1Finance MInister Roger Douglas has labelled New Zealand's health system as "inefficient" and "losing touch with the poor" has appointed a group of finance and health specialists to consider how the health system can be overhauled.

2New Zealand's 1728 state coal workers were informed by letter today whether or not they will have a job after April 1st. The new Coal Corporation is to shed around 800 staff. Those who are to lose their jobs will not be allowed to return to the mines. 484 workers have been dismissed in Huntly, a town that already has a high number of unemployed residents. The Government has informed miners who have retained jobs, that if they turn down a position with the new Coal Corporation, they will not receive any severance pay.

3Domestic consumers are expected to bear the brunt of power blackouts if electricity workers carry out their planned industrial action at the end of March.

4A row has erupted between the new Electricity Corporation (Electricorp) and Treasury, over the value of the country's energy assets. The new corporation wants to play hundreds of millions of dollars less than Treasury is demanding.

5There was a full emergency alert at Wellington Airport this morning when an Air Force Andover reported that it was on fire shortly after take-off. On board the Andover was the Swedish Defence Minister and his entourage.

6Financial experts from ten firms are to contest each other in The Great Investment Race, a competitive time trial to turn a starting price of $100,000 each into as much as possible in six months. The prize, which is all the profits made, will go to children's charities.

7The huge Sure to Rise sign above the Christchurch Edmunds Factory has been demolished, despite protests from the Historic Places Trust.

8The British Court of Appeal has ordered that a seventeen year old intellectually handicapped girl be sterilised for her own good. The decision sets a legal precedence in Britain. Currently in New Zealand, there is a drive to allow the courts to make similar decisions in individual cases.

9An Australian Air Force Mirage has crashed into the sea off the New South Wales coast, while participating in a joint Australian-New Zealand air and naval exercise.

10Outspoken Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen received another setback in his push for Federal Parliament today. Federal National Party leader Ian Sinclair has managed to keep jos coalition with the Liberals intact, despite Sir Joh's call for Queensland's National Party MPs to break with the LIberals. Sir Joh's supporters were also defeated in a weekend election in the Northern Territory (NT) and a newspaper poll which shows a slump in support for the 76 year old.

11The British Government has confirmed that it will appeal an Australian Court decision allowing publication of a controversial book written by former MI5 agent Peter Wright.

12St Thomas Aquinas Convent School, one of the few multiracial schools in South Africa, may be forced to close due to lack of money. However, it is appealing for large companies who support mixed education, will help to fund the school.

13The owners of a new office building block in Dunedin have made the entire complex non-smoking.

14A new lotion is purporting to be the cure for baldness in men.