Two a penny

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LATEST:
Andre Agassi’s upcoming autobiography contains an admission that he used crystal meth in 1997, the year he dropped to No. 141 in the rankings.

In a story posted on People magazine’s Web site Tuesday, Agassi says: “I can’t speak to addiction, but a lot of people would say that if you’re using anything as an escape, you have a problem. A writer from SI first revealed the crystal meth reference on a Twitter posting Tuesday.”

Excerpts from the book are being printed this week by People and Sports Illustrated.

In the posting on People’s Web site, Agassi says he “was worried for a moment, but not for long,” about how fans would react if they found out he used drugs.

“The tweet from SI that posted earlier today which tipped to one of the revelations in the book – Agassi’s use of crystal meth in 1997 – was accurate,” Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.

“I wore my heart on my sleeve and my emotions were always written on my face.

Among the most successful – and, without a doubt, one of the most popular – tennis players in history, Agassi won eight Grand Slam singles titles before retiring in 2006. I was actually excited about telling the world the whole story,” Agassi says.

Agassi’s first major championship came at Wimbledon in 1992, and he won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He drew attention not just for his play, but also for his outfits, his hairstyles and his relationships with women.

He resuscitated his career in 1998, making the biggest one-year jump into the top 10 in the history of the ATP rankings. . The next season, he won the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, then added a second career US Open title en route to finishing 1999 at No. The next season, he won the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam, then added a second career US Open title en route to finishing 1999 at No.

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Knopf is publishing the book November 9

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Mangere residents are raising doubts about whether police have the right man in custody following a string of sex attacks in the South Auckland suburb in the last two months.

A teenage boy is due to appear in court today after being arrested in connection with a sex attack on a woman in South Auckland yesterday.

The 14-year-old is due to appear in Manukau Youth Court earlier today facing one count of indecent assault against a 29-year-old woman.The woman was knocked to the ground and sexually assaulted before her screams attracted the attention of residents.

In the incident yesterday, the woman was attacked in an alleyway running behind Nga Iwi Primary School as she on her way to pick up a child from school. .

Police have been investigating a string of four sex attacks on females since early last month, the youngest victim being an eight-year-old girl who was raped in an alleyway last week.

However, the description of the arrested man did not match that given by victims of a string of recent sex attacks, Mangere Maori Wardens chairman Thomas Henry told Radio New Zealand.Police have not yet said whether the man taken into custody was arrested in connection with four sex attacks in the alleyway since September 8, or whether charges have been laid.The assault yesterday may have been a copycat attack, Mr Henry said, although he did not understand why anyone would commit such an act.The daylight assaults have been described as “brazen” by police.Police were following up a strong lead from a resident who said they knew who the attacker was and further details would be released earlier today. She punched him and he fled.In an attack last Thursday, a man grabbed a 28-year-old woman pushing her son in a pram in the alleyway.The man was described as Polynesian, aged between 18 and 20, and 165cm tall.The man was described as Polynesian, aged between 18 and 20, and 165cm tall.The man was described as Polynesian and wore a black baseball cap, a white hooded sweatshirt with a black or dark collar.On Monday last week, an eight-year-old girl was raped by a Maori or Polynesian man while walking home from school with her six-year-old sister, who screamed for help. He grabbed her from behind and she was indecently assaulted.On September 8, a 12-year-old girl was attacked by a man in the alleyway.

.Police had received recent reports of an unidentified male approaching young females and asking to touch them in a sexual way

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The Labour weekend road toll has climbed to five following the death of a woman struck by a bus full of people north of Wellington earlier today.

The woman died at the scene after she was hit by the bus on Lyttleton Ave in Porirua, police said.

The death brought the holiday weekend road toll to five – one greater than Labour Day weekend last year, when four people were killed. .

The rider was travelling with a group of friends and speed may have been a contributing factor, police said.

A motorcyclist died close to Greymouth yesterday after crashing into a bridg e on State Highway 6 at Coal Creek.

Two women were killed in a head-on crash close to Taupo on Saturday.

Investigations were ongoing.

The car’s 79-year-old driver died at the scene while the 53-year-old passenger of the four-wheel-drive died shortly after she was taken to Taupo Hospital.

A car crossed the centre line on State Highway 1 at Five Mile Bay and collided with a four-wheel-drive vehicle shortly before 3pm.

