NZ Herald
The New Zealand Herald leads with the Government's redundacy plan based on 70,000 people losing their jobs in the next two years. But the $52 million plan gives nothing to people with savings in the bank, big payouts, or high-earning partners.
Air New Zealand has accused the Commerce Commission of "grandstanding" to justify its existence after 13 airlines were accused of acting in a cartel to skim up to $600 million from freight customers.
The Government is said to be taking urgent steps to prevent further rises in electricity prices. This follows plans by Genesis Energy to raise prices in parts of Auckland by about 9% citing a range of issues such as excess demand and network constraints.
Dominion Post
The paper says Fiji is poised to expel a second New Zealand diplomat, and police and defence attaches are being refused visas as a diplomatic row escalates.
The The Dominion Post reports a Kiwi motor racing driver could face up to 20 years in a Thai prison after being arrested for allegedly attempting to sell drugs in a Phuket nightclub.
The Press
The Press says low-income workers who are made redundant will get up to $160 a week extra in benefits as the Government prepares for a big rise in unemployment.
A cigarette discarded on a footpath and scientific advances have combined to obtain what is believed to be the first conviction in New Zealand through the use of familial DNA testing.
Wayne Robert Jarden, 50, was convicted in the Christchurch District Court yesterday for sex attacks in 1988 and 1996 that had been on the Christchurch police list of cold cases.
Otago Daily Times
In the Otago Daily Times, a strategy is being developed for Dunedin's council housing includes a range of possibilities from selling and leaving it in the hands of "market forces" to making the council the sole provider of social housing, taking over the role of the State.
