Peters says a move to set up a new ethnicity-based political party for Asian and Indian immigrants is a "an extraordinary demand" which will harm New Zealand.

The People's Party has been set up and acting leader Rohan Nauhria.

He told RNZ the party would campaign on issues such as crime and was aiming to get into Parliament by focusing on the Indian and other Asian communities.

The party launch coincides with the prime minister John Key writing an open letter to ethnic media outlets in a bid to reassure ethnic communities.

In the letter he said that the Government was focused on crime after concerns about rising burglaries.

Key said he was not surprised the party had emerged given the recent focus on migration.

He doubted it would get into Parliament, based on the history of similar one-issue parties and its lack of a well-known leader.

The People's Party plans to stand in the Mt Roskill by-election if Phil Goff is elected Mayor in the Auckland Council elections.

National's likely candidate in the byelection will be Indian-born Parmjeet Parmar, who migrated to New Zealand in 1995.

Labour has already selected Michael Wood, who is well known in the electorate as a local board member.

Although Labour has held the seat for decades, National got more of the party vote in 2014.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• Image:

A white man overcome by the sweltering heat and wearing a Nazi swastika on his T-shirt was escorted to rest and shelter by a black man wearing an officer's uniform.

That man in the uniform was Leroy Smith, who runs the state Department of Public Safety, and a photo of his encounter with the racist demonstrator wearing the swastika has gone viral on the internet. Continue reading

Latileta Naqiri Singh was commenting after the burial of her Indo-Fijian husband Lochan Triloc Singh.

During the family church service, on the eve of the funeral, Anglican Bishop Qiliho preached in English, the prayers were said in iTaukei and English and the hymns were sung in Hindi.

Around the kava (yaqona) bowl, everyone from different ethnic backgrounds sat cross-legged in a relaxed atmosphere.

Mrs Singh said: "Love conquers all. We had to overcome the cultural, religious and racial sensitivities of the time to marry."

"I am from Natalaicake Village in Ba. He is from Lautoka," she said.

"He came from a staunch Hindu background and me from an Anglican background."

"Gradually, he began to warm towards my religion and eventually joined."

"He even donated a piece of our land here in front of our home for our church."

"He helped build it too."

"Triloc felt at home in our community. He regarded everyone equal. There is no Indo-Fijian or iTaukei, we are all one, he believed," said Latileta.

"Now my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren call themselves Fijians."

Latileta welcomed the Constitutional provision of equal citizenry and the common identity.

"It's the best thing that has happened to this country. It makes my children feel a sense of belonging in this country," she said.

Source

• fijisun.com.fj
• Image: fijisun.com.fj

Bellett was the sole white kid in the Samoan culture group.

He said he had trouble persuading some people he was serious when he decided to join his Samoan friends in the group this year. The festival performance required about seven weeks of practice, 18 hours a week, but Bellett persisted.

"I've got a lot of Samoan friends. It's one of those things where you get a chance to do it at school but, once you leave, you'll never be able to do it again."

St Peter's were underdogs. But they proved the doubters wrong at last week's big event, taking out the top award at the Samoan Stage.

Source

• New Zealand Herald
• Image: New Zealand Herald

In the research for an AUT University study on ethnicity and policing, all but one of the 16 people interviewed by researchers Sameer Nisar and Edwina Pio for the study were Muslims.

"Overall, the participants revealed that they felt safe and secure in New Zealand, particularly in their contact with the police. They reported that they had never been profiled or stopped due to their affiliations with Islam."

This was described as "very positive", and the report noted that Muslims in many other Western nations, such as the United States and Britain, often claimed to be targeted by police there because of their affiliations to Islam.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: sO.wp.com

"There are events happening all around the country which are about celebration... I think there's a whole lot of New Zealanders that are celebrating."

He says that while he thinks there is "a huge racial harmony" in New Zealand, there are issues that need to be addressed.

There are people with genuine reasons for wanting to say: 'Hey look, do you understand what happened to us over the course of our history?'"

"I think it's to the credit of successive governments that they have stood up and are addressing those," he said.

There is still conflict and much to work on, he says, but Waitangi Day is a time and a place where these issues can be aired and discussed.

The Maori-Crown relationship is deteriorating in the eyes of the public. A UMR Research poll commissioned by the Human Rights Commission has found fewer than a quarter of New Zealanders agree the relationship is healthy.

The numbers have fallen for the fifth straight year.

Source

• TVNZ
• The New Zealand Herald