1Universities and polytechs have been put on notice with the government announcing that in two years time up to 10-percent of their funding will be based on how well their students are doing. Minister of Tertiary Education Steven Joyce has also announced that the number of qualifications offered is to be cut by a quarter.

2The head of the Ministry of Health has announced today that he's to step aside later this year, sparking widespread speculation within the sector that he's been forced out.

3Business News

4Closer scrutiny of KiwiSaver has been put on the government's urgent to do list as it moves to reassure more than a million small investors that their retirement savings are as safe as they can be.

55:30pm News

6Two New Zealanders are among foreigners being kicked out of Morocco after a religious crackdown.

7President of the United States Barack Obama has been whipping up anti-Washington sentiment and attacking insurance companies today in a bid to build public support for his healthcare plans.

8Waatea News

9New Zealand authorities have seized millions of dollars worth of the key ingredient for the drug methamphetamine being smuggled into the country hidden inside granite slabs.

10The Prime Minister John Key is defending Paula Bennett's acceptance of a scholarship that will take her out of the country for six weeks.

11One of the three men who attacked the Waihopai spy base near Blenheim in 2008 has told a Jury about his lifelong involvement in community activism. Otaki schoolteacher Adrian Leason, Auckland Catholic priest Peter Murnane and Hokianga farmer Sam Land are before the Wellington District Court charged with intentional damage and entering a property with intent to commit a crime.

12The top award at the Ellerslie International Flower Show has gone to an exhibit made up of mosses, lichens and fungi.

13The low-budget Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker was the biggest winner at the Academy Awards last night, picking up six prizes including best film and best director.

146:00pm News

15The Labour Party has warned that Government plans to change the way it funds universities, polytechnics and wananga could lower academic standards. The Minister of Tertiary Education has announced that funding of institutions will be based on their academic success and not just the number of students they have enrolled.

16Closer scrutiny of Kiwisaver has been put on the government's urgent to do list as it moves to reassure more than a million small investors that their retirement savings are as safe as they can be.

17A High Court jury has begun its deliberations in the trail of two caregivers accused of killing an intellectually disabled woman.

18Some of the country's top scientists have been honoured at the inaugural Prime Minister's Science awards in Auckland.

19Business News

206:30pm News

21The massacre of hundreds of Christians in central Nigeria is drawing condemnation from around the world.

22Thailand's prime minister is on the verge of introducing strong new security measures that critics say amount to martial law, ahead of a massive political rally in Bangkok this weekend.

23Brazil's government has announced trade sanctions against the United States, in retaliation for Washington failing to eliminate illegal cotton subsidies to its farmers.

24Waatea News

25Thousands of United States troops are starting to pull out of Haiti where they've been helping maintain order after January's devastating earthquake which killed more than 200-thousand people.

26As worldwide stocks of northern bluefin tuna continue to decline an endangered species convention is due to vote on an international trade ban next week.

27The jandal, a staple of the kiwi summer, is under fire for its lack of foot support.