Wellington - The New Zealand government will guarantee wholesale deposits by foreign finance institutions to local banks, Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced Saturday.

Cullen said the move would help facilitate improved access to international funding markets for New Zealand banks.

"While the New Zealand banking system is very sound, we are in an environment where international investors remain risk-averse and where many other governments have guaranteed their banks," he said.

Wellington - New Zealanders were warned Saturday against travelling to parts of Indonesia where three Islamic militants involved in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mainly tourists, in 2002, are expected to be executed any day.

Indonesian police said they had found bombs suspected to have been prepared for a retaliatory attack after the bombers, Mukhlas, his brother Amrozi, and Imam Samudra, go before a firing squad.

Wellington - The first nest of eggs laid by tuatara reptiles - living fossils who are descendants of the dinosaurs - has been found on the New Zealand mainland in more than 200 years, the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary reported on Saturday.

Staff found four ping-pong-ball-sized leathery white eggs while doing routine maintenance work near the 8.6 kilometre predator-proof fence around the 225-hectare sanctuary in suburban Wellington, manager Raewyn Empson said.

Wellington - The New Zealand stock market rose 2.2 per cent on Wednesday after a roller-coaster day in which strong gains in morning trading were checked later.

The benchmark NZX-50 index rose nearly 4 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trading, apparently fired by news of dramatic gains on Wall Street which produced the second biggest rise on record.

Wellington - The New Zealand dollar was trading at a five- year low of about 54.5 US cents on Tuesday, as stock markets and commodity prices continued to fall around the world amid fears of a global recession.

The kiwi dollar has now fallen by 33 per cent against the US greenback this year, Radio New Zealand reported.

Robin Clements, an economist with the Swiss investment bank UBS, was quoted in Wellington's Dominion Post as saying the kiwi was likely to continue falling as the central bank's benchmark interest rate comes down.

Wellington, October 27: Clinical trials with a non-invasive and painless system, which can assess people’s average blood-sugar levels, is all set to begin in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Scientists at Canterbury University have joined forces with medical researchers at Christchurch Hospital for the purpose.

The researchers believe that the breakthrough system may revolutionise the way diabetics'' long-term glucose levels are monitored, and provide an easier way to identify people with the disease.