1Today was the first day of corporatisation, including: 1. The full decision of the Court of Appeal on the Maori bid to stop the transfer of assets to the new State owned corporations 2. Analysis of how many State servants have opted to take redundancy or the Government's severance package, and in what industries they worked. Have some industries - such as coal and forestry - been left short-staffed as a result of the restructure?

2There is evidence that the AIDS virus is now spreading beyond New Zealand's homosexual community and becoming prevalent in the heterosexual community as well due to the use of intravenous drugs.

3Headline News 1. Over five thousand compensation claims have been sent to the Earthquake and War Damage Commission (EQC) as a result of the Bay of Plenty earthquake. 2. Former New Zealand Party leader, barrister Malcolm McDonald has been struck off 3. A woman's body found during the search for a tourist grabbed by a crocodile in Western Australia

4It has been confirmed that the death toll in the Zeebrugge ferry disaster could be almost 200.

5British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Soviet Georgia today following talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which she said had failed to produce agreement on missile reduction in Europe.

6An American military advisor was killed in El Salvador today when hundreds of anti-Government guerrillas stormed a Government military base. Dozens of Salvadorian soldiers were also killed.

7As the court case about the arguments over the assets of the new Corporations continue, the new organisations were getting on with the business of being competitive. One example of the private enterprise approach being taken is the new Government Property Services Limited (GPS), formerly the Government Office of Accommodation and Board. The GPS is the smallest of the new corporations and will have less direct impact on people's lives than some of the others. However, it will be bringing a fiercely competitive attitude to its job of buying and leasing property for the Government.

8The fact that the new Government corporations will be concerned about profitability, has consumers worried about potential price hikes on products such as electricity.

9A report from the Nelson Forest town of Tapawera on how corporatisation has hit the forestry industry in the region, and the effect this has had on the town.

10Interview with the Opposition spokesman on State Services, Ian McLean, who says that although a change to the State services was needed, corporatisation is not the answer.

11Interview with State Services MInister Stan Rodger about the corporatisation of the State Services and the hiccups that are being faced during the changeover.

12Worldwatch A New Jersey judge has ruled that baby M should be placed in the custody of her natural father, William Stern and his wife Elizabeth. However the lawyer for the surrogate mother, Mary Beth Whitehead has already launched an appeal, and the debate over surrogacy has been fuelled again.

13Worldwatch British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Soviet Georgia today following talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which she said had failed to produce agreement on missile reduction in Europe. Today she met Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.

14Worldwatch Britain and the Soviet Union signed a space agreement today. The Phobos programme will be an unmanned space mission, consisting of two probes launched by the Soviet Union to study Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos.

15Worldwatch The sex for secrets spy scandal at the American embassy in Moscow took another turn today.

16A nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was ordered to shut down today by the United States Government. Operators and supervisors have been found asleep while on dusty on occasions.

17Worldwatch French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac met United States President Ronald Reagan at the White House today, where they discussed arms control, trade and AIDS.

18Worldwatch Desperate AIDS victims are turning to untried and untested potions, claiming that red tape is preventing their access to standard medication. AZT is the only drug available for AIDS patients in the United States, but it is expensive and restricted to only those with the most severe symptoms.