New Zealand Prime Minister John Key defined as 'unidentified' at Nelson Mandela memorial service

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SPARE a thought for New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, or as he is known in the rest of the world, the "unidentified guest".

Domestically, polls show he's been a popular leader. But during each of his big moments on the international stage, he seems to attract another small insult that feeds into a wider anxiety among New Zealanders that their country just isn't much noticed or taken seriously.

The latest incident came this week when Mr Key was photographed by the European Pressphoto Agency joking with his British counterpart at Nelson Mandela's funeral. The caption? "British Prime Minister David Cameron (R) laughs with an unidentified guest ..."

A small insult to be sure, but one that received plenty of media attention in the nation of 4.5 million, especially after the photo ran on the New York Daily News website. The caption has since been updated.

But it seemed to fit a pattern. In 2011, Mr Key was jubilant after President Obama agreed to meet with him in the Oval Office. At the subsequent press conference, however, Mr Obama repeatedly referred to him as "Prime Minister Keyes". Perhaps the worst part was that nobody seemed to notice.

When he visited the Queen this year, the Daily Mail newspaper described "Kay" as a "galloping colonial clot" for breaking royal protocol by discussing his visit and releasing a photo of himself in the Queen's private sitting room. Never mind that it wasn't Mr Key, but a reporter who had taken and distributed the picture.

Then there was Mr Key's goofy 2009 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman , during which Mr Key read out the top 10 reasons to visit New Zealand. Letterman asked the Prime Minister whether the nation was near Tasmania, how many years the plane ride had taken, and whether New Zealand got mail.

Key figure ... British Prime Minister David Cameron (R) speaks with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott (L) and the correctly identified New Zealand Prime Minster John Key (C) during the Mandela memorial service.

"Why is he out here Paul?" Letterman asked his band leader, Paul Shaffer.

Perhaps part of the problem for New Zealanders is that their country usually functions well enough not to receive the negative attention that keeps other nations in the media spotlight. Corruption, crime and unemployment are all low compared with other countries. Life, for the most part, is pretty good - if a little quiet.

Director Peter Jackson, for one, has done his part to keep New Zealand in the international consciousness with his five films - and counting - about the fictional hobbits, elves and dragons that inhabit Middle-earth.

Kiwi ambassador ... Martin Freeman stars as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movies. Source: Supplied

But New Zealanders' existential worry about their place in the world runs deep. The comedy duo Flight of the Conchords regularly tapped into this feeling. In one episode of their former HBO television series, a fruit vendor insults them after mistaking them for Australians.

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Biak Massacre Citizen's Tribunal at Sydney University finds security forces intentionally killed, raped children

Indonesian anti-riot police arresting a West Papuan pro-separatist. Source: AFP

INDONESIAN security forces intentionally killed and raped children along with a large number of civilians at a massacre on the West Papuan island of Biak, a tribunal has found.

The secret massacre which has been denied for years by Indonesia was officially detailed by a citizen's tribunal which brought down its findings in Sydney today.

It found the Indonesian military butchered dozens of West Papuan civilians who had been protesting for freedom in 1998.

They shot children in their school uniforms, raped women, tortured survivors and mutilated victims before two Indonesian navy vessels dumped their bodies out to sea, the tribunal found.

The badly broken corpses, some missing legs or heads, appeared in fishermen's nets and washed up on the shore in the days that followed.

Nobody has been prosecuted.

The Biak Massacre Citizen's Tribunal was conducted at Sydney University in the manner of a coroner's inquest before jurists Keith Suter and John Dowd, with former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery acting as counsel assisting.

The tribunal heard the events began about 5am on July 2 when Nobel Peace prize nominee and political prisoner Filep Karma raised the West Papuan morning star flag at a water tower.

A crowd of about 75 people were singing and dancing, shouting freedom slogans.

Indonesian police and military fired tear gas to disperse the crowd that afternoon, to no effect.

A police officer then beat an elderly demonstrator and the crowd retaliated by demolishing a truck belonging to the Indonesian security forces.

A stand-off ensued for days with the crowd refusing to lower their flag which has been banned since Indonesia annexed the province in 1969.

Indonesian security forces surrounded the protesters at dawn on July 6, gathering in the shape of a giant letter U before firing into the crowd.

"Bullets were raining down," said a woman who cannot be identified.

"The sky was on fire."

Civilians heard the commotion and rushed to the water tower to see the men and women gunned down.

Survivors were herded towards the harbour where the Indonesian Navy was waiting for them at the wharf.

One survivor named "Sarah" told the tribunal her family followed others with their hands above their heads.

