1Share markets have plummeted worldwide today as the United States dollar reached an all-time low.

2One hundred and forty-three countries today supported a United Nation (UN) resolution sponsored by new Zealand and Australia demanding an end to all nuclear tests. Only the United States and France opposed the resolution, with eight nations abstaining from the vote.

3The Rainbow Warrior has begun its final voyage from Auckland to its final resting place off the Cavalli islands off Northland.

4Rescue authorities have resumed the search for the Napier trawler Deep Sea II, missing for five days.

5Maori Affairs Department officials have been accused of lying to a Parliamentary Select Committee about work being done by some trainees on the Maori ACCESS programme, which is funded by the Government.

6The Broadcasting Corporation (BCNZ) has withdrawn its appeal against the granting of the third television channel to the Televid Three Group.

7The King and Queen of Belgium arrived in Christchurch today for the start of a five day tour of New Zealand.

8A search party is combing thick jungle in Thailand for the wreckage of the South Korean Boeing 707 that crashed near the Burmese border. Meanwhile, it is feared that flight data from the South African Boeing 747 that crashed off the coast of Mauritius last weekend, may be too deep to be retrievable.

9The Government of Poland has failed to win a referendum on an economic and political reform package. A programme of political reform has also failed to win majority support. This is being seen as a setback for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost (openness).

10Australian President Kurt Waldheim is coming under increasing pressure to resign over alleged atrocities as a Nazi officer during World War Two.

11Musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof is returning to Ethiopia where he says six million people are again facing starvation. He places most of the blame for this on the Ethiopian Government.

12Health Undersecretary Peter Dunne has lashed out at "zealots" campaigning for advertising bans on alcohol and tobacco.

13A coroner has blamed a "lack of alertness" rather than an "error of judgement" for a young man's death last year during routine surgery at Kaitaia Hospital.

14The director of a television programme that sparked an inquiry into police conduct during the Ruatoria arson investigation, took the stand in the kidnapping trial of four detectives today.