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Tag: New Zealand

  • Benjamin Netanyahu ‘Told New Zealand Backing UN Vote Would Be Declaration Of War’

    Benjamin Netanyahu ‘Told New Zealand Backing UN Vote Would Be Declaration Of War’

    Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told New Zealand’s foreign minister that support for a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories would be viewed as a “declaration of war”.

    According to reports in Israeli media, the Israeli PM called Murray McCully, the foreign minister of New Zealand, before Friday’s resolution, which was co-sponsored by Wellington. Netanyahu told him: “This is a scandalous decision. I’m asking that you not support it and not promote it.

    “If you continue to promote this resolution, from our point of view it will be a declaration of war. It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences. We’ll recall our ambassador [from New Zealand] to Jerusalem.”

    McCully, however, refused to back down, telling Netanyahu: “This resolution conforms to our policy and we will move it forward.”

    A western diplomat confirmed that the call took place and described the conversation as “harsh”.

    The details of the call – disclosed in Haaretz – suggest a mounting sense of panic on the part of Netanyahu in the run-up to the UN security council resolution that passed on Friday demanding an end to settlement building.

    As well as the Netanyahu call, a senior official in Israel’s foreign ministry called New Zealand’s ambassador to Israel, Jonathan Curr, and warned that if the resolution came to a vote, Israel might close its embassy in Wellington in protest.

    Israel responded furiously to the vote, threatening diplomatic reprisals against the countries that voted in favour. Diplomatic ties with New Zealand were temporarily severed and ambassador Itzhak Gerberg was recalled.

    But in a sign that the international pressure may be being felt by the Netanyahu administration, scheduled plans to consider for approval 600 new settlement houses in occupied east Jerusalem were abruptly removed from the agenda of the city’s municipality on Wednesday.

    Netanyahu’s language and behaviour – which has resulted in ambassadors being reprimanded and consultations with foreign leaders, including the UK’s Theresa May, cancelled – has raised eyebrows among foreign diplomats, who point out that the UN resolution does no more than confirm the longstanding view of the international community on Jewish settlements.

    Later on Wednesday the US secretary of state, John Kerry, will make a speech outlining the parameters for how the Obama administration sees a settlement of the Middle East peace process.

    Kerry’s speech, less than a month before Barack Obama leaves office, is expected to be the current administration’s last word on a decades-old dispute that Kerry had hoped to resolve during his four years as America’s top diplomat.

    It could also be seen in Israel as another parting shot at Netanyahu, who has had an acrimonious relationship with Obama since they both took office in 2009. Israel’s public security minister, Gilad Erdan, told Israel Army Radio that the planned speech was a “pathetic move” and “anti-democratic”.

    The US on Friday broke with a longstanding approach of diplomatically shielding Israel and abstained on a United Nations security council resolution that passed with 14 countries in favour and none against.

    An Egyptian paper supportive of the country’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, reported what it said was a leaked memo allegedly confirming Israel’s allegations that the Obama administration and Palestinian officials had coordinated positions over the wording of the resolution to allow the US to abstain in the vote. The state department denied the report.

     

    Source: www.theguardian.com

  • Another Foreigner Refuses To Pay $5.40 Taxi Fare

    Another Foreigner Refuses To Pay $5.40 Taxi Fare

    This fuking drunk amg mo which i pick up at geylang lor 16 to lor 8.

    When reach the destination the fare was just $5.40 and he just alighted from my car without thinking of paying it and show me his duno wat card telling me he was from new zealand embassy..

    at 1st i just thought just my luck and wanted to take his luggage down and ask him to fuck off but after the behaviour and words make me HOT..and these are partial of what happen..

    Sorry of the vulgar language that i use..i really cannot tolerate it

     

    At 1st i just wanna fuck it and go off,but he dun allow me to unload n touch his luggage bag and told me i be sorry if i did..and challenge me to fight with him ..Thats trigger me off..i alway tell myself to tolerate with pax but so sorry this time i cant

    Anyway the fare is not an issue,i will not report to police as i seen alot of cases online that police cant help us with these..i only just cant stand the behaviour and the words he said that we are low iq..as if like we Sporean have to follow and do what they say

    Source: RichArd Hao Koh

  • Singaporean Becomes NZ Citizen, Cannot Get Senior Citizen Benefit There Because of Unclaimed CPF In Singapore

    Singaporean Becomes NZ Citizen, Cannot Get Senior Citizen Benefit There Because of Unclaimed CPF In Singapore

    A 66-year-old Singaporean failed in his bid to get senior citizen pension benefits in New Zealand after a tribunal found he had not first used his Central Provident Fund (CPF) money, as advised.

