1A major review of changes to the controversial child discipline laws has found that parents are not being criminalised or unduly investigated for lightly smacking their children. The government ordered review was carried out by the chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development, Peter Hughes; the police commissioner, Howard Broad; and child psychologist, Nigel Latta. The Prime Minister John Key says the outcome of the review reinforce his view that the law is working.

2A young Auckland woman who ploughed into a pack of about 20 cyclists on Tamaki Drive in September, almost killing one man, has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing injury.

3As the climate change conference in Copenhagen begins, a new study shows that much of the Nelson region will be flooded within a hundred years if sea levels rise as forecast.

4Business News

5A police officer charged with manslaughter has denied beating up a man in the back seat of police car. Constable Clinton Hill is on trial in the High Court in Auckland for the manslaughter of George Harris in 2004 who was killed by a street sweeper as he ran away from police.

6The Labour Party leader Phil Goff has been confronted with negative feedback from within the party about his speech accusing the Government of re-opening racial wounds. It was billed as a speech about nationhood and was delivered to a Greypower audience almost two weeks ago.

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8Plans for intensive dairy farming in the South Island's Mackenzie Basin will be a disaster for the areas native plants and animals according to a Landcare Research ecologist.

9In Australia, the former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has branded his successor's stance on climate change, bullshit and says the Coalition policy has descended into a farce. The attack on Tony Abbot was made in a blog post by Mr. Turnbull this morning.

10Waatea News

11A veteran health campaigner is calling for fatty foods and sugary drinks to be taxed in the same way that tobacco products are, to reduce obesity, as happened with smoking. The message was delivered at a conference titled 'Fags and Fat' in Wellington this morning.

12Researchers in Britain have found that it could be missing DNA that is part of problem that causes some children to get fat.

13After more than a decade of talking, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority together with the New Zealand Transport Agency have signed a deal that will allow commuters to use one single ticket for buses, trains and ferries.

14The New Zealand golfer Cathryn Bristow is just one round away from qualifying for the lucrative LPGA Tour in the United States.

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16One of the world's most talked about conferences is about to get underway in Denmark's capital Copenhagen. Last year expectations of the talks were very high, though it is now highly unlikely that a binding agreement will result in two weeks.

17Americans are being told to expect a big United States military presence in Afghanistan for up to four more years.

18Telecom's been fined half a million dollars for breaches of the Fair Trading Act over claims it made in 2006 while promoting Xtra's Go Large broadband plan.

19An Auckland woman has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing injury after she drove into a pack of cyclists in the suburb of St Heliers.

20Business News

21As the climate change conference in Copenhagen begins, a new study shows that much of the Nelson region will be flooded within a hundred years if sea levels rise as forecast.

22Ground was broken in Wellington today to signify the start of construction of a controversial indoor sports stadium.

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24The man known as Bolivia's peasant President Evo Morales has claimed a landslide re-election victory with voters backing his left-wing reforms of more state control over the economy and more social spending on the poor.

25Invercargill's mayor Tim Shadbolt has lost his bid to remove his deputy mayor Neil Boniface.

26Waatea News

27In Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been locked in health reform talks with state premiers and chief ministers in Brisbane today.