"You could feel the bullets starting to fly … I could see so many children who had been killed. They were shot on the wharf."

Bodies were loaded on two Indonesian navy vessels, the KRI Teluk Berau and the KRI Kakap, before being dumped at sea.

Sarah said she saw a truck take at least 28 bodies away from the wharf. Nobody knows where they were taken. A container truck loaded more bodies later, she said.

Another survivor, Tineke Rumakabu, described how she was tossed into a truck and taken to a military compound where she was tortured by Indonesian soldiers.

"I saw a little girl and they raped her and she died."

Ms Rumakabu said out of 12 women in detention with her, eight were killed and only four survived.

The Tribunal found the Indonesian Government has downplayed the seriousness of the incident and no action had been taken against those responsible.

It called on Indonesia to hold an independent judicial inquiry into the massacre with criminal proceedings brought against those involved and compensation paid to the survivors and the families of the victims.

The Indonesian Government declined to comment.

President of International Commission of Jurists Australia John Dowd, one of the Judicial Members to preside over the tribunal said: "No-one who heard any of the evidence would ever forget it."

He said particularly disturbing was the sexual mutilation which appears to be a systemic feature of the oppression of West Papua.

They intend to present the evidence to the Australian, Indonesian and US governments at a later date.

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Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young decries the conditions in Nauru detention centre

Speaking up about the detention centre on Nauru ... Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. Source: News Limited

The living conditions for children at the Nauru detention camp are "heart wrenching'', Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says.

The senator has just returned from a four-day trip to the Pacific nation, where she toured the Australian offshore detention facilities housing asylum seekers.

She is expected to give more detail about what she saw at a press conference in Sydney today.

The camps, located in the middle of a phosphate mine, house single adult males and families separately in conditions Senator Hanson-Young described as "harsh''.

There was no grass or shade at the facilities, or space for children to play.

"They live 24/7 on gravel, housed in tents, where it is upwards of 40 degrees,'' she told Sky News on Thursday.

"They can't escape that.''

Senator Hanson-Young decried the fact that so close to Christmas, children in the centres had no toys or a school to attend and were confused about why they were being detained.

All detainees she encountered referred to the facilities as prisons, reflecting the "horrendous reality'' of the offshore detention policy supported by the federal government and Labor.

"The reality is we are destroying the lives of these children,'' she said.

The United Nations refugee agency in November warned that asylum seekers being detained at Australia's offshore centres were being subjected to arbitrary, mandatory and indefinite detention in unsafe and inhumane conditions.

Officials inspected detention centres at Nauru and PNG's Manus Island in October, finding harsh conditions there failed to meet international standards.

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Mohammed Badshah Ansari who raped Spanish tourist gets life in India

Rapist gets life ... Mohammad Badshah alias Mohammad Ismail Ansari has been given a life sentence for raping a 28-year-old Spanish tourist in Mumbai twice while threatening her with a knife. Source: Supplied

A RAPIST who attacked a young Spanish woman at knifepoint after breaking into her apartment in Mumbai was jailed for life in India.

Mohammed Badshah Ansari was handed the sentence after a trial heard how the 28-year-old broke into the flat through a window in November last year and then raped the victim twice while threatening her with a knife.

The victim - who had travelled to India to learn classical music - left for Germany after the attack but testified about her ordeal via video link. She cannot be named for legal reasons.

"The court has to keep in mind the interest of the society at large and the case does not have any ground for leniency,'' Judge Shalini Phansalkar Joshi said as he announced the sentence in Mumbai.

Ansari, who has a long criminal record, was found guilty earlier this month of rape, robbery, criminal intimidation and trespass after his trial in the Mumbai sessions court.

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He had pleaded for leniency as he has a family who is dependent on him.

The sentencing comes as India prepares to mark the first anniversary of the death of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who had been gang-raped on a moving bus in the capital New Delhi.

The attack on the bus triggered massive protests over the levels of violence against women in a country where there have been several high-profile sex attacks against foreigners in recent months.

A judge last week sentenced three Nepalese men to 20 years in jail for the gang-rape of a US tourist in June in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Six men were sentenced to life in prison in July for the gang-rape and robbery of a 39-year-old Swiss woman cyclist holidaying in the central state of Madhya Pradesh four months earlier.

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Python kills security guard Ambar Arianto Mulyo outside Bali Hyatt hotel

On the loose... Police are searching for a 4.5-metre long python that strangled a security guard to death outside a popular Bali hotel. Source: Supplied

A PYTHON strangled a security guard near a luxury hotel in Bali then escaped into nearby bushes following the deadly attack, police and a hotel employee who witnessed the incident said.

