Wellington, Jan. 13 : Over 400 foreign students have been kicked out of New Zealand in the past four years for crimes or indiscretions, and many others have been caught trying to use forged certificates and degrees.

According to a report in stuff. co. nz, about 750,000 dollars of taxpayers'' money was spent forcibly removing the errant students, nearly 300 of whom required police escorts back to their home countries after being assessed as security or safety risks.

The foreigners most commonly from China, India and South Korea had breached permit conditions, worked illegally, dropped out of courses or committed crimes, such as driving, drug and firearms offences.

Wellington - Business activity and confidence in New Zealand, which has been in recession since the start of 2008, is at its lowest since 1970, according to a survey of companies released on Tuesday.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said its quarterly survey of business opinion found 44 per cent of firms reported a fall in their businesses in the last three months of 2008.

A net 43 per cent said they expected their trading activity to decrease in the first quarter of this year.

Both figures were the highest since March 1970 and ASB Bank economist Nick Tuffley said they indicated that the recession would continue to the middle of the year, if not longer.

On Friday, it was announced by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) that by next week a decision on whether a third test will be added to India's tour of New Zealand in March would be made.

With the aim to help recover lost revenue from cancelled events, Indian officials had asked their New Zealand counterparts to consider adding a test to the journey.

The Indian team would get quite busy as from 6th March till 7th April they are scheduled to play two tests, five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international in New Zealand.

Auckland  - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva completed a dream week to start her season, winning the ASB Classic title 6-4, 6-1 on Saturday over Elena Vesnina without dropping a set all week.

The fourth-ranked Dementieva stands in good form for the Australian Open with just nine days to go before the start of the first Grand Slam of 2009.

The 27-year-old needed just 88 minutes to secure success over her fellow Russian.

Wellington  - About 500 protestors burned an Israel flag and threw shoes at the United States consulate in Auckland Saturday in what the organizer claimed was New Zealand's largest pro-Palestinian demonstration.

Some wore Palestinian flags and held placards of dead and mutilated children as they marched through the city centre chanting, "How many kids have you killed today, Israel, USA?" Radio New Zealand reported.

Dubai, Jan 9: New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has made a superb start to 2009 by becoming the number-one ranked ODI bowler in the world again.

The left-arm spinner, who turns 30 later this month, has taken six wickets in the first three matches of the current series against the West Indies at an impressive average of just 12.33 and a thrifty economy rate of 3.08.

In the process he has moved above Australia's Nathan Bracken into top spot in the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers.