The Nation Newspaper

Tag: New Zealand

  • 49 killed, 20 injured in New Zealand mosque shootings

    A gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 20 during Friday prayers at two New Zealand mosques in the country’s worst ever mass shooting which Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, condemned as terrorism.

    A gunman broadcast live footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in the city of Christchurch, mirroring the carnage played out in video games, after publishing a “manifesto” in which he denounced immigrants.

    New Zealand was placed on its highest security threat level, Ardern said.

    It added that four people in police custody, three men and one woman, held extremist views but had not been on any police watch lists.

    The visiting Bangladesh cricket team was arriving for prayers at one of the mosques when the shooting started but all members were safe, a team coach said.

    Police Commissioner Mike Bush said 49 people had been killed at two mosques and one man in his late 20s charged with murder.

    “It is clear that this can now only be described as a terrorist attack,” Ardern said.

    Read Also: New Zealand PM Ardern pregnant with first child

    The video footage widely circulated on social media, apparently taken by a gunman and posted online live as the attack unfolded, showed him driving to one mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people inside.

    Worshipers, possibly dead or wounded, lay huddled on the floor, the video showed. Reuters was unable to confirm the authenticity of the footage.

    One man who said he was at the Al-Noor mosque told media the gunman was white, blond and wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest.

    The man burst into the mosque as worshippers were kneeling for prayers.

    “He had a big gun … he came and started shooting everyone in the mosque, everywhere,” said the man, Ahmad Al-Mahmoud.

    He said that he and others escaped by breaking through a glass door.

    All mosques in New Zealand had been asked to shut their doors, police said.

    The killings were condemned by political and Islamic leaders across Asia.

    “Indonesia strongly condemns this shooting act, especially at a place of worship while a Friday prayer was ongoing,” Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, said in a statement.

    She was earlier cited by media as saying six Indonesians had been inside one mosque when the attack occurred, with three managing to escape and three unaccounted for.

    Muslims account for just over one per cent of New Zealand’s population, a 2013 census showed.

    Before Friday, New Zealand’s worst mass shooting was in 1990 when a gun-mad loner killed 13 men, women and children in a 24-hour rampage in the tiny seaside village of Aramoana.

    He was killed by police.

    NAN

     

  • UK foreign minister attacks Google over ‘child abuse content’

    British Foreign Minister, Jeremy Hunt, accused Google ( GOOGL.O ) on Thursday of abandoning its moral values by failing to remove child abuse content while launching a version of its search engine in China that will block some websites.

    The government has repeatedly criticised online platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook for failing to remove abusive material or sexual content posted online even after they were notified.

    “Seems extraordinary that Google is considering censoring its content to get into China but won’t cooperate with UK, U.S. … in removing child abuse content,” Hunt said on Twitter.

    “They used to be so proud of being values-driven.”

    Alphabet’s Google plans a search engine in China that will block some search terms and websites, two sources told Reuters earlier this month, in a move that could mark its return to a market it abandoned eight years ago on censorship concerns.

    Google declined to comment on Hunt’s remarks.

    Britain, the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand invited major technology companies to attend a meeting on tackling child abuse and extremism on their websites, but the firms declined to attend, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.

    Read Also: Trump accuses Google of hiding ‘fair media’ coverage of him

    Google did offer to send an executive to the conference but the offer was not taken up, a source at the company said.

    In January, Prime Minister Theresa May used an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos to say investors should use their financial power to force internet firms into taking more responsibility for stopping militants and pedophiles using their platforms.

    Google, which quit China’s search engine market in 2010, has been actively seeking ways to re-enter China where many of its products are blocked by regulators.

    Leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have urged Google not to bow to censorship demands in China because by doing so, they allege, the company would be complicit in the repression of freedom of speech.

    Search terms about human rights, democracy, religion and peaceful protests will be among the words blacklisted in the search engine app, which The Intercept website said had already been demonstrated to the Chinese government.

    The project is code-named “Dragonfly” and has been under way since the spring of 2017, the news website said.

