8.0 magnitude earthquake, killed at least 143 people in Samoa, as well as 32 in American Samoa and nine in neighbouring Tonga. Abby was on the beach at the village of Lalomanu...

RUSH: Okay. New Zealand is looking better and better and better.

A comprehensive study has revealed, for the first time, the impact of swine flu on the health of the general public in Australia and New Zealand. The lessons learned in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) across the two countries on the impact of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus are being shared with countries in the Northern Hemisphere to help them prepare for their upcoming flu season. The three-month study, conducted at the height of the pandemic between June and August, reveals that 722 patients were admitted to ICUs and that at the peak of the epidemic up to 20 per cent...

AN obscure, desolate plateau on the southwestern shores of Greenland could transform the future of consumer technology and shift the balance of power in the global supply of rare earth metals. ...beneath the rocks and ice of the Ilimaussaq Intrusion represents the world's largest known reserve of rare earth metals, the "technology" group of lanthanide elements used in products from mobile phones and low-energy light bulbs to hybrid cars and missile guidance systems. ...potential ...to severely dent China's global monopoly over rare earth production, a 95 per cent dominance of total worldwide output that Beijing has strategically nurtured for 15...

For the third time is less than 6 days, a video showing ACORN workers giving advice to a pimp and a prostitute was released by the good folks over at BigGovernment.com. This video features New York City ACORN workers giving advice on how to hide prostitution profits in a tin can buried in the back yard, how to lie when applying for a housing loan and ways to shelter the money for tax purposes. The number of hits on Google search at 4pm this afternoon? 58. Some of the news sites that covered the story? * Fox News * The...

For the third time is less than 6 days, a video showing ACORN workers giving advice to a pimp and a prostitute was released by the good folks over at BigGovernment.com. This video features New York City ACORN workers giving advice on how to hide prostitution profits in a tin can buried in the back yard, how to lie when applying for a housing loan and ways to shelter the money for tax purposes. The New Zealand Herald actually put out a story on the third video before CNN did. (The last article on CNN.com about ACORN was four days...

Tributes will be held around New Zealand on Friday, in memory of those who lost their lives in the September 11 terror attacks in New York, eight years ago. A memorial will be held at Christchurch's Firefighters Reserve, while in Auckland, 60 fire fighters will climb the floors of the BNZ Tower. Nearly 3,000 people died in what was the world's worst terrorist attack after the hijacking of four passenger jets in the US. Two planes brought down New York's iconic Twin Towers. Another plane flew into the Pentagon and United flight 93 crashed into a field after passengers tried...

More than 140,000 cannabis plants destroyed in police operation 18-Aug 11:22 More than 140,000 cannabis plants were seized and more than 1100 people arrested in police's national cannabis operation. The number of plants destroyed during the 2008-09 operation increased by 17,000 from 2007-08, Detective Senior Sergeant Scott McGill at Police National Headquarters said. More than 820 searches had been conducted in this year's operation, leading to about 141,000 plants being destroyed , 1125 people arrested, 191 firearms seized and about $400,000 worth of stolen property recovered. Based on the New Zealand Drug Harm Index, it was estimated that $379 million...

"It's a good food for us."

Tributes are left for those killed in the hotel attacks Indonesian officials say there are "strong indications" a key wanted fugitive was behind Friday's deadly attacks on two hotels in Jakarta. Noordin Mohamed Top is wanted for plotting the Bali bombings of 2002 and 2005 and other Indonesian attacks. Nine people, including two suicide bombers, died in the attacks on the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott. At least four of Friday's victims are said to be foreigners but have not all been formally identified. See map of area Police in the Indonesian capital are studying DNA and other evidence to...

An Auckland man has seen off a legal challenge from the giant mormon church over the trademark for his family location internet service, with the Court of Appeal today ruling against the religious organisation. The Court of Appeal decision brings a close to seven years of legal wrangling between Robert Sintes and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints over the use of the words ‘family search’. The church operates a website at familysearch.org which offers free family history, family tree and genealogy records and research, but came down hard on Mr Sintes soon after he launched his own...

