New Zealand Herald

Kylie Jones Burial - Pm Charms Businesses - Paul Loses Glow - Gisbourne Game - Crime Victims - A Bank Strikes Back - 11yo Speedster - Kylie Jones Accused - Pedo University

KYLIE JONES BURIAL: After all the words had been said and all the prayers spoken, there was only silence as Kylie Jones' body was taken away from the people who loved her to be buried. The 1500 mourners massed around her family, still clutching one another for support, as the young woman's body was loaded into the dark-blue hearse after her funeral.

PM CHARMS BUSINESSES: Prime Minister Helen Clark has stepped up her "charm offensive" on business, sending thousands of letters to employers assuring them there will be changes to draft industrial law. She has called in her own department to review the Employment Relations Bill, saying she wants to address legitimate concerns and look at making it less prescriptive.

PAUL LOSES GLOW: Infomercial queen Suzanne Paul is no longer the face of Natural Glow, the cosmetics that made her a household name. After a five-year partnership, Paul has decided it is time to move on from promoting the pots of bronzing powder full of "thousands of luminous spheres."

GISBOURNE GAME: Forget the All Blacks and their sponsored cars - real rugby players hitch-hike to the big game. In Gisborne, about as far as you can get from rugby's professional era, a combined Poverty Bay-East Coast team are preparing for their match of the year against the visiting Scots.

CRIME VICTIMS: Victims of crime are to be helped to attend trials, learn more about their rights and deal with problems at court. Government ministers yesterday pledged $7,657,000 over four years in a victims' rights package that aims to help those entwined in the court system.

A BANK STRIKES BACK: A major bank has launched an attack on the Herald's The Banks series, taking a full-page advertisement in today's paper, trying to challenge a report about its charges for counting coins. The ASB featured on the front page of the Weekend Herald last Saturday in a report about the Cool School Lunch company, facing charges of $57 a day for counting 2000 coins.

11YO SPEEDSTER: The girl who led police on a high-speed late-night car chase on Monday - leaving three damaged cars in her wake - was yesterday on the run again. The 11-year-old solo speedster, under welfare care, took off shortly after being returned to her West Auckland caregiver yesterday morning, despite "extra measures" to keep her home.

KYLIE JONES ACCUSED: The man accused of murdering Auckland journalist Kylie Jones was handcuffed and heavily guarded during the first court hearing into the slaying. Three police officers stood in a locked Auckland District Court dock with the short, unemployed Glen Innes man yesterday morning as his lawyer pushed for interim name suppression and a psychiatric report.

PEDO UNIVERSITY: A 54-year-old man allegedly known as the Lurker Down Under in an international child pornography ring calling itself Pedo University went on trial in the Auckland District Court yesterday. Desmond John Millward, a sickness beneficiary of Kohimarama, has denied under the Films, Video and Publications Classification Act charges of supplying objectionable publications via the Internet. The prosecution alleges that Millward was an active member of the ring.

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