  • FIFA reduces number of officials for final phase of World Cup

    The FIFA Referees’ Committee (FRC) on Monday said it has reduced the number of match officials earlier slated for the final phase of the 2018 World Cup.
    Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of the committee, told reporters in Moscow, that 12 referees, 26 assistant referees and 10 Video Assistant Referees (VARs) have now been selected for the final phase.
    The News men that the phase, which include semi-finals, third-place and final stage matches, begin with the semi-finals on Tuesday in St. Petersburg.
    “Given the fact that there are only four games left to play, the number of referees has been reduced again.
    “Five referees and 11 assistant referees have been removed from the list we gave out after the second round.
    “But the VARs, which are 10 in number, still remain as earlier selected for the final phase,’’ Collina said.
    The News men reports that the committee had last Wednesday selected 17 referees, 37 assistant referees and 10 Video Assistant Referees (VARs) for the final phase of the tournament.
    Collina however did not explain why the action was taken.
    “I can only say it was all due to the number of matches remaining in the competition,’’ he said.

    Read Also: 10 candidates for football’s 2018 best player award – FIFA

    Collina added: “But at this point in time, the committee will like to thank all match officials who have been involved in the 2018 World Cup so far for their commitment and professionalism.’’
    The News men reports that the semi-final matches will see France take on Belgium on Tuesday in St Petersburg, while Croatia will face England on Wednesday in Moscow.

    The third-place match is slated for Saturday in St Petersburg, while the final match is billed for Sunday at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
    The new list of referees, from where match officials who would handle the final match of Sunday would be picked, has Alireza Faghani of Iran, Malang Diedhiou of Senegal, Mark Geiger of the U.S.
    Others are Cesar Palazuelos of Mexico, Andres Cunha of Uruguay, Nestor Pitana of Argentina, Sandro Ricci of Brazil and Matthew Conger of New Zealand, Cuneyt Cakir of Turkey, Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands, Milorad Mazic of Serbia and Gianluca Rocchi of Italy.
    Thirty six referees and 63 assistant referees were selected in March for the competition, alongside 13 VARs.
    They were picked from the 53 groups of three referees placed under FIFA’s watch for the competition since September 2014.

  • D’Tigers falter against New Zealand

    D’Tigers of Nigeria fell to New Zealand in their first game of the XXI Commonwealth Games holding in Australia 110-65.

    New Zealand dominated and won all the quarters on a night that the Ike Diogu-captained side will want to forget in a hurry as they focus on the next game against North American side, Canada today.

    After a close game in the first and second quarters which ended 24-15 and 26-20 respectively in favour of New Zealand, D’Tigers could not cope with the firepower of the team currently ranked 38 in the latest FIBA ranking in the third quarter as they widened the margin with a 31-8 scoreline before sealing the victory with another 29-22 points scoreline.

    Kano Pillars star man, Dike Azouma was the highest scorer for the team on the night scoring 15 points (with an 80 percent success from the 3 – point line), three rebounds and one assist, while ever reliable Diogu scored 12 points and seven rebounds.

    Making his national team debut, homeboy, Istfanus Yakubu scored 10 points with just about 14minutes on the floor with the technical crew giving all the players except Musa Usman a taste of action in the opening game.

    Reacting after the game, Coach Mohammed Abdulrahman who stood in alongside Aderemi Adewunmi for Alex Nwora said that apart from having a good day at the office, their opponents also dominated in rebounds and from the 3 point line.

    The head coach of Gombe Bulls Basketball Club conceded that his team met a more experienced side. “I don’t think anything went wrong, we just played against a team that is more experienced than we are. The New Zealand team has professional players earning good pay. To make it even worse, they had a great day. They shot well from the 3 – point line and dominated us in rebounds which played a major role in our defeat.”

    “The good thing is, we are going to get better going into the next game. We have learned that the only way we can get through this is to play as a team.”

  • Commonwealth Games: D’Tigers suffer shock defeat to N/Zealand

    The Nigerian national basketball teams, D’Tigers, were defeated on Friday by New Zealand in their first men’s preliminary round match at the on-going Commonwealth Games holding in Gold Coast, Australia.

    D’Tigers, who are in Pool A alongside hosts Australia, New Zealand and Canada, were dominated throughout the proceedings by the Tall Blacks, as the New Zealand basketball team are referred to.

    It was a shocking defeat on the part of D’Tigers, as New Zealand’s head coach Paul Henare was clearly wary of the Nigerian side before the match.

    Henara said about D’Tigers to reporters at his pre-match conference: “It has been a tough scout. They have gone into the depths of their talent pool with a few unknown guys here, but for us it is about focusing on ourselves and making sure we are at our best.

    “With the short preparation time we have to be at our best knowing that they will be athletic, physical and talented. We have to ensure we have done enough in our preparation to get past them.”

    However, the men from Down Under never looked back once they grabbed the lead in the first period, overpowering D’Tigers by 24-15 points.

    In the second period, D’Tigers put up a better show but fell short by 20-26 points.

