1The head of the state owned coal mine Solid Energy has told the Royal Commission that Pike River was overly optimistic and production and financial problems had the potential to create many safety risks. This was at the opening of the inquiry into the disaster that killed 29-men,

2The bankrupt former Bridgecorp managing director Rod Petricevic is asking the court to effectively drop fraud charges against him because he can't afford to defend himself. He is one of the five-directors accused of fraud over the company's collapse in 2007.

3Parts of Dunedin Hospital are crumbling, and many patients get a "very poor service." This is according to a report the hospital administrators have prepared.

4The Government wants to cut the cost of ACC for workers and businesses from April next year. They are aiming for a 17%-drop in the employees levy and a 24%-drop in the employers levy, enabling large savings.

5Business News

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7The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the Opposition leader Tony Abbott are both in New South Wales today at the start of what many are calling a very long election campaign. They are travelling the country to argue for and against the new Carbon Tax. There are tax cuts to compensate.

8The Prime Minister John Key doesn't accept the claim in an ACT party advertisement that National is pandering to Maori radicals. The advertisement is being widely condemned across parliament but ACT is defending its position.

9Tests have shown synthetic cannabis is more potent than the real thing and is being sold in an unpredictable cocktail of products. This has led to the ban on some products because of the addition of illegal pharmacology. These products are such an unstable mix of synthetic canabaloids that the have unpredictable results.

10Manu Korihi News, including; The Independent Police Conduct Authority, has found that a Northland police officer who hit and killed a teenager on the road near Kaikohe was not acting unlawfully. A young Ngati Kahu activist says it doesn't seem right that a police driver who hit and killed a Maori teenager has escaped prosecution; The Mana Party strategist, Matt McCarten, says the Maori Party has sealed its fate by turning down a mutual non-aggression pact; The Labour MP, Shane Jones, says the Prime Minister's response to ACT's latest outburst about Maori is disappointing.

11More on the actions of a police officer who struck and killed a Northland teenager while driving. The Independent Police Conduct Authority found they were imprudent, unreasonable and undesirable but not unlawful.

12The principal of Shirley Boys' High School in Christchurch is giving the Government notice he's going to fight to keep the school open, as the government says the school can only return to its quake damaged site for 2-years.

13Scientists, including three from New Zealand, are getting under the skin of the potato, having cracked the genetic code of the humble spud. Their work could lead to pest resistant and more nutritious varieties.

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15The Labour party says National's move to reduce ACC levies shows it manufactured a crisis to justify its privatisation plans. But the government says that as the ACC deficit has been turned into surpluses it can afford to reduce the levies.

16The man charged with murdering a tax driver in Auckland in January last year will be tried in China next month. Xiao Zhen is accused of murdering Auckland taxi driver Hiren Mohini, 39, who died when he was stabbed, in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden in January last year.

17Rupert Murdock has arrived in London to try to rescue his bit to take full control of BSkyB, which had been opposed by the british media regulator Ofcom on the basis that he is not a "fit and proper" owner

18Business news, including: Spending using electronic cards rose in June, as people bought big ticket items and winter clothes

19Tests have shown synthetic cannabis is more potent and much more unpredictable than the real thing and the use of it is being connected to people exhibiting psychoses.

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21The Prime Minister, John Key, says there are indications that a ship carrying dozens of asylum seekers was on its way to New Zealand and he has been briefed by officials as the boat is tied up in port in Indonesia.

22The value of houses in Auckland City have reached their highest level ever, surpassing the previous market peak of late 2007.

23News from Latin America, including; deaths in the Mexican drug wars; two legendary musicians; Facundo Cabral who was shot; and Manuel Galb�n, who died aged 80, who was one of Cuba's best-loved and most original guitarists, and two legendary football teams, Argentina and Brazil, which are failing to live up to their countries' expectations

24Three government departments are investigating a Korean fishing trawler, docked at the Port of Lyttelton, amid claims the crew have been mistreated, and not paid their wages. The Vessel Oyang-75 is being chartered by Southern Storm Fishing.

25Manu Korihi News, including; The Independent Police Conduct Authority, has found that a Northland police officer who hit and killed a teenager on the road near Kaikohe, was NOT acting unlawfully; Meanwhile, a young Ngati Kahu activist says it does not seem right that the officer involved in the fatal crash was not charged with anything; A member of the Maori Women's Welfare League, says members who donned blonde wigs and pearls for a meeting at the weekend, did so in reaction to comments by would-be president Hannah Tamaki.

26A Papua New Guinea court will tomorrow consider a legal challenge to several top level appointments, including that of the acting Prime Minister Sam Abal and deciding if the appointments are legal.