Obama in Seoul amid fears of North Korea nuclear test
Written By JAK on Saturday, April 26, 2014 | 3:58 AM
President Obama is welcomed by South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea
President Obama poses with new American citizens at a naturalization ceremony at the National War Memorial in Seoul
President Obama arrives at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea
Continuing his tour of Asia, President Obama has arrived in South Korea – warning the North not to conduct another nuclear test.
The US leader’s trip comes amid reports of increased activity at a nuclear site in the North.
Seoul says the intelligence suggests Pyongyang may be planning a fourth test.
Obama began his visit at the National War Memorial, paying tribute to soldiers from the South who died in the Korean War of 1950-53.
Earlier, in Japan, Obama called on China to dissuade its neighbour from continuing its nuclear programme.
There are fears that North Korea may look to disrupt the US president’s visit with a show of strength.
Pyongyang is persistently irritated by joint US-South Korean military co-operation.
But it is also thought that the likelihood of irking Beijing – North Korea’s only major economic prop – may deter it from actually carrying out a nuclear test.
Obama’s visit comes as South Korea is preoccupied with the Sewol ferry tragedy in which hundreds of children died.
BREAKING NEWS: Pieces of wreckage from MH370 may have washed ashore in Western Australia, including one which is 'length of a car with distinct rivets in it'
Written By JAK on Wednesday, April 23, 2014 | 6:23 PM
Three pieces of debris washed up off the coast of Western Australia are being investigated to see if they could be wreckage from missing Malaysian flight MH370.
One of the objects is believed to be the length of a car with 'distinct rivets'.
They were found by someone walking on the beach who notified police.
The search coordination centre said today that police secured the material that washed ashore six miles east of Augusta in Western Australia.
Three pieces of debris washed up near Augusta, in South West Australia, are being investigated to see if they could be wreckage from missing Malaysian flight MH370
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is examining photographs to assess whether further investigation is needed and if the material is relevant to Flight MH370.
Augusta is near Australia's southwestern tip about 190 miles from Perth, where the search has been headquartered.
The Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre said in a statement: 'The ATSB is examining the photographs of the material to determine whether further physical analysis is required and if there is any relevance to the search of missing flight MH370.
'The ATSB has also provided the photographs to the Malaysian investigation team.'
The investigation could take days.
Objects washed up east of Augusta (pictured) are being looked at to see if they are from the missing flight
Meanwhile Malaysia's cabinet approved today the appointment of an international team to investigate the disappearance of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the country's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
'The main purpose of the international investigation team is to evaluate, investigate and determine the actual cause of the accident so similar accidents could be avoided in the future,' Hishammuddin told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
Hishammuddin
added that the government has had talks with Malaysian state oil firm
Petronas and other unidentified entities to expand the deep-sea search
for the missing plane in the southern Indian Ocean.
Authorities say unidentified material that washed ashore in southwestern Australia is being examined for any link to the lost Malaysian plane.
Australia has vowed to keep searching for the missing plane despite no sign of wreckage after almost seven weeks, and as bad weather again grounded aircraft and an undersea drone neared the end of its first full mission.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted the search strategy may change if seabed scans taken by a U.S. Navy drone failed to turn up a trace of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board.
'We may well re-think the search but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery,' he said.
Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 rest during a meeting
'The only way we can get to the bottom of this is to keep searching the probable impact zone until we find something or until we have searched it as thoroughly as human ingenuity allows at this time.' The Bluefin-21 drone, a key component in the search after the detection of audio signals or 'pings' believed to be from the plane's black box flight recorder, is due to end its first full mission, possibly today. The Australian and Malaysian governments are under growing pressure to show what lengths they are prepared to go to in order to give closure to the grieving families of those on board flight MH370. In a sign of the families' growing desperation for answers, a group purporting to be relatives of the missing flight's passengers published a letter to Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, urging the government to investigate old media reports that the plane landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Authorities say unidentified material that washed ashore is being examined for any link to the lost plane A handout image released by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in Canberra, Australia, 21 April 2014 shows the current planned search areas in the Indian Ocean, West of Australia A Chinese relative of a passenger on missing flight reacting to news at a meeting at Metro Park Hotel in Beijing 'It is high time that the government should start thinking out of the box by exploring and re-examining all leads, new and old,' said the letter, published on Facebook on Wednesday. Authorities suspended the air search for the second day in a row today due to heavy rain, low cloud and treacherous seas. 'Current weather conditions are resulting in heavy seas and poor visibility and are making air search activities ineffective and potentially hazardous,' the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said in a statement, adding 12 ships would continue to help with the operation. Meanwhile, the Bluefin-21 was nearing the end of its first assignment scouring a 6.2 square mile stretch of seabed where authorities traced what they believed was a black box signal two weeks ago. Search officials have said that once the Bluefin-21's current mission, some 1,200 miles north west of the Australian city of Perth, is finished, they will redeploy the submarine to other areas yet to be determined. An international team is to investigate the disappearance of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
Passenger plane crashes in Pakistan near Islamabad airport: reports
Written By JAK on Monday, April 21, 2014 | 8:01 AM
An investigation is under way after a passenger plane crashed shortly before landing in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, killing all 121 passengers and six crew.
