Photo / Glenn Taylor
Prime Minister John Key will make a public apology if new information about Justice Minister Judith Collins emerges and forces her out of the job this week.
Mr Key made the promise on TVNZ this morning in response to a claim made by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
"Judith Collins will not survive next week with what I know," Mr Peters said during a debate on the network's Marae programme yesterday.
3. Auckland out to combat alcohol-related harm
It could soon be harder to get a drink late at night in Auckland.
The council is proposing to cut the hours people can buy alcohol at bottle stores and supermarkets from 11pm to 10pm and the time it can be sold in central-city bars, pubs and restaurants from 4am to 3am. On-licence sales in other parts of the city, including Newmarket and Parnell, would be cut from 4am to 1am.
The council will decide tomorrow if the draft policy should go out for public consultation.
4. Three deaths as ambulance defibrillators fail
Photo / Richard Robinson
Three patients lost their lives after St John's life-saving defibrillators failed in a blunder linked to the ambulance service's poor record keeping.
Documents show the patients died last year in emergency responses in which St John staff reported the defibrillators they were using failed to work properly.
Defibrillators are a critical tool for ambulance services and work by delivering an electric shock to restore a normal rhythm to an irregularly beating heart.
St John now has a programme to replace batteries on its defibrillators inside their two-year lifespan.
5. PM's sausage promotion hits a snarler
Photo / Tracey Roxburgh
'Sausagegate' began at the Remarkables Town Centre yesterday afternoon as Prime Minister John Key dispensed free sausages about 100m away from two Wakatipu High School pupils selling the same product, trying to raise money for a school trip.
Madi Taylor and Jasmine Sowerby, both 15, stood outside The Warehouse trying to sell one sausage for $3 or two for $5, but business was slow.
That was because the leader of the country - in Queenstown for the Mainland Conference 2014, a gathering of National MPs and candidates from across New Zealand - tried to snag voters by handing out sausages with Clutha-Southland National Party candidate Todd Barclay, cooked for them by Flaming Good Food.
6. Scientists deploy devices to help study 'silent earthquakes'
Photo / GNS
Quake-recording instruments to be deployed on the seabed near Poverty Bay will give scientists a deeper insight into earthquake and tsunami risk in one of the country's biggest natural disaster risk zones.
More than 30 instruments belonging to the US and Japan will be dropped around the area over the next two weeks and will remain in place for a year, recording earthquakes and any upward or downward movement of the seafloor.
7. Mosque ban unfair on us, sons say
Photo / Greg Bowker
The sons of a Muslim imam who was barred from his own mosque for allegedly teaching extreme Islam have denied their father is an advocate for jihad, or holy war.
Abdulla Hamam, 22, and Abdelrahman Hamam, 16, were given trespass notices banning them and their father Abu Abdulla from entering any of the mosques run by the New Zealand Muslim Association (NZMA) in Avondale, Birkenhead, Ranui and Ponsonby for two years.
Mr Abdulla Hamam said his father was "just a normal person" but was being targeted by some leaders from the association who were "bullies".
8. Shoe maker loses lawsuit
Photo / Jamie Troughton
Kiwi experts are not surprised a manufacturer of toe-sock running shoes has revealed there is no scientific proof that wearing its product has added health benefits.
Vibram, the makers of FiveFingers running shoes which are designed to mimic the effect of running barefoot, settled a $4.35 million class action lawsuit in the US over the false claims.
9. Single mum hopes ad will help
Sperm donors are so in demand there is up to a two-year wait, prompting one woman to fork out thousands of dollars to find one faster.
Karen, not her real name, has placed two newspaper advertisements in the hope of attracting an unknown sperm donor, otherwise the single mother could wait two years before she is eligible to choose one.
10. Teeth the new benchmark of inequality
According to a top social scientist, where we now stand in society is becoming increasingly dependent not on our education or our upbringing - but on the state of our gnashers.
Malcolm Gladwell, the writer behind David and Goliath, says teeth are becoming the new benchmark of inequality.
According to the writer, those with bad teeth are also given a lower chance of success - because they are "denied" certain "entry-level" jobs.
- nzherald.co.nz, NZ Herald, APNZ, Daily Mail
