Napier(New Zealand),Mar. 27 : New Zealand vice-captain Brendon McCullum is expecting an Indian onslaught with Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar at the crease at the end of the second day's play in the Napier Test.

"There''s world class players still at the crease and world class players still to come. It''ll take an amazing effort from us to try and get through these next couple of batsmen," McCullum said.

Napier (New Zealand), Mar. 27: India was up against the wall on the second day of second cricket Test against New Zealand at McLean Park here on Friday, trailing the hosts by 540 runs and with only seven wickets in hand.

Replying to New Zealand’s mammoth 619 for nine declared, India was precariously placed at 79 for the loss of three wickets at the close of play. At the crease were batting stalwarts Rahul Dravid on 21 with two boundaries and Sachin Tendulkar, who is yet to open his account.

Wellington  - More than 100 pilot whales died in a mass stranding on an isolated beach in the Chatham Islands, a New Zealand-owned group in the Pacific Ocean, about 700 kilometres south-east of the capital Wellington, reports said Friday.

The Department of Conservation was notified of the mass stranding at Mairangi on Thursday night, but the tide had gone out by the time staff reached the site, Radio New Zealand reported.

Eight surviving whales were so badly injured that they had to be put down, the report said.

Wellington - New Zealand's deepening recession was confirmed Friday when official figures were released showing the economy had contracted for the fourth consecutive quarter last year.

Gross domestic product (GDP) was down 0.9 per cent in the December quarter, Statistics New Zealand said, with a 3.8 per cent slump in manufacturing the main contributor.

The one bright feature of the report was a 4-per-cent rise in agricultural output in the last quarter, driven by increased production of dairy products, which account for about

Wellington  - Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, 59, the new chief of the United Nations Development Programme is a no-nonsense, political junkie with a lifelong commitment to helping the poor and underprivileged.

Once labelled a radical feminist, she overcame what she dubbed "incredibly sexist" male attitudes in the New Zealand Parliament, where she has served for more than 27 years, to win promotion by "the skills and devotion of a workaholic," as she put it.

New York  - New Zealand's former Prime Minister Helen Clark was appointed on Thursday the administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which holds the largest purse in the UN system to assist developing countries.

Clark, who will replace Kermal Dervis of Turkey, was selected from a short list compiled by a senior appointment panel headed by Deputy Secretary General Asha Rose Migiro.