1The Auckland Hospital Board has closed the controversial Whare Paia Unit at Carrington Psychiatric Hospital.

2A Select Committee has found further damning evidence against the Department of Maori Affairs, concluding the department has serious administration and accountability problems.

3Cabinet has considered increasing the percentage of Air New Zealand to be sold, although a firm decision has not yet been made.

4Queen Elizabeth II has been told Fiji's Acting Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara was involved in plotting last year's coup.

5Drought-stricken South Island farmers have taken a case for relief measures to the Government. Their situation has been exacerbated by 160 kilometre per hour winds that swept across the Canterbury region on the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction.

6An Auckland couple who went on a wild spree of armed robbery, arson, bombing and theft have been given long prison sentences.

7Dental bills are increasing at twice the pace of inflation, but dentists argue they are being forced to raise fees due to increasing prices on their equipment.

8Ron Edwards, a Christchurch man who is dying of asbestosis, is suing Fletcher Challenge for more than $1 million.

9Protestant loyalists in Northern Ireland have executed one of their own senior officers. The Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), the outlawed paramilitary wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) claimed responsibility for the murder of UDA leader Jimmy Craig.

10At least 28 people are feared dead after a Ugandan Airways Boeing 707 crashed on a main road south of Rome and burst into flames.

11Pakistani officials say sabotage caused the plane crash in which President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was killed.

12Italian President Francesco Cossiga arrived in Wellington this afternoon for talks with the Government. He is the first Italian Head of State to visit New Zealand.

13The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has plans to bring eleven kumara varieties no longer growing in New Zealand home from Japan. However, the Government will not allow four Maori elders to accompany the seeds home.

14Three young California Grey Whales are fighting for their lives off the coast of Alaska after becoming trapped in ice off the Arctic Circle, which is rapidly closing in on them.

15Australian band INXS have arrived in New Zealand ahead of their performances.

16When a wedding video botched the recording, a young British couple decided to re-stage their entire wedding.