Meanwhile, police have named the man who was killed when a four-wheel-drive rolled into a river off the Maungatapu Track in Nelson’s Maitai Valley yesterday, injuring two others.

The driver escaped with only minor injuries.

Emergency services were alerted to the crash at 5.

He was 16-year-old Tod Woodman of Richmond.

.40pm by one of the vehicle’s occupants, who ran from the scene to get help

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A Picton man has been jailed for six years after he admitted raping his 15-year-old niece.

Permanent name suppression was ordered when the 21-year-old-man was sentenced in Blenheim District Court today.

Judge Tony Zohrab said the February 2 offence had had a huge and lasting impact on the victim, who had always trusted him as a fun, favourite uncle.

The offence occurred when the complainant was staying with her biological mother in Invercargill where the defendant, her mother’s adopted brother, was also staying.

The name suppression was for her protection. .

He had come home at 2am after working late, then drinking with friends and climbed into a fold-out sofa in the lounge where she was sleeping.

Spoken to by police in May, the defendant claimed little recollection of the incident but accepted responsibility and made an early guilty plea.

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That and his youth were mitigating factors, the judge said, reducing a potential nine-year sentence to six years

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LATEST:
Michael Laws has slammed claims he bullied several school children who wrote letters to him about the spelling of Wanganui on his radio show this morning.

The radio station Laws works for, Radio Live, ran an item about the bullying allegations during their 9am news bulletin, just minutes before Laws was to begin his regular talk back show.”

Laws addressed the allegations on his programme and spoke of his surprise at opening The this morning to “find myself in the midst of yet another controversy”.

Veteran news reader Hilary Barry dissolved into giggles when she read the story, concluding “Michael Laws hung up on Radio Live when we contacted him this morning.

Mr Laws replied to letters from Otaki school children by telling them “there are so many deficiencies of both fact and logic in your letters that I barely know where to start”.

A group of primary school children who wrote to Laws about the “h” debate were upset that they received a letter back suggesting their teacher be sacked and that they control their anger.

The seven children wrote in separate letters how they were annoyed that Mr Laws would not change the city’s name.

Ngarui Waahitia-Manukau, 12, and her year 7 and 8 classmates at Otaki School’s kura kaupapa unit wrote letters in Maori to Mr Laws at the beginning of August, saying they thought the spelling of Wanganui should have an “h”.”

He added: “Perhaps sacking your teacher for allowing such misapprehension to flourish?”

In handwriting at the bottom of his letter, Mr Laws wrote: “PS Controlling your anger might be a start!”

On his show this morning, Laws said he had looked up the meaning of bullying in the dictionary this morning, he said, and did not believe the letters he had written made him a bully.

A fierce opponent of any name change, Mr Laws replied to the children that he would take their views seriously “when your class starts addressing the real issues affecting Maoridom particularly the appalling rate of child abuse and child murder within Maori society, then I will take the rest of your views seriously.”

“I think it’s wrong for kids to be angry about something inanimate, don’t you?”

“They were demanding letters by 11 and 12-year-old and all stated their personal anger.

Laws said he had been “shocked” by the tone of the letters he received, which he says were “demanding” and “angry” from children who “live nowhere near Wanganui.”

“Needless to day I wrote back to them and said this is a bit off and isn’t there other things you should get angry about…”

The pupils were upset by the reply and family members questioned yesterday whether the response was acceptable. .

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New figures showing Kiwi teens racked up $40 million in unpaid traffic fines in the past year alone have revived calls for tougher demerit penalties and a move away from issuing fines for traffic violations.

The teen tearaways include a 16-year-old Dunedin boy who received 158 fines in the year to June, making him one of the country’s worst teen traffic offenders.

The second biggest outstanding amount is is owed by an 18-year-old, also in Dunedin, who received 119 infringements and owed $38,811, followed by a Christchurch 15-year-old who owed $24,990 on 88 fines. According to Ministry of Justice figures released to the Sunday Star-Times, by the end of the previous month the teenager owed $49,123 in fines, which he has been paying off weekly.

Their fines are among 51,594 issued to drivers aged 14-19 during the same period, and totalling $55. Their offences include dangerous driving, driver licence offences, defective vehicles or no warrant of fitness, parking violations, not wearing a seatbelt and speeding. Of that, 56 percent was being paid by arrangement and 27 percent had been “resolved” either by payment, alternative sentences or being written-off.8m.

