LIQUOR: The Herald leads today with a report that the drinking age will be lowered from 20 to 18 and shoppers will be able to buy alcohol on Sundays in sweeping changes to liquor laws expected to take effect from October 1.

FLASH FLOOD: The front-page photo story shows rescuers looking for bodies in the canyoning disaster in the Swiss Alps. A report says Auckland woman Kelly Swanson-Row escaped from a wall of water in the Swiss Alps minutes before it swept away her husband of two years and killed at least 18 people, including another New Zealander. Another report says Wellington student John Hall tried desperately to relax as he was swept down about six waterfalls and pounded against rocks in the Swiss Alps flash flood.

Inside:

- TAMIHERE: a report that Labour Party candidate John Tamihere may be eligible for a six-figure golden handshake when he quits his job as head of the Waipareira Trust in West Auckland next month;

- INDIAN DEPORTATION: a report that the Minister of Immigration has fiercely denied that a Fijian Indian woman who had a secret abortion will be deported after a Waikato Hospital nurse told her family about it;

- HENARE: a report that Labour has laid a complaint against Maori Affairs Minister Tau Henare alleging a breach of privilege over a letter supporting a funding bid by his daughter's school;

- LIQUOR AND MAORI: a report that Parliament was told yesterday that lowering the drinking age to 18 would be like shooting 75 young maori;

- BUSINESS CLASS BIRTHS: a report that Wyatt Creech has won an apology from Auckland Healthcare over the luxury births row.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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