1New Zealand health authorities are to investigate overseas reports linking the use of aspirin in children and teenagers to an increase in the risk of developing Reye's (Ryes) disease. The New Zealand Health Department has admitted it was wrong when it made a statement yesterday asserting that the disease did not occur in New Zealand.

2Police say they believe that missing Auckland woman Mary Lazarus is dead, following the finding of her companion, Sonny Tukana dead beside his car in Ashhurst.

3The Meat Workers' Union and their employers have been congratulated by Prime Minister David Lange on their 5.2% wage settlement. However, he has criticised brewery workers who are holding out for an increase of over 25%.

4The Combined State Unions (CSU) say its 180,000 members will probably have to wait until the end of January for wage negotiations to begin

5Both the United States and the Soviet Union have warned that an agreement to open new arms negotiations is only the first step in a very long process.

6The Thai army has reinforced units along its border with Kampuchea and issued an ultimatum to Vietnam to pull troops who have entered Thailand back into Kampuchea.

7The death toll in Europe's Arctic cold snap has now risen to at least 100. The cold is also thought to be responsible for a fire in France that killed 24 people.

8South Africa has refused a request from United States Senator Edward Kennedy (aka Ted Kennedy) to visit Nelson Mandela in prison. However he has met with Winnie Mandela, the wife of the imprisoned Black leader.

9One of the four teenagers shot by Bernhard Goetz,the man dubbed New York's Subway Vigilante, is fighting for his life after slipping into a coma.

10Irish pop star Bob Geldof, the organiser of the Band Aid charity record 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' has met with Mother Teresa in Addis Ababa. The single has so far earned around $50 million for Ethiopian famine relief.

11The Cordella, the first deep sea fishing trawler to be entirely New Zealand manned and operated, arrived in Nelson today from Britain.

12Auckland Police have arrested the National Chairman of Halt All Racist Tours (HART). John Minto and nineteen other anti-apartheid protesters at the Benson and Hedges International Tennis Tournament.