1The Broadcasting Corporation announced its allocation of free campaign air time to the political parties today and both Social Credit and The New Zealand Party have reacted angrily to the way time on radio and television will be split. Mana Motuhake Party leader Matiu Rata says the BCNZ has been discriminatory by not allocating the party any free air time.

2The New Zealand Party today advocated the dropping of protection and subsidies for farmers, but while outlining his party's agricultural policy, leader Bob Jones declared that the New Zealand Party is the farmers' party.

3Labour Party Leader David Lange has challenged the Government to release the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the New Zealand economy as he says this would provide an independent and reliable assessment of the country's real economic prospects.

4The Social Welfare Department has decided not to pay the unemployment benefit to Marsden Point expansion workers who were sacked while they were on strike and then re-hired earlier this month.

5New Zealand has won its case for long-term access to the British butter market after a compromise was tabled by the Minister of Overseas Trade. Ireland, which had been blocking a New Zealand access agreement for months, has now agreed in principle to deal covering at least the next five years.

6The Health Department says it does not consider the presence of asbestos in the commonly used fertiliser Serpentine to be a serious health hazard.

7The suburban home of a Wellington Jewish family has been destroyed and set alight in the third anti-Semitic attack on the family in recent years.

8The State Services Commission has banned all official visits to South Africa by public servants except in exceptional cases.

9The use of new technology high-strength steel in the latest model cars is causing problems for panel-beaters, who need new equipment to repair such cars safely. However, they say it is difficult to get information from manufacturers to identify which vehicles have the new steel.

10A new management course has been established by the Arts Council to try to upgrade the level of administration in the Arts in New Zealand.