Wellington - About 40 passengers were injured when the P&O cruise ship Pacific Sun rolled sharply in mountainous seas as a storm lashed New Zealand, news reports said Thursday.

The injured were treated by doctors and nurses on board after the ship on Wednesday night ran into 7-metre swells and was battered by 50-knot winds 600 kilometres north of Auckland, Radio New Zealand reported.

It was due in Auckland Thursday morning, but the storm, which left a trail of destruction as it raged down the country, has delayed its arrival by 24 hours.

Wellington - New Zealand's Court of Appeal on Thursday vetoed a takeover bid that would have restricted competition in the country's chain store retail trade.

The court overturned a High Court decision to allow either the locally owned Foodstuffs supermarket chain or Australia's Woolworths group to take over 128 variety and discount stationery stores of The Warehouse.

Both Woolworths and Foodstuffs have been vying to take over The Warehouse chain since each bought 10 per cent stakes in 2006.

The competition watchdog Commerce Commission rejected takeover applications by both groups in June 2007, but the High Court overruled that decision in November.

Wellington - New Zealand business organisations urged their government on Wednesday to negotiate more bilateral and regional free trade pacts following the collapse of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva.

Trade Minister Phil Goff said there could now be no agreement to free up global trade until at least the second half of next year, even though the Geneva meeting went closer to finalising a deal than at any time since the Doha Development Round was launched in 2001.

Wellington (dpa) - The second major storm in a week lashed New Zealand's North Island on Wednesday, with torrential rains bringing landslides and flooding that blocked highways while gale force winds toppled trees.

The Northland province was cut off from the rest of the country at one stage, and 250 millimetres of rain was recorded on the Coromandel peninsula.

Police advised motorists in Auckland, New Zealand's most populous region with more than 1 million people, not to travel unless they had to.

Wellington - Another New Zealand finance company announced it was in trouble Tuesday, the 26th victim of the worldwide credit crunch in the last two years.

The New Zealand Guardian Trust Company said it was suspending withdrawals and new investments in its Guardian Mortgage Fund which holds nearly 250 million New Zealand dollars (about 187.50 million US dollars) for 3,700 investors.

"Due to current liquidity difficulties in the market, the fund is currently operating below its target liquidity rate of 5 per cent," the company said.