Wellington - The New Zealand stock market - the first in the world to start trading every day - fell nearly 3 per cent Tuesday morning in the wake of slumps on Wall Street and in London amid the deepening US financial crisis.

The benchmark index of top 50 stocks fell 96 points to 3,223, a drop of 2.8 per cent in the first two-and-a-half hours' trading after opening down 2.2 per cent on Monday night.

Wellington - New Zealand's glaciers have lost 2.2 billion tonnes of permanent ice in the last year and shrunk to their smallest volume since record-keeping began 32 years ago, according to a study published Monday.

"It's one of the clearest signs that our climate is warming," Jim Salinger, principal scientist of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), told reporters.

Wellington - New Zealand's opposition conservative National Party is headed for a landslide victory over the sitting Labour-led coalition in the general election scheduled for November 8, according to an opinion poll released on Sunday.

The Television New Zealand One News poll showed the Nationals winning 66 seats in the next parliament, enough to rule alone despite a voting system that encourages coalition governments.

Labour would have 43, the Greens six, the Maori Party four, the free market ACT party three and the United Future and Progressive parties one each.

Wellington - New Zealand's election on November 8 pits Helen Clark, a parliamentary veteran and one of the astutest politicians the country has seen, against John Key, a political learner who would be the most inexperienced prime minister elected in more than a century if he wins.

Clark, 58, has been a Labour member of parliament since 1981 and, not satisfied with making history as the only leader of the party to win three consecutive elections, is bent on winning a fourth for another three years in power.

Key, 47, did not enter parliament - where he is the richest member, having made a fortune as a foreign currency dealer overseas - until 2002, and he has led the main opposition conservative National Party less than two years.

Wellington - New

Wellington- Two men appeared in court Thursday after a
plain-clothed New Zealand police officer was shot dead and another
wounded when they were disturbed while installing a tracking device on
a suspect vehicle.

A 32-year-old man was charged with the murder of Sergeant Don
Wilkinson, 46, and another man, 34, was charged with assault, news
reports said.

Both men, whose names were suppressed by the court, were remanded into custody until September 23.

Police said the two officers ran off when they were discovered in