1There are now sixteen people with confirmed or probable Influenza A H1N1 'swine flu' and more than a hundred suspected cases as health authorities plan on setting up special assessment centres to move risky passengers away from airports.

2The Reserve Bank is telling people there is no need to rush out and fix their mortgage rates and the Bank is going to keep the rates for borrowing low until late next year. The Bank cut the official cash rate by half a percentage point this morning to 2.5 percent and says it could still move lower.

3Business News

4The Commerce Commission has cleared four banks in its investigation into the calculation of break fees for home mortgages.

5A drop-off in tourist numbers is among the reasons being given for a round of redundancies at caravan builder CI Munro. The Hamilton based company owned by Tourism Holdings Ltd. has been struggling for some time.

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7One of David Bain's uncles has told a court he took it upon himself to ask his nephew what he termed "the critical question" because no one else in the family had done so. David Bain is being retried for the murders of his parents and three siblings in Dunedin in 1994.

8Labour is challenging the Minister of Education to explain why changes to the education system are necessary after New Zealand secondary schools received a top rank in a recent international study.

9Waatea News

10The Labour Party has accused the Government of appointing spies in Government departments. The Government today acknowleged there are new advisors helping Ministers to cut spending in the public service.

11The NIWA says a near-normal winter outlook will bring little respite for the country's drought affected regions.

12Scientists from Environmental Science & Research in Wellington have begun testing Influenza A H1N1 'swine flu' samples in New Zealand as the number of suspected cases rise. Preliminary testing has been undertaken by District Health Board testing services, with ESR focussing on identifying the H1N1 strain.

13Up to 30 jobs could be axed at the Ministry of Fisheries under a new restructuring plan. The most likely to be affected are those with management positions in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and Napier.

14Pope Benedict has apologised to native Indian Canadian children who were abused in state funded church schools in the 19th and 20th centuries.

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16Business and home owners have their fingers crossed they'll be able to take advantage of today's drop in the Official Cash Rate. The Reserve Bank today cut the rate of a new low of 2.5 percent.

17As the number of cases of diagnosed Influenza A H1N1 'swine flu' continue to climb the Government is setting up a regional assesssment centre to assess and treat patients.

18Apple iPhone game Pocket God is being called racist, with its characters said to be depicted as savage islanders.

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20For President Barack Obama it's 100 days in office, and 100 problems on his plate.

21The Labour Party is accusing the Government of feathering its own nest by giving MPs representing larger electorates extra resources while at the same time asking everyone else to tighten their belts.

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23The United Nations' food agency is sending a team of animal health experts to Mexico to see if this strain of influenza is linked to pigs. There are reports from a southern Mexican town-where at least one person has caught the disease-that residents have been complaining that contamination from a large pig farm has been tainting their water supplies.

24Professor Roger Morris-an well regarded international disease consultant-says the team from the Food and Agriculture Organisation will be going in to inspect pig herds.

25The Taliban says its talks with the government in northwest Pakistan have been suspended amid army operations against militants.