A Customs officer has died in hospital after he collapsed at the Fua’amotu international airport this afternoon.
A reliable source has claimed the officer, identified as Vitikami Paongo collapsed while he was processing a passenger from an Air New Zealand aircraft.
The passenger attempted CPR and Paongo was revived before he was rushed to hospital, the source claimed.
He was shortly pronounced dead.
Police are continuing to investigate an incident where an elderly male was assaulted in Kerikeri on Friday 21st September.
The victim was attacked after he picked up two male hitchhikers around 1.30pm who subsequently pushed him out the vehicle near Kerikeri Airport and stole his car, which was seen heading in the direction of Okaihau.
Police are appealing for any sightings of a red Suzuki Swift – registration GNS33.
“This was a cowardly and unprovoked attack on a vulnerable member of our community and we urgently want to find the offenders responsible for this incident,” says Detective Senior Sergeant Rhys Johnston.
Anyone with information about this incident or sightings of the vehicle is urged to contact Kerikeri Police on 09 407 9211 or alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A Tongan driver in Auckland, New Zealand woke up this morning to find a tyre and rim on her vehicle had been stolen overnight.
Tupou Vanisi of One Tree Hill said her van was parked on its parking last night but this morning it was left with only three tyres and rims.
Vanisi said she came outside ready to go to work and to drop her children off at school but the incident had changed everything.
The Alford avenue resident said the car was left propped up on a scissor jack.
She said the jack belonged to the alleged stealer.
She could not specify the model and make of her car or brand of tyres.
Vanisi has yet to lodge a complaint with Police.
She said she could offer us no suspects.
Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s son Siaosi has praised the Finnish education system as a model that other countries can learn from.
Siaosi Pohiva was head of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Assessment Unit of the Education Quality and Assessment Programme.
He was instrumental in supporting Tonga’s move away from standardised marking.
As Kaniva reported last year, he stood by his father in his move to change the assessment system in Tonga from standardisation to raw marks.
He said Fiji and Samoa in the Pacific had already changed from standardisation system and used a modern raw marks system.
Siaosi urged people to read a report from the World Economic Forum on the Finnish system.
“Thanks that the Lord has given us a good example we could learn from,” he said.
He said the most important point about the Finnish system was there were no standardised tests.
He also praised the country’s late starting age for school.
“Students should start going to school when they are seven years old. How excellent! “
Finland stands at the top of many international education ranking systems and had been widely praised. Students do not start classes until they are seven years old, have no homework, fewer classes and are encouraged to play, learn to treat each other as equals and are supported by highly qualified teachers in small classes.
According to the World Economic Forum report, Finland has no standardized tests.
“Their only exception is something called the National Matriculation Exam, which is a voluntary test for students at the end of an upper-secondary school.
“All children throughout Finland are graded on an individualized basis and grading system set by their teacher. Tracking overall progress is done by the Ministry of Education, which samples groups across different ranges of schools.”
According to a British report, Finland routinely tops rankings of global education systems and all students, regardless of ability, are taught in the same classes.
The gap between the weakest and the strongest pupils is the smallest in the world. Finnish schools have only one mandatory test at age 16.
The main points
For more information
10 reasons why Finland’s education system is the best in the world
Police can now confirm a man trapped under a vehicle in Highland Park, Auckland has died.
Initial reports suggest the man was pushing a vehicle down a driveway about 12.15pm when he somehow became trapped underneath it.
His next-of-kin have been notified and the death will be referred to the Coroner.
People on the capsized hull of sunken ferry in Tanzania’s Victoria Lake – video
At least 136 bodies have been retrieved from Lake Victoria in east Africa after a ferry sank on Thursday, Tanzanian officials have said.
Scores more people are missing after MV Nyerere sinks on Thursday afternoon
People on the capsized hull of sunken ferry in Tanzania’s Victoria Lake – video
At least 136 bodies have been retrieved from Lake Victoria in east Africa after a ferry sank on Thursday, Tanzanian officials have said.
Scores more were reported missing as rescuers searched for survivors.
The MV Nyerere, with a capacity to hold 101 people, had been dangerously overloaded, the government’s chief secretary John Kijazi told reporters. He ordered an investigation and said those responsible will face charges.
Initial estimates suggested that the ferry was carrying as many as 300 people when it capsized between Ukerewe, Lake Victoria’s largest island, and the smaller island of Ukara. The precise number was unknown, however, because the ticket-seller had drowned and the machine recording sales had not been found.
At least 37 people were brought to safety on Thursday, some in “a very bad condition”, said John Mongella, the commissioner for the Mwanza region in northern Tanzania. It was unclear whether any new survivors have been found since rescue operations resumed on Friday morning. Dozens of security forces and volunteers wearing gloves and face masks spent the day hauling bodies into wooden boats.
Tanzanian ferries often carry hundreds of passengers and are overcrowded, and there are shifts in weight as passengers move to disembark. The Nyerere was crowded because it was a market day.
Domina Maua, who was among those at the dockside seeking information about survivors, said: “I have not heard from either my father or my younger brother who were on the ferry. They had gone to the market in Bugolora to buy a school uniform and other supplies for the new school term.”
Davita Ngenda, an elderly woman in Ukara, wept as she said. “My son is among the bodies recovered,. He had gone with his wife but she has not been found yet. My God, what did I do to deserve this?”
Sebastian John, a teacher, said such tragedies had become part of life for those who live near the lake. “Since my birth, people have gone to their deaths on this lake, but what are we to do? We did not choose to be born here, we have nowhere to go,” he said.
