New Zealand Herald

Dempsey Sacking - Round Found - Bank Ombudsman - Condoms In Schools – Murder Ring - Boy Saved - Beyer Honoured - Auckland Museum - Tainui Crisis - Drink Driving Case - Cultural Policy - Round’s Relatives - Dempsey’s Decision - Piggery Closes - Rotorua Family Dies

DEMPSEY SACKING: Oceania soccer head Charlie Dempsey survived a call for his immediate sacking only because two delegates did not make yesterday's crisis meeting over his World Cup no-vote. The 79-year-old New Zealand administrator will instead retire on October 1.

ROUND FOUND: He was one of hundreds of New Zealand airmen who never came back from the Second World War. Killed in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, Arthur Round's body was never recovered from the glacier in Iceland which claimed his plane.

BANK OMBUDSMAN: When the bank closed on their South Auckland cropping business at the height of the 1998 onion season, the Andrews family flew in despair to Wellington to see the Banking Ombudsman. Unbeknown to them, it was a Bank of New Zealand complaints officer who greeted them, but they say they did not discover this for well over a year - after losing their Pukekawa farms and livelihoods.

CONDOMS IN SCHOOLS: Youth Affairs Minister Laila Harre wants more schools to consider making condoms available to students. Ms Harre said the issue would be studied as part of the Government's development of a national sexual health and reproductive strategy.

MURDER RING: LONDON - A Malaysian betting ring may have been behind plots to murder jockey Frankie Dettori and racing driver David Coulthard in plane crashes, the Sunday People reported yesterday. The weekly newspaper said detectives were investigating an underworld tip-off that gangsters caused the plane crashes, just a week apart, which almost killed the sports stars.

BOY SAVED: Sarah Glen's diary entry for March 4 says it all: "Yesterday I saved a boy from drowning." The 22-year-old Auckland University student risked her life to save the teenager from rough seas at Ocean Beach, southeast of Whangarei, and has now received a police commendation for her efforts.

BEYER HONOURED: Transsexual MP Georgina Beyer was brought to tears when named Supreme Queer of the Year at the Queer of the Year Awards 2000 on Saturday. Awards organiser Marc van Moorsel said Ms Beyer was a deserving and gracious winner of one of the top awards.

AUCKLAND MUSEUM: It seems only yesterday that Auckland Museum boasted of being the most visited museum in Australasia. This was justified by claims the institution had more than a million visitors a year. Now, 18 months into the controversial entrance "donation" regime, the million-plus attendance figure has returned to bite director Dr Rodney Wilson and his board on the backside.

TAINUI CRISIS: The Prime Minister says the latest financial crisis with Tainui, which could see money to pay tribal staff drying up in 10 days, will not derail the treaty settlement process. Helen Clark said yesterday that she did not have enough information to comment on reports that the Bank of New Zealand was about to stop lending Tainui any more money because the iwi was struggling to repay $15 million it already owed.

DRINK DRIVING CASE: An Auckland judge has thrown out a drink-driving case because a blood-testing kit was incorrectly labelled. The label does not say the kit has been approved by the "Science Minister." Instead, it refers to the "Minister of Research, Science and Technology."

CULTURAL POLICY: Prime Minister Helen Clark denies ordering a rewrite of the report on long-term cultural policy, "Heart of the Nation." She says it underwent the same treatment as other reports. The draft had further work done on it because of factual problems.

ROUND’S RELATIVES: For nearly 60 years the mangled body of New Zealand pilot Arthur Round lay strewn across an Icelandic glacier, out of reach of relatives and friends. The discovery last year of the wreckage of his Fairey Battle plane and well-preserved human remains came too late for his parents, two sisters and two brothers, who all died carrying the burden of Flight Officer Round's fate. But the New Zealand Herald, alerted to the discovery

DEMPSEY’S DECISION: In the plush bar of an elegant Zurich hotel, Charlie Dempsey relaxed with a pre-dinner drink. It had been a long day. The four bidders for soccer's 2006 World Cup, South Africa, Germany, England and Morocco, had made their last official presentations to Fifa's executive committee.

PIGGERY CLOSES: A Cambridge man has conceded defeat after a seven-year battle with neighbours and the regional council to keep his piggery open. Roger Johnson, owner of Johnson Piggery, said he had been forced to close the piggery after spending close to $500,000 trying to meet odour and effluent discharge regulations.

ROTORUA FAMILY DIES: Four members of a Rotorua family died instantly when their car crossed a grass median strip and smashed head-on into a truck south of Auckland. Korean woman Eun Sook Kim, aged 38, her two daughters Ji Hyun, 10, and Soo Min, 7, and her 30-year-old niece Yu Hyun Cho died on Saturday at 11.10 am just south of the Ramarama State Highway 1 turn-off.

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