    The Social Security Appeal Authority was not convinced by his concerns of being traced by the Singapore authorities if he applied to withdraw his CPF money, as there could be “significant repercussions” for his two grown-up sons, who were liable for national service (NS).

    “(He) was completely unable to explain what action the Singapore authorities might be able to take against him or his sons if they became aware of his residence in New Zealand,” said the Social Security Appeal Authority of New Zealand in decision grounds released last month.

    Superannuation benefits of about NZ$600 (S$570) are payable fortnightly to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents over 65 who have lived in the country for at least 10 years since they turned 20, five of which must be since they turned 50 years old, according to its website.

    But the payout is modified according to conditions such as deductions from income earned elsewhere or abroad.

    According to the decision grounds, the Singapore citizen, who is also a New Zealand citizen, was granted the benefit when he turned 65 in November 2014 but he disclosed in his application that he had lived in Singapore for 50 years.

    He had worked in various jobs in Singapore before emigrating to New Zealand in 2000 with his wife and two sons, then aged eight and 10.

    The Auckland-based man, who was granted citizenship in 2004, was told by New Zealand’s Ministry of Social Development to apply to Singapore’s CPF Board to withdraw funds from there.

    He objected and failed to comply with the July 2015 deadline issued by the New Zealand ministry. A month later, his New Zealand Superannuation was suspended.

    He initially claimed it was discriminatory to require people from countries that paid pensions, such as Singapore, to be required to apply for those pensions, which were then deducted from their entitlement to New Zealand Superannuation.

    He pursued the case before the two-member appeal authority, arguing among other things that his two sons, now aged 25 and 23 years and having promising careers, could be affected if his whereabouts were known to the Singapore authorities through his CPF application.

    The man, who was not named, suggested his sons might be forced to return to Singapore to do national service and be prosecuted as enlistment defaulters. Under Singapore laws, eligible persons who fail to register for national service may be fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to three years or both.

    But the tribunal pointed out that the alleged offences under the Singapore Enlistment Act were not recognised as extraditable offences under New Zealand law and prosecution was, therefore, “remote”.

    “We are not satisfied that there is any real danger or disadvantage to either the appellant or his two sons if the appellant’s whereabouts were to become known to the Singapore Government,” wrote the Wellington-based appeal authority.

    It added that the man, having worked variously in Singapore as an aircraft mechanic, hotel cashier and elsewhere had maintained CPF deposits from which he could apply to withdraw funds, since he was already past 62 years old, the minimum age for CPF withdrawal.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Flights In New Zealand Grounded Due To Internal Network Failure

    Flights In New Zealand Grounded Due To Internal Network Failure

    Pilots would have lost all radar communication during an outage that grounded hundreds of flights on Tuesday.

    Flights across the country have gradually resumed after fault, which affected the entire country.

    At 2:41pm on Tuesday, an “internal network failure” caused all flights to be grounded until about 4pm.

    The New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association spokeswoman Lisa Williams said pilots flying at the time of the fault would have lost all radar communication.

    Pilots would have consulted an emergency procedure manual or aeronautical information publication contained in all cockpits, she said.

    Air traffic control would still have been able to communicate with pilots via radio, she said.

    “It is an extremely rare event,” she said.

    READ MORE: Investigation into radar failure

    Were you affected by the outage? Email us photos and information to [email protected]

    Airways Corporation, which manages the radar system, said it had now identified the issue and “thoroughly tested the integrity of the system”.

    “At no point was the safety of any airport operations compromised,” the company said in a statement.

    “Airways apologises to all passengers who have been affected by this outage. Our immediate priority is resolving the situation and we are unavailable for interviews at this stage.”

    LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff.co.nz

    Flights were delayed in Auckland after a radar fault in Christchurch.

    Airways said around 50 airborne flights had been directly affected by the fault.

    “Throughout this outage we had back-up processes in place to deal with this eventuality safely,” Airways said in a statement.

    “We did not recommence departures until we were completely confident in the safety of all our systems.”

    After the problem was fixed, Auckland Airport tweeted that international flights would depart first with some delays expected.

    Transport Minister Simon Bridges said: “I have been assured that at no time was the safety of passengers or planes compromised.”

    HUNDREDS OF FLIGHTS DELAYED

    KEVIN STENT/Dominion Post

    Passengers in Wellington airport have been delayed after a national radar fault grounded airplanes.

    Flights out of Auckland Airport were delayed

    Air New Zealand said about 160 of its international and domestic flights were disrupted, with passengers likely to experience delays.

