News in Brief
Nanaia Mahuta under fire
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| Nanaia Mahuta |
1/ Under fire for criticising Roe v Wade ruling despite voting against NZ's abortion reform
The US Supreme Court has struck down the Roe v. Wade ruling — and reaction has been fierce.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta is being criticised after she called the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade "draconian" despite voting against abortion reform two years ago.
In 2020, the Abortion Legislation Bill, which took abortion out of the Crimes Act, was voted in with 68 votes in favour to 51 against. It meant abortion was no longer a crime in Aotearoa.
It was a conscience vote which meant MPs could vote based on what they believed, not on party lines.
Of the 46 Labour MPs who voted, 37 voted for and 9 voted against. The MPs who voted against it were Anahila Kanongata'a-Suisuiki, Nanaia Mahuta, Damien O'Connor, MPfor West Coast-Tasman, Greg O'Connor, Adrian Rurawhe, Jenny Salesa, Jamie Strange, Rino Tirikatene, and Meka Whaitiri.
Of the 55 National MPs, 19 voted in favour and 35 voted against. The nine Green MPs all voted in favour along with ACT leader David Seymour.
2/ New Seats
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| DONATED SEAT BY MENZSHED MOTUEKE |
4/ Building fire, Motueka
Saturday, 25 June 2022 - 12:58pm | Tasman Police
Police are appealing for information from the public, following a building fire on Greenwood Street, Motueka yesterday morning.
Police, alongside Fire and Emergency New Zealand, are working to establish the circumstances around the fire, which is now being treated as suspicious.
Police would like to hear from anyone with any information about the fire.
We are particularly interested in speaking with anyone who was in the immediate vicinity of the fire, between 6:45am and 8:30am on Friday and saw anything out of the ordinary.
5/ Inflation
I’ve glimpsed our hyper-inflationary future.
The Bank of England says it expects inflation to rise to “around 11%” this year in England.
Commentators reckon "they're a bit behind the curve there, chaps. My Planet Normal co-pilot, the economist Liam Halligan, has been saying for several months that inflation is already well into double digits. Who knows, if the complaisant bankers were to lift their bespectacled gaze from their mathematical models and pop down the corner shop to buy a loaf of bread and a few other bits they might see what everyone who lives in the real world sees. Prices are rising…"
The same thing with inflation is happening in God's own. You can't shut down countries and fork out millions of dollars without some consequences that will come home to roost. Our 6% inflation could very well be much higher and shooting towards double digits. All those who shop well know it.
6/ An ailing Queen hands more power to Prince Charles to act on her behalf:
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| Queen's Platinum Jubilee official photo supplied |
Prince Charles gives blessing to Commonwealth countries that sever ties with Royal family.
The Prince of Wales gave his blessing on Friday (Saturday NZT) to Commonwealth countries that want to sever ties with the Royal family, insisting that such change can be made “calmly and without rancour”.
Prince Charles, 73, told prime ministers and presidents gathered for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, that whether members wanted the Queen as head of State or become a republic was a matter for them alone.
His comments come at a pivotal time with several countries, including Jamaica and Australia, poised to follow Barbados in removing the Queen as head of state.
There are fears that many others will become republics when the Prince becomes King, having maintained ties with the Royal Family only out of respect and loyalty to the Queen.
7/ Worlds biggest cruse ship the Global Dream 11’s Maiden Voyage to a Scrapyard
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| Global Dream 11 |
What was set to be the world’s largest curse ship by passenger capacity is being sent to the scrapyard - before it ever had a chance to set sail.
The 9,000-passenger, 20-deck vessel, Global Dream II, was designed with an outdoor waterpark and a plush cinema, but has never left the dock.
Unfortunately, you read that right. The Global Dream II is heading nowhere but to a scrapyard instead.
According to a report by The Guardian, the lower hull of Global Dream II is scheduled for disposal. Construction of the cruise ship has almost been completed in Germany.
Why is this so? The ship's builders, MV Werften, filed for banktruptcy in January. Per the report, "the ship needed to be moved out of MV Werften's Wismar shipyard by the end of the year because the yard had been sold to Thyssenkrupp's naval unit, which plans to build military vessels there."
A report by Interesting Engineering notes that, given the bankruptcy filing, administrators have been trying to monetize MV Werften's assets.
Global Dream II's hull has been completed with engines already and "the insolvency administrators are looking to sell the engines and machine parts, after which the hull will be sold at scrap value," the report adds.
8/ Oslo shooting
Two people killed and many injured in attack at gay bar
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| Oslo Norway (Late Saturday our time) Twitter |
Two people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured in a mass shooting near a gay bar in the Norwegian capital Oslo, according to the police.