The plane flew into a thunderstorm before crashing into the village of Hussain Abad on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Officials say the inquiry will look at whether the storm was a factor and also examine the airworthiness of the Bhoja Air Boeing 737.
A helicopter flies over the site of an airliner crash in the Margalla hills, near Islamabad. The disaster killed 152 people
People offer funeral prayer of a plane crash victim in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, on April 21, 2012. All 127 people on board were killed when a Boeing 737 from Karachi crashed and burst into flames as it attempted to land at Islamabad airport in bad weather Friday
People carry a coffin of a victim outside airport in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, on April 21, 2012. All 127 people on board were killed when a Boeing 737 from Karachi crashed and burst into flames as it attempted to land at Islamabad airport in bad weather Friday. (Xinhua/Masroor) . (Xinhua/Masroor)
A coffin of a passenger killed in a plane crash, is seen in an ambulance outside a hospital in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, April 21, 2012. Relatives of passengers and crew members who died in a plane crash near Pakistan's capital Friday evening arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to identify the bodies, officials said. (Xinhua /Ahmad Kamal)
Family members of victims wait to receive the bodies outside a hospital in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, April 21, 2012. Relatives of passengers and crew members who died in a plane crash near Pakistan's capital Friday evening arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to identify the bodies, officials said. (Xinhua /Ahmad Kamal)
Pakistani volunteers carry a coffin of a passenger killed in a plane crash, at a hospital in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, April 21, 2012. Relatives of passengers and crew members who died in a plane crash near Pakistan's capital Friday evening arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to identify the bodies, officials said. (Xinhua /Ahmad Kamal)
Family members of victims wait to receive the bodies outside a hospital in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, April 21, 2012. Relatives of passengers and crew members who died in a plane crash near Pakistan's capital Friday evening arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to identify the bodies, officials said. (Xinhua /Ahmad Kamal)
Two Pakistani women look at a coffin of a victim in a hospital in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, April 21, 2012. Relatives of passengers and crew members who died in a plane crash near Pakistan's capital Friday evening arrived in Islamabad on Saturday to identify the bodies, officials said. (Xinhua /Ahmad Kamal)
A Pakistani passenger jet with 127 people on board crashed into wheat fields Friday as it was trying to land in a thunder storm at an airport near the capital Islamabad. Sobbing relatives of those on the flight flocked to the airport, and officials said there appeared to be no survivors.
Emergency workers used flashlights to search among the smoldering wreckage of the fuselage, smashed seats and body parts for any sign of life at the crash site, which was just a few kilometers (miles) from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. One rescue official asked villagers to bring him sheets to cover the dead.
The aircraft was a Boeing 737-200 operated by Bhoja Air, a domestic carrier that has just four planes and only resumed operations last month after suspending them in 2001 due to financial difficulties. The flight was traveling from the country's largest city of Karachi to the Pakistani capital, officials said. It was the airline's first evening flight from Karachi, according to a Bhoja Air official.
Relatives of those on the flight thronged the airline's counters at Karachi and Islamabad airports, crying.
"My brother's wife was on board this flight," said Naveed Khan, who was among family members who gathered at Karachi's airport. "We pray for the departed souls, what else can we do now?"
Wreckage, including smashed seats, clothes and jewelry belonging to passengers, was spread out over a one-kilometer (half-mile) wide area.
"I saw nothing but body parts and twisted metal on the ground when reached the scene," said local resident Mustafa, who only gave one name. "We collected up small pieces of human flesh and bundled them in cloth sheets like we collect grain."
