New Zealand Herald

Tana Drunk & Fighting - Luxury Cars Seized - Dog Attack – DNA Testing - Solomon Tourism - Snowboarder’s Mum - Coke Water - Weekend Violence - Robbie Williams Romp - Lab Complaint - School Values - Accident Visits - TV Funding - Super Crossfire

TANA DRUNK & FIGHTING: All Black wing Tana Umaga will be disciplined after getting so drunk celebrating the victory over the Springboks that he had to be helped back to his hotel. Team management was forced to act after allegations that Umaga was abusive and looking for a fight.

- LUXURY CARS SEIZED: A shipment of luxury cars suspected of being stolen, repainted and sold as new by Singapore gangsters has been seized on the Auckland waterfront. The seizure is part of a police operation to shut down what is thought to be an international car-theft ring specialising in luxury cars and four-wheel drives.

- DOG ATTACK: An 8-year-old boy attacked by two dogs while playing in a park will need at least 200 stitches. A man living near the Rotorua park heard the boy's screams and came to his aid, fighting off the German shepherd and Rhodesian ridgeback with a stick.

- DNA TESTING: The number of crime investigations in which evidence was sent for DNA testing trebled last month as police piled more work than ever on forensic scientists. Police normally have samples from up to 350 crime scenes DNA-tested each month, but in June this jumped to 1089.

- SOLOMON TOURISM: Tourism operators in the South Pacific are growing desperate as political crises bite into the economies of Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The South Pacific Tourism Organisation said the Fiji coup, which began on May 19, had cost 20,000 jobs and $200 million in tourism revenue.

- SNOWBOARDER’S MUM: The mother of a snowboarder killed in a Japanese avalanche is crusading to make sure others do not meet the same fate. Robyn Gordon's 18-year-old son James died in February after he and friends Chris Coster, aged 23, and Craig Mowat, 25, went snowboarding in a mountainous region of Nagano province and were engulfed by a giant sheet of snow. Their bodies were found in May

- COKE WATER: Softdrink giant Coca-Cola Amatil has discovered it has been using the worst water in Auckland in its products. The Mt Wellington plant is stopping its use of Waiuku water after finding that the town's supply system failed 18 tests for faecal bacteria between July 1999 and June 2000.

- WEEKEND VIOLENCE: Eleven serious crimes including a home invasion and a killing rocked the upper North Island in a weekend of violence. Auckland suffered four aggravated robberies, a daylight home invasion, a vicious tomahawk attack, a stabbing and a bashing at a bus depot. In Rotorua, a man died after being

- ROBBIE WILLIAMS ROMP: Auckland model Robin Reynolds has found worldwide fame and fortune after selling the story of a two-day romp with pop star Robbie Williams. Britain's Sunday tabloid newspaper News of the World yesterday splashed Ms Reynolds' kiss-and-tell encounter with the British idol in Auckland's exclusive Metropolis hotel and apartment complex.

- LAB COMPLAINT: Health authorities are investigating a complaint about another New Zealand laboratory involved with screening cervical smear slides. The name and location of the laboratory were suppressed during a special sitting of the cervical cancer inquiry in Gisborne on Saturday.

- SCHOOL VALUES: Education Minister Trevor Mallard will launch today a series of seminars aimed at helping incorporate values in schools. The seminars, to be held around the country over the next five months, are being run in partnership with the Living Values programme and Unesco.

- ACCIDENT VISITS: Free visits to doctors for accident victims are about to be trialled to see if they help them get back to work sooner. The Accident Compensation Corporation wants to set up a trial in a small community to see if covering the full cost of consultations improves recovery times.

- TV FUNDING: Government funding for the New Zealand television industry is lagging well behind other countries, an international survey shows. The Television Regulations and Local Content in Six Nations report, commissioned by the New Zealand Television Broadcasters Council, examined the regulations, commercial issues and local content levels of six countries which had parallels to New Zealand.

- SUPER CROSSFIRE: Crossfire broke out on the political battleground of superannuation yesterday as Michael Cullen set his sights on National, who returned fire with comments by the Prime Minister. Finance Minister Cullen described threats by National's Bill English to plunder the proposed Government pension fund as "kamikaze politics."

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