1Sophie Elliot's killer bowed his head and wiped away tears when his father Roger Weatherston told the High Court in Christchurch that he never thought his son capable of such a crime. Clayton Weatherston has been sentenced to at least 18-years in prison for murdering his former girlfriend last year.

2Police in Christchurch say they'll need Government help to detain and question a man who's fled to Kenya and who is a key suspect in a violent attack which has left his ex-wife in hospital with serious head injuries and another man dead.

3A man has died after a fuel storage tank exploded in Hamilton this afternoon. Officers attempted to perform C.P.R. on the worker but he died at the scene.

4Business News

5In a stunning upset at the United States Tennis Open, five times champion Roger Federer has been beaten by the 20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

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7Labour and the Maori Party are making a last attempt to have Maori seats on the new Auckland Council as Parliament debates the 'super city' legislation under urgency. The Local Government Auckland Council Bill will replace the current eight with one super council.

8The Maori Party is pushing the Government to give extra assistance to beneficiaries facing increased costs from the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme.

9The American actor Patrick Swayze, whose turn as a smouldering dance instructor made him one of the best known movie stars of the 1980s has died after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer.

10Waatea News

11The United States President Barack Obama has warned Wall Street not to block his reforms of the country's financial system. President Obama has urged the industry and Congress to help him overhall the sector.

12A West Coast mayor is calling for a lone objector to a long-awaited hydro-electricity scheme to give in, and stop holding back progress in the region. The Environment Court has allowed a local artist to appeal against the $184-million Trust Power scheme.

13An Olympic rower, a public health doctor and students are urging the government to reinstate healthy eating in schools. They were speaking in support of a 16-thousand signature petition presented to parliament today. The Green Party organised the petition.

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15Environmental activists and some economists are spitting tacks at the Government's revised Emissions Trading Scheme. National yesterday announced it had come to an agreement with the Maori Party, ignoring calls for a consensus based policy from Labour. The Maori Party have been accused of selling out the environment for economic gain.

16Auckland district health boards say they played a major role in the change of leadership at the embattled community lab testing firm Lab Tests.

17Local government bodies are being asked to help middle income earners warm up their homes. More than 8-thousand homes have been retrofitted with insulation under the government's home insulation scheme.

18Bus driver unions in Auckland are furious with their employer NZ Bus for claiming workers have increased their pay demands by 30-cents an hour. NZ Bus and delegates are in talks after they turned down an offer last week.

19Business News

20Serious charges are likely after a cat and mouse game between two teenage drivers north of Auckland ended with the death of a motorcyclist.

21Yukio Hatoyama will be sworn in tomorrow as Japan's 60th Prime Minister. But since winning office a lot of attention's been paid to his wife Miyuki and her eccentric views. She claims she's visited Venus and knew a famous American actor in a previous life.

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23A Belgian customs official and a journalist claim to have discovered 36 more living relatives of Adolf Hitler after decoding the Nazi dictator's DNA.

24United States President Barack Obama has extended the American trade embargo on Cuba for another year. This in despite of a thaw in relations and increased pressure from South America.

25A survey of baby boomers which found the majority want to continue working after retirement age, has been criticised by unions as skewed and unrealistic.

26Waatea News

27The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a national day of mourning for a young fighter pilot whose jet crashed during a training exercise on Sunday.

28The last letter written by Mary Queen of Scots just hours before she lost her head on the executioner's block goes on public display in Edinburgh tomorrow. The 422-year-old will be on show at the National Library of Scotland for only 7-days.

29It's a year today since the Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed precipitating the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Since then the world has sunk into a synchronised recession.