Islamabad police chief Bani Yameen said that nobody on the ground appeared to be killed, "but apparently all onboard perished." Civil aviation officials also reported survivors were unlikely, said Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar.
A violent rain, wind and thunder storm was lashing the capital at the time of the crash, which occurred about 6:40 p.m. local time.
"It was really bad weather for a flight," said Navy captain Arshad Mahmood, who lives near the crash site. "The pilot was forced to move down to avoid clouds that were generating the lightening and thunder."
Several farmers threshing wheat in the field near the crash said they saw the craft burst into flames when it hit the ground.
"The flames leapt up like they were touching the sky," said Mohammad Zubair.
The army declared an emergency and cordoned off the crash site
TV footage showed wreckage of the plane, including parts of what looked like its engine and wing, up against the wall of a small building. Rescue officials were working in the dark, with many using flashlights as they combed the area.
The last major plane crash in the country - and Pakistan's worst ever - occurred in July 2010 when an Airbus A321 aircraft operated by Airblue crashed in the hills overlooking Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board.
A government investigation blamed the pilot for veering off course amid stormy weather. The impact of the crash was devastating, scorching a wide swath of the hillside and scattering wreckage over a kilometer (half-mile) stretch. Most bodies were so badly damaged that identification required DNA testing.
Bhoja Air started domestic operations in Pakistan in 1993 and eventually expanded to international flights to the United Arab Emirates in 1998. The company suspended operations in 2001 due to financial difficulties but resumed them in 2012.
In a statement, the Boeing Co. extended its condolences to the families of the victims and offered technical assistance to Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 159 passengers forced to make emergency landing in Kuala Lumpur after its landing gear malfunctioned
Written By JAK on Sunday, April 20, 2014 | 10:17 PM
A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane with 166 people on board was forced to make an emergency landing after its landing gear malfunctioned.
Flight MH192 - run by the same airline whose MH370 disappeared without a trace last month - took off from Kuala Lumpur, but soon reported the equipment failure.
The Boeing 737, which was headed for Bangalore in Indian, was then turned around and brought back in to land at Kuala Lumpur airport in the early hours of Monday morning, the airline said.
Problems: The Boeing 737 was forced to make the emergency landing after reporting a landing gear failure shortly after take-off (file photo)
Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a tweet: 'All landed safely - going there now!!'
The problem was with the right-hand landing gear of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, a spokesman for Malaysia Airlines said.
Fire rescue services had been placed on standby in case the manoeuvre went wrong.
Hunt: The disappearance last month of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has prompted a multinational search effort, which is now focused on the Indian Ocean
The malfunction came as search teams were still scouring the Indian Ocean near Australia for any trace of a missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777.
Flight MH370, bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in China, disappeared in unexplained circumstances with 239 on board.
Despite a multinational search effort, no physical sign of the plane has yet been found.
Investigators currently believe the plane came down over the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of Australia, and are scouring the waters with a submarine.
Doctors shocked to find 12 gold bars INSIDE Delhi businessman after he was admitted to hospital because he kept vomiting
Written By JAK on Friday, April 18, 2014 | 10:09 PM
Stunned doctors were shocked to find 12 gold bars inside the stomach of an Indian businessman who was admitted to hospital due to vomiting.
The 63-year-old man went to a hospital in Dehli earlier this month saying he had swallowed a cap from a water bottle and wanted it removed from his body.
He also complained of pain and vomiting prompting surgeons to operate on the man.
Twelve gold bars were removed from the stomach of a man in India after he complained of vomiting (file picture)
But when they performed the operation, 12 gold bars, each weighing 33g were discovered in his stomach rather than a bottle cap, it has been reported.
And now it is understood that customs officials have questioned the man and the gold has been confiscated.
Senior consulting surgeon at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Dehli Dr C S Ramachandran told the Indian Express: 'He approached us on April 7 seeking surgery to remove a water bottle cap which he claimed he had accidentally swallowed.
'We got an X-ray done and it didn’t appear to be a cap. As the gold bars got stacked one behind the other it appeared to be a metal. We were shocked to find not one but 12 gold biscuits in his abdomen.
'If it would have stayed inside for couple of more days, it would have led to severe bleeding and rupture of the intestine and septicemia.'
The businessman was thought to be a known patient at the hospital.