AA Driver Education Foundation chairman Mike Noon says the examples show “the current system is failing”.

Experts say the massive totals owed would be nearly impossible to pay off for teenagers, who “may be working at McDonald’s”, and that the only effective penalty for young traffic violators is the threat of forcing them off the road.

The Vehicle Confiscations and Seizures Bill (or “anti-cruising” measures) and Courts and Criminal Matters Bill look set to be passed into law by the end of the year and will give authorities greater powers to suspend driver licences and confiscate cars. . I think it’s likely that there will be more provisions for vehicle confiscations and possibly even crushing the vehicles of repeat dangerous offenders,” Noon says.

“There definitely is an interest in increasing demerit points; that is the way forward.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce says the bill would see fines for such breaches reduced from $400 to $100 and demerit points increased from 25 to 35.

And the Land Transport (Enforcement Powers) Amendment Bill, which aims to rebalance penalties for breaches of the driver-licensing system, reaches its second reading in parliament next month. This reflects evidence that young drivers often ignore fines or get their parents to pay them,” Joyce says.

“We believe loss of license and loss of vehicle are much more powerful deterrents than fines particularly for young people and those involved with illegal street racing.

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An Auckland police officer has been suspended and may yet face criminal charges for allegedly leaking secret information from the national intelligence network to a criminal.

The constable has been stood down while an internal investigation takes place, the Weekend Herald reported.

The suspended constable is in a squad which targets “volume crime”, in particular burglaries, and had access to the police intelligence database.

The constable, who has been in the police for two years, was this week interviewed by staff from the force’s professional standards team, the newspaper reported.

He is alleged to have leaked sensitive information to help a known criminal to avoid arrest. But most have been non-sworn staff in call centres, not officers.

A small number of police staff have been charged with using the computer system to help friends and family to evade arrest. .

Police Minister Judith Collins has been briefed on the “serious allegations” but declined to comment as the inquiry was not finished.

“Police are investigating an allegation that information has been inappropriately disclosed by a police employee, and as the investigation is under way it would be inappropriate to comment further,” Mr Bush said.

The National Intelligence Application is a computer network that holds information on people’s criminal convictions and whether they are wanted by police or are a surveillance target.

Police Association president Greg O’Connor also declined to comment.

Police national headquarters figures show 33 police staff were caught making unauthorised checks of the National Intelligence Application since August 2007.

The system also gives police facts on criminals’ associates and their addresses. Nine of those later resigned. Nine of those later resigned

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A Marton man has admitted robbing two Manawatu banks while dressed as a woman, complete with high heels.

Unemployed man James Shevan Cassidy, 34, appeared in Palmerston North District Court yesterday, determined to plead guilty without seeking legal advice.

“I would like the matter dealt with in your court .

But it was only after Judge Les Atkins ordered Cassidy to see the court’s duty solicitor that his pleas to the indictable charges were entered… “I am aware of my actions . I plead guilty,” he told Judge Atkins…”

Cassidy admitted robbing $4300 from Feilding’s Kiwibank, inside the Take Note bookshop, on June 29. I am holding myself accountable and I would like this matter dealt with. .

He also admitted robbing $835 from the Kiwibank inside the Terrace End Post Office on July 9.

“When you do see them, they stick out.

A woman employee from a neighbouring shop, who did not want to be named, told the she saw the man moments before the robbery while she was on a break.

A Robert Harris employee said she saw the high-heeled robber run past the cafe, next to Take Note, after the robbery. I’ve never seen him around before,” she said.

Cassidy was remanded in custody until sentencing on September 9.

It was quite odd, a “woman” running so fast, she said.

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Wellington is seeing more people hospitalised with swine flu than Australia’s swine flu capital Victoria, with around 30 people currently admitted to its hospitals.

Victoria, with a population of about five million had 18 patients in hospital last Friday, compared with Wellington’s present number of almost 30 from a population of around 400,000.”It’s obviously been a brutal winter and the numbers here are going up very quickly but that’s probably not surprising,” he said. However, Wellington microbiologist Dr Tim Blackmore said the timing of the spike in infections, with New Zealand successfully containing the virus for almost two months, could be making the figures appear worse than they were. What the long term picture might be we don’t know yet but certainly at the moment there’s a lot of new cases emerging in the community and proportionally we’re seeing quite a few in the hospital.”If it was starting to slow down in Victoria then our numbers of patients on a particular day, compared to Victoria may be out of step.

