1Indian police believe assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi may have been killed by a female suicide bomber with explosives strapped to her body. Meanwhile, Gandhi's widow Sonia has been asked to assume leadership of India's Congress Party, but she is yet to publicly accept the post.

2Five of the twenty-one people arrested in yesterday's raid on the Centrepoint commune appeared in court today on charges ranging from attempted rape to cannabis possession.

3One of New Zealand's biggest business mergers, between Hamilton-based New Zealand Dairy Company and the Waikato Valley Co-operative Dairies has been stopped by the Commerce Commission which said it would give the new entity too much power over the dairy industry.

4The slide in home mortgage interest rates is continuing.

5A New Zealand nun, who narrowly escaped being murdered by terrorists in a Peruvian village, says she wants to return there to work.

6Animal welfare groups are urging the British Government to drop proposed laws that would force the owners of Pitbull Terriers to neuter, export or destroy them.

7Workers on the English Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) have linked broken through to one of the tunnels from the French side, three months ahead of schedule.

8The first prosecutions have begun of American service personnel who refused to fight in the Gulf War.

9United States Secretary of State James Baker has made a stinging criticism of Israel, saying the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is Israel's policy of establishing settlements in the Occupied Territories.

10The British Environmental Investigation Agency has demanded an end to the killing of Dolphins, Porpoises and small Whales threatened with extinction.

11Thousands of guests are partying at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia as the celebrate the Maori Queen, Te Arikinui, Dame Te Atairangikaahu's 25th anniversary as head of the Kingitanga Movement.

12World At Ten The Gandhi Family has led India for all but five years since India's independence from Britain in 1947. The Congress Party wants that dynasty to continue through Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia. A profile of Sonia Gandhi, the woman who may soon be leading India. Indian police believe assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi may have been killed by a female suicide bomber with explosives strapped to her body. The assassination has demonstrated just how divided India remains.

13The Taite Gallery Interview with rising pop musician Jesus Jones.

14Auckland's overweight elephant Kashin has spent a year dieting and has lost 684 kilograms.