India is one of the world's largest consumers of gold but has recently tightened regulations on gold imports following a rise in smuggling.
The import tax on gold has been increased three times to try and subdue demand for the metal.
The man was operated on at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Dehli, pictured and was a known patient at the hospital
WHY GOLD IS IMPORTANT TO INDIANS
India
is one of the world's biggest consumers of gold as it is traditionally
seen as a more reliable investment than putting savings in financial
institutions.
Gold is also considered as a gift item, which is often given at weddings, festivals and other occasions.
There
is also a religious significance of the precious metal to Hindus in the
country who believe it is the symbol of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
It is also passed down as a family heirloom from one generation to another as ancestral property.
Everest avalanche kills 12 Sherpa guides
Unidentified mountaineers look out from the summit of Mount Everest last year. Source: AFP
AT least 12 Nepalese guides preparing routes up Mount Everest for commercial climbers were killed today by an avalanche in the most deadly mountaineering accident ever on the world’s highest peak, officials and rescuers say.
The men were among a large party of Sherpas carrying tents, food and ropes who headed out in bright sunshine in an early-morning expedition ahead of the main climbing season starting later this month.
The avalanche occurred about 6:45am local time (about 11am AEST) at an altitude of about 5800 metres in an area known as the “popcorn field” which lies on the route into the treacherous Khumbu icefall.
“We have retrieved 12 bodies from the snow, we don’t know how many more are trapped underneath,” Nepal tourism ministry official Dipendra Paudel told AFP in Kathmandu.
Assisted by rescue helicopters, teams of climbers are still searching for survivors with at least seven people plucked alive from the ice and snow, Mr Paudel told AFP.
A rescue team official working at the base camp of the 8848m peak, Lakpa Sherpa, told AFP that the death toll could rise as high as 14.
“I have seen 11 bodies brought to the base camp, we have been told to expect three more,” the member of non-profit Himalayan Rescue Association said by telephone.
Kathmandu-based expert Elizabeth Hawley, considered the world’s leading authority on Himalayan climbing, said the avalanche was the most deadly single accident in the history of mountaineering on the peak.
The previous worst accident occurred in 1996 when eight people were killed over a two-day period during a rogue storm while attempting to climb the mountain.
That tragedy was immortalised in the best-selling book “Into Thin Air” written by US mountaineering journalist Jon Krakauer.
“This is the absolutely the worst disaster on Everest, no question,” Hawley told AFP.
Kathmandu-based climbing company Himalayan Climbing Guides Nepal confirmed that two of their guides were among the dead and four were missing.
“When our guides left base camp, there was no snowfall, the weather was just fantastic,” operations manager Bhim Paudel told AFP.
Dozens of guides from other companies crossed the icefall safely before the avalanche struck, Paudel said.
“We expected to follow them, we had no warning at all,” he said. Every summer, hundreds of climbers from around the world attempt to scale peaks in the Himalayas when weather conditions are at their best.
-The accident underscores the huge risks taken by sherpa guides, who carry tents, bring food supplies, repair ladders and fix ropes to help foreign climbers who pay tens of thousands of dollars to summit the peak.
More than 300 people have died on Everest since the first successful summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
Nepal’s worst-ever climbing disaster happened in 1995 when a huge avalanche struck the camp of a Japanese trekking group near Mount Everest, killing 42 people including 13 Japanese.
The impoverished Himalayan country is home to eight of the world’s 14 peaks above 8000m.
Nepal’s government has issued permits to 734 people, including 400 guides, to climb Everest this summer.
In a bid to address concerns of overcrowding on the “roof of the world”, the government earlier announced plans to double the number of climbing ropes on congested ice walls near the summit of Everest to reduce congestion and risks for climbers.
Authorities have also stationed soldiers and police at Everest base camp starting this month so climbers can approach officers in case of any trouble following a brawl between commercial climbers and Nepalese guides last year.
Hundreds of climbers, their guides and support guides had gathered at the base camp, gearing up for their final attempt to scale the peak early next month when weather conditions are favourable.
The guides establish camps at higher altitudes and fix ropes on the slopes for the climbers who will try to reach the summit in May.
Nepal this year announced several steps to better manage the flow of climbers to the often crowded summit, minimise congestion and speed up rescue operations.
