The Pike River Mine disaster claimed 29 lives. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Each weekday The Front Page keeps you up to date with the biggest news in New Zealand. Today it's hope for Pike River families, a tax warning for sugar babies, and a high-speed adventure for a pair of guinea pigs. Hosted by Frances Cook.
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As the decision looms over what will happen with the Pike River Mine, family members are hoping they'll get re-entry into the drift.
Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-Entry Andrew Little has announced the Government has made its decision, and will announce it at Parliament at 7.15 tomorrow morning.
The wait means a sleepless night for those who lost their loved ones in the disaster.
Representatives for the families will be there, along with independent adviser Rob Fyfe.
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A man living at a notorious Auckland boarding house lay dead in his room for eight days after using synthetic drugs, before he was found by his landlord.
The death of Isimeeli Lutui Fonua is one of 10 found to be the result of synthetic drugs by Coroners around New Zealand this year alone.
There are currently about 50 other fatalities that the coroner's officer says "provisionally appear" to be down to synthetic cannabis toxicity.
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Forestry officials working on the Government's flagship One Billion Trees plan ordered more than one million pine seedlings for a block of land so choked with scrub and weeds planting couldn't go ahead.
Official documents show the Government planned to plant 1,100 hectares with pine this year and ordered about 1.1 million seedlings.
The number of seedlings able to be planted collapsed to 191-thousand as the condition of the land was revealed.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has yet to put a dollar figure on the cost to taxpayers, but market rates for seedlings put the cost of the order at about $400,000.
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says the deal might have suffered from eagerness and too much enthusiasm.
He says they did know "some of the land was going to be a challenge" because years had passed since it had been planted.
However he says he has a "clear conscience" as to the "moral purpose" behind the deal, which would see investment go into an area of the north which needed support.
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Dozens of court cases have been postponed at Auckland and Manukau District Courts amid escalating strike action.
Ministry of Justice PSA members are refusing to serve, check and sign sentencing documents, beginning from midday today and continuing until 4pm Friday.
It means fundamental paperwork for case files entering the Courts will be stalled to the point of causing postponements and major delays.
As many as 72 cases have also been adjourned.
For more on this story tune in to Newstalk ZB
The world's goal to limit global warming to no more than 2C may not be enough to stop the collapse of polar ice sheets, according to new research.
The Paris Agreement binds nations to limit global warming to less than two degrees.
But an article published in Nature Climate Change suggests ice sheets could start irreversibly melting well before that.
The review, co-authored by Victoria University researcher Associate Professor Nick Golledge, found ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland had tipping points at which melting would rapidly ramp up, and ice sheet retreat could become unstoppable.
The threshold to reach melting tipping points is between 1.5 to 2C, suggesting that even if the obligations of the Paris Agreement were met, the world would come "extremely close" to the point of no return for accelerated retreat in Antarctica and Greenland.
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A Huntly man has been charged with attempting to abduct and commit an indecent act on a 4-year-old girl.
The 27-year-old allegedly attempted to abduct the girl in Hamilton on October 5.
Police say the girl was pulled into a car ... then pushed out again when a family member came out of a nearby house and chased the car.
The incident triggered a police investigation that led to the arrest of a Huntly man yesterday.
He's been charged with one count of kidnapping, four counts of committing an indecent act, and two counts of presenting an indecent show or performance.
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A teenager has admitted shooting fireworks from a moving car, sparking a roadside fire which caused $50,000 dollars of damage.
Thomas Williamson,18, pleaded guilty to an intentional damage charge this morning at Christchurch District Court.
The court was told Williamson was a passenger in a BMW car on November 3, when he lit and fired a firework as his mates drove a Mazda RX8 in convoy.
Some of the shots from the firework hit a hedgeline on the opposite side of the road.
A witness yelled at the cars and they sped off.
A fire quickly spread, fanned by strong, warm winds.
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A warning to sugar babies that they should "do the right thing" and declare the gifts they receive from their sugar daddies as income.
That's from a New Zealand tax expert, after a report in the Herald on Sunday revealed young New Zealand women are signing up to relationship arrangements with older men and exchanging love for gifts and money.
David Han, who runs boutique accounting firm David Han & Associates, says sugar babies are no different to escorts or sex workers - and should be paying their taxes.
