1The Opposition claims that the Labour Department's latest figures show that unemployment is spreading from the smaller towns to the cities.

2The Government has dismissed the Federation of Labour's (FOL) four political demands released yesterday as a "propaganda exercise". However, the Government is also facing pressure from within its own party to change economic direction and protect jobs in local industries.

3Prime Minister David Lange claimed today that the National Party may have received funds from Project Democracy, an organisation linked to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which supports the NIcaraguan Contra rebels.

4Parliament's Speaker Gerard Wall has denied that security was breached by the New Zealand Army yesterday, when it carried machine guns into the building to show a Select Committee. Wall says the soldiers were given permission to enter with the arms and were escorted to the Committee hearing.

5A White Paper outlining a major shift in Australia's defence policy is expected to be announced later this week. Defence sources say closer ties with New Zealand and the Pacific Islands are likely.

6The Opposition National Party claimed in Parliament today that the G-Tech, the American company hired to supply $10 million worth of Lotto computers, was embroiled in a fraud, bribery and corruption scandal in the United States.

7The Todd family has ended more than sixty years involvement in the motor industry by selling Todd Motors, New Zealand's last big car assembly plant, to the Japanese company MItsubishi Corporation.

8Four Hastings schoolgirls remain in intensive care at Hastings Hospital following Tuesday's fatal bus crash.

9Manawatu Farmer Paul Girtchens, whose financial plight was spotlighted by last week's protest in Palmerston North, has won a reprieve.

10Peter Joseph Holden, the man accused of killing six year old Louisa Damodran, has been committed to the High Court for trial.

11Te Aroha man Rowan Stokes, who received a new heart a year ago, has now been diagnosed with Lymphatic Cancer.

12Smokefree New Zealand says last year's Smoke Free Week was so successful that they will run another non-smoking week in October, this one aimed particularly at teenagers.

13Today is election day in Tonga.

14Irish Opposition leader Charles Haughey and his Fianna Fáil Party loo set to win the general election in Ireland. Irish Prime Minister Garret Fitzgerald, of the Fine Gael Party, has conceded.

15A trawler has reported being dragged backwards in the Irish Sea for more that fourteen kilometres after accidentally netting a submarine.

16Soviet television has shown the first detailed documentary about the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster that occured ten months ago. The Soviet Government claims it has spent billions of dollars tidying up the site and relocating more than 100,000 refugees.

17A British High Court judge has ruled that Greek composer Vangelis did not plagiarise another musician's work in his Oscar-winning theme Chariots of Fire.