1Two brothers were killed and another two men seriously injured today, when a helicopter crashed onto the stranded fishing boat Howard L Shadbolt off the coast of Canterbury.

2The Government will give $40,000 to a Wellington man needing a heart transplant, so he can have the operation in Australia.

3Figures show that prices rose by 3.3% in the September quarter. The annual inflation rate is now 11%, well above the level confidently predicted by Finance MInister Roger Douglas at the beginning of 1986.

4A young Kampuchean (Cambodian) student who defected from a Soviet ship in Greece has now arrived in Dunedin.

5An American cancer specialist has defected to the Soviet Union, saying that United States defence authorities are "poisoning people's minds about the realities of socialism".

6United States President Ronald Reagan is facing a credibility problem as he prepares to meet Soviet leader MIkhail Gorbachev in Iceland this weekend, following the shooting down of a cargo plane over Nicaragua and the capture of an alleged American military advisor. This comes on top of revelations that the Reagan Administration deliberately lied to the media about a covert American attempt to destabilize Libya. Top White House spokesman Bernard Kalb has resigned over the issue.

7Britain's security forces are putting the finishing touches to a new base on the Falkland Islands.

8New Zealanders will vote in their local body elections this Saturday. Many voters have already used the increasingly popular postal vote to cast their ballots, but in many areas, the more traditional ballot box remains. A look at some of the candidates and the issues voters are currently considering.

9Journalists in Auckland were given their first look at the Popemobile - a specially-built armoured vehicle to transport Pope John Paul II during his visit to New Zealand next month.

10An Auckland man has taken delivery of a Ferrari Testarossa (Type F110), a 12-cylinder mid-engine sports car worth around $400,000 and reputed to be the world's fastest car.

11Some months ago, the advancing Hubbard Glacier in Alaska blocked part of an inlet, turning it into a lake and trapping scores of sea mammals who seemed to be destined to perish. However, today the ice gave way and the mammals were able to return to the sea.