New Zealand Herald

Dover Won't Walk - Drug Billionaire - Burns Trial - Maori Student Sex - Mother Stabbed - High Court Ruling - McCormick Rips Off Air - Three Adventurers - Power Chiefs Meeting - Shipley’s Health - Infrastructure Auckland Botchups

DOVER WONT WALK: Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels was clinging to his cabinet job by a thread early today after a resign-or-be-sacked meeting with the Prime Minister ended in an impasse, despite stretching past midnight. Helen Clark and her closest advisers issued their ultimatum to Mr Samuels during a series of meetings which lasted nearly three hours.

DRUG BILLIONAIRE: A milestone High Court ruling yesterday vindicated the Herald's campaign over the billionaire American drug smuggler - and sent a strong warning to judges about name suppression and secrecy in court. Two justices found that a District Court judge who discharged the billionaire without conviction and suppressed his name during the America's Cup had overlooked the Bill of Rights Act and acted wrongly in law.

BURNS TRIAL: Joanne McCarthy would have fought like a "lioness protecting her cubs" when an intruder burst into her Whangaparaoa home, her husband told a High Court jury yesterday. Kurt Bolli was giving evidence in the High Court at Auckland against 32-year-old Travis Burns, who is accused of murdering the 33-year-old kindergarten teacher on November 12, 1998.

MAORI STUDENT SEX: Three-quarters of Maori fourth formers say they are sexually active, compared with just over a quarter of European students of the same age. The figure is revealed in a study by Wellington medical researcher Dr Rosy Fenwicke, which shows Maori teenagers become more sexually active at a younger age than non-Maori.

MOTHER STABBED: The New Lynn mother fatally stabbed after fetching two police officers told the constables that her ex-husband was holding their son, wanted $30,000 for his return and would kill the boy if police were called. The constables let Jian Huang, aged 34, travel on ahead and minutes later found her lying in a pool of blood with her former husband straddling her.

HIGH COURT RULING: Two High Court judges ruling on the billionaire drug case have strongly supported the role of the media in upholding freedom of speech. Justices Potter and Nicholson yesterday released their 26-page judgment allowing the naming of the American billionaire who escaped conviction for importing drugs into New Zealand.

McCORMICK RIPS OFF AIR: More than $200,000 of public money may have been pumped into Gary McCormick's failed television show before it was pulled off air. Viewers were given only two episodes of McCormick Rips before TVNZ decided it was not working and would be taken off for "retooling."

THREE ADVENTURERS: 28.06.2000 - KATHERINE HOBY on three achievers who hope to give something back to the community that has helped them achieve long-standing ambitions. When adventure kayaker Mark Jones returns from paddling the length of the Antarctic Peninsula, his first stop will be a video parlour.

POWER CHIEFS MEETING: Power company chiefs have been warned by the Commerce Commission to tread warily when they meet in Wellington today - or risk breaking the law. The private meeting, which excludes consumer representatives, was revealed by the Herald on Monday as potentially at odds with Commerce Act provisions designed to protect the public from anti-competitive behaviour.

SHIPLEY’S HEALTH: A daily walk or swim for Jenny Shipley will be as important as giving a political speech. The National leader is back to work part-time and changing her lifestyle after a coronary angioplasty to unblock a couple of heart arteries.

INFRASTRUCTURE AUCKLAND BOTCHUPS - The body which spent $85.7 million of public money on the America's Cup village is refusing to reveal details of several embarrassing projects involving millions of dollars. Infrastructure Auckland, which ran the Cup village through a subsidiary, America's Cup Village Ltd, will not give any details of its investment in the exclusive $3 million floating yacht club it cannot sell or say how much money it lost setting up a nightclub that closed after only a few weeks.
The Herald understands about $700,000

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