1Freelance shearers are angry at a bid by farmers to cut a special payment they have been receiving for decades, and tomorrow they plan to strike in protest against standardized pay rates.

2Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has gone on national Soviet television to tell his people that his opponents are trying to destroy his Perestroika programme of reforms. This follows weeks of ethnic and political turmoil is small pockets all over the Soviet Union.

3Metal fatigue is being blamed for the crash of a Norwegian charter plane which crashed north of Denmark yesterday, killing 55 people.

4Foreign Affairs Minister Russell Marshall says a Black African boycott of the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland now seems "extremely unlikely".

5A noted osteopath says more than 40% of New Zealand children aged 11 to 17 may be suffering from a little-known back complaint called Scheuermann's Disease.

6Solomon islands Locals have warmly welcomed the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) when they arrived there to do some South Pacific training exercises.

7Local New Zealand musician Carl Doy is suddenly being propelled into the charts with his Piano By Candlelight albums.