    The third period saw the New Zealanders put up an overwhelming display, breezing pass D’Tigers 31-8 points, while the final period ended 22-29 in favour of the Tall Blacks.

    New Zealanders were without their major players playing top-flight basketball in the U.S and Europe. Tai and Corey Webster and Isaac Fotu, who are the Tall Blacks the biggest names, were missing since the recent FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

    It didn’t seem to affect the team as Thomas Abercrombie, Jordan Ngatai, Finn Delany and Robert Loe delivered top performance for New Zealand.

    Azuoma Dike was D’Tigers top performer with 15 points, six rebounds and one assist.

    Team captain Ike Diogu managed 12 points and 14 rebounds.

    New Zealand also ranked the lowest (38) in Pool A going into the Games.

    Australia are ranked 10th, while the other member of the group, Canada, are 23rd in FIBA ranking. Nigeria 32nd, six places ahead of the Tall Blacks.

    D’Tigers will look to put their disappointing start behind them as they take on Canada in their second Pool Game on Saturday at the Cairns Convention Centre at 5:00am Nigerian time.

    Canada earlier lost 55-95 to hosts Australia in the other Pool A game earlier decided.

     

     

  • More than 6bn people live in corrupt countries, study shows

    More than 6bn people live in corrupt countries, study shows

    More than six billion people live in countries that are corrupt, Transparency International said in a report on Wednesday.

    More than two-thirds of countries received a poor corruption score in study released on Wednesday, leaving most of the world’s population living in a country characterised as corrupt.

    The global average score of the Corruption Perceptions Index ( CDI ) 2017 by Transparency International was just 43 and 69 per cent of all countries scored less than 50, with 100 being the best possible score.

    “This means over six billion people live in countries that are corrupt,” Transparency International said in a brochure accompanying the release of the report.

    The report also said its findings are “disturbing” and that the majority of governments are moving “too slowly” on tackling corruption.

    The analysis used factors such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the freedom of organisations to operate and influence public policy transparently.

    The CDI then ranked 180 countries and territories from 1 to 100 based on perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople: A score of zero is “highly corrupt” and 100 is “very clean.”

    No country got a perfect score but New Zealand tops the list as the “cleanest” country – meaning its citizens perceived little corruption, with a score of 89, followed by Denmark at 88.

    Scandinavian countries enjoy high scores in the top 10 rankings.

    Germany placed 12, behind Singapore but ahead of Australia, Iceland and the U.S.

    Syria, South Sudan and Somalia scored the lowest.

    Transparency International said their results show countries that have low civil liberties also tend to score high for corruption and that corruption is linked to “shrinking space for civil society.”

    Countries that experience the worst corruption also have the least protection for press and non-governmental organizations, the group said.

    dpa/NAN

  • Eminem wins copyright case against political party

    Eminem wins copyright case against political party

    A New Zealand political party is to pay more than $400,000 to a U.S. rapper, Eminem, for using music similar to his in a television commercial to help win an election.

    A track entitled “Eminem Esque’’ which played during the National Party’s successful 2014 national election campaign, was found by a New Zealand court to have substantially copied Eminem’s 2002 hit – Lose Yourself .

    The court held that the National Party used the song 186 times during the campaign before taking the advert off the air.

    “This decision is a warning to sound-alike music producers and their clients everywhere,” Adam Simpson, director of Simpsons Solicitors, who acted for Eminem’s music company, Eight Mile Style, said in a statement.

    The National Party said that the music was licensed with one of New Zealand’s main industry copyright bodies, the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS).

    “Being licensed and available for purchase, and having taken advice from our suppliers, the party believed the purchase was legal,” National Party President Peter Goodfellow said in a statement.

    “The party is now considering the implications of the judgment and the next steps. We already have a claim against the suppliers and licensors of the track,’’ it said.

    The court found that Eight Mile Style was entitled to damages of NZ$600,000 ($413,000) with interest from June 28, 2014.

    “We anticipate that all the defendants will meet to discuss the implications of the decision in the very near future,” copyright body, AMCOS, said in an electronic mail.

    AMCOS hailed the decision as an important step toward resolution of the matter.

    The publisher had exclusive control over the song, and rarely gave permission for its use in advertising.

    “It was no coincidence that the works sounded the same.

    “The undeniable inference to be drawn from the evidence is that the composer of ‘Eminem Esque’ had ‘Lose Yourself’ in front of him at the time of composition,” it added.