The incident happened around 3am as the 4.5-meter-long python was slithering across a road near the Bali Hyatt hotel, said Agung Bawa, an assistant security manager at the hotel, which is closed for renovations until 2015.

The victim, Ambar Arianto Mulyo, was a 59-year-old security guard at a nearby restaurant.

He had offered to help capture the snake, which had apparently been spotted several times before near the hotel, located in Bali's Sanur area, Mr Bawa said.

Mulyo managed to secure the snake's head and tail and put it on his shoulders, but the python wrapped itself around his body and strangled him, said Bawa, who was present during the attack.

People watching the incident were unable or unwilling to help and called the police, who came but failed to save the man. The python escaped into nearby bushes, and police were still searching for it.

Denpasar police Capt. Gusti Ngurah Yudistira said Mulyo died of suffocation.

"It happened so fast," Mr Bawa said. "We were sad because we could not do anything to help him."

Capt. Yudistira warned people to be alert since the snake was still on the loose in the area, which is popular with tourists.

Deadly attacks on adult humans by pythons are rare, but have been documented before.

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Darrin Spivey and son Dillon Sanchez die during Christmas dive in Florida

Divers dead ... Darrin Spivey, 35, and his 15-year-old son Dillon Sanchez. Source: Supplied

A FATHER and his 15-year-old son died while they were testing new diving equipment they received as Christmas presents.

The bodies of Darrin Spivey, 35, and his son Dillon Sanchez were found on Christmas night in an underwater cave they were exploring in Weeki Wachi, Florida, according to the Tampa Tribune.

The newspaper said the pair arrived at the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Refuge around 11am on Wednesday to dive into the 300-foot Eagles Nest Sink -- a complex and dangerous cave system.

Spivey’s fiancé Holly King became concerned when the two didn’t return in the afternoon and she couldn’t reach Spivey on his mobile phone.

Ms King then drove herself to the dive site and alerted the authorities when she found their car around 7pm.

Recovery divers began searching the waters an hour later and found both bodies by midnight. Sanchez’s body was discovered just inside the cave at 67 feet and his father’s further at 127 feet.

"It was very unfortunate," Assistant Hernando County Fire Chief Kevin Carroll said told the Tribune. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends."

Friends said Spivey was a certified diver but not a certified cave diver, and Sanchez was not a certified diver.
 

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Mikhail Kalashnikov to get heroes' funeral in Russia

'National hero'... Mikhail Kalashnikov shows a model of his world-famous AK-47 assault rifle at home in the Ural Mountains city of Izhevsk, east of Moscow, in 2007. Source: AP

RUSSIA will bury Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the iconic AK-47 assault rifle that was the favoured weapon of guerrillas worldwide, at a newly-opened cemetery for national heroes.

Kalashnikov, who died on Monday at the age of 94, was to receive a funeral with full state honours and be buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery (FVMK) in Mytishchi outside Moscow, the defence ministry said.

His burial would be marked by a final salute of shots fired from the AK-47s that he designed, the ministry said in a statement.

The cemetery aims to be what Russian media describes as a "pantheon" for military heroes and also top statesmen. The cemetery was opened by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in June this year.

Initial reports after his death said that Kalashnikov was to be buried in the city of Izhevsk in the central Udmurtia region where he spent most of his working life.

However it appears officials decided he was a figure of such national significance he needed to be buried in the new cemetery and not in the provinces.

Kalashnikov's coffin was on Thursday flown to Moscow from Izhevsk where some 60,000 people paid their last respects to him in two days of mourning.

Kalashnikov designed a weapon that became synonymous with killing on a sometimes indiscriminate scale. But he has been seen in the Soviet Union and modern Russia as a national hero and symbol of Moscow's proud military tradition.

Despite the fame of his invention and being garlanded with national honours, Kalashnikov barely profited financially from his exploits and lived out his life modestly in Izhevsk.

Kalashnikov began designing the machine gun during six months leave after being wounded in 1941 in the early battles against Nazi forces in World War II that showed up the deficiencies in Soviet weaponry.

His superiors saw his talent and encouraged his work and in 1945 entered a prototype of the rifle into a competition. In 1947, the design was recommended for use in the Soviet army.

Kalashnikov is one of the first people to be given the honour of being buried in the new cemetery. Also buried there are the remains of an unknown soldier killed in battles outside Smolensk in 1941.

The weapons designer was showered with every possible major prize in the Soviet Union - Hero of Socialist Labour and winner of the Lenin and Stalin prizes. Modern Russia in 2009 gave him its highest honour - Hero of Russia.

