1The two New Zealand yachts are almost neck in neck as the Whitbread Round the World yacht race nears the finishing line in Southampton.

2New Zealand rugby is in crisis following yet another amateur player defecting to the more lucrative overseas rugby league clubs.

3The strikes crippling Television New Zealand are spreading and by tomorrow there will be around 1500 employees refusing to work.

4New Zealand Tonight New Zealand headlines in brief: including; 1. Work has resumed at New Zealand Steel's Maioro iron sand mine near Waiuku following a decision by the Government and Ngati Te Ata elders to discuss ancient burial sites. The six protesters arrested last week have appeared in court and demanded that their cases be heard on a Marae. 2. Three former Goldcorp directors have appeared in the Auckland District Court charged with misleading investors. 3. Britain is turning to New Zealand for assistance in how to combat Mad Cow Disease.

5New Zealand's aging aviation radar system is being upgraded, promising increased air safety for travelers.

6Eighteen Palestinians are dead and almost 800 wounded following two days of rioting in Israel, Jordan and the Occupied Territories. The latest violence was sparked by a deranged Israeli gunman.

7World News Tonight World headlines in brief: including; 1. Extremists in South Africa - both Black and White - are casting doubts upon the Government's ability to control escalating racial violence. South African police have been unable to quell a racial war in the mining town of Trabong. 2. In the Colombian cocaine capital Medellin, a gunman shot dead a Senator closely allied with a leading Presidential candidate. 3. Universal Studios have opened a new theme park in Florida.

8New Zealand rugby is in crisis following yet another amateur player defecting to the more lucrative overseas rugby league clubs.

9Analysis of the latest TV3 Gallup poll, which shows that support for the Labour Government is at its lowest level since polling began in November 1989.

10Molly's Place is a small hideaway in central Wellington which provides a small slice of yesteryear.

11A Sydney man's ambition to drive his Volkswagen from near Melbourne to Tasmania across the Bass Strait has been scuppered by marine authorities.

12Traffic and shoppers in downtown Christchurch were stunned today to see a sea lion pop up out of the Avon River and make a beeline for the shops.