1Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer is strongly opposed to a large pay increase for MPs suggested by the Higher Salaries Commission (HSC).

2Police are unlikely to charge an Auckland woman who has just admitted killing her baby 22 years ago because there is no evidence.

3The Queenstown coroner has found that 38 year old Maureen McKinnel was strangled to death in her Arrowtown home on Boxing Day 1987.

4The National Party has promised to get tough on murderers if it wins the next election.

5There is to be a Ministry of Transport (MOT) inquiry into the accidental sinking of the police launch Deodar today.

6The cost of food decreased by 0.1% last month.

7Czechs have been celebrating the end of more than 40 years of Communist rule. A new Government has been sworn in, with Communists in the minority.

8For the second day in a row, thousands of Bulgarians have crammed into Sofia demanding an end to the Communists' exclusive right to power and talks involving the country's fledgling opposition groups.

9Pro-democracy protesters received a rough reception in Moscow when riot police moved in to make arrests.

10Free parliamentary elections will be held in Hungary in March 1990.

11The Transport Amendment Bill has been referred to a Select Committee. The most controversial aspect of the Bill is the proposal to allow traffic officers onto private property without the consent of the owner or occupier. But the Government remains determined to pass the Bill into law before Christmas. Interview with Transport Minister Bill Jeffries.

12Is Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer on the defensive? He has indicated room for maneuvre with regards to the Transport Amendment Bill and new Accident Compensation reforms. There is also the suggestion of a Cabinet reshuffle early in the new year. As Labour heads into an election year, it is desperate to claw back some support from its dismal polls.