Americas Cup - WINZ - Blues Coach Cancer - Drugs Billionaire - Fantasy - East Timor - Jonah's Noise Machine - Holmes
Fall - TV Advertising - Auckland - Editorial: Name Suppression
For full text see… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
AMERICAS CUP: Prada team members decked themselves out as modern-day Pinocchios yesterday to let the world know what
they thought of AmericaOne's failure to beat Team Dennis Conner. They accused confirmed finalist AmericaOne, skippered
by Paul Cayard, of throwing the race to keep Conner in the America's Cup competition and reduce Prada's chances of
reaching the finals.
WINZ: A senior Work and Income New Zealand manager, suspended after the department spent $165,000 on charter flights for
staff, has received a secret out-of-court settlement understood to include an apology and a big cash payment. But the
Herald is not allowed to name the manager because she has had her name suppressed.
BLUES COACH CANCER: New Blues coach Gordon Hunter has inoperable cancer but is determined to continue his top-level
coaching career. The 50-year-old Hunter will undergo chemotherapy treatment but said yesterday that he would "resume
active coaching when the Blues assemble on January 24."
DRUGS BILLIONAIRE: The Herald has won the first step in its legal battle to name the American billionaire caught
smuggling drugs into New Zealand. A judge ruled yesterday that the newspaper had a right to try to challenge the name
suppression order in the district court.
DRUGS BILLIONAIRE: The police have stepped into the case of the drugs- smuggling billionaire. They may appeal against
his discharge without conviction. The national police prosecutions manager, Assistant Police Commissioner Neville
Trendle, confirmed last night that he would review the file.
FANTASY: Police are preparing to crack down on the dance-party drug Fantasy, after the Government yesterday outlawed its
recreational use and supply. The Ministry of Health, fearing users will die, has now classified the drug as a
prescription medicine as a "stop-gap measure" ahead of expected changes to drug-abuse laws.
EAST TIMOR: Rising fear of civil disorder among East Timorese youths - who have high expectations of a brighter future
now the Indonesians have gone - prompted a plea yesterday for more police volunteers. It came from the Australian
commander of the International Force for East Timor (Interfet), Major-General Peter Cosgrove.
JONAH'S NOISE MACHINE: Jonah Lomu's kidneys would burst if he sat in his Nissan Patrol with the volume on full - never
mind about ruining the ears. The noise from the nine amplifiers would reach an extraordinary 163 decibels and regardless
of whether the ears or kidney went first, Lomu would die, says his cousin Sosaia "The General" Kailahi.
HOLMES' FALL: Broadcaster Paul Holmes was last night nursing a broken leg, extensive bruising and abrasions after being
thrown from a horse while trekking at Matapouri, near Whangarei. Holmes, who was riding with family and friends about 1
pm while holidaying nearby, said he was thrown when his mount, Rapanui, suddenly headed downhill for home - at first at
a canter and then at a gallop before shying at a log.
TV ADVERTISING: Advertising agencies have applauded plans by TVNZ to cut the number of commercials it screens late at
night on TV One. The state-owned broadcaster will cut both the number of advertisements and promotional clips for its
own shows from the end of the month in what it says is an experiment to see how viewers and advertisers respond.
AUCKLAND: Stop complaining about the traffic and the weather, Aucklanders. You are living in one of the best cities in
the world. An international survey has ranked the city's quality of life as the world's fifth best, and the best in the
Southern Hemisphere.
EDITORIAL - NAME SUPPRESSION: A prominent citizen is caught urinating on an Auckland footpath and the legal system goes
to extraordinary trouble to protect his reputation. Why? The offence may be minor; the question is not. It is being
asked widely in the community since the Herald reported the suppression of the name of a visiting billionaire in the
Otahuhu District Court. The response, not only in letters to the editor but in telephone calls coming in daily, suggests
the New Zealand courts should seriously review their whole practice of giving special protection to people of high
status. Whatever possesses judges to grant name suppression simply because a guilty person holds a position that would
attract publicity? Certainly such a person is likely to suffer greater embarrassment than less exalted people who commit
the same offence. Most people find justice in that. Embarrassment is the only real penalty the rich or prominent are
likely to feel.