Thursday's headlines: quicker access to new and expensive medicines tipped under a free trade deal with US; airline ash backlog could take till late next week to clear; blue whale seen in Akaroa harbour.
NZ Herald
The New Zealand Herald says New Zealanders could get quicker access to new and expensive medicines - and the Government's drugs bill could go up - under a free trade deal with the United States.
A former Auckland student turned Ivy League scholar convicted of murdering his bride and burning their house down, will serve his full prison sentence in the United States.
A case of Anzac identity theft has been uncovered 95 years after the landings at Gallipoli.
Research into the only known film of the Anzac campaign has revealed that soldiers originally identified as Australians are actually New Zealanders and Irishmen.
Dominion Post
The Dominion Post reports a former High Court judge has labelled New Zealand's commitment to the indigenous rights declaration the most significant day in advancing Maori rights since the Treaty of Waitangi.
The family of Christchurch climber Rob Hall would prefer his body remain on Mt Everest, where he died in 1996.
The Nepalese government announced has plans for a clean-up expedition on the world's highest peak.
The Press
The Press says airlines warn it could be late next week before a backlog of thousands of New Zealanders stranded by the volcanic ash cloud is cleared.
A television set left on standby caused a fire that destroyed a family home on the outskirts of Christchurch.
And sightseers on an Akaroa harbour cruise on Thursday came close to an unexpected visitor: a 20 metre blue whale.
ODT
The Otago Daily Times reports MPs say emergency care for people in remote areas of Otago and Southland could be compromised if neurosurgery is offered only from Christchurch in future.
A senior Mongrel Mob gang member and six female associates have been arrested in raids across Dunedin.
There's the story of St Kilda Brass cornet player Ralph Miller who has blown the haunting call at Anzac Day services since 2001.
And there's a chilling warning from a Dunedin mother who discovered her young daughter was being cyber groomed over the internet.
