11.   Environmentalists and officials at the Department of the Environment see the issue as a test case for the strength of the new green laws.

12.   Officials at Bulmers are now having talks with Euro MPs in the hope that together they can stop the tax increase from going through.

13.   Union officials at the plant have been called to a conference in Nottingham, but management say most work at the plant is already funded from abroad.

14.   Workers were given the grim news by union officials at a mass meeting.

15.   Together they sailed along the Thames accompanied by a flotilla of dinghies to present their bid to a Department of the Environment official at Westminster Pier.

16.   A senior official at the Russian gas industry monopoly Gazprom told Itar-Tass news agency that supplies to Ukraine would be cut off on Thursday.

17.   It quoted a hospital official at the Jackson Memorial Hospital as saying that the former first lady was not in a life-threatening condition.

18.   CLUB officials at the Volkswagen National tennis championships last night hit back at complaints by Mark Petchey over playing conditions at Telford.

19.   Safety officials at the Harwell laboratory near Didcot are denying staff have been affected by radio-active contamination following a recent accident.

20.   Hospital officials at the John Radcliffe are to introduce a new card system whereby all staff will carry identification.