1Foreign Minister Murray McCully has spoken with Fiji's interim prime minister Frank Bainimarama as efforts continue to resolve the diplomatic stand off between the two countries. McCully has spoken to Fiji, though the situation does not appear any clearer.

2TVNZ's Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has arrived back in New Zealand after being deported from Fiji this morning.

3People on the average wage - around $47,000 - will pay around $3 more in weekly ACC levies from next April. The government says the levies for the earners account will have to go up because of the scheme's rising deficit.

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5The lawyer for Nai Yin Xue, accused of murdering his wife and abandoning their daughter at an Australian railway station claims legal services is purposely witholding aid for his client. A hearing was due to take place today, but was ajourned after his lawyer Chris Comeskey claimed that Xue still wasn't recieving financial aid.

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7The Health and Disability Commissioner says overcrowded hospital emergency departments are putting patient safety at risk. Ron Patterson today released five reports on the problems posed by over stretched emergency departments and lack of systems within hospitals to share vital information about patients.

8In the first parliamentary question time since the election the Labour Party criticised the National-led Government for the legislation it has pushed through under urgency. The government has hit back saying that the previous Labour government made spending commitments that it cound not afford.

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10The New Zealand Pacific Business Council says the new National government must work to put New Zealand's relationship with Fiji onto a better footing. Not doing so could put $300 million worth of trade at risk.

11Japanese business confidence has suffered its worst hit in 34 years, fuelling fears of a deep and lengthy recession.

12New figures show China's economy is facing a sharp slowdown and the Treasury is warning the economy faces another shock from global markets. The International Monetary Fund expects that China's growth in 2009 will not be as high as this year which likely to effect key Asia-Pacific trading partners.

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14Communication between Suva and Wellington appears to have done little to resolve a dispute that could see New Zealand's Hight Commissioner expelled from Fiji. The government has made it clear that it will not lift a travel ban preventing senior officials and their families associated with Fiji's un-elected military regieme enter New Zealand.

15Sex offender Stewart Wilson has served 14 years of the 21 year sentence he was given for sexual offending over a 23 year period. The Parole Board met today to decide if he should be released, though before that could happen, the High Court heard a submission that he should be released immediately.

16The United Nations security council has been holding a meeting to discuss Zimbabwe and the worsening cholera epidemic that's killed almost a thousand people with 18 thousand more cases expected. People fleeing the country are taking the disease with them.

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18Amnesty International says there is mounting evidence that tasers kill and are not the safe and non-lethal control the manufacturers claim they will be. The organisation has just released its report on the use of electric stun guns by the United States police.

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20The estimated cost of last summer's drought has been revised and is now thought to have cost the dairy industry alone $1.5 billion. This year the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry thought the loss would be lower.

21The Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson says patient safety is at risk in overcrowded hospital emergency departments and a concerted national effort is needed to address the situation.

22The energy industry do not appear to be rushing to build new coal or gas power stations despite new government plans this week to repeal a ban on power stations running on these fuels.

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24George Bush is heading home after visiting Afghanistan as part of a rapid farewell visit to the region. He visited US troops, and met the Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

25While many of us will never see a kiwi in the wild, near Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands you're in danger of running one over. Recently four birds have been run over.