1The Government is to beef up the policing of financial markets in a bid to restore investor confidence badly shaken by finance company collapses. It was one of 60-recommendations reported back to the Government from the taskforce last December.

2The Minister of Finance has signalled a possible drop in the top tax rate to 33-percent, in a speech he's delivered in Auckland. The Government it looking at cutting tax rates across the board and raising GST to 15-percent as part of its plan to reform the tax system.

3The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the Liberty Templeman murder trial. The High Court in Whangarei began hearing the case 9-days ago against a 16-year-old boy accused of killing Miss Templeman in 2008.

4Green Party MP Sue Kedgley has accused the Government of starving Radio New Zealand of money in an attempt to threaten its viability. The future of the public broadcaster has come under question after the release of documents detailing the Minister of Broadcasting Jonathan Coleman's questions about whether Radio New Zealand is doing enough to live within its means.

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6A West Coast mayor says the region has been badly let down by the Government's plans to restructure the timber industry.

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8The chief executive of the centre where a school group lost their lives in a canyoning flash flood has apologised to their families and taken full responsibility for the tragedy. An inquest is investigating the deaths of six Elam Christian College students and their teacher in the Mangatepopo Gorge.

9The woes for Toyota are continuing. The underfire company is now considering recalling the world's number one selling vehicle, the Corolla, pending an investigation by United States safety officials into complaints about its power steering system.

10The continued gender pay gap and unequal representation of men and women in top jobs had the Green Party seeing red today. There was lively debate in Parliament today when the Green Party tried to highlight the low number of female appointments by the government to key advisory groups.

11The Dalai Lama has arrived in the United States capital ahead of a scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama. Officials in Bejing are opposed to the visit and have urged The White House to cancel it.

12Waatea News

13The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it has no plans to change its travel advice to tourists going to Bangkok in the coming weeks. Tensions in the city have been rising in recent weeks as the city prepares for a high profile court verdict involving fugative Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006.

14Wellington city councillors have decided to ask the public whether they want a 24-hour city-wide public liquor ban.

15A controversial public design competition's been launched to find a logo for the new Auckland Council, despite criticism that there are more important things to be dealt with.

16KiwiRail is considering whether to compensate commuters in the Capital left fuming by a recent string of network failures.

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18The Government is to beef up the way financial markets are policed in a bid to restore investor confidence badly shaken by finance company collapses. A super regulator was just one of 60-recommendations from the taskforce which reported back to the government last December. The Capital Markets taskforce is also highly recommending that the Government sell state assets, though the Government are making it clear that there will be no sales in this term of government.

19The outspoken Whanganui Mayor, Michael Laws, says the Whanganui District Health Board and neighbouring MidCentral DHB intend to merge, and it's all about cutting costs.

20The Irish government is the latest to come out and say its passports used by those alleged to be involved in killing a Hamas official in Dubai, were stolen.

21The Otago University Students' Association is attempting to ban the broadcast of any unsavory behaviour at next week's Orientation events - such as excessive drinking, vomiting, fighting, and abusive language.

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23Eight of the ten Americans accused of kidnapping children in Haiti after January's quake have been released from custody.

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25The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it has no plans to change its travel advice to tourists going to Bangkok in the coming weeks. Tensions in the city have been rising in recent weeks as the city prepares for a high profile court verdict involving fugative Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006.

26Archbishop Desmond Tutu and four Kalahari Bushmen have had their genetic codes, or genomes, mapped.

27An Argentinian minister has told Britain to be on its guard, in a growing dispute over British plans to drill for oil off the Falkland Islands.

28Waatea News