The preparations included sending officials and security personnel to the base camp located at 5300m, where they would stay throughout the spring climbing season that ends in May.
More than 4000 climbers have scaled the summit since 1953, when it was first conquered by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
Hundreds of others have died in the attempt.
with AP
BREAKING NEWS : South Korea school vice principal hangs himself after ferry accident
Rescue team members search for passengers aboard a ferry sinking off of South Korea's southern coast, in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, on April 17, 2014. Photograph: Yonhap via AP Photo
Relatives weep as they wait for news of missing passengers from the sunken South Korean ferry. Source: Getty Images
Photographer: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
South Korean Coast Guard and rescue teams search for missing passengers at the site of the sunken ferry, Sewol, off the coast of Jindo Island on April 17.
The vice principal of a high school whose pupils died or are missing in a South Korean ferry accident has committed suicide by hanging himself outside a large gym where families of the victims were staying.
Police said that Kang Min-gyu, 52, had been missing since Thursday and appeared to have hung himself with his belt from a tree outside the gym.
Out of 475 passengers and crew on the ship, about 340 were students and teachers from the Danwon High School in Ansan, an industrial town near Seoul, who were on an outing to the resort island of Jeju.
They account for about 250 of those missing.
Putin Answers 81 of 2.5 Million Questions During Call-In
Photo: Kremlin.ru
President Vladimir Putin answered 81 questions during his annual televised call-in program on Thursday — a tiny fraction of the more than 2.5 million that were submitted before the show began.
The call-in, Putin's 12th such event, started at noon and lasted 3 hours 56 minutes, about an hour shorter than last year's record 4-hour 48-minute marathon, during which he answered 85 questions, RIA Novosti reported.
Organizers of the state-run television program said they had received more than 2.5 million question submissions as of an hour before the show, including more than 1.8 million phone calls and 346,000 text messages, Interfax reported. The organizers added that more than 175,000 questions had been submitted via the Internet.
Putin's public question-and-answer session, the first of which was held in 2001, also featured a number of prepared segments with questions from various outside locations. In the recently annexed city of Sevastopol in Crimea, reporters took questions from a crowd of a few hundred people gathered along the waterfront, while members of the Valdai discussion club, including German political analyst Alexander Rahr, posed questions from a television studio in Berlin.
U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden made an appearance in a pre-recorded video, asking Putin a question about the Russian government's surveillance efforts.
About half of Putin's responses dealt with Russia's actions in Ukraine and international relations. But the president also answered a number of personal pleas from various Russian towns, as was common in previous years' shows, and answered several questions from citizens affected by flooding in Russia's Far East last year.
Wild weather lashes South
Kakanui river on Fuchsia Creek Rd, looking towards Five Forks. Photo JoAnn Ludemann
Traffic just north of Maheno around midday today. Photo Rachel Still
The Stone St roundabout in Kaikorai Valley awash. Photo Ian and Veronica Richardson
Predicted heavy rain has hit the South today after winds and heavy downpours caused property damage and travel chaos in many areas of the country yesterday and overnight.
Flooding caused the closure of State Highway 1 between Maheno and Oamaru for much of the day. The road has reopened but motorists are urged to take care when using it.
MetService advises that it has lifted the severe weather warning it had in place for Dunedin, North Otago and Canterbury and that rain in these areas is easing.
ORC flood managers say many Otago rivers remain high after persistent heavy rain and are likely to stay high for the next few days.
ODT reader Stefanie Kalmakoff said her husband, Bob Woodman, was waiting the weather out at Dunback, where he had had 115mm in his rain gauge in the last 24 hours.
MetService duty forecaster Richard Finie said while most residents could look forward to better weather tomorrow, miserable conditions would hang around for most of today.
"Essentially, the heavy rain in the east from Canterbury down to Dunedin is easing from the north, this afternoon through to this evening."
The weather affected some flights at Christchurch Airport, with departures to Dunedin, Hokitika and Blenheim cancelled this morning.
The wild weather left its mark on the West Coast.
Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said 60 houses had roofs blown off in the wind yesterday and large rainfall was forecast for tomorrow.
"We are in full recovery mode racing against time against the weather. We've got an aircraft hangar with planes in it that has been totally demolished and a hall in Greymouth that has been totally demolished.
"Luckily the CBD area is not badly affected so it's business as usual but the damage to the residential parts of Greymouth is certainly large."
