1Minister of Finance Roger Douglas says he is extremely concerned at New Zealand Steel's analysis of its current financial position in a report to shareholders.

2Laboratory workers remain on strike tonight over a pay dispute. Some hospitals are running dangerously short of blood supplies.

3The wives of Southland meat workers are angry because their husbands are not at work because of a prolonged strike over national award claims. Today they took to the streets of Invercargill to raise awareness of their plight.

4Opposition Justice spokesman Paul East has called for the Government to try to speed up the twelve-month delay in extradition proceedings against faith healer Andy Narain.

5Soviet dissident Anatoly Sharansky has received a hero's welcome in Israel, after his release in a publicised spy-swap at the East-West German border.

6United Airlines began its scheduled service to Auckland International Airport tonight.

7The Barclays Index eased today after three days of successive highs.

8New Zealand's America's Cup yachts are tonight racing in light winds, after a delayed start to the fourth race of the World 12-Metre Championships.

9The third leg of the Whitbread Round the World yacht race will begin in Auckland this weekend. The fleet spent the day preparing for Saturday's departure on what is expected to be the toughest leg of the race.

10Minister of Finance Roger Douglas says he is extremely concerned at New Zealand Steel's analysis of its current financial position in a report to shareholders.

11A former member of the Auckland Police Drug Squad has been acquitted with perjury following evidence he gave in a drugs case in 1984. However, his career is in tatters.

12The Greenpeace has returned to New Zealand after failing to establish a base in Antarctica. There was immediate criticism of the treatment Greenpeace received at the hands of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR).