1The Government has promised help for the flood-hit families of Northland. The rain has abated in the Far North, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty, and the massive clean-up has begun.

2Nurses at several psychiatric hospitals are on strike tonight, leaving supervisors and volunteers to care for patients. However, at Lake Alice Hospital for the criminally insane, volunteers are not permitted to help out due to the risks involved.

3The prospect of Israeli military action against Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi appears to be fading tonight. During a flamboyant, staged television interview, Gaddafi has denied the existence of terrorist training camps inside Libya.

4American nuclear investigators say a cylinder of nuclear fuel that erupted in Gore, Oklahoma, killing one person and injuring dozens more, was overloaded.

5The South African Army says there is evidence that those responsible for a landmine explosion which killed two White people and injured two others, crossed into South Africa from Botswana and have since returned there.

6Final preparations are being made for another attempt at launching the space shuttle Columbia with a crew of seven after the first flight was aborted two weeks ago.

7The Maori voyaging canoe Hawaiki Nui has finally reached its original landfall destination of Auckland's Okahu Bay.

8A massive petrol storage tank, weighing over 100 tonnes, left Auckland by sea today en route for Gisborne.