  • FIFA Confederations Cup: Mexico came from behind to beat New Zealand

    FIFA Confederations Cup: Mexico came from behind to beat New Zealand

    Mexico scored twice in a busy second-half performance to overcome New Zealand 2-1 and destroy the All Whites’ dreams of securing their first Confederations Cup victory at the 11th attempt.

    New Zealand had the better of the first half on Wednesday at the Fisht Stadium in Socchi, Russia and went 1-0 up thanks to a nice goal from Chris Wood.

    But Mexico stormed back after the break and Raul Jimenez got the equaliser nine minutes into the second period of the Group A match.

    Javier Aquino dribbled in from the left and after an exchange of passes on the edge of the New Zealand box, Jimenez spun to fire high into the net.

    Mexico took control of the game and Oribe Peralta grabbed the winner from close range after 72 minutes when he swept home another incisive cross from Aquino.

    Mexico ended the day as Group A leaders with four points, ahead of Portugal on goal difference.

    Hosts Russia are in third with three points and New Zealand have none.

    In continuation of their 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup campaign, all four sides return on Saturday to see whether they will advance to the semi-finals.

    Russia will face Mexico, needing a win to be sure of progress with a draw being sufficient for their opponents, while Portugal are expected to beat New Zealand to top the group.

  • Ndidi’s award excites Amiesimaka

    Ndidi’s award excites Amiesimaka

    Ex-Green Eagles Winger, Adokiye Amiesimaka, says recent young player award bestowed on Wilfred Ndidi by English Premiership Club, Leicester, is a big plus for Nigerian football.

    Ndidi, 20, a Super Eagles midfielder and former Nigerian youth international, joined the EPL side from Genk FC of Belgium.

    Amiesimaka told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone from Port Harcourt on Wednesday that the award by the former league champions showed that Ndidi was a top quality player.

    “For him to be given such an award by Leicester who won the Premier League only last season is obviously a plus.

    “It means he is a top quality player and its impact on us here is good, by virtue of the fact that he is a member of the national team,’’ he said.

    Amiesimaka, former Chairman, Sharks FC of Port Harcourt, said the award was also an indication that Nigerian football had a quality player in one of the best organised leagues in the world.

    “Even more importantly is what we’ll do with that plus, how do we make the most of that in the national team and how will it benefit us?’’ he said.

    He said that the derivation of the award should be translated to his optimal use in the national team to achieve good results in major national and international matches.

    Amiesimaka said that the welfare of Ndidi and other members of the national team should be a priority to excel in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and Russia 2018 World Cup qualifying matches.

    NAN reports that Ndidi started his career playing for the Lagos-based Nath Boys Academy in the Lagos Junior League (J-League) and won numerous accolades.

    He then played as a central defender for Nigeria’s youth team, the Golden Eaglets in 2013 for the African U-17 Championship.

    He later played for the Manu Garba U-20 youth team of Nigeria that played in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

    Ndidi was called up to the Senior Nigeria team, the Super Eagles, on Oct. 8, 2015, making his debut in the friendly game against DR Congo.

    He also played again a few days later in the 3-0 win against Cameroon, when he replaced Mikel Obi in the 63rd minutes.

    He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

     

  • Study opens door to new treatments for diabetes – Researchers

    A New study that was released by some researchers in the University of Otago and Aucklandon on Tuesday said that Women who took a naturally occurring probiotic were less likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy.

    Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your health, especially your digestive system.

    The joint study by the universities of Otago and Auckland involved the probiotic, Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001, which was used to make fermented milk products such as yoghurt.

    The report said that it was given in capsule form to 194 women from early pregnancy, while 200 women received a placebo.

    Gestational diabetes was assessed at 24 to 30 weeks gestation.

    “Using the current New Zealand definition for gestational diabetes, 6.5 per cent of the women had diabetes in the placebo group, versus 2.1 per cent in the probiotic group.

    “This is a 68 per cent reduction.

    “We found that the protective effects were stronger among older women and were stronger among women who had previously had gestational diabetes,” said study leader Professor Julian Crane, of the University of Otago.

    Fasting blood glucose was also significantly lower among women taking the probiotic compared to placebo.

    “This is an exciting result suggesting that this probiotic may be interacting with the normal gut bacteria in some way to reduce glucose levels in pregnancy,” he said.

    The researchers previously showed that the same probiotic had effects on the immune system and reduced eczema by 50 per cent in infancy.

    Crane said that the next steps would be to investigate whether the probiotic could reduce the increasingly common risk in the population of developing diabetes.