    “Flights are now departing but the backlog will take some time to clear,” the airline said.

    Passengers were asked to check arrivals and departures information at www.airnz.co.nz for up to date information on flight departures.

    Jetstar spokesman Phil Boeyen said about six domestic Jetstar flights had been impacted so far with the longest delay at this stage around 90 minutes.

    He did not know the exact number of Jetstar passengers affected but said it would be several hundred over six flights.

    Chris Yorke landed in Wellington nearly two hours late after his flight from Blenheim was held back during the radar failure.

    “We were called to board but then told the boarding was cancelled,” he said.

    Yorke and his fellow passengers had to wait 1.5 hours but were lucky it was inside the terminal and not the plane, he said.

    When the passengers were told the radar system was down most were understanding, he said.

    “You don’t want to be flying when the radar is not working. You’d rather be on the ground.”

    stuff.co.nz

    Flights across the country were grounded after a fault in the national radar system was discovered.

    HORROR RUN

    At Christchurch Airport, some flights to Invercargill and Dunedin had resumed by 5pm, but flights to New Plymouth and other towns were cancelled.

    Passengers were told to go to reservation desks to arrange accommodation.

    Erica and Nogs Karati said it was likely they would be stranded in Christchurch overnight.

    The couple had a horror run since returning from Vanuatu at 2am on Tuesday.

    They went to the wrong motel on arrival, had a couple of hours sleep, then flew from Auckland to Christchurch only to be told of delays.

    Their car was waiting for them at Queenstown Airport, and they faced a couple of hours driving from there to get home to Invercargill – if the roads were clear of snow.

    “There goes another couple hundred of dollars,” Erica Karati said.

    “I don’t really think we should go on holidays any more.”

    An image from FlightRadar24.com shows New Zealand's air traffic at 4:37pm.

    An image from FlightRadar24.com shows New Zealand’s air traffic at 4:37pm.

    Two flights – to Auckland and Christchurch – had been cancelled and all others were delayed by at least an hour.

    ‘THESE THINGS HAPPEN’

    Dozens of passengers were stranded at Nelson Airport, many of them on mobile phones trying to make other arrangements or book new flights.

    Sue Leov, of Nelson, was already on her flight to Auckland to meet her daughter, who she was travelling with to Phuket, Thailand, on Tuesday night, but was forced to disembark because of the radar fault.

    “The plane was warming up and then they said, ‘Sorry, you’re going to have to get off the plane because of the radar’.

    “I was a bit worried they were going to cancel our flight because they cancelled a whole lot of other ones.”

    Her flight was delayed for more than two hours, boarding shortly after 4:30pm.

    Amber Watt and Arron Saunders were waiting with three-month-old daughter Lucy.

    They were supposed to be leaving for Wellington at 3:30pm to stay with Watt’s mother, but they were still grounded at 5pm.

    “She’s not leaving until she knows we’re definitely not coming today.

    She had been told that they should expect a one hour delay, but hadn’t had any news by 5pm.

    “I’m not too bothered, though. We’ve both travelled internationally, these things happen. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t get out today.

    “I’d be annoyed if we got here and it had been cancelled and we hadn’t been told or it was something within the airline’s control, but it’s not so that’s cool.”

    An image from FlightRadar24.com shows New Zealand's air traffic at 3:50pm.

    An image from FlightRadar24.com shows New Zealand’s air traffic at 3:50pm.

    It was to be Lucy’s first ride in airplane, but she had fallen asleep in Saunders’ arms, not bothered by the delay in the slightest.

    ‘COMPUTER RESET’

    Family First spokesman Bob McCoskrie was on a plane due to depart from Wellington to Auckland just before 3pm when passengers were notified of the problem.

    “We got on the plane, the door closed and then there was no action,” he said.

    “We were told the computer was being reset because the radars were down and it might take 10 to 15 minutes.”

    Passengers were still sitting on the grounded plane at 3.40pm.

    Passengers are delayed at Nelson Airport.

    Jonathan Carson

    Passengers are delayed at Nelson Airport.

    ‘NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE’

    Heather Davis, from Motueka, arrived at Auckland Airport domestic terminal with her daughter and granddaughter at 3.30pm when the air traffic control outage was broadcast over loudspeakers.

    Their 4.15pm flight to Nelson was cancelled and they were waiting to rebook.

    An Air New Zealand staff member told them the radar outage had never happened before.

    Davis said the delay was “slightly annoying, but obviously the air traffic control system is very important and we would rather they got it sorted, so we are happy to wait.”

     

    Source: www.stuff.co.nz