1The Government Caucus chose its Cabinet today, and in a surprise move, nominated West Coast MP Kerry Burke to be Speaker of the House.

2National MPs gathered at Parliament today, but its front bench will not be decided for a couple of weeks.

3Potentially dangerous patients at Carrington Psychiatric Hospital are to be kept indefinitely in wards which have low security.

4The Cervical Cancer Inquiry will continue tomorrow. Women have discussed their treatment at National Women's Hospital with Judge Sylvia Cartwright and now some will give evidence at the inquiry.

5A four year old girl may be the only survivor of Flight 255 which crashed on takeoff from Detroit Airport yesterday. However, it is unclear whether the girl was a passenger on the plane or on the ground when the plan smashed onto a highway.

6A bomb has exploded in Sri Lanka's Parliament, moments before MPs were to discuss the accord reached with India recently to end strife between Sri Lanka's Tamil and Sinhalese communities. Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Jayewardene and two of his Ministers are said to have been injured.

7Rudolf Hess, regarded as Adolf Hitler's Deputy Fuhrer, has died aged 93.

8The walk-out by the judge in the Penang drugs trial of Lorraine and Aaron Cohen has highlighted the power of the bench in the Malaysian legal system.

9The United States Government is ready to authorise human testing of a possible new vaccine against Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS),

10American journalist Charles Glass, who was kidnapped in west Beirut two months ago, has escaped from captivity and is said to safe in Syrian hands.

11Britain and France have today begun moving minesweepers to join the growing fleet in the Persian Gulf. However, there is growing concern in both countries that in doing so, tensions in the volatile Gulf region may escalate..

12The controversial Christchurch Tower Project has been given Christchurch City Council approval. However, critics say it will be an eyesore, out of place with Christchurch's image as 'the garden city'.