1The public will be able to invest in a Fonterra linked fund under the dairy giant's final restructuring proposal which it says will enable it to reduce competition from foreigners buying New Zealand farms. The co-operative's plan allows farmers to buy and sell shares among themselves rather than having to go through the company.

2The bodies of two men who were shot dead in Hokitika may be removed from the crime scene tonight as forensic work continues.

3Doctors say the health of thousands of poor children living in Porirua City north of Wellington is under threat because of a lack of free after-hours care.

4Business News

5In Rio de Janeiro more than a hundred people have been killed and many more are homeless after the heaviest rains in decades triggered deadly mudslides and turned roads into rivers.

6The police and the Capital and Coast District Health Board are investigating allegations that hundreds of thousands in taxpayer money has been misused by a Maori trust in Kapiti.

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8The Minister of Justice, Simon Power, says some lawyers won't make the grade under a tougher system to decide who can provide legal aid services.

9Journalists in Fiji could be jailed for up to five years and media organisations fined more than $350-thousand for publishing anything the country's military government decides is not in the public interst.

10The United States has warned North Korea and Iran that no options are being taken off the table in dealing the threat of a build-up in nuclear capabilities.

11Waatea News

12An investigation has found the pressure of the National Gliding Championships may have been a driving factor in the death of a pilot two years ago.

13Legal bills for two National Party MPs have cost taxpayers $336-thousand in the past few years.

14Police in Britain have arrested two women after they tried to take a dead relative on a flight to Germany.

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16The public will be able to invest in a Fonterra linked fund under the dairy giant's final restructuring proposal which it says will also enable it to head off competition from foreigners buying up farms.

17Debt ridden and drought hit dairy farmers throughout the country are delighted by the overnight hike in dairy prices.

18Australia's Maritime Safety Authority is supervising the salvage operation of a Chinese coal ship stranded on the Great Barrier Reef.

19Hundreds of Anti-Government protesters in Thailand have retreated to outside the Parliament in Bangkok after briefly breaching a security cordon.

20Business News

21The Auckland Regional Council has been ordered to pay almost $100-thousand to a developer after the Environment Court found the council acted unfairly in blocking one of its projects.

22The Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, says instead of investigating the state of New Zealand's aged care, Labour should be apologising for its neglect of the sector when it was in power.

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24A day before Sri Lanka's general election protesters are rallying to demand the release of the main opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka.

25The first meeting of the New Zealand-led global alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases has kicked off, with Russia joining up, bringing the total number of countries involved to 29.

26The Solicitor-General says the crown will consider seeking one-point-one million dollars in damages from three activists aquitted of intentionally damaging the cover of the Waihopai satellite dish.

27Waatea News

28The international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch has called on the Peruvian government to conduct a thorough investigation into the killing of six civilians by police.

29UK voters will be heading to the polls on May 06 and the Conservatives are billing it as the most important election of a generation.