1Employers are warning they're under no obligation to pay employees forced to stay home after exposure to Influenza A H1N1 'swine flu' at work. The Employers and Manufacturers Association says that employers are not a welfare service and expecting them to go beyond the levels of agreed leave is irresponsible.

2Thirty staff from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority have been quarantined after one of its workers was confirmed as having swine flu.

3A defence lawyer has asked the jury in a Christchurch murder case to consider whether the victim may have committed suicide or died accidentally. The trial of Dean Cameron, accused of raping and murdering school girl Marie Davis has finished at the High Court Christchurch

4The Labour Party member at the centre of one set of allegations against the former minister, Richard Worth, has written to John Key about what she says happened to her. The unnamed woman claims that Dr. Worth made sexually explicit phone calls to her and sent her 40 text messages to her over a three month period, while at the same time offering her two jobs.

5Business News

6Police in Pakistan say the death toll from a suicide blast at a luxury hotel in Peshawar City has risen to 15, with more than 60 people injured. According to earlier reports a truck drove through a security barrier of the Pearl Continental Hotel earlier this morning.

7Export prices have suffered their greatest fall in 50-years. Latest figures show that in the March quarter prices dropped by 8.2% the largest fall since 1957.

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9More people are coming forward with their own stories of people being exposed to toxic chemical waste in New Plymouth. Earthworks a month ago discovered a rusting drum in Marfell Park, with several more removed this week. They are believed to have come from the Ivon Watkins Dow chemicals plant some years ago.

10A media law expert is warning Facebook users about the legal risks of joining a group that claims David Bain is guilty. More than 300 people have signed up to the page named 'David Bain is Guilty' on the social networking site.

11An Auckland woman has been fined more than $23-thousand for slaughtering chickens in conditions described by the judge as 'stomach turning'. Ling Zhang and her company Ling Ling Poultry pleaded guilty in the Papakura District Court to charges laid under the Animal Products Act.

12Waatea News

13The Law Society is worried an expansion to Auckland's Public Defenders Service has been rushed through and not properly investigated. The government is spending millions on upgrading the service, with plans to operate nationwide.

14An end to free local calls is not on the table, according to the Minister of Communications. A cabinet paper prepared by the Minister of Finance Bill English suggests abolishing the framework which guarantees free calling and other issues, including rules on foreign ownership of Telecom.

15It wasn't all plain sailing for Australian airline Jetstar today, with several flights delayed on its first day of domestic services in New Zealand.

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17Employers are warning they're under no obligation to pay employees forced to stay home after exposure to Influenza A H1N1 'swine flu' at work. The statement follows a call by unions for employers to compensate workers exposed to the virus in the course of their jobs. New regulations give medical officers of health the power to keep people away from work if it's suspected that they have the virus.

18Export prices have suffered their greatest fall in 50-years. Latest figures show that in the March quarter prices dropped by 8.2% the largest fall since 1957. A slump in dairy returns is believed to be one cause of this.

19A new global poll suggests that spending habits created during the recession may be here to stay.

20Captured fugitive William Stewart was back in court this morning facing 62 new charges for offences allegedly committed while on the run from police. The 47-year-old was captured last week after spending 3 months evading police capture.

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22Australia's prime minister is urging against vigilante action in the wake of a string of violent attacks against Indians in Sydney and Melbourne.

23Teenage truants are being thwarted by technology, with text messaging helping some schools improve their attendance rates by up to %20.

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25Banking experts are defending the profits made by the finance industry against criticisms from business and consumer groups, and a parliamentary select committee. They are under scruitney for not passing on savings to customers despite the Reserve Bank having made cuts to the offical cash rate.

26The United Nations Secretary General has strongly condemned an attack on a luxury hotel in Pakistan which killed 11 people including an employee of the UN. According to earlier reports a truck drove through a security barrier of the Pearl Continental Hotel earlier this morning.

27For the first time a Guantanamo Bay detainee has been sent to the United States to face trial. The suspect has been flown to New York to attend court, accused of bombing two United States Embassies.

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29Thirteen more bodies have been recovered from the Air France plane which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean bringing the total number found so far to 41, there has been however, no sign of the flight recorders which are believed to be lying on the ocean floor.

30The relatives of two American journalists who've been sentenced to 12 years hard labour in North Korea have called on the government to release them. It looks as if the issue will become tangled in arguments surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear tests.