1The family of Rex Bell, the North Shore motelier gunned down during a robbery in December 1988, has applauded the guilty verdicts delivered to his killers today, and their life sentences.

2Police are considering charges following confrontations outside an Auckland court, where two Black Power gang members were being sentenced to prison terms after a fatal car crash last year.

3East Germans have voted for reunification with West Germany into a single German State.

4Fruit growers and Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) officials are joining forces to try to end the ban on fruit exports to Australia following the discovery of three Pacific Fruit Flies in Auckland last week.

5The beleaguered Auckland Star won a temporary reprieve from final closure today after staff endorsed a union recommendation to return to work.

6Divers have been trying to salvage what they can from the ferry turned restaurant that sank in Auckland Harbour yesterday.

7The Lower Hutt branch of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) and a service station were both held up by a lone man brandishing a sawn-off shotgun today.

8A leaked Treasury paper has suggested the Government is considering privatising electricity supplies - how would this affect consumers?

9Scientists are keeping a close watch on Mount Ruapehu after two small eruptions of steam today.

10Sydney has endured one of its worst storms in a decade.

11An Alabama stop bank burst after two days of torrential rain, boosting water to over six metres above flood level. Eight people have drowned.

12A fire in a crowded Japanese department store has left 15 people dead and six injured.

13Thieves dressed as police officers have pulled off an art heist in the United States, carrying of works by Rembrandt, Degas, Monet and Vermeer.

14A sad update on Skippy the kangaroo, who featured on 3 National News a few nights ago, and was undergoing heart surgery at San Francisco Zoo. She died today despite surgeons' best efforts.

15A ratings war will kick off this evening as TV3's featured mini-series Shaka Zulu faces off against Television New Zealand's (TVNZ) Australian mini-series Bangkok Hilton.