A University of Otago study shows that the tell-tale legacy in rural South Island areas of pesticides banned many years ago remains, regardless of the type of sheep and beef farming now taking place on the land. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
The families of 29 miners killed in a New Zealand pit explosion said Thursday they were “gutted” by a police decision not to lay manslaughter charges over the 2010 disaster.
Police informed the families on Wednesday night that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the charges against the managers of the Pike River colliery.
“I’m pretty gutted with the decision,” said Neville Rockhouse, whose son Ben died in the November 2010 blast at the South Island mine.
“At the end of the day, this disaster will be remembered as a systemic failure and it’s not,” he told Radio New Zealand.
“It’s all about a few people and the corporate greed that they had… as a consequence I’ve lost my son.”
The explosion, caused when a build-up of methane ignited, was New Zealand’s worst mining disaster in almost a century and subsequent government reports outlined serious safety breaches at the pit.
But police said they lacked the direct evidence needed to prove any of the mine’s managers were guilty of manslaughter, despite an investigation that lasted more than two-and-a-half years.
“The lack of any causative link to the specific events which led to the explosion means a manslaughter prosecution of any individual does not meet the standard of evidential sufficiency,” they said in a statement.
Another spokesman for the bereaved families, Bernie Monk, said they would consider a private prosecution following the “bitterly disappointing” police decision.
“There are people we can prosecute and departments we can prosecute,” he told TVNZ.
“There’s no accountability here. We want accountability and I think the country should have accountability.”
The company that owned the mine, Pike River Coal, was found guilty of multiple safety breaches earlier this year and ordered to pay NZ$3.4 million ($2.7 million) compensation to the families.
However, it went into receivership shortly after the disaster and does not have the assets to meet the order.
Pike River’s former chief executive Peter Whittall has pleaded not guilty to 12 workplace safety charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of a NZ$250,000 ($198,000), and is expected to go on trial early next year.
The disaster claimed the lives of 24 New Zealanders, two Australians, two Britons and a South African.
Their remains are still entombed about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) into the mine shaft, with recovery teams unable to reach them because of fears that volatile gases remain in the pit.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
All Blacks great Richie McCaw ended a seven-month break from rugby in a humble amateur match on Saturday before declaring himself ready to return to the professional fray.
A game for enthusiastic weekend warriors that would normally attract a few hundred hardy spectators instead drew thousands as word spread that one of New Zealand’s highest-paid professional sportsmen would take part.
McCaw, a 116-Test veteran and three-time world player of the year, has been on a sabbatical since the All Blacks lost to England 38-21 on the finely-manicured turf at Twickenham last December.
He returned to play on a muddy suburban paddock in the main South Island city of Christchurch where his Christchurch club side beat University 22-5.
After playing the full 80 minutes, McCaw said he felt ready to rejoin the Canterbury Crusaders at Super 15 level next week ahead of the four-nation Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship Test series which starts next month.
“It would be nice to be involved with the Crusaders, but that’s a discussion I have to have,” he said of returning to the pitch for the Super Rugby playoffs.
“If that turns out to be the case, playing next week, I don’t see that being a a problem. I’m sure it will be fine,” he said.
McCaw looked rusty at first, dropping the ball the first time it went his way, and confessed he had “heavy legs” for the last quarter of the game.
But overall he produced a solid performance which impressed his Crusaders Super 15 coach Todd Blackadder who was on the sideline.
However, Blackadder was non-committal whether he would rush McCaw back into the side for next weekend’s opening round of the Super Rugby finals.
The fourth-placed Crusaders booked a home playoff with a 25-17 win over the Wellington Hurricanes Friday night.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
New Zealand navy divers have recovered the bodies of an American wireless executive and his wife after the plane he was piloting crashed in the South Pacific.
Eric Hertz, an experienced amateur pilot, radioed authorities March 30 to say an engine had failed on the couple’s twin-engine Beechcraft Baron. He and his wife Kathy, a university employee, had left from an airport near Auckland bound for the South Island town of Timaru.
Divers recovered a second body Sunday after recovering the first Saturday near Kawhia Harbour, about 93 miles south of Auckland. Divers also recovered plane parts from the wreckage about 184 feet below water.
Hertz, 58, had been chief executive of New Zealand‘s Two Degrees Mobile since 2009. He’d previously been chief executive at Seattle’s Zumobi and held senior positions at Western Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Bell South, CellularONE and McCaw Cellular.
In New Zealand, Hertz helped launch Two Degrees as a competitor to the dominant wireless providers, Telecom and Vodafone. The company is majority owned by Washington state-based Trilogy International, co-founded by wireless pioneer John Stanton. Two Degrees has named Trilogy’s Stewart Sherriff as interim chief executive.
Kathy Picone Hertz, 64, worked for the Auckland University of Technology, helping youth prepare for the workforce.
In a statement, the families of the couple thanked rescue teams for their efforts in the challenging ocean conditions and said they looked forward to one day understanding what happened.
“The recovery of Eric and Kathy, along with the wreckage of the aircraft, is of immense relief to us all,” the families wrote. “Knowing that they can rest together in peace and that we can say our farewells is of huge comfort at this time.”
A private memorial service has been scheduled Thursday in Auckland.
The couple is survived by daughter Ari Hertz.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
New Zealand navy divers have recovered the bodies of American wireless executive Eric Hertz and his wife Kathy after their small plane crashed in the South Pacific.
Divers recovered a second body Sunday from the wreck of the couple’s twin-engine Beechcraft Baron at a depth of 56 meters (184 feet). They recovered the first body Saturday near Kawhia Harbour, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Auckland. Divers were also able to recover pieces of the plane.
Hertz, an experienced amateur pilot, radioed authorities March 30 to say the engine had failed. The couple had left from an airport near Auckland bound for the South Island town of Timaru.
Hertz, 58, had been chief executive of New Zealand‘s Two Degrees Mobile since 2009. He’d previously been chief executive at Seattle’s Zumobi and held senior positions at Western Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Bell South, CellularONE and McCaw Cellular.
In New Zealand, Hertz helped launch Two Degrees as a competitor to the dominant wireless providers, Telecom and Vodafone. The company is majority owned by Washington state-based Trilogy International, co-founded by wireless pioneer John Stanton. Two Degrees has named Trilogy’s Stewart Sherriff as interim chief executive.
Kathy Picone Hertz, 64, worked for the Auckland University of Technology, helping youth prepare for the workforce.
In a statement, the families of the couple thanked rescue teams for their efforts in the challenging ocean conditions and said they looked forward to one day understanding what happened.
“The recovery of Eric and Kathy, along with the wreckage of the aircraft, is of immense relief to us all,” the families wrote. “Knowing that they can rest together in peace and that we can say our farewells is of huge comfort at this time.”
A private memorial service has been scheduled Thursday in Auckland.
The couple is survived by daughter Ari Hertz.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News