The ageing ferry, of which the hull and propellers were all that remained visible, was also carrying cargo, including sacks of maize, bananas and cement, when it capsized about 50 metres from Ukara dock. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but overloading is frequently to blame for such incidents.
President John Magufuli was “deeply saddened” by the disaster and urged Tanzanians to “stay calm during these difficult times”, according to a spokesman, Gerson Msigwa.
The country’s opposition, however, accused the government of negligence. “We have often raised concerns about the poor condition of this ferry, but the government turned a deaf ear. We have repeatedly denounced this negligence,” said John Mnyika, the deputy secretary general of Chadema, the main opposition party.
Mnyika said overloading was “another failure of the authorities” and criticised “inadequate relief efforts as well as delays” in the rescue operation.
With a surface area of 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq miles), the oval-shaped Lake Victoria is roughly the size of Ireland and is shared by Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. Capsizes are not uncommon and the number of deaths is often high owing to a shortage of lifejackets and the fact that many people in the region cannot swim.
The deadliest such incident in recent decades was in May 1996, when about 800 people died after their ferry sank on the way to Mwanza in Tanzania.
Lake Victoria can be rough and boats are frequently poorly maintained, while ferry operators often fail to record the number of passengers on board.
About 20 people were killed in December 2016 when a boat overturned on the lake as it was carrying passengers to mainland Uganda for the Christmas holidays. In March 2012, only two survivors were found after a boat carrying about 60 people capsized on the lake in Uganda
Fifteen years after the death of two Tongan workers in New Zealand, the older sister of one of the men has written a tribute to her brother.
Sanualio Kiola and his cousin Savelio Lolesio died in 2003 when they went out on a boat in Whitianga Harbour with a workmate, Aisake Lavelua, to check a fishing net.
Police said Lavelua fell out of the boat and swam ashore.
The bodies of Kiola and Lolesio were found several days later. Their boat was found washed up on a sandbank.
Both men were married and had young children.
The two men were working for Auckland Stonemasons on the Whitianga Waterways Project, a NZ$100 million residential housing project along the canal.
Sēlina Kiola Mahe wrote on Facebook: “Yesterday all day I remember you! It has been 15 years now since you left but I always remember your birthday!
“I missed you so very much, especially yesterday dearest brother. Still hurt so much and I could not bring myself to write you this message.
“Still feel like it was yesterday that I first received your disappearance. I do not know when I will ever be able to let you go completely from my heart! I miss you so much my dearest brother.
“Knowing that God needed you as another angel around his throne and his reason for bringing you home to HIM, makes me find a little bit of solace in my heart.
“I am certain God and his angels celebrated your birthday in Heaven yesterday dearest brother but it hurts like hell!!!
“I miss you so much brother. Late happy birthday.”
The main points
For more information
Bodies of Tongan fishermen found https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3503973
The Supreme Court has handed down guilty sentences to a mother and stepfather for sexually abusing the woman’s daughters.
The couple appeared before Hon. Justice Cato.
“Cases involving sexual offending on young people are taken very seriously by the Courts and are of the utmost importance,” Hon. Justice Cato said.
“They are often difficult and sad cases to try.”
The two girls were 14 and 16 when the assaults occurred.
Their mother had divorced and in 2016 the man who became their stepfather moved in with her.
The sexual abuse began in early 2017.
The judge found that on several occasions, including an incident of rape, the girls’ mother had helped the man.
The man was found guilty of one count of rape, six counts of serious indecent assault, two charges of indecent exposure and five charges of domestic violence.
The woman was found guilty of one charge of aiding rape, four counts of aiding serious indecent assault, one count of domestic violence and one of common assault.
In his summing up, Judge Cato said he found the daughters to be reliable witnesses.
He said the court had heard “very serious allegations that not only involved serious sexual misconduct by the male accused but also involved unusually knowing assistance in some instances by their mother.”
“I had the opportunity of regarding them very closely when they were giving their evidence and I was impressed with their evidence, both giving testimony in very difficult circumstances. I did not detect that either were evasive in their answers.”
The judge said he rejected several aspects of their mother’s testimony.
“I do not accept the reliability of the testimony of either accused as it relates to their innocence,” the judge said.
“Where their evidence conflicts with the complainants, I prefer and act upon the evidence of the complainants beyond any reasonable doubt.”
Wairarapa, NZ – Emergency services responded to a report that a number of children were feeling unwell at a school on High Street in Carterton at around 2.30pm.
Eight children are being sent to hospital after reports a plane “accidentally sprayed” two Carterton schools with pesticide.
All students at Carterton’s South End and Montessori schools – which share a campus – will be go through a decontamination process after a strong sulfur smell was detected on Friday afternoon.
About 30 children fell ill after breathing in the unknown substance, with around four or five students reportedly vomiting.
Police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and Ambulance attended.
Teachers have confirmed they noticed an unpleasant smell which quickly disappeared.
As part of those enquiries Police are going door to door in the area checking on residents’ welfare and trying to locate the source of the smell.
The school grounds are also being searched.
Responding to reports of a low-lying plane flying over the school when the children fell ill, Wairarapa Police senior sergeant Mike Sutton was unable to confirm whether there was a link, Fairfax media has reported.
Parry said there were “plenty of rumours going around” about the cause.
An off-duty Police officer had been suspended after complaint he entered a house in Pelehake without permission.
The 35-year-old officer was arrested and charged with unlawfully being on enclosed premises, Police Commissioner Steve Caldwell said.
Police received a complaint from the owner of the house that a person had entered it without permission.
Mr Caldwell has suspended the officer from duty yesterday Thursday 20 September 2018.
The officer was remanded in custody for appearance at the Magistrate Court today.
Police investigation continues and further charges are expected to be laid.