USGS HomeContact USGSSearch USGS Earthquake Hazards Program  HomeEarthquake CenterRegional InformationAbout EarthquakesResearch & MonitoringOther Resources You are here: Home » Earthquake Center » Latest Earthquakes - World » Magnitude 7.8 - OFF WEST COAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND, N.Z. Latest Earthquakes USAWorldEQ Notification Service Feeds & DataAnimations Recent Earthquakes:Last 8-30 DaysEarthquake Archives Lists & MapsSearch EQ DatabaseEQ Summary PostersScientific Data About EQ MapsDid You Feel It?Fast Moment TensorsMedia InfoPAGERSeismogram DisplaysShakeMaps Magnitude 7.8 - OFF WEST COAST OF THE SOUTH ISLAND, N.Z. 2009 July 15 09:22:32 UTC Versión en Español DetailsSummaryMapsScientific & TechnicalAdditional Info Where can I find...? Earthquake Details Magnitude...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A New Zealand taekwondo athlete has opened a brothel to help fund his bid to compete at the 2012 London Olympics, local media reported Sunday. Logan Campbell, 23, told the Sunday Star-Times newspaper he hoped his Auckland "gentleman's club," which provided escort services, would help him raise about $200,000 toward his London Games campaign. Campbell, who finished in the top 16 in the featherweight division at last year's Beijing Olympics, said he spent around $90,000 competing in international events leading up to the games.

I was looking at an image of New Zealand from space, and I noticed a bright blue lake on the South Island. I was pretty sure why it was blue (suspended glacial flour, like Lake Louise in Banff), but I checked to make sure. Turns out, as are many bright blue scenic mountain lakes around the world, this is a scenic spot. If I ever take a trip to New Zealand, I'm pretty sure I'd run out of time before I ran out of places to see! So here's a variety of views of that lake, New Zealand's Lake Pukaki....

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Police launched an international search for two New Zealanders who allegedly took the money and ran after a bank mistakenly put 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million) into their account. The couple, who operated a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 ($6,000) overdraft, but 1,000 times that amount was paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.

Wellington - New Zealand authorities are baffled by a mystery cache of machine guns, bullets, grenades and mortar bombs found in a shipping container from China in the South Island port of Dunedin, according to news reports on Wednesday.

<p>WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand's health minister says 10 students who were recently in Mexico have tested positive for influenza. He said the cases are "likely" to be swine flu.</p> <p>Tony Ryall said there was "no guarantee" the students had swine flu, but that health officials were taking precautions.</p>

PM Netanyahu spoke at the annual remembrance day of the Holocaust in Yad vshem. Netanyahu directed a personal question at Swiss president Hans-Rudolf Merz, who earlier in the day defended his decision to meet Ahmadinejad in Geneva, prior to the opening of the conference. "I turn to you, the Swiss president, and ask you: How can you meet someone who denies the Holocaust and wishes for a new holocaust to occur?" Netanyahu praised "important countries" that chose to distance themselves from the conference, mentioning the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, Australia and New Zealand. Netanyahu called Ahmadinejad a Holocaust...

These days, you have to travel far to find a national leader who is talking about market-based approaches to the global recession. All the way to the other side of the world. "We don't tell New Zealanders we can stop the global recession, because we can't," says Prime Minister John Key, leaning forward in his armchair at his office in the Beehive, the executive wing of New Zealand's parliament. "What we do tell them is we can use this time to transform the economy to make us stronger so that when the world starts growing again we can be running...

A New Zealander was arrested at the Manzai Fort checkpost in South Waziristan on Wednesday. He was taken to Tank police station and handed over to personnel of a secret agency. Investigators suspect that Mark Taylor may have links with Al Qaeda and Taliban. Tank’s District Coordination Officer Barkatullah said the foreigner possessed valid documents and “he told us he was going to Wana. He was in a passenger coach and was detained by paramilitary forces during a routine check at the post. According to Barkatullah Taylor told police he was going to Waziristan to get married. He said he...

A pair of prisoners, who were handcuffed together, attempt to escape from court in Hastings, New Zealand. But, a lamp post gets in their way, and they slam into each other before being taken back into custody.

Two hardened suspects on New Zealand's North Island tried to make a break from a courthouse Wednesday, still tied together by handcuffs. But before they could run across the street in Hastings, they were hit by pepper-spray — and that’s where their bolt for freedom went horribly wrong. Stumbling onwards, the hapless criminals appeared to forget they were tied together — and ran on either side of a streetlamp. They slammed into each other, fell to the ground, and collapsed in a heap. The first prisoner, Regan Reti, 20, had just been jailed for more than two years after being...

A New Zealand man who bought a second-hand MP3 player that contained U.S. military files on personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq handed it over to U.S. officials on Wednesday, New Zealand media reported. Chris Ogle, 29, bought the $10 MP3 at a thrift shop in Oklahoma but when he plugged it in discovered it contained 60 U.S. military files ... *snip* The files contained the names and personal details of American soldiers, including ones who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing, said One News.

