1President of the United States Barak Obama has announced his new war plan for Afghanistan saying he's sending 30-thousand more troops there as fast as possible. The move will bring the number of US soldiers fighting the Taliban to just under 100-thousand.

2The errant Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is firmly back in the fold after making another apology to New Zealanders for offensive comments he made in a terse email exchange. The Party has announced the political future of the Te Tai Tokerau MP is secure despite his unapproved trip to Paris and a racially charged email.

3In Australia, the senate has defeated the Federal government's Emissions Trading Scheme leaving the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd without an ETS to take to Copenhagen.

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5The price tag for repairing the Auckland Harbour Bridge clip-on lanes has blown out by $41-million meaning the cost of the work has almost doubled.

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7Parliament's speaker has been asked to rule on what the Green Party is calling "Schmuck clauses" added to legislation by the National MP John Carter to help a Bay of Islands businessman. The clauses would give businessman Doug Schmuck the right to use part of a public walkway for his exculsive private use.

8The errant Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is firmly back in the fold after making another apology to New Zealanders for offensive comments he made in a terse email exchange. The Party has announced the political future of the Te Tai Tokerau MP is secure despite his unapproved trip to Paris and a racially charged email.

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10Greypower says its amazed at a doubling in the number of mature students leaving university with debt. Statistics New Zealand has shown more people are borriwing money through the student loan scheme and revealed and an increase in the amount students owe by the time they complete their studies.

11A new study says the so called 'brain drain' of skilled New Zealanders migrating to work in Australia may not be as acute as once thought. The research based on the 2006 Australian and New Zealand census information show that it is semi-skilled people and unqualified people leading the migrant flow across the Tasman.

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13President of the United States Barak Obama has announced his new war plan for Afghanistan saying he's sending 30-thousand more troops there as fast as possible. The move will bring the number of US soldiers fighting the Taliban to just under 100-thousand.

14A High Court jury has heard that the driver of a truck which hit and killed a man who was running from the police had been drinking earlier in the evening. Constable Clinton Hill is on trial in the High Court in Auckland for the manslaughter of George Harris in 2004.

15The Families Commission has renewed its call for fathers to be given paid parental leave, based on the findings of two reports today. It says nearly half of the fathers who took one of the surveys couldn't take the unpaid leave they�re entitled to.

16A new $500 study loan for beneficiaries is being called a slap in the face to solo parents and a back track on earlier funding cuts. It will only be available to those studying toward becoming nurses, doctors, vets and teachers. This comes after the government irresponsibly cut the Training Incentive Allowance. As always, the Minister of Social Development refused to speak to Checkpoint.

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18The Drug Foundation says a substance called Ibogaine, which is being touted as a cure for serious drug addiction, could have fatal side effects.

19As world leaders prepare to head to Copenhagen for climate talks next week an audience in London has been told that those who deny climate change are responsible for it.

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21Health officials are undertaking a major study to find out how many New Zealanders have had Influenza A H1N1 'swine flu'. Scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research are to carry out the work for the Ministry of Health to determine New Zealand's immunity to the virus.

22In Portugal European Union officials have celebrated the official inauguration of the Lisbon Treaty which some believe could transform the face of the European Union. The treaty is the outcome of an 8-year process looking at reforming the Union's institutions after years of massive expansion.

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24The Venezuelan Government has called the presidential election in Honduras illegitimate and has refused to recognise the results in which Porfirio Lobo won around fifty-six percent of the votes.

25This week Rwanda will become the first country to be officially declared cleared of landmines. It comes after 3-years of work from the Rowandan and British governments, and humanitarian organisations.

26Some families are still searching for the bodies of their loved ones more than two months after a mass killing of civilians by the military in Guinea.