New Zealand Herald

Final Cup Race – U.S. Shooting - Petrol Rise: BP - French Terrorists - Cup Win - Cup Press Corp - Prison Drills - Air Waves Control - Dangerous Domestic - Samuels Abuse - Developer Collapses - Family Apologise - Racial Undertones

FINAL CUP RACE: Team New Zealand may use a new skipper today as they seek a 5-0 triumph over a Prada crew beaten on the water and browbeaten by their tycoon boss. Record-equalling skipper Russell Coutts is likely to hand the helm of the black boat over to rookie Dean Barker on a day when rain and strong winds are predicted for the Hauraki Gulf.

US SHOOTING: It began as a playground quarrel in a small Michigan school and ended with a shot that is still reverberating around the United States. Six-year-old Kayla Rolland was dead, gunned down by a 6-year-old classmate.

PETROL RISE: BP, Caltex and Shell all matched Mobil's 2c-a-litre petrol rise yesterday, but old-fashioned competition means some motorists can dodge the increases. The price hike has taken urban petrol to about 99.9c a litre for unleaded 91 and to $1.04 for premium unleaded. However, competition is keeping prices down in some areas.

FRENCH TERRORISTS: Two French terrorists who helped to sink the Rainbow Warrior are battling to keep video footage of their historic guilty plea off New Zealand television screens. Lawyers for Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur appeared in the High Court at Auckland yesterday in a bid to stop documentary makers gaining access to footage of their original Auckland trial in 1985.

CUP WIN: New Zealand is getting ready to party for its first big success of the new century. But Team New Zealand do not want to tempt fate one win short of a historic America's Cup victory.

CUP PRESS CORP: Each day on the gulf, rivals Francesco de Angelis and Russell Coutts face only 16 opponents in the race for the America's Cup. But around two hours after the second boat crosses the line, they face a larger foe - the assembled press corps at the Louis Vuitton Media Centre on Viaduct Quay.

PRISON DRILLS: Mt Eden Prison managers have failed to run a fire drill for at least two years, heightening the danger of death in the cells or a breakout during an emergency. General manager Brendon Moynihan admitted yesterday that he had been remiss in not holding a drill despite national regulations that one be held every three months.

AIR WAVES CONTROL: The Government has handed Maori control of a parcel of high-frequency radio waves, among those to be auctioned in July. But National is warning that it sets a precedent for opening up all manner of claims to Maori.

DANGEROUS DOMESTIC: Police yesterday arrested a man who threatened a copycat of Saturday's New Lynn domestic homicide. Officers moved quickly after a man called the Herald to say he was on the verge of killing his wife over frustrations arising from a protection order she had taken out against him.

SAMUELS ABUSE: Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels has been accused of verbally abusing a staff member, giving her grounds for a personal grievance claim. During a heated exchange in Parliament yesterday, Mr Samuels was attacked over his behaviour towards former press secretary Jodi Ihaka.

DEVELOPER COLLAPSES: A company involved in a multimillion-dollar development on Auckland's waterfront has collapsed and the city's cut-throat building market is being blamed. Goodall ABL is a medium-sized construction company and the main contractor on Princes Wharf's Shed 24, a 60-plus apartment block being built on the very edge of the wharf.

FAMILY APOLOGISE: The family of a man charged with killing a young woman in a car crash in Wanganui apologised yesterday for her death. Family spokesman Rikki Taraikamo Karapi Maru spoke outside the Wanganui District Court, where Maru, aged 24, was charged with dangerous driving causing the death of Leisha Ann Bourne, 28.

RACIAL UNDERTONES: A Tainui leader says he is worried at racial undertones of claims by sacked Warriors chairman Graham Lowe that Maori will struggle to run the multimillion-dollar club. The Waikato iwi pushed aside Mr Lowe and fellow board member Malcolm Boyle on Tuesday in a bid to take full control of one of its major assets, in which it has a two-thirds share.

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