1In his State of the Nation address today, Prime Minister David Lange has pledged that the Government will stick to its tough economic policies, although he predicts hard times during 1986.

2The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has just hired five hundred new staff, who will review last year's tax returns carefully as part of their training process.

3The Urban Rail Review Committee has recommended Government subsidies be slashed for suburban train systems in Auckland and Wellington.

4Six hundred and fifty rubber workers, who have been locked out of their job,began applying for the Unemployment Benefit in Christchurch today.

5The Maori group Kotahitanga has called off its planned hikoi to Waitangi this year for the Treaty of Waitangi commemoration in three weeks.

6The crew of the ill-fated Southern Quest support ship, which cank in the Antarctic last week, is expected to be flown back to Christchurch in the next couple of days. The expedition has come in for large-scale criticism for being ill-prepared.

7The tug Greenpeace is slowly picking its way through ice to Ross Island.

8Britain's worst-ever riots in Tottenham last year, in which a police officer was hacked to death, were not spontaneous, according to Police reports.

9New Zealand is not expected to join the United States in imposing trade sanctions on Libya.

10After seven aborted attempts, the crew of the American space shuttle Columbia managed to launch today.

11Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr arrived in Auckland today to work ina Japanese television commercial.