1The Mayor of San Diego has vowed to fight Michael Fay all the way over his big boat challenge for the America's Cup, independent of whatever action the San Diego Yacht Club may choose to take.

2The latest figures show that the battle against inflation is being won, but it is coming at a cost, as an extra 13,000 people have become unemployed in the last few months.

3Two French hostages held by pro-Iranian gunmen in Beirut have been released following talks between their captors and French diplomats.

4The most wanted man in Ireland, Dessie O'Hare (also known as "The Border Fox"), an Irish republican paramilitary terrorist, has been wounded and captured in a gun battle with Irish police.

5Troops in Zimbabwe are searching for a gang of rebels who brutally slaughtered sixteen White members of a Christian farming community.

6Another victim of the Kings Cross Station underground fire died in hospital today from injuries sustained in the fire, bringing the total dead to 31.

7The hunt for two people missing after a light plane crashed into the sea off the Kaikoura coast continued today without success. In South Westland, an experienced tramper remains missing despite an air and ground search. In New Plymouth, the body of a 14 year old schoolgirl was recovered from the base of Paritutu Rock. I Napier, police are searching for a 79 year old woman missing from a rest home.

8Although the head of the inquiry into the murder of six year old Napier schoolgirl Teresa Cormack has now left the area, Hawkes Bay police remain adamant that Teresa's killer will be caught and brought to justice.

9Invercargill woman Beverly Hope has died in Harefield Hospital in London following a heart transplant operation.

10Aucklanders had a final chance to go on board the Rainbow Warrior today, before it is scuttled in Northland next month.