Wellington (New Zealand), Mar. 31 : West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove has been replaced for Friday''''s third cricket test between New Zealand and India at the Basin Reserve as he continues to recover from illness.

Doctrove had to pull out of the second test in Napier last Saturday after two days play when he was diagnosed with a chest infection. He was replaced by New Zealand''''s Evan Watkin, the NZPA reports.

Two neutral umpires will stand in the series finale.

Wellington - An influenza epidemic has struck more than one in 10 people living on the three remote atolls of Tokelau in the South Pacific, which calls itself the last paradise on earth, health authorities in New Zealand reported on Tuesday.

Most of the 150 people affected are children and the New Zealand Ministry of Health sent a nurse with an official from the World Health Organisation to the isolated territory with vaccines and to obtain sample swabs so that the strain of influenza can be identified.

Napier (New Zealand), Mar. 30 : India on Monday proved that it is a side very keen to acquire champion status by converting a no-win situation into which it was placed on the third day into a very creditable draw on the fifth and final day of the second Test against New Zealand at the MaClean Park in Napier.

Having been asked by the Kiwis to follow on 314 runs behind on the third day of the Test, India's batters put up a spirited reply and pushed the Test towards a draw with a second innings score of 476 for four.

Wellington - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key reprimanded one of his ministers on Monday and forced him to abandon some business ties over a perceived conflict of interest on a recent private trip to India.

Key told a news conference that Minister of Internal Affairs Richard Worth had resigned his connections with a company that is trying to attract Indian student pilots to train in New Zealand.

During Earth Hour on Saturday, administrative and public houses, archaeological sites and a large number of homes all through Greece turned off their lights as a part of a worldwide initiative to emphasize the risk of climatic change.

The majority of Greeks joined the rest of the world in the global event started by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Around 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries and regions joined the glabal event.

Wellington  - A row erupted Monday over an official decision to put the letter "h" into the name of the New Zealand North Island city Wanganui to restore its original Maori spelling after 155 years.

The ruling came from the New Zealand Geographic Board, which is the last word on the spelling of places on the map, and follows its decision 18 years ago to change the name of the river that flows through the city of 40,000 people to Whanganui.