Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced the governement will scrap the tendering process for construction of a national broadband network. Instead, Rudd has proposed to form a public company in order to build the network. The construction will cost the government upwards of $43 billion over an eight year period after which point they will sell their company shares to private investors. The Network will give 90 per cent of Australian homes, businesses and schools access to Internet 100 times what is available now. - Featured in Story: Dr Mark Gregory, telecommunications expert and program director of network engineering at RMIT University

Regional women are being forced into home births due to a lack of services in their area. Well, that’s according to the Daily Telegraph anyway. The paper has been running stories this week about four babies that have died during home births. While advocates refute the idea that giving birth this way is a desperate and dangerous measure, the story does highlight the impact of dwindling maternity services in regional Australia. Featured in story: Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen- spokesperson for the Australian College of Midwives, Justine Caines- Secretary Home Births Australia and Dr Andrew Pesche- President of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians & Gynecologists.

How are immigrant children affected by the trauma of domestic violence and abuse? One of Victoria’s leading Women’s service hopes to answer that question. The Immigrant Women’s Domestic Violence Service tomorrow launches a book with its findings it compiled through pilot groups last year. The book is urging service providers to include more bi-cultural and bi-lingual staff to help people express their stories. Featured in this story: Jennifer Dawson, intensive case manger and group coordinator at the Immigrant Women’s Domestic Violence Service; Dr Iman Sharobeen, Manger of the Immigrant Women's Health Service Centre in Liverpool, Sydney.

A 13 year old girl recently was subject to a police investigation after she sent a naked picture text message to her boyfriend. She risked facing criminal charges for distributing child pornography, in spite of the fact that the girl is a minor herself. So is this the right course of action to take when looking at how to control the flow of content on the information super highway Talent used: RMIT Professor - Jon Lenarcic Author Kate McCaffrey

Police in Egypt have been deployed in large numbers to prevent a national strike by pro-democracy activists. The Strike was organized by the April 6th movement who are seeking change in the constitution and an increase in the minimum wage. The Wire’s Marcus Coombs spoke to Benjamin McQueen, an expert in Egyptian politics from the University of Melbourne to get further details on the story.