1The Environment Minister Nick Smith's high-profile defamation case has cost the taxpayer more than 200 thousand dollars. The timber preservatives company, Osmose New Zealand, had been suing him and wood preservation scientist, Robin Wakeling, for about 14 million dollars for statements made about one of its products in 2005. The six week defamation trial was due to start at the High Court in Auckland today but the legal team struck a last-minute deal. Mr Smith would not say if he was happy with the final outcome but he did say he was relieved to have avoided the extra cost of a trial after running up five years' worth of legal bills.

2Police in Canterbury say they've broken the biggest ever methamphetamine production ring in the region, seizing drugs, chemicals and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. 150 police raided four clandestine methamphetamine laboratories today at homes in Christchurch, Rangiora and Ashburton.

3The Welfare Working Group is considering time limits on benefit payments, and a two-tier welfare system where people could pay premiums for better support. The working group is holding a two-day forum at Victoria University in Wellington as it considers welfare reform.

4In Pakistan, gunmen have torched more than 50 NATO trucks carrying supplies for United States led forces in Afganistan. It is the first attack of its kind near the capital, Islamabad, and has left at least 7 people dead.

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6Mail delivery could be cut back to every second day. New Zealand Post is looking at ways to improve profits which may also include dropping Saturday deliveries altogether.

7A sky-diving trip in Northland today had more than the usual dose of fear and excitment when the plane's engine caught fire.

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9The Prime Minister is quietly confident that the National Party's proposal to resolve the foreshore and seabed debate will be accepted by the Maori Party, despite some opposition within Maoridom. John Key has said if the Maori Party does not support the plan to put the foreshore and seabed in the public domain then the existing law will be left in place.

10The wife of anti-whaler activist Pete Bethune says supporters are threatening to leave the Sea Shepherd protest group over its decision to ban him from future missions to the Antarctic. Sea Shepherd has cut ties with the New Zealander because he broke a non-violence policy by taking a bow and arrow on board his boat the 'Ady Gil'. But Sharon Bethune says it now appears the group thought the move would help her husband's court case in Tokyo, where he is facing charges of assault and trespass.

11Former All Black Michael Jones has been named as the Rugby World Cup volunteer ambassador.

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13Marie Dyhrberg, a lawyer for one of the men accused of murdering Sergeant Don Wilkinson, has urged a High Court jury not to take evidence given by police witnesses as gospel. John Skinner, a suspected drug manufacturer, and Ian Clegg are on trial for killing Mr Wilkinson and attempting to murder another officer in South Auckland in September 2008 after discovering the officers attaching a tracking device to Skinner's car.

14The proposed rates hike in Canterbury is being slashed by two thirds. The Canterbury Regional Council commissioners say there will also be a reduction in spending but that will not lead to service cuts.

15A tearful witness has given evidence about the day a teenage girl was killed when she fell from a commercially operated bridge swing last year.

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17After months of tough negotiations, the United Nations Security Council is about to vote on a fourth round of sanctions in a bid to pressure Iran into giving up enriching uranium. The head of a uranium processing facility would be banned from international travel and 40 companies including a bank would have overseas assets frozen. Other sanctions include expanding the United Nations arms embargo and inspecting all cargo to and from Iran.

18It has been fifty days since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing eleven men - and BP has failed to completely plug the resulting leak. As each day goes by the company faces a fresh barrage of criticism, not least from President Barack Obama. The embattled company has issued a statement saying that all the money made from recovered oil will be donated to restore wildlife habitats on the Gulf coast.

19More than 2,000 people have gathered on Perth's foreshore to protest against the Federal Government's mining super profits tax. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is in town to talk to West Australian mining bosses in what has been dubbed a 'showdown' over the proposed 40% tax which comes into force in two years.

20At least two tonnes of high grade cocaine with an estimated street value of one billion US dollars have been seized in Gambia, bound for Europe. Gambian authorities arrested a dozen suspected traffickers and seized large quantities of cash and weapons before calling in British agents to gather forensic evidence. West Africa has become a major transit hub for trafficking Latin American drugs to markets in Europe.

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22The Ministry of Fisheries is trying to find out why thousands of dead fish have washed up along 30 kilometres of Northland's west coast near Dargaville.

23Taliban gunmen have opened fire on a NATO convoy near Pakistan's capital killing at least seven people and torching scores of vehicles. The attack near Islamabad is being described as 'unprecedented'.

24Jerome Kerviel, a former trader with Societe Generale, has gone on trial in Paris, accused of gambling tens of billions of euros in secret trades that eventually humiliated the French banking powerhouse. Kerviel argues that he has been made a scapegoat and that risky betting practices were commonplace.

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26The former All Black Michael Jones says he's honoured to be the volunteer ambassador for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Prime Minister John Key says that Jones was selected to lead the volunteer drive because of his strong rugby an community links in New Zealand.

27Governments in Europe are lining up to announce austerity plans to tackle huge deficits. Earlier this week Germany and Britain announced plans to cut billions of dollars from public spending, and overnight Spain's public servants took to the streets to protest against a pay cut as their government grapples with burgeoning debt.

28Anti-whaling protest group Sea Shepherd has decided to ban the activist Peter Bethune from future missions to the Antarctic because he broke the non-violence policy by taking a bow and arrow on board his boat, the 'Ady Gil'.

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30The police in South Auckland have evacuated about 30 local residents and closed off Princess St East in Otahuhu while they deal with what they say is a suspicious vehicle.

31A new campaign has been launched to improve the image of Islam in the United Kingdom after a survey found most Britons associate the religion with extremism. Posters of Muslims with captions that reflect positively on Islam are going up all over London, but critics say the campaign is one-sided and even misleading.