1A Christchurch woman is believed to be the first person in new Zealand to be paid accident compensation for psychological injury caused by rape. The payout decision is expected to set a precedent for other sexual abuse claims.

2Greymouth has survived yet another flood alert, but this time the floods never came.

3An electrical storm between Manapouri and Te Anau has killed livestock, cut communications and injured a farmer.

4An Auckland High Court jury has visited the Otara Town Centre where a Tongan man was killed with a machete in April.

5Some female Government MPs are seeking changes to the laws on abortion and contraception.

6A vast stretch of Chile has been blacked out, apparently by saboteurs, on the eve of a crucial referendum on General Augusto Pinochet's military rule. Chilean refugees in New Zealand claim the referendum is a fraud, because exiles are banned from voting.

7Government officials in Auckland have learned today that a business they are helping to fund is a far cry from what they thought they had agreed to. The fact that a striptease and private dancing club is getting funding as a work scheme appears to highlight a certain lack of accountability for recipients.

8Farmers in drought-stricken regions of Canterbury and north Otago continue to struggle, with a new grazing scheme the only possible sign of any future relief.

9Sydney police and Qantas are investigating the disappearance of a consignment of gold and silver being flown from Papua New Guinea to Sydney via Brisbane.

10Mithileshwar Singh. the hostage freed by his Iranian captors yesterday, is saying little for fear he may jeopardise the lives of the remaiing hostages.

11A train packed with explosives has crashed into a locomotive carrying coal in the Soviet Union, resulting in a devastating blast that killed four people and levelled twenty buildings.

12A British father whose son was killed by a drink driver has turned detective and forced the courts to jail the man for a second time.

13Police are renewing their call for protection from serious diseases such as Hepatitis B and AIDS.

14The first all-New Zealand bid to climb the North face of Mount Everest will depart next March.

15Banned former All Black Stu Wilson is in trouble again, this time over a planned rugby trip to Hawaii.

16One man in the north of England seems to have perfected the art of growing leeks.

17The Duke and Duchess of York have been reaching out into Australia's red centre with an informal chat on Outback radio with school pupils.