Marathon meet ends with 4.6% rates hike - Credit upgrade boosts Kiwi dollar - Viva Versace - Upper Hutt house prices buck trend - Inside headlines - Sports lead - Editorial

Marathon meet ends with 4.6% rates hike: Wellington ratepayers are facing a proposed 4.6% rate increase after a tortuous 12-day budget-setting process by their city council.

Credit upgrade boosts Kiwi dollar: The country's economy got a shot in the arm today with a credit rating upgrade from international agency Standard & Poors.

Viva Versace: The front page pic shows Versace dresses photgraphed by Richard Avedon.

Upper Hutt house prices buck trend: House prices in Upper Hutt are rising at a rate second only to Dunedin.

Inside headlines
- Nats vow to honour Hobbs;
- Kiwis hop to beat law change;
- Young pilots future up, up and away;
- Debt-laden doctors getting out;
- Trust seeks $20m compensation;
- Call for revamp of tertiary education;
- Public in the picture over hospital options;
- Armed youth fails to faze veteran;
- Future census papers expected to go on-line;
- Phones run hot with census calls;
- Kapiti tightens water restrictions

Sports lead
Bell ready for anything: Wellington opening bat Matthew Bell believes he is ready for whatever stunt the Pakistanis pull when the first cricket test starts at Eden Park on Thursday.

Editorial: Foot and Mouth - no substitute for vigilance;
The risks of ownership.