The New Zealand Herald

Mysteries Of The Sun- Wage Restraint- Waddell’s Dream- Brain Drain Pair - Unnecessary Death- Mercy Killing Investigated- Meat Hit List- Imax Safety- Mother In Court- Feltex Buys New Home- Two Black Widows Found

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MYSTERIES OF THE SUN: Giant fountains of swirling gas stretching 482,000km out from the sun are providing scientists with a clue to one of the solar system's great mysteries - why is the corona much hotter than the sun itself?

The question was raised by astronomers trying to explain why activity in the corona, the circle of light around the sun, can play havoc with satellites and high-tech equipment on Earth.

- WAGE RESTRAINT: Finance Minister Michael Cullen expects the Reserve Bank Governor, Don Brash, to show the same degree of wage restraint when it comes to his own salary as he expects from the country's workers. Dr Cullen's pointed remark was made in Parliament in the fallout from Dr Brash's warning that unless there is wage restraint New Zealand risks "stagflation" - a combination of inflation and a shrinking economy.

- WADDELL’S DREAM: Olympic rower Sonia Waddell has revealed plans to pursue a lifelong dream away from the water by training to become a vet. Sonia and her Olympic gold medal-winning husband, Rob Waddell, told the Australian Women's Weekly they would move from their home in Cambridge to Wanganui next year if she was accepted to study veterinary science at Massey University.

- BRAIN DRAIN PAIR: Karl Altorf has sold his business and is moving to Sydney. Anthony Rose has done his overseas experience but wants to boost his career in the United States.

- UNNECESSARY DEATH: Ken Ross is still hurt and angry at the unnecessary death of his wife Patricia nearly four years ago. He blames it largely on a mistake by a tired anaesthetist working round the clock - a point the coroner alluded to at the inquest.

- MERCY KILLING INVESTIGATED: Police are investigating a suspected mercy killing after a terminally ill 82-year-old Auckland cancer patient was found strangled in her bed. Police and ambulance officers were called to a Howick home just before midnight on Tuesday, to find Florence Marjorie Simpson dead.

- MEAT HIT LIST: A confidential hit list of nearly 100 meat inspectors that a state-owned enterprise wanted to sack has outraged those who have discovered they are on it. Dubbed the "goneburger list," it describes one meat inspector as being "bitter and twisted."

- IMAX SAFETY: New rails were installed in the Imax cinema complex yesterday, two weeks after 16-year-old Danial Gardner fell to his death from a ledge in the building. Force Corporation, which owns the building, said toughened glass would be used to raise barrier heights to between 1.2m and 1.3m, exceeding the building code minimum height of 1m.

- MOTHER IN COURT: The mother of a five-year-old boy found dead in his Otara home yesterday has appeared in court, charged with assaulting him. Detectives have begun a homicide inquiry after a funeral director called police to the boy's home about 4 am.

- FELTEX BUYS NEW HOME: Feltex is "highly likely" to buy a new $2 million loom for its Christchurch carpet mill, in one of the first signs of cautious expansion thanks to New Zealand's sliding dollar. Chief executive Chris Davis said yesterday that the investment would boost the mill's output by about 40 per cent, or between $4 million and $5 million a year, but would create fewer than 20 new jobs.

- TWO BLACK WIDOWS FOUND: Two live, venomous black widow spiders have been discovered in warehouses, one in Wellington and one in Christchurch. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry says the cases are being treated as "two isolated incidents that happened in a relatively short timeframe."