1More African nations are considering pulling out of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games as the Black boycott gathers momentum. Kenya is the latest to withdraw, following Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda.

2Businessman Ron Brierley has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ). Other new appointments to the board of the BNZ, announced by the Government today, include Len Bayliss and Frank Pearson.

3Television New Zealand's (TVNZ) Auckland studios in Shortland Street were evacuated for a period today after an Armed Offenders alert. A man who claimed to be armed held a telephonist and a security guard hostage in the reception area.

4Twenty-four hours of sporadic violence in Northern Ireland on the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, is reported to have left at least one person dead and more than one hundred others injured.

5Flamboyant British pop star Boy George has been charged with heroin possession but is currently on bail.

6Britain's annual inflation rate has dropped to its lowest in nineteen years - 2.5%.

7Prince Edward has flown to Wellington to hand out the Duke of Edinburgh Awards to young people at Government House.

8Ancestral remains, along with a number of valuable Maori artefacts, have been returned to Te iwi o Ngatiwai in Northland this weekend. They had been part of a private collection donated to the Northland Museum, however the Museum has returned them to Ngatiwai.