1New Zealand's longest wage freeze ended today, as unions and employers began wage bargaining for the first time since 1981.

2Nearly 2500 freezing workers at three plants operated by Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company have been suspended because of a dispute between the company and the engineers which prevented killing.

3The Government has slammed a major Think Big project - New Zealand Steel's expansion at Glenbrook.

4New Zealand Forest Products has announced a huge increase in profit for the first six months of this financial year.

5New Zealand companies were warned today that they could face takeover bids from foreigners.

6The Government is stepping up its fight against company fraud and drug trafficking by the establishment of a Corporate Fraud Investigation Unit and new legislation allowing for the detection of drugs inside a person's body.

7Former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon warned today that he would not be muzzled by his successor to the National Party leadership, Jim McLay.

8Rioting outside Western Springs Stadium last night during Deep Purple's reunion concert has led to calls for an end to heavy metal rock concerts at the stadium.

9Philip Money, who was charged with murdering his two children by throwing them off the Auckland Harbour Bridge in may this year, has been found unfit to plead in the Auckland High Court.

10Auckland lawyer Karen Soich, best known for her romantic association with Mr Asia drug lord Alexander Sinclair, is still trying to practice as a barrister.

11France has sent a former French Government Minister Edgard Pisani to New Caledonia to try to ease tensions in the Pacific Territory.

12Security forces have imposed a curfew on towns in northern Sri Lanka after three days of violence by Tamil separatist guerrillas, which left 169 people dead.

13There has been a major leak of highly toxic gas from a factory producing insecticide in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

14Relief workers say there is enough food in the famine stricken territory of Tigre to feed one-third of the starving people of the region for a month, However the rebels who control Tigre can not afford to buy and distribute it.

15In Britain the debate and the protests continue over the deployment of nuclear weapons. However for the people of the north-west town of Barrow, the issue is more than just philosophical - the livelihoods of 12,000 people depend on building nuclear-capable submarines.

16As the Marsden Point dispute drags on, there appears to be another serious crack developing in the facade of Labour Party and union accord. Hundreds of workers, sacked for participating in a strike last week, have voted not to accept the company's offer of re-employment. The Government deferred action on Marsden Point today and the Federation of Labour (FOL) says the slow progress is another sign of the widening gap between the Labour Party and the trade union movement.