Wellington - Falling petrol prices helped reduce the number of deaths on New Zealand's roads last year to the lowest figure in nearly half a century, the transport ministry reported on Thursday.

The 2008 road toll was 359, well down from 421 the previous year and 393 in 2006 and the lowest since 1959. Petrol in New Zealand is now at its cheapest for three years.

Wellington, December 31 : More people in the US would be planting kisses on their pets while celebrating the New Year rather than on other fellow humans, reveals a new poll.

According to a survey headed by Times Square Alliance, 4.5 times as many women as men intended to mark the occasion with their pets.

The end-of-the-year US poll revealed that even after conducting the survey for four years, the results remained unchanged.

"I guess it''s that pure joy and unconditional optimism that animals have that people love to be around," the NZPA quoted rep Tim Tompkins as telling news agency MCT.

Wellington - Two Irishmen and a New Zealander who went for a short walk in the bush in T-shirts and shorts with and a bottle of whiskey were found trapped on a steep cliff after a night in the open following a major land and air search, Radio New Zealand reported on Wednesday.

The search was launched after the trio, all aged 26, failed to return from an evening stroll by a river near Punakaiki, on the South Island's west coast, on Tuesday.

Wellington  - Air New Zealand successfully conducted the world's first commercial aviation test flight powered by fuel from the seeds of the African jatropha plant on Tuesday.

Chief executive Rob Fyfe said after the jumbo jet's two-hour flight from Auckland, "It is Air New Zealand's long-term goal to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline and we have today made further significant progress towards this."

A biofuel blend of 50-50 jatropha and Jet A1 fuel was used to power one of the airline's Boeing 747-400's Rolls-Royce engines.

Air New Zealand, which described jatropha as a sustainable second-generation biofuel, said that more than a dozen key performance tests were undertaken during the flight.

Wellington  - Five people missing in a boat in bad weather off the New Zealand coast for 24 hours were found alive by a search helicopter on Tuesday, rescue authorities said.

A sea-and-air search for two men and three boys - aged 16, 12 and 11 - in a 5.5-metre fibreglass runabout was launched early Monday afternoon when the skipper sent a text message to his wife saying they were lost and needed help.

Coastguard official Tom Scott said four were airlifted to hospital and the skipper and his boat were being towed to port.

Wellington  - An air and sea search continued Tuesday for a small boat with five people aboard missing off the coast of New Zealand's North Island.

An Air Force maritime surveillance plane with sophisticated night vision equipment found no sign of the 5.5-metre boat, whose skipper sent a text message to his wife on Monday afternoon saying they were lost and needed help.

Two men and three boys, aged 16, 12 and 11, are on the boat which left the small Bay of Plenty settlement of Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty, about 8:30 am on Monday on a snorkelling trip to an offshore island.