He says any gift that is given in return for services or something received back, even if it's not sexual, is not a gift under NZ rules.
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The sheep milk market is heating up, and there are calls for more farmers to make the change from cows.
With the demand for sheep milk being so high, a Waikato milk processing plant is willing to collect new milk within a two-hour drive.
Maui Milk general manager Peter Gatley says he expects the industry to take off within the next few years.
For more on this story tune in to Newstalk ZB
Nearly 150 ACC claims for scooter injuries have been lodged since Lime launched in Auckland and Christchurch a month ago.
The injury list includes four claims for brain injuries or concussions, 24 for broken bones and 49 for lacerations or punctures.
The bulk of injuries occurred in Auckland with 85 injuries, while 50 were recorded in Christchurch and six across the rest of the country.
An ACC spokesman said the injuries were only an estimate because its data relied on people self-reporting what caused their insurance claim.
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The figures come as Lime looks at launching in Wellington, and there's mixed feelings among councillors.
Wellington City Council Transport portfolio leader Chris Calvi-Freeman says they're cautious after seeing the problems in Auckland and Christchurch.
He says the council will talk to central Government about reviewing legislation or take a look at its own bylaws.
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The Reserve Bank is considering easing its tough 20 per cent home deposit rule.
The rule means home hunters have to have a minimum 20 per cent deposit to qualify for a mortgage.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand today said it was evaluating whether to loosen that, and will update the market in its upcoming financial stability report.
Deputy governor Geoff Bascand says they're looking at whether the restrictions are needed in the current environment where debt levels remain high but are not deteriorating.
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It comes as the mortgage market picks up speed, with what's been dubbed the "mortgage wars".
ASB is the latest to join the fray, dropping its one year fixed rate to match the record low 3.95 per cent offered by ANZ.
The reduced rate is available for new and existing home lending from tomorrow morning.
Yesterday BNZ dropped its two-year fixed interest rate to a "historic" 3.99.
ANZ last week offered the lowest rate by a major bank since just after World War II with its fixed one-year term of 3.95 per cent.
Westpac has also announced it will match ANZ's offer of a one-year fixed rate at 3.95 per cent.
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Scientists are warning our technology is creating a state of permanent jetlag.
People are exposing themselves to more and more blue light late into the night - and that's affecting their health.
That's from a new paper released today by Royal Society Te Apārangi, which also sets out ways people can protect themselves from its effects.
Massey University's Dr Lora Wu contributed to the report, and says artificial lighting and electronic devices such as cell phones, computer screens, and iPads, are putting our body clocks out of sync in a way that's similar to jetlag.
She says blue-light sensitive cells in our eyes reset our body clock to new time zones when we travel, but if these cells perceive too much blue light at night, then our body gets the wrong message about what time of day it is.
Wu suggests replacing bluer "cooler" light bulbs inside the home to bulbs that emit more yellow "warm" light, and using dimmers.
She says software can reduce bright blue light from our digital screens at night, or you can turn them off.
It's also important to make sure your bedroom is dark while you sleep, so unplug any "glowing" devices and use good quality curtains.
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An Auckland family thought their beloved guinea pigs were gone, until they got a note from the SPCA.
Patches had been missing for 10 days, and his sister Poseidon for nearly two, before the Snow family discovered what had happened to them.
Turns out, the pair had hitched a ride underneath the Snow family's Ford Focus.
All was going well for the fur balls until a slight traffic issue.
Auckland Airport CCTV footage shows how Patches was flung from his hiding place as the family were on their way to the airport - and how he made it across four lanes of traffic before being caught by a taxi driver.
Patches was taken to the SPCA, where a worker watched the CCTV footage, and tracked the licence plate to his Mt Eden home.
The family then checked the car to see where Patches had been hiding - only to discover Poseidon still in the same hiding spot.
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That's the Front Page for today, Tuesday November 13, making sure you're across the biggest news of the day. For more on these stories, check out The New Zealand Herald, or tune in to Newstalk ZB.
You can subscribe to this podcast onApple podcasts here, iHeartRadio here, and Stitcher here.
If you like to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.
The chances of building up a reliance on melatonin or sleeping pills were high.