The New Zealand Herald

Trampers In Rescue - Northland Boat Rescue - Timor Peacekeepers Shoot - Petrol Prices Down - Pub Charities And Police - Cervical Cancer Inquiry - Asian Migrants Protest - Aussies And Olympics - Money Key To Medals - Stress Leads To Violence - Rudman’s City - Theatre Restored - Auckland Power Company

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TRAMPERS IN RESCUE: An Auckland man, his 13-year-old son and the Rotorua tramper who saved their lives were last night huddled together in the freezing Kaimanawa Ranges. All three are suffering from hypothermia after being caught in the freak storm that buffeted the North Island with heavy rain, high winds and snow.

- NORTHLAND BOAT RESCUE: Three terrified boaties jumped from their dismasted yacht into 7m seas yesterday during a dramatic rescue off Northland. The two men and a woman were then pounded by the crippled 12m yacht as rescuers desperately tried to winch them to safety in 70 km/h winds. The rescue, along with power blackouts, roofs

- TIMOR PEACEKEEPERS SHOOT: New Zealand peacekeepers shot and killed an armed rebel in a clash in East Timor yesterday. The man was killed after NZ troops opened fire on four uniformed militiamen in jungle southwest of Kulit, 8km from the West Timor border, at 3 pm (NZ time).

- PETROL PRICES DOWN: Petrol companies have cut pump prices by 3c a litre. BP led the way yesterday, saying the immediate drop was the result of a decline in world crude oil and refined petrol prices and a stabilising New Zealand dollar.

- PUB CHARITIES AND POLICE: Police have been banned from taking donations from pub charities - two weeks before the charities have to disclose details of recipients. Police headquarters has warned staff not to apply for poker machine money for funding voluntary community initiatives and officers' sports teams.

- CERVICAL CANCER INQUIRY: The Ministry of Health has been criticised for failing to lodge its final submissions at the cervical cancer inquiry in time for others to comment before hearings end this week. For the past two weeks, the inquiry has been discussing final submissions from all parties, giving each the chance to comment on possible criticisms or to suggest recommendations the panel could make in its report.

- ASIAN MIGRANTS PROTEST: Several hundred Asian migrants will protest in Auckland's Aotea Square this morning over their exclusion from the Government's overstayer amnesty. The amnesty grants permanent residency to "well-settled" overstayers, but excludes anyone who has applied for refugee status.

- AUSSIES AND OLYMPICS: So you think the Aussies give us a hard time. Okay, so comedians Roy and HG have been wielding the stick on their 11 pm Games show, and a couple of newspapers have joined in.

- MONEY KEY TO MEDALS: New Zealand Olympic athletes can catch up with their high-achieving transtasman neighbours only if money is spent on sport, says former world squash champion Dame Susan Devoy. Sydney's Olympics, the closest Olympics to be held to New Zealand, should have been our most successful, Dame Susan said.

- STRESS LEADS TO VIOLENCE: Stress, not ethnicity, leads people to violence, says the country's senior social worker. Mike Doolan, chief social worker for Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS), says he knows of no evidence that shows one ethnic group to be more predisposed to violence than another.

- RUDMAN’S CITY: The CitRat is finally out of the bag and, surprise, surprise, it turns out to be just a common or garden Nat after all. As though we didn't know. On Saturday, the Herald revealed how the Auckland Citizens and Ratepayers team fighting the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust election had cuddled up so closely to the National Party that they had been rewarded with a copy of the party's invaluable membership lists.

- THEATRE RESTORED: A year of silence and emptiness will end for the Bridgeway Theatre in Northcote in November when it starts a new life as a twin art-house movie theatre complex. Former regulars will barely recognise the theatre, which was built in 1927 and once served as a dance hall and bus garage.

- AUCKLAND POWER COMPANY: John Collinge and Karen Sherry, arch-rivals in the battle for control of Auckland's power company, slugged it out yesterday with allegations of false and misleading statements. Mr Collinge, president of Citizens & Ratepayers, lashed out at Ms Sherry's claim that he voted in favour of the retirement payouts made to former Mercury Energy directors.