Australian government refuses to sign non-aggression treaty with ASEAN

(Updated 1:14 AM, 29 November 2004)
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that he will not sign a non-aggression pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ahead of group’s tenth summit in Vientiane, Laos next week.
Howard’s actions is in line with his policy of using pre-emptive strikes in fighting terrorism. However, support for the [...]

New Zealand Post mailbox

New Zealand Post mailbox 

Wellington motorway

Wellington motorway 

A Telecom NZ billboard

A Telecom NZ billboard 

Electrocuted by electric bills

Our current electricity retailer since moving to this new house is Contact Energy Limited. This company also sells us natural gas for cooking and heating the lounge. Currently the company charges NZD 0.7275 (PHP 29.19) per day and NZD 0.1482 (PHP 5.93) per kilo watt hour for electricity. For gas the tariff [...]

Filipino Families need at least USD 275 per month to survive

The cost of living in the Philippines is getting more expensive for the common Filipino family although most foreign visitors and Filipinos earning from overseas may find living in the islands cheap.
The average daily wage in Metro Manila is only PHP 280 or USD 4.98 yet studies by think tanks such as the Ibon Foundation [...]

Abortions in New Zealand

Abortions Year ended December 2003
o There were 18,510 abortions performed in New Zealand in 2003, compared with 17,380 in 2002.
o The general abortion rate increased in 2003, from 20.0 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years in 2002 to 21.0 per 1,000.
o Women aged 20–24 years had the highest abortion rate (41.3 abortions per 1,000 [...]

Father acquitted of killing her own disabled baby daughter

In 14 May this year a father from Nelson, New Zealand was arrested and admitted to police in full detail that he has killed his baby daughter whose brain stopped developing at the age of a 13-month-old foetus. On Thursday, 18 November the father was acquitted by a High Court jury of both murder and [...]

One Nation, Overseas

One Nation, Overseas
Wired Magazine looks at the gains and consequences of Filipinos working overseas. The article was written by David Diamond.
Some quotes:
“Look Asian, Think Spanish, Act American””Rosaria Reyes, the Filipina Domestic helper killed by a suicide bombing in Israel last year [2001], transmitted a message to her son the night before her death: MATULOG KA [...]

the truth about New Zealand opportunities

I’m surprised about the number of questions raised by my friends and relatives about New Zealand. They are telling me that there are quite a number of seminars all over Metro Manila. These seminars are promising countless numbers of jobs throughout New Zealand. These job opportunities including nannies, domestic helpers, cleaners and gardeners.
They seemed to [...]