1The National Party has announced its alternative to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). It will be an indirect 10% tax, imposed only once on the final consumer, to be known as Ex Tax.

2Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, the man sacked by the Reagan Administration over the channelling of funds from Iranian arms sales to Nicaraguan Contra rebels, has broken his silence but is saying nothing of consequence. However, a newspaper has claimed that North shredded confidential documents which may have indicated whether anyone higher up in the Administration was involved. Reports suggest that White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan may have known what was happening.

3The Securities Commission has prevented advertisements by a number of currency brokers, inviting investors to speculate on foreign currencies and precious metals by offering leveraged currency contracts, because it does not believe such contracts comply with New Zealand law.

4Invercargill MP Norm Jones is to receive radiotherapy treatment for an inoperable brain tumour. He will not return to Parliament unless he makes a full recovery.

5Negotiations between the New Zealand Electricity Department (NZED) and Twizel Public Service Association (PSA) delegates broke down again today. The ban on generating power from the Upper Waitaki scheme has therefore been reinstated.

6For the first time, the Government has admitted that there is a possibility that Black African nations may boycott the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, as they did with the 1986 Games in Edinburgh.

7Around 20 people have been injured in a bungled Irish Republican Army (IRA) mortar attack in Northern Ireland.

8New Zealand health officials have reacted to a new cancer scare, from a chemical called Urethane, which is found in all yeast fermented foods such as breads, alcohol and yoghurt.

9American cancer researchers say they have pioneered a new blood test that they believe can detect all forms of cancer.

10A look at the effect of unemployment in the provinces. A report on Gisborne, which has the highest unemployment rate in New Zealand and increasing social issues as a result. They continue to call on the Government for help, despite repeated statements by the Government that the time for handouts to the provinces is over.

11A political row has broken out over how unemployment should be measured. The Government is proposing to use the Household Labour Force Survey as its major measuring tool, instead of the Labour Department's official monthly figures. A look at the merits and disadvantages of each measure.

12The America's Cup is increasingly becoming a battle fought on land, with the wrangles over regulation infringements keeping the rule experts extremely busy. Today the racing jury overthrew a protest against Alan Bond's Australia 4, allowing it to retain second place on the leaders' points table.

13A look at the progress of Eve Van Grafhorst, Australia's 'AIDS Baby', whose family moved to New Zealand earlier this year. Eve was shunned in Australia, but how is she settling in to her new home in Hastings?