Wellington - New Zealand amateur Danny Lee elbowed the professionals aside Sunday to win the Johnnie Walker Classic in the west coast Australian city of Perth.

Lee, 18, claimed victory by one stroke in an event co-sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian tours.

Lee is the reigning United States amateur champion, and with his win in Perth became the youngest player to win on the European tour and only the second amateur to do so.

New Delhi, Feb 20 : Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, and his New Zealand counterpart Tim Groser today agreed on the need for an early commencement of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between both countries.

During a bilateral meeting here, both Ministers noted that the Joint Study Group (JSG) Report demonstrates considerable potential to substantially develop bilateral trade and an economic relationship through the FTA.

Sydney  - New Zealand's race relations watchdog has written to the South African Rugby Union (SARU) in support of a proposed game between a side made up exclusively of Maori players and the Springboks, news reports said Friday.

The June game is in doubt because of South African objections to the "racial" selection of the New Zealand side because it is restricted to ethnic Maori, the Rugby Heaven website reported.

Auckland, Feb. 19 : An exhibition football game with superstar David Beckham and his LA Galaxy has ended up costing the Auckland Regional Council a disastrous
1.79 million dollars.

"This is a very disappointing outcome and it has been a disaster for the ARC," stuff. co. nz quoted ARC CEO Peter Winder, as saying.

Beckham and the Galaxy played at Mt Smart Stadium on December 6 in a game against an Oceania All Stars team. While 6,500 children from 130 schools saw Beckham, not enough people paid to go the game.

Wellington  - The grounding of the cruise ship Ocean Nova in the Antarctic highlighted the need for stricter controls on tourism in the area, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Thursday.

"If nothing is done, it will be only a matter of time before there is a disaster in the Southern Ocean," he said. "The international community must take steps to ensure that never happens."

Wellington  - A New Zealand man who spent 10 years in prison for a murder the Court of Appeal found he did not commit was denied compensation Thursday after a lawyer's report that he probably had carried out the crime.

Justice Minister Simon Power told reporters the lawyer who investigated the case found that Rex Haig had "not established his innocence on the balance of probability."