New Zealand

ASEAN agrees on trade pacts with India, Australia and New Zealand

Singapore - The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has reached tentative free trade agreements with three major trading partners - India, Australia, and New Zealand - after years of negotiations.

Though the full terms the agreements reached Thursday in Singapore during a meeting of ASEAN ministers would not be made public until the signing in December, they cover more than 400 goods with India and goods, investment, services and intellectual property with Australia and New Zealand.

"This is the most comprehensive free trade agreement that ASEAN has ever entered. It is the largest free trade agreement that Australia has ever negotiated," Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean told reporters in Singapore.

It’s official: Women are better drivers than men

Wellington, Aug 28 : When it comes to driving, women are better than men, according to a new survey.

The latest survey AA Insurance found that while men were more confident in their driving, it didn''t make them better than the opposite sex.

In the poll of 2573 drivers, aged between 18 and 75, a quarter of men described themselves as impatient drivers, compared with 19 per cent of women.

"Men are more inclined than women to exhibit a range of risk taking behaviours while on the road," the NZPA quoted AA Insurance chief executive Chris Curtin, as saying.

"Men are more inclined to speed, show aggression, fall asleep behind the wheel and to identify themselves as impatient,” he added.

New Zealand minister challenges fraud squad to charge him

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston PetersWellington - New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters Thursday challenged the country's Serious Fraud Office to prosecute him as a political row over a donation he received from a wealthy businessman continued to rage.

Peters issued a statement challenging the office to charge him, saying it had been "creeping around back doors dropping hints and providing media speculation but not finding any evidence of wrongdoing or illegality" on his part.

Now, a mobile spy cam that will make life hell for love cheats!

mobile spy camWellington, Aug 27: Partners who’re not where they are supposed to be could soon be watching their exploits live on a mobile phone, courtesy ‘The Watch Anywhere Monitoring Camera’.

The revolutionary hardware, which resembles a computer webcam, is billed as an anti-theft system - but can also be used to catch wayward lovers and truant children.

Users simply install the device in the room they wish to monitor. If the motion sensor detects a disturbance, it sends a three-second video of the event to the owner's mobile phone.

New Zealand rejects calls to sack foreign minister over donation

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen ClarkWellington - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark rejected demands on Wednesday to sack Foreign Minister Winston Peters over a cash donation from a billionaire businessman.

Clark faced persistent questioning in parliament after the release of a letter from billionaire Owen Glenn saying that Peters had asked him for money towards a legal bill in 
2005 and later thanked him personally for his 100,000 New Zealand dollars (about 70,000 US dollars) donation.

Woman keeps lover's memory alive with million-dollar gift

Wellington - A 92-year-old woman has donated 1.5 million New Zealand dollars (about 1.05 million US dollars) to the school of her fiancé who was killed in World War II, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Violet Dunn, who lives in a retirement home in Auckland, stayed true to her love and never married after Royal Air Force pilot Tom Paul died when his plane crashed in England in 1944.

Dunn and Paul met in 1934 on Auckland's Takapuna beach, fell in love and planned to marry.

In 1940, Paul enlisted as an Air Force trainee pilot. He was sent to England the following year, flying bombers on night raids over Europe. Paul was just 26 when he died.

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