1The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has cut its first mortgage rate by 1% to 15.5%.

2One of the two men missing in the Mamaku Ranges has been found. Kelly Katene has been missing for four days after disappearing while searching for his uncle, sixty year old Stan Phillips.

3Both the Auckland and Canterbury Hospital Boards are considering big cutbacks in spending as a result of a national squeeze on health funding. This could result in closed wards and reduced services.

4Napier commercial fishermen are planning to ignore rahui which would ban commercial fisherman from coastal areas set aside for local Maori.

5Two Ngati Hine women have set what may become a contentious precedent for Maori protocol by taking up carving, generally considered to be a strictly male preserve in Maori culture.

6The first study of homosexual behaviour in New Zealand has just been completed and it shows the gay community is adopting a more responsible attitude towards safe sex.

7Cash from the United States court settlement over Agent Orange has finally arrived in New Zealand almost ten years after the battle for compensation for New Zealand Vietnam veterans began.

8Prime Minister David Lange is about to leave for Australia, leaving behind a power struggle between Overseas Trade Minister Mike Moore and Foreign Affairs Minister Russell Marshall over a new Ministry of External Affairs.

9Auckland lawyer Ted Thomas is turning the international spotlight on the ongoing battle to free South African anti apartheid activist Arnold Stofile.

10South Korea has today made surprising peace overtures to North Korea and has pointed towards an eventual reunification of the divided Koreas. This comes after growing street violence by students in Seoul.

11Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan despite Soviet troops making a rapid withdrawal from the country. The Mujahideen appears to be preparing to assert its control following the Soviet withdrawal.