1Ten people have died in three separate fires in Sydney today, the worst being a fire at a Kings Cross hotel which killed five people.

2Hurricane Hugo, the most powerful hurricane in decades, is poised to strike at the Caribbean. About a million people are threatened in Guadaloupe, Dominica and Martinique.

3Ten British football (soccer) fans have been sentenced to sixteen months behind bars for hooliganism in Athens following their team's loss in the European Cup.

4South Africa's new Cabinet has been announced, with the hardliners remaining in power.

5Auckland detectives will seek legal; advice from the Crown solicitor tomorrow on whether or not to charge a man who shot dead a burglar breaking into his neighbour's house.

6Airmen and women who survived the air conflict in Europe, Asia and the Pacific during the Second World War today gathered to commemorate their fallen comrades.

7New Zealand war hero John Hinton (aka Jack Daniels) has celebrated his 80th birthday in style.

8Cardinal Thomas Williams, the head of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, has condemned the current prison policies as " a poison in the bloodstream of our nation".

9Snail ranching is taking off in the United States as gastronomists finally begin to recognise their worth as a food.