1The snow storm sweeping up the country is the worst in decades., and is snowing in Wellington City and on the Terrace. Snow has also been seen in Downtown Auckland for the first time since 1976. it has closed roads and airports.

3The weather in the north is also causing road closures and delays.

4Business News

5The second round of heavy snow to hit Christchurch in less than a month has forced schools and businesses to shut, bringing most of the city to a standstill. Snow has been falling for the last 24-hours and is expected to continue. This is making life difficult for those in damaged homes and increasing their heating bills.

6Mourners gathered at a tangi in Auckland this afternoon to remember Sir Paul Reeves. He is a former Governor General and first Maori to hold the post. He died yesterday at the age of 78.

7A knock on the door on Saturday night ended a five hour ordeal for a Christchurch skier who crawled and fell her way down a mountainside after getting lost on Coronet Peak.

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9The Met Service says Wellington hasn't seen this much snow since June 1976.

10Seventeen hundred dairy farmers across New Zealand are having to dump milk because tankers can't get through the snow to collect it.

11The polar blast has coincided with the first day of the whitebait season.

12Manu Korihi News, including; The veteran political activist, John Minto, has added his tribute to the many pouring in for the former Governor General Sir Paul Reeves; The Maori population has risen to nearly 664-thousand; The Maori Party says teenage beneficiaries will need to be matched with the right support worker, if National presses ahead with its new welfare reform policy; A Te Arawa kuia says the tourist village of Whakarewarewa has lost its vibrancy because many families have moved out.

13Opposition parties say the country's children are being short-changed, but they can't seem to agree on how to solve the problem. A report for Every Child Counts ranks NZ 28th of 30 OECD countries for giving children a good start.

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15Returning to the cold weather battering the country at the moment, snow is still falling and commuters are having difficulties in getting home; Roads are closed;

16Business News, including; NZX has boosted its underlying half year profit by 42 percent. The stock market operator made an underlying profit of 6.6 million dollars in the six months to the end of June - compared with 4.7 million a year earlier.

17More people were injured at home than in the work place last year at a cost of 272 million dollars.

18A witness to this morning's blaze at a Taranaki petrochemical plant says flames leapt at least 20 metres into the air. The Balans Agrinutrients factory fire began in the ammonia part of the plant.

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20News from the United Kingdom, including: Six people have been murdered in St Helier, Jersey; the London riot and the man who robbed the Malaysian student is in court; David Cameron's decision to bring in a US cop; weekend courts for the rioters; a vigil for those who have been killed; in Cricket UK is No1 at last!

21In the past decade there's only been about 30 confirmed cases of rubella or German measles, and now Auckland's had two in the past week. There are also 108-cases of measles confirmed.

22New Zealand furniture makers are trying to give themselves more of an edge against cheap Asian imports with a new labelling system to convince consumers that while locally made might cost more it'll last a lot longer.

23Manu Korihi News, including; The veteran political activist, John Minto, has paid tribute to the late Governor General, Sir Paul Reeves, as a valued supporter of the anti-apartheid movement; The Maori Party agrees that some people are not spending their benefits the way they should be; A Te Arawa kuia says the tourist village of Whakarewarewa, has lost its vibrancy because many families have moved out.

24Routine blood tests may be able to predict the risk of a patient dying, having a heart attack or needing ICU treatment up to 12 hours before it occurs.