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Pussy Riot punk rockers want Putin out of power and replaced with freed tycoon Mikhail Khordorkovsky

Speaking out...Russian punk band Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, right, and Maria Alekhina at a Moscow press conference, their first since being released from prison. Picture: AP Source: AP

A FREED member of the Pussy Riot punk band said the rockers still want Russian President Vladimir Putin out of power, adding she would like freed ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky to stand in elections and replace him.

"As far as Vladimir Putin is concerned, our attitude towards him has not changed,'' Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said alongside her bandmate Maria Alyokhina, speaking at their first news conference since their release earlier this week.

"We would still like to do what they put us in jail for. We would still like to drive him out.''

In February 2012, several members of Pussy Riot jumped around the altar of the church and sang what they called a "punk prayer'' calling on the Virgin Mary to "drive Putin out.''

They said they were denouncing political ties between Mr Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church and had not wanted to offend believers.

Tolokonnikova said she would like Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was last week released under a pardon, to run for president.

"I would very much like to invite Mikhail Borisovich to this post,'' referring to the former oil oligarch, who spent more than a decade in jail, by his first name and patronymic.

Freed...Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos oil company chairman who was charged with embezzlement and tax evasion, speaks in Berlin after his shock release from prison after a decade. Picture: Getty

"I am in solidarity with that,'' added Alyokhina.

Asked at the news conference to describe Mr Putin, Tolokonnikova said he was "closed, non-transparent'' and "a chekist,'' using a Soviet-era term for a member of security services.

Earlier on Friday the young women, who both have small children, arrived back in Moscow after reuniting in Siberia.

Alyokhina, 25, had already passed through Moscow after being released from her prison colony on her way to meet Tolokonnikova, 24 just after her release from detention in Siberia.

Their release two months early from their two-year prison terms came after an amnesty backed by Mr Putin.

After the stunt at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral band members Alyokhina, Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 31, were identified, arrested and in August 2012 found guilty on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.

Samutsevich was released in October after being given a suspended sentence, but a Moscow city court upheld on appeal the two-year prison camp terms for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina.
 

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Ohio woman Contisha Hayews 'stabs twin Tamara Delaney over apple fritter' in Christmas fight

Ohio woman Tamara Delaney is in hospital after allegedly being stabbed in the chest by her twin sister during a Christmas day fight over an apple fritter. Picture: Facebook Source: Facebook

Contisha Hayes allegedly stabbed her twin sister Tamara Delaney in a fight over an apple fritter on Christmas evening. Picture: Summit County Sheriff's Office Source:Supplied

A US woman is in jail after allegedly stabbing her twin sister during a fight over an apple fritter on Christmas.

Twin sisters Contisha Hayes and Tamara Delaney, 21, were cooking the apple fritter in the kitchen of their Akron, Ohio home with another sister when they "started to play fight," investigators told the Akron Beacon Journal.

However, things turned serious when one sister pulled Hayes’ hair, prompting her to allegedly grab a knife and stab Delaney in the chest.

Delaney was rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after someone in the home called emergency 911.

Hayes was charged with felony assault and is in Summit County Jail.

The incident occurred around 11.30pm on Christmas. Earlier, their sister Kia Delaney posted a photo of the disputed apple fritter on her Facebook page, writing “Apple fritter all done yum yum.”

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Spanish mother gives birth in secret, throws baby boy out the window

Newborn...A new mother who kept her pregnancy a secret from her family gave birth to a baby boy, cut the chord and then threw her son out the window. Picture: Thinkstock Source: ThinkStock

A SPANISH woman gave birth in secret on Christmas Eve, cut the umbilical chord herself and threw the newborn out of the kitchen window, police said on Friday.

The baby boy is now in hospital in a "serious condition'', a police spokesman said.

The 35-year-old woman, who lived with her parents in eastern Madrid, was detained on suspicion of attempting to kill the baby, police said.

"The woman wrapped the baby in a pair of jeans and threw it out of the kitchen window into an interior patio,'' police said in a statement.

The mother had kept her pregnancy a secret from her parents.

She cut the umbilical chord herself after giving birth in the early hours of the morning and then threw the child out of the kitchen window, about 2.2 metres above an interior patio, police said.

However, shortly afterwards she suffered heavy bleeding and asked her parents to take her to hospital.

"Later, at about 8.30am, the grandmother of the newborn went into the kitchen and, looking out of the window, saw a baby in the patio. She ran out to pick it up and alerted emergency services,'' police said.

Two police officers who first arrived at the home found the baby wrapped in blankets, suffering hypothermia and with its heart and breathing stopped.

They managed to revive the child and take it to hospital.

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