1A confidential Cabinet document leaked to Network News shows the Australian Government has threatened retaliation if New Zealand refuses to buy four frigates from Australia.

2Wellington businessman Bob Jones has suggested New Zealand get rid of its armed forces, claiming $1 billion each year is being wasted on :"anachronistic war games".

3About a thousand of marching jobless protesters reached Parliament today where they angrily confronted Employment Minister Phil Goff about rising unemployment in New Zealand.

4Dr Bruce Gregory, Labour MP for Northern Maori, launched an astonishing attack on Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer today, claiming he was not consulted about changes to the Maori Fisheries Bill.

5The Government has extended its timetable for dismantling the Department of Maori Affairs, extending the process of devolution from two to five years.

6A High Court judge has lifted the name suppression of a 16-year old boy accused of murdering his mother and younger brother. Simon Christopher Webb, son of a prominent Auckland art dealer, pleaded not guilty to the murders as well as the charge of arson.

7The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society says that the failure of successive Governments to address the issue of child abuse is to blame for the deaths of at least 100 children.

8The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the Otara machete murder trial.

9The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has reported a slump in profit of almost 34%.

10The right-wing Likud Party is expected to form Israel's next Government, despite another election deadlock. The religious groups will hold the balance of power.

11Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew flew into Christchurch today for a four-day holiday in Queenstown before holding talks with Prime Minister David Lange next week about the withdrawal of New Zealand forces from Singapore.

12A snapped steel cable narrowly missed hitting the Duke and Duchess of York in Fremantle today.

13Millions of moths invaded Canberra today.

14The National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) put its concerns over redundancies in the railways to Railways Minister Richard Prebble today. 203 staff at the Addington railway workshops have been told they must reapply for their jobs, but there are only 90 vacancies.

15War veteran Monty Wikiriwhi died in Auckland this week, and was today honoured by his former comrades. Wikiriwhi was a captain in the Maori Battalion during World War Two.