However, accurate records of confirmed cases are no longer kept and the total number is likely to be much higher.”While instances of swine flu in New Zealand continue to increase, statistics show more that there have been 4,300 cases and nine deaths reported in Australia compared to 825 cases and no deaths here.”

“The hospital services are starting to struggle.Mr Blackmore told AAP that this was the “tip of the iceberg and it’s looking moderately severe to us.”

Sixty-nine people have been hospitalised in the Wellington region. We’ve never seen admission rates like this before and unfortunately it’s only going to get worse.He added that the majority of people were only in hospital for a day or two and asthma was playing a significant role in hospitalisations. Mr Blackmore said they were now only testing those who were believed to be in a more serious position..”There’s a proportion of people who are coming in with primary influenza pneumonia – viral pneumonia – but most have asthma or something like that underneath it . to make doctors more concerned about their health to have them in hospital..While it was difficult to know exactly how many people had been admitted in total, “it’s obviously something that we’re going to look at more carefully.”He said the average age of people being admitted was early-20s and there were “quite a few” children. A woman in her early twenties is still in a critical condition in Hawke’s Bay Hospital though it is not known whether she had any pre-existing medical conditions.”The condition of the 30-year-old woman in intensive care in Wellington Hospital was today down-graded from life-threatening to serious.”Once the virus established in Australia and as a result of the links New Zealand has with Australia .National Influenza Centre head Dr Sue Huang said that New Zealand’s links with Australia, which sent more than one million visitors here last year, had made containing the virus more difficult… it became really difficult to contain.”Meanwhile, swine flu is taking over from seasonal flu as the most commonly diagnosed influenza in the more serious cases this year.Mr Blackmore said of the 294 positive influenza tests carried out in Wellington since June 23, only 25 were seasonal influenza and the rest were the new strain.Since then, the lowest number of swine flu cases diagnosed in Wellington daily was ten and the highest was 37.However, he said the ratio was about even in Auckland, with Christchurch “somewhere in the middle”"The interesting thing about influenza is it does different patterns in different communities. .Mr Blackmore said he believed the number of infections could peak in a “few weeks” before easing, though the level of preparedness on behalf of health authorities meant they were well placed to cope.”I think overall for New Zealand it’s going to go on for a long time,” he warned.Ms Huang said they processed more than 1000 samples from suspected cases last week, which confirmed that swine flu was becoming more prevalent than other influenzas.She said all tests for Tamiflu resistance and virus mutations had so far come back negative.

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The body of Michael Jackson has been released to his family, a Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman said after an autopsy failed to immediately determine what killed the troubled pop star.

Members of Jackson’s family were said to be gathering at his parents home in suburban Los Angeles to make final arrangements for the “King of Pop,” whose sudden death on Thursday dominated worldwide headlines and touched off two days of tributes from fans.

No funeral or public memorial plans have been disclosed and ABC News reported that the family might seek a second, independent autopsy on the remains.

Speculation has centred on Jackson’s use of prescription drugs and reports that he was injected with the narcotic painkiller Demerol shortly before collapsing at his rented mansion in a Holmby Hills neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Coroner’s officials have said that with no outward signs of trauma to Jackson’s body or evidence of foul play, they would have to wait for the results of toxicology tests and other studies to establish a cause of death. Conrad Murray, trying desperately to revive him.

The 50-year-old entertainer was in full cardiac arrest when paramedics arrived, with his personal physician, identified as Dr.

Police towed Murray’s silver Mercedes from the driveway of the home where Jackson died, saying they wanted to search it for evidence and medication, and have sought to further interview the 51-year-old, Houston-based cardiologist.

The Rev. .

“When did the doctor come? What did he do? Did he inject him? If so, with what?” he said in an interview with the network. Jesse Jackson, who has been acting as a spokesman for the singer’s family, told ABC News that they also had questions for Murray. Was he injected once? Was he injected twice?”

The celebrity website TMZ.

“Was he on the scene twice? Before and then reaction to? Did he use Demerol? It’s a very powerful drug.com reported that police were also interested in speaking with another Jackson adviser, Tohme Tohme, about the superstar’s use of prescription medication.com reported that police were also interested in speaking with another Jackson adviser, Tohme Tohme, about the superstar’s use of prescription medication.