1A huge car bomb explosion followed by a series of smaller blasts has rocked central Melbourne, injuring eighteen people.

2New Opposition leader Jim Bolger will sort out his Parliamentary line up during the Easter break. His ascension to the National Party leadership has meant big changes for his family, but his wife Joan Bolger says she is unconcerned. The Sunday Club has today pledged unqualified support for the new National Party leader.

3Several New Zealand Party officials have voiced concern at plans to merge the New Zealand Party with the National Party.

4Car registrations will rise by at least $90 this year because of a big increase in the Accident Compensation (ACC) levy.

5Finance Minister Roger Douglas has reassessed the internal deficit to $2 billion, $700 more than predicted on Budget night. In response he has announced a series of measures to cut expenditure and create efficiency in Government departments.

6The Homosexual Law Reform Bill has survived a critical vote in Parliament. Members narrowly voted to make sixteen the age of consent for homosexual activity. However, they have decreed that homosexual acts will continue to be an offence within the armed services. Parliament is yet to vote on the issue of whether it should be made illegal to discriminate against homosexuals.

7Doctors claim they have sheltered patients from the true costs of medical treatment for too long, and need to increase the prices of consultations markedly.

8There is still no end in sight to the freezing workers' pay dispute.

9South African police have shot dead two more people in overnight rioting in Black townships.

10The United States says it will continue testing Libya's so-called "line of death" in the Gulf of Sidra.

11The United States and Honduras appear to be at odds over the size and nature of a Nicaraguan incursion across the border.

12Prime Minister David Lange has spent the day talking with senior Chinese officials in Beijing, on a wide range of issues, from Chinese support for a nuclear free zone to improving trade.

13Christchurch based clothing manufacturer Lichfield New Zealand Limited is to close down its womenswear operation, with the loss of 95 jobs.

14Goat farmers have won an export deal valued at $25 million to $30 million to supply Cashgora (also spelled Kashgora) to European markets.

15The unshaven rugged look has become increasingly popular thanks largely to the television series Miami Vice.