1New South Wales Police armed with arrest warrants by New Zealand Police have begun the hunt for Mr Asia associate Peter Fulcher, who was released from a Sydney prison earlier this month.

2Over the last five days, nine people have drowned at beaches in the upper half of the North Island and many more have needed rescuing.

3The Auckland Fire Service stands to lose equipment worth up to $100,000 as a result of last week's major chemical fire in Mount Wellington.

4Nine people, including four children, have died in a fire in Bury in England. Five more people are in hospital.

5Eight elderly people were killed in a fire at a retirement hotel in Chicago.

6A fully laden Indian supertanker has been hit by rockets in the Persian Gulf and set on fire.

7Soldiers in Londerry fired plastic bullets at 150 youths who had attacked an army patrol with bottles and bricks. Meanwhile, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has warned authorities that it has planted a bomb somewhere along the main railway line between Belfast and Dublin.

8Tens of thousands of people have gathered in St Peter's Square to listen to Pope John Paul II read his traditional Christmas message.

9American patrol planes are keeping a close eye on a flotilla of Soviet ships which is heading towards Cuba.

10Wellington's Mount Crawford Prison has had a second escape attempt in a week.

11The Catholic Church in Latin America is paying special attention to its future with a mind to the fact that half of the world's Catholics will live in South and Central America by the year 2000. The Church is fighting an internal battle between maintaining its traditional role or accepting liberation theology, which is a belief that social justice should be translated into direct help for the poor.