15 Feb 2012

Morning Report: local papers

7:09 am on 15 February 2012

Wednesday's headlines: Crown says Urewera camp participants were being taught the art of guerrilla warfare; Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully's email accounts were hacked; $1 million mystery over Carisbrook deal.

NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald carries the headline 'Ghost Yacht Mystery'. Sailor Richard Rusbatch left Tauranga on Saturday, but his yacht Honfluer was found spinning slowly in circles off the Bay of Plenty coast on Tuesday, with no sign of the skipper.

In his opening address yesterday, Crown prosecutor Ross Burns, told the jury in the Urewera raids trial, that participants in the Urewera camps were being taught the art of guerrilla warfare.

Waikato Times

The Waikato Times leads with the loss of a man his family describe as one of 'nature's gentleman'. Bad weather is believed to be the cause of motorcycle smash that killed Graham Wells on Monday near Te Aroha, two days before his 27th wedding anniversary.

The paper also reports a former Tokoroa Corrections Department official has admitted accepting bribes in return for wiping out offenders' community work hours.

Dominion Post

In an exclusive story, The Dominion Post reports one of Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully's email accounts was broken into by the Anonymous collective of hackers. The breach, in April last year, was of Mr McCully's private email, but concerns were heightened because Mr McCully had asked that official emails be forwarded to that account.

The paper also reports that two boys allegedly taken to Urewera training camps blindfolded and forced to the ground at gunpoint are to be the Crown's star witnesses in the case against the ''Urewera 4''.

The Press

The Press says demand from red-zoners is still boosting the number of house sales in Christchurch. Figures from Quotable Value show house values have risen in the city on average 3.7% in the past year.

The paper also reports on a row between the Green Party and Speaker Lockwood Smith, after deaf Christchurch MP Mojo Mathers was told she must pay for electronic note-taking in Parliament out of her own budget.

Otago Daily Times

The Otago Daily Times says it is unclear whether the Kingsgate Hotel will reopen after a fire caused significant damage on Monday evening.

And a $1 million mystery over Carisbrook: the Otago Rugby Football Union says it received $6 million for the sale of the ground in 2009.

However, Dunedin City Council, which bought the ground, and two former Otago union officials maintain the figure was $7 million. The paper says no light has so far been shed on the discrepancy.