Fire Service southern communications shift manager Andrew Norris said teams were working to secure properties, before the next predicted deluge tomorrow.
Most of our damage was from Greymouth up to Granity, north of Westport, he said.
"We are assisting people to check their roofs and to make everything watertight - damaged roofs and things like that from the wind - because there's more heavy rain expected there tomorrow."
In Nelson, emergency services and workers are in "clean up mode" following damage from the extreme weather, the local Civil Defence said and Emergency Management (CDEM) group said.
Part of the roof from Nelson Hospital has been blown off, and authorities have closed Waimea Rd as they deal with the damage.
"Emergency services and contractors have spent the night, and will spend most of today clearing roads, of fallen trees and assisting in clean up.
"There is still a need to be vigilant as more rain is predicted, with the Golden Bay area already receiving the second round of forecasted rainfall," CDEM said.
River levels in the region, particularly the Anatoki, Waingaro and the Aorere were rising, with road closures predicted at the Waitapu splash and Kotinga bridge around midday with the high tide.
Drivers in the region should take extreme care, with some roads down to one lane in places.
Nelson Hospital duty manager and incident controller, Hilary Exton, said a ''significant of the roof had come away and was hanging down the side of the building'' this morning.
While emergency services were called, patients were removed from any areas at risk and the area below the unsecure roofing had been cleared.
"We moved all patients from ICU through to the recovery area into a safe place.
"The ICU now is closed until we get the all clear to go back in."
"We've also had a couple of areas on one ward that was close to the area that was affected and we closed a couple of those bed areas," Mrs Exton said.
All patients were stable and supported, and hospital services had not been affected.
It was not yet known when the broken part of the roof would be fixed, with work to secure the overhang occurring this afternoon, she said.
Further south, sodden Christchurch residents were also cleaning up.
Sixty five millimetres of rain fell across the city overnight, and 180 millimetres in Akaroa. All river levels were running high this morning, the Christchurch City Council said.
While the Heathcote River has flooded, the Avon River and Styx River had not.
Mr Norris said firefighters had been responding to "normal weather-related jobs", such as flooding and felled trees.
In the North Island, those around the Bay of Plenty were facing rolling thunderstorms and heavy rain.
Easter unplugged: Power outages hit thousands
Around 10,000 people were without power due to the wild weather this morning.
In Christchurch, Orion NZ said 3,181 customers were off the network.
The West Coast had an estimated 1000 customers without power, 500 south of Hari Hari and around the same number in the Greymouth area.
Chief executive for West Power Rob Caldwell said crews were hoping to restore power to most people, however some some customers would probably have to spend tonight in the dark.
In Auckland, Vector lines crews had recently restored power to about 1000 people in Helensville.
However, about1300 customers in Kaipara, Puhoi, Kawau Island and Takatu as well as about 1000 Northlanders were still without power.
A spokesperson for Top Energy said most of its customers were expected to have power by the end of the day.
In Rotorua, Unison Power had about 1500 customers affected. It hoped to have but hoped to 800 customers around Lake Tarawera reconnected this afternoon.
Hawke's Bay had pockets of people without power, most in rural areas due to trees falling on lines.
Some regional flights have been affected by the weather. Holidaymakers concerned about their flights should check with the airline.
APNZ
Penitent Filipinos ignore Catholic church and whip themselves red raw 'to atone for their sins' as they parade barefoot through the streets on Maundy Thursday
With their bare backs covered in blood and their faces hidden by hoods, devoted Catholics in the Philippines were today atoning for their sins by taking part in gory Maundy Thursday self-flagellation rituals.
The barefoot penitents walk through the streets whipping themselves or with pointed wooden sticks tied to their arms as they take part in the rituals to atone for their sins, seek a better life or give thanks.
Every year thousands of foreign and local visitors line the streets to watch the rituals in San Fernando, north of Manila, and the suburban Mandaluyong, to the east of Manila.
The hooded and barefoot penitents in San Fernando lash their backs as they make their way along narrow roads which lead to a dusty hill, where other men dressed as Jesus Christ are nailed to wooden crosses.
The Catholic Church in the country disapproves of the rituals and warns such expressions of faith could actually take away from the real meaning of Lent.
According to UCANews.com, Catholic bishops in the Philippines this week warned penitents not to carry out the rituals of self-flagellation and crucifixion as part of this year's Good Friday observances.