Man 'finds US troop data' on MP3 A New Zealand man says he found confidential data about US military personnel on an MP3 player he bought from a thrift shop in Oklahoma. Chris Ogle, 29, said: "The more I look at it, the more I see and the less I think I should be looking." The files included names and telephone numbers of American soldiers, according to reports by TV New Zealand. One expert says the files are unlikely to compromise security, as most of them are from 2005. Some included a warning that the release of its contents is...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A captive reptile in New Zealand has unexpectedly become a father at the ripe old age of 111 after receiving treatment for a cancer that made him hostile toward prospective mates. The centenarian tuatara, named Henry, was thought well past the mating game until he was caught canoodling with a female named Mildred last March ... Tuatara are indigenous New Zealand creatures that resemble lizards but descend from a distinct lineage of reptile that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.

THIS week Australia assumed responsibility for a new state: the poor, unstable and violent nation of East Timor. Our 1300-strong troop intervention has been triggered by the failure of East Timor's political system, a crisis within its armed forces, an internal ethnic rift between east and west regions and the combination of an inept Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, and an immobilised President, Xanana Gusmao, who cannot work together but who have made a joint appeal for Australian help. This is Australia's largest ground force intervention since the 1999 Interfet operation, the international force authorised by the UN Security Council that...

Tuatara fossil props up Moa's Ark theory for NZ animal life Wed, 21 Jan 2009 9:09p.m. The discovery of a tuatara fossil in the South Island is helping prop up the "Moa's Ark" theory that some parts of New Zealand have always stayed above the sea surface. Scientists said the fossil provided strong evidence that the ancestor of the present-day tuatara covered the Zealandia landmass as it split from Gondwana, 82 million years ago.

A Muslim cafe owner in New Zealand evicted two customers because they were Israeli. Mustafa Tekinkaya, a Muslim from Turkey, heard Natalie Bennie and Tamara Shefa speaking Hebrew at his cafe in Invercargill on the South Island earlier this week and ordered them out. “He heard us speaking Hebrew and he asked us where we were from,” Mrs Bennie told the local newspaper. “I said Israel and he said ‘get out, I am not serving you’. It was shocking.” Tekinkaya said he was protesting Israel’s action in the Gaza Strip. “I have decided as a protest not to serve Israelis...

An Israeli family in New Zealand stopped into a local cafe to get lunch for their children, before placing their order the family was speaking in Hebrew. Hearing this the owner who is a Turkish Muslim asked them where they were from.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A falling chunk of glacier crushed two brothers to death at a popular tourist spot, and one remained buried under ice blocks the size of large vehicles, police said Friday. The two Australians apparently ignored rope barriers set up to prevent hikers from wandering into dangerous areas.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Dec. 19, 2008 – A unit of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team had a new mission in Afghanistan recently when it teamed up with Afghan and New Zealand forces to combat crimes in the eastern part of the country. Army Sgt. Kevin Swackhamer of the Task Force Warrior security force examines the ankle of an injured Afghan man during a mission in Afghanistan’s Bamyan province, Dec. 10, 2008. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. After an increase in robberies and other insurgent activities in parts of Bamyan province, a team...

Update (16:00 PST Dec. 14th): Eyewitness accounts are becoming more detailed, if you were in the Auckland area at 10pm (December 13th) and you saw something, please let me know (by leaving a comment below). Please give as detailed an account as possible, including your location and the direction at which you saw the meteorite. Hopefully we’ll piece this event together… A fire erupted in an Auckland warehouse shortly after several eyewitness reported seeing a meteorite over the North Island of New Zealand. One witness (named “Mike”) even went as far to say that he watched the fiery object hit...

Yesterday New Zealand woke up to the dawning of a new Era. It was Sunday and, as usual, conservative Kiwis of a religious persuasion awoke, scrubbed up, got the kids ready for Sunday School, and went to church to worship. And sometime during the Service we thanked our Creator for the deliverance He granted us the night before. And those of us conservative Kiwis of lesser religious persuasion slept in, grateful for the hangover arising from Saturday evening's libations. For them the sleep of the Righteous would be lengthened by knowing that their sore heads were well-earned in good service...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand entered a new era of conservative rule Sunday, with incoming Prime Minister John Key promising to be a moderate amid fears some of the country's policies on global warming and indigenous people could be rolled back. Voters on Saturday elected the wealthy former currency market trader to lead them through a recession worsening because of the global financial meltdown, handing long-serving Prime Minister Helen Clark and her central-left Labour Party a crushing defeat. Key said Sunday he hoped his National Party and coalition partners would be sworn into government within about a week...