1The Police are setting up a new dedicated unit of fraud investigators to target and seize the money and assets of organised criminal gangs. The Minister of Police Judith Collins says the Assets Recovery will be an effective tool against drug crime.

2Treasury has painted a grim picture of the future and warned more cuts are needed to rein in government spending. In its long term fiscal statement it says government spending will balloon and debt servicing costs will rise to $110-billion a year.

3Public scrutiny of their taxpayer funded expenses appears to have reined in some of Parliament's bigger spenders. However, members of parliament are spending just as much as ever on travel and accommodation.

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5The New Zealand Customs Service is on track to seize a tonne of methamphetamine ingredients this year and says it's finally starting to see the results on the street.

6A Canterbury artist says there are no flies on his sculpture of the Minister for the Environment Nick Smith which is made entirely out of cow dung.

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8The New Zealand dollar lost a cent today against the Greenback and money market interest rates fell after the Reserve Bank left the Official Cash Rate on hold.

9Wanganui police say they are focusing on the last 24-hours of the life of toddler Karl Richard Arc Perigo-Check who died on Saturday in suspicious circumstances, and speaking to family members. The toddler is believed to be the son of Mongrel Mob member Karl Check who was sentenced to 15-years in February for the murder of another Wanganui two year old, Jhia Te Tua, in a gang retaliation shooting.

10Budgeting services say a broader range of New Zealanders are now struggling with mounting debt, as new figures show debt levels are at a seven year high.

11Waatea News

12Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is not ruling out the prospect of using force to remove 78-Sri Lankan asylum seekers from an Australian customs ship moored in Indonesia. Tomorrow has been set as a deadline for the end of the standoff.

13A supershow for Auckland's new super city has been shot down superfast. The Mayors of the North Shore and Auckland City Councils have both commented that spending $1-million on a 'super city' party would be an extravagant waste of money.

14Smokers hoping to lie around on some of the country's best beaches in the Bay of Plenty this summer and puff on a ciggie, won't be able to under a new policy brought in by the local council. The Western Bay of Plenty District Council has banned smoking on 30 of the district's beaches.

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16The New Zealand dollar has plunged as the Reserve Bank remained cautious about the strength of the economic recovery, dampening market expectations of rate hikes by early next year. The New Zealand dollar lost a cent today against the Greenback and money market interest rates fell after the Reserve Bank left the Official Cash Rate on hold.

17A witness has told the High Court in Wellington that three people left for a road trip through the central North Island, but only two of them completed the journey. 39-year-old Stephen Hudson is charged with murdering Palmerston North drug dealer Nicolas Pike in 2002.

18The Green Party's warnings that New Zealanders should fear big business involvement in water supply have been labelled as scaremongering. The government has released a number of potential reforms give private companies longer contracts, more control over water management and the ability to build infrastructure.

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20More evidence is emerging of sophisticated attacks by criminals and even foreign governments on Australia's computer networks.

21A United States justice committee has been hearing disturbing evidence today on the risks of elite sports players becoming early candidates for dementia.

22The American space agency, NASA, has successfully tested its news ARES 1-X rocket.

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24In what's being called a world breakthrough a New Zealand pharmaceutical company is releasing a new pain relief drug that combines paracetamol and the anti-inflammatory ibuprofen.

25The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned what she calls the "cowardly" Taliban attack on a Kabul guesthouse.

26Waatea News