Battle of Seattle – Mike Moore – Inheritance Wrangle – Hunger Strikers – House Confiscation – Drinking Age – Breath
Testers – East Timor – Americas Cup – Erebus – McGillicuddys – Elephant – Lomu – Editorial: Airline Competition
For full text see… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
BATTLE OF SEATTLE: Seattle is under dusk-to-dawn curfew and the National Guard is patrolling the streets after violent
protests disrupted the opening day of global trade talks. As delegates to the World Trade Organisation tried to begin
their millennium round yesterday, anti-free-trade activists clashed with police attempting to clear the Seattle city
centre.
MIKE MOORE: Mike Moore is making a good impression amid the protests at the Seattle conference of the World Trade
Organisation, says Labour MP Jim Sutton. Protesters demanding the WTO's destruction are working against poor people and
developing countries, Mr Moore told a news conference in a voice brimming with emotion.
INHERITANCE WRANGLE: A youth who witnessed the slaying of most of his family is embroiled in a legal wrangle with his
father over his inheritance. Abu Saad Hakim was aged 8 when his mother, brother and sister were butchered by his
mother's partner, Mohammed Yakub, at their Kingsland home in February 1990.
HUNGER STRIKERS: Asylum-seekers accused the Immigration Service of treating them like animals even though they had
committed no crime as they stumbled to freedom yesterday after three months in prison. The men, some dropping to the
ground in exhaustion as they made the short walk to waiting cars, said Mt Eden Prison authorities simply watched as
their health steadily deteriorated.
HOUSE CONFISCATION: For close to 10 years Mangu Awarua lived in his house in the Far North and ignored demands to pay
the mortgage. Now he may be having second thoughts whether that was wise: the house has been taken from under his feet.
DRINKING AGE: Aucklander Luke Weinstein had a double celebration last night. Not only was it his 19th birthday, but it
was also the first time he was able to legally buy and drink beer.
BREATH TESTERS: Police have vowed to keep using alcohol breath-testers despite fears that secrecy over how they work
will mean some drink-drive cases are dismissed. The future of the Seres machines has been clouded by the French maker's
refusal to let defence lawyers see its technical manuals - even if ordered to by district court judges.
EAST TIMOR: Army medics battled in vain to save a New Zealand soldier who was critically injured during a road accident
in East Timor. Shocked colleagues rushed to help popular Warrant Officer Tony Walser after his Unimog utility truck
rolled down a 6m bank on Tuesday.
AMERICAS CUP: The chairman of the America's Cup Village Ltd has walked out unexpectedly just 21/2 months before cup
racing reaches its climax - at a time when village administrators are being called to account. Lindsay Fergusson
announced his resignation from the board yesterday, and was replaced immediately by board member and Auckland lawyer
Peter Kiely.
EREBUS: Air Force investigators are waiting for bad weather to clear over Antarctica before flying there to examine a
stranded Iroquois helicopter. Transmission problems in falling snow forced the helicopter to land west of Mt Erebus on
Tuesday, and it was towed yesterday to the US-run McMurdo Station to await inspection.
MCGILLICUDDYS: Bring rotten fruit - McGillicuddy Serious Party leader Graeme Cairns will lock himself in the stocks
today as he disbands the party after yet another election loss. A mournful Mr Cairns has unpacked his special
parliamentary suitcase and conceded defeat to Labour leader Helen Clark after predicting a landslide win for his kilted
crusaders.
ELEPHANT: One of Auckland Museum's most popular attractions, Rajah the motheaten elephant, has had a make-over. The body
of the former Auckland Zoo inhabitant, put into storage in the early 90s, had fallen into disrepair since the original
taxidermy was done in 1936.
LOMU: Jonah Lomu, the outstanding player of the 1999 Rugby World Cup, is backing the Herald's annual Young Kauri Awards.
Lomu has agreed to act as 1999 patron, and children who are nominated for the awards will receive a special certificate
signed by the giant All Black.
EDITORIAL- AIRLINES: New Zealanders need no reminding of the benefits of airline competition. Some, having tasted the
rudimentary service offered by Air New Zealand when it monopolised the domestic market, still insist on flying with
Ansett. Australians have similar memories from the time almost 10 years ago when Compass Airlines took on what many
regarded as a cosy duopoly. Prices for standard tickets plummeted by up to 78 per cent in a price war that ended with
Compass' demise. It is little wonder, therefore, that Australia has put out the red carpet for Richard Branson's Virgin
Airlines. The British entrepreneur's mode of operation is to undercut the big players. He has staked out his patch
across the Tasman by describing the domestic fares charged by Qantas and Ansett as a rip-off. His no-frills airline
promises to lower those fares significantly. Australians and tourists alike will benefit from that and an increased
frequency of flights.