The shooting took place early on Saturday in the downtown area of Oslo, the police said.
The shooter reportedly opened fire right outside a popular gay bar called The London Pub and it extended to a neighbouring club and nearby streets.
“Two people are confirmed dead,” the Oslo police department said in a tweet. Some 14 people were taken to hospital, several with severe injuries, police said.
A male suspect believed to be the sole perpetrator was apprehended, police told reporters. The identity of the suspected has not been revealed.
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| Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and prime minister Jonas Gahr Store visit the scene of the shooting at the London Pub in Oslo. |
Terrified revellers at a gay bar in Oslo hid in a basement and desperately called loved ones as a gunman went on the rampage, killing two people and injuring 21 on the day the city was due to celebrate its annual Pride parade.
Authorities said the suspect, a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin, was believed to be a radicalised Islamist with a history of mental illness who had been known to intelligence services since 2015.
The suspect will be subjected to a psychiatric evaluation in the coming days as part of the investigation, police said.
The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday, with victims shot inside and outside the London Pub, a long-standing hub of Oslo's LGBTQ scene, as well as in the surrounding streets and at one other bar in the centre of the Norwegian capital.
The deceased were two men in their 50s and 60s, police said.
"Everything indicates that this has been an attack by an Islamist extremist," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.
"We don't (yet) know if the queer community was the intended target, but we know it is a victim."
Bili Blum-Jansen, who was in the London Pub, said he fled to the basement to escape the hail of bullets and hid there along with 80 to 100 other people.
"Many called their partners and family, it felt almost as if they were saying good-bye. Others helped calm down those who were extremely terrified," he told TV2.
"I had a bit of panic and thought that if the shooter or shooters were to arrive, we'd all be dead. There was no way out."
Rainbow flags symbolising the Pride community were on prominent display across Oslo this week, but Saturday's planned parade was cancelled on the advice of police.
"Last night the rainbow was coloured black," said Anette Trettebergstuen, Norway's minister of culture and equality and herself a prominent campaigner for LGBTQ rights.
'Crying and screaming'
While the official parade was called off, several thousand people held a spontaneous march in central Oslo, waving rainbow flags and chanting in English: "We're here, we're queer, we won't disappear."
Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit and their youngest child, 16-year-old Prince Sverre Magnus, later joined the prime minister and other officials to lay red and white roses near the London Pub.
"We must protect the right in Norway to love whomever we want," Haakon told reporters.
The suspect was detained minutes after embarking on the shooting spree, according to police, who said they believed he acted alone. Two weapons, including a fully automatic gun, were retrieved from the crime scene, they added.
The man has declined to be interrogated by police, his lawyer John Christian Elden told public broadcaster NRK.
Witnesses described the chaos that erupted inside and outside the London Pub, which has been open since 1979.
"Many people were crying and screaming, the injured were screaming, people were distressed and scared - very, very scared," said Marcus Nybakken, 46, who had left the bar shortly before the shooting and returned later to help.
"My first thought was that Pride was the target, so that's frightening."
Journalist Olav Roenneberg of broadcaster NRK said he was in the area at the time and saw a man arrive with a bag, take out a gun and start to shoot: "Then I saw windows breaking and understood that I had to take cover."
Widespread condemnation
European leaders condemned the shooting, as did the White House.
"I am shocked by the heinous attack on innocent people in Oslo," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.
"No-one should have to fear for their life or well-being simply for who they are."
French President Emmanuel Macron, writing in both French and Norwegian on his official Twitter account, expressed his sympathies. "We stand stronger against hate if we stand together," he said.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council, told reporters on board Air Force One the Biden administration had been in touch with Norway to offer condolences and support.
"We're all horrified by the mass shooting in Oslo today targeting the LGBTQI+ community there and our hearts obviously go out to the all the families of the victims, the people of Norway, which is a tremendous ally, and of course the LGBTQI+ community there and around the world," he said.
Norwegian security authorities raised the country's terrorism threat assessment to its highest level following the attack, in which 21 people were also wounded, 10 of them severely.
The police, who are not normally armed, will carry guns until further notice, it said.
Other major events in the capital went ahead as planned on Saturday, police and organisers said, including a large outdoor music festival and a soccer match between the women's teams of Norway and New Zealand.
The shooting took place just months after Norway marked 50 years since the abolition of a law that criminalised gay sex.
The Nordic nation of 5.4 million has lower crime rates than many Western countries, though it has experienced hate-motivated shootings, including when far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.
- Reuters
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