The Weekender 16/11/2008

Welcome to this week!

Sport

The Rugby League world cup has continued this week with the semi finals. Australia beat PNG 46-6 in the first semi and in the second semi the Kiwis survived a comeback by the English and won 32-22. So the final (as predicted) will be Australia vs New Zealand.

The NZ Breakers have been doing well! Their mid week game was a come from behind 93-81 win over the Cairns Taipans. And last night they survived a scare to beat Townsville 119-108.
The Breakers have also been boosted with Kirk Penney being named the ANBL player of the month.

The USA have beaten Germany 2-1 to reach the women's under 17 World Cup final. The game will be against North Korea who beat England in their semi. Update: The final was this afternoon, USA scored first but then North Korea equalised before full time. The extra time saw North Korea score again to win 2-1.

The All Blacks continue their grand slam tour with a 3-22 win over Ireland. It was never easy and they still have things to work on but any win is a good win.

NZ News

After 49 years an old shipwreck off the coast of Timaru has claimed another life. It originally sank killing all of it's crew of 15, but this week a 63 year old diver Kevin Bailey failed to return and his body was eventually recovered.

Labour has announced their new line up with Phil Goff and Annette King taking over the top two jobs respectively. My question is, with Helen Clark resigning as leader of Labour and John Key not yet officially sworn in - who is currently Prime Minister? Phil Goff has said he would like a bi-partisan review of the Electoral Finance Act, which  I image someone will take up! So that's one good thing, but then Phil Goff did something very stupid. He got the re-forecast report from Treasury showing an extra bad forecast, he covered up the "Confidential" tag and released it - how petty.
National has officially sorted through talks with ACT, United Future and the Maori party to form a new government. The deal with ACT includes a review of the Emissions trading scheme, which many think was rushed through - Rodney Hide who is has been an environmental scientist for (I think) about 30 years will have some sound input to NZ's enironmental plans. United Future's Peter Dunne will be Minister of Revenue and Associate Minister of Health. The Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples will become Maori Affairs Minister and fellow co-leader Tariana Turia getting a number of other portfolios. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

It has taken a child missing nearly half of the school year for his mother to be taken to court. Apparently it is one of the worst truancy cases on record, the child missing 143 half days out of 336 in the school year. But with the maximum fine of $150, the whole thing is ridiculous.

The police have recaptured an escaped prisoner Debden Wamoana who had been on the run for 15 days. Escapes don't happen often and they seem to get caught fairly quickly - this is a relatively long time.

There was a road rage incident in Rotorua where two cars were driving down the road, the lead car occupants clearly took exception to how close they were being followed. When the cars stopped, someone in the lead car got out and shot the driver of the following car in the face. The police said it was a miracle he was alive and has been treated and discharged.

The Numbers Game

1: % increase in credit card interest rates from BNZ, ANZ/National and Westpac, despite the Reserve Bank lowering official cash rate
5: th ranking for NZ (out of 130) on a report for gender equality
5.2: richter scale earthquake near Rotorua this morning
74.7: % turnout for voting last weekend (the lowest for a long time), after beautiful weather and a huge turnout expected!
82.2: years is the expected life expectancy for NZ women, 78.0 years for men
153.9: cents/L for 91 octane petrol after more price drops
400: cannabis plants were found in a raid at Mount Maunganui worth around $400,000
1,400: were to swin in the fifth annual Auckland Harbour Crossing today
1,918: anniversary to mark the end of World War 1 includes NZ Post stamp sets
5,194: $ fine and a nine month jail term for a Taranaki man who sent Prime Minister Helen Clark a letter that had 'flour' in it
40,000: increase in population of New Zealand over the past year
100,000: $ donations for Labour & NZ First 10 days before the election from the fishing & racing industry heavyweights the Vela brothers
800,000: $/yr savings in fuel expected with new LED lights with less drag for all the police cars
5m: $ research project of Auckland region's 50 volcanoes
46m: $ Mangatawhiri bypass between Auckland and Coromandel Peninsular will be put to the test to help consolidate the surface, it should open before Christmas
1b: $ extra in fiscal deficit for the new National government to deal with

Finance NZ Dollar

GBP 0.3751 (-0.0021)
EUR 0.4387 (-0.0253)
USD 0.5535 (-0.0369)
AUD 0.8518 (-0.0224)

The Weekender NZer of the week
Edward Joseph Nathan
GLAXO FOUNDER
Joseph Nathan was a New Zealand entrepreneur with extraordinary foresight. In 1906 he founded Glaxo, producer of the dried milk formula that became a household name for infant health. On a world scale, he was a pioneer of direct marketing and branding. The Glaxo name now fronts one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline.
http://www.nzedge.co.nz/heroes/nathan.html

Joke of the Weekender

Holding Hands
While at the mall, I saw an elderly couple holding hands while they were walking. As they approached, I commented on how romantic it was.
He replied, "We have been holding hands when we go out in public for over thirty years. I have to. If I let go, she shops."

Weekender Photos

I went for a walk the other night and the sunset was fantastic. Unfortunately couldn't get any photos when it was at it's best, but here are some a bit earlier!
Check out my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dunwich42/HamiltonSunset

Darren Harrison: darren@harrison.gen.nz
The Weekender: mailed weekly (Sunday nightish)
Website: www.dunwich.co.nz/weekender/
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