1There is to be a major investigation into claims that gangs have exploited Government-funded work schemes in the South Island.

2A group of Sri Lankan Tamils living in New Zealand have been named as potential assassins of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi when he arrives in New Zealand tomorrow. However, the group claim it is a plot by Sri Lankan authorities to discredit them and their independence cause.

3Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi arrived in Canberra today for talks with Australian Prime MInister Bob Hawke and his Government.

4The families of four New Zealanders crewing a trawler sunk by the French navy in the Southern Indian Ocean are mystified by the incident.

5There have been claims today that Australia is to help France with the construction of a controversial airport at Dumont d'Urville in Antarctica, the site of a colony of protected penguins.

6Manufacturers and the National Party combined forces today to condemn the Government's handling of the economy.

7A standoff between environmental protesters and police was ended on the Coromandel today, after the mining company decided to make a tactical retreat.

8Des Tucker, the heart patient at the centre of a row over whether or not to allow heart transplant surgeries to be performed in New Zealand, has suffered a setback in his condition and is currently in hospital in Sydney.

9Opposition leader Jim Bolger is trying to obtain television and radio time to publicise his cause and to match the amount of news coverage currently being afforded to Prime MInister David Lange who is on an eight-week tour of the provinces.

10An international police investigation is underway into a con operation said to be offering New Zealanders with the surname Roberts the prospect of an inheritance.

11The 1986 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Jewish-American author and human rights campaigner Elie Wiesel.

12Queen Elizabeth II has met with the three most powerful people in China, and became the first British Monarch to walk on the Great Wall of China.

13Labour Department safety inspectors have launched a campaign to help curb what they call the appalling number of injuries to Pacific Islanders working on construction sites.

14A man has stolen a tank from the Sydney Army Base at Molesworthy amd led police cars on a chase through the streets.