Wellington - The New Zealand Parliament formally approved a free trade agreement with China Thursday, marking what Trade Minister Phil Goff dubbed a "historic advance" in the country's trading relationships.

Goff said the agreement, which passed in a 104-17 vote, would come into force on October 1. It was eventually expected to lift New Zealand's exports to China - its fourth largest market - by 180 million to 280 million US dollars a year.

New Zealand became the first developed country to conclude a free trade pact with China in April when Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, attended its signing in Beijing.

Wellington - Winds topping 100 kilometres an hour and torrential rains halted flights and inter-island ferries sailings out of the New Zealand capital, Wellington, Friday as forecasters warned there could be worse to come.

Air New Zealand cancelled flights, saying high winds made it too dangerous for planes to take off and land at the airport, and ferries scheduled to sail to the South Island stayed in port as 5-metre-plus swells were recorded in the Cook Strait.

Wellington - New Zealand's consumer watchdog Commerce Commission on Thursday launched an investigation into the country's third largest finance company, Hanover Finance Limited, after it froze repayments to 16,500 investors owed more than 550 million New Zealand dollars (about 421 million US dollars).

The commission said its investigation centred on whether the company had breached the Fair Trading Act by making misleading representations to prospective investors and the public generally.

Hanover Finance suspended business on Wednesday, with its joint owner Mark Hotchin saying, "Against a backdrop of global credit uncertainties, falling property prices and lower reinvestment rates, the industry model has collapsed."

Wellington - New Zealand's third-largest finance company, Hanover Finance Ltd, suspended business Wednesday, owing 16,500 investors more than 550 million New Zealand dollars (about 421 million US dollars).

"Against a backdrop of global credit uncertainties, falling property prices and lower reinvestment rates, the industry model has collapsed," joint owner Mark Hotchin said in a statement.

About half of New Zealand's 49 finance companies have now either collapsed or admitted they were unable to repay deposits on maturity inside the past two years, news reports said.

Wellington  - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was forced to defend her Foreign Minister Winston Peters in parliament on Tuesday following a storm of attacks about cash donations to him and his party.

Peters leads the nationalist New Zealand First party, which supports Clark's minority Labour-led government in exchange for his getting the foreign affairs portfolio while it stays out of a formal coalition.

Wellington - Fiji military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama, who ousted the elected government 19 months ago is "protracting the rule he established at the barrel of a gun" in breaking a promise to hold fresh elections next year, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Monday. 

Clark rejected Bainimarama's assertion last week that he had never promised to hold elections before 2010, telling her weekly news conference, "That is not what he said to my face." 

She said Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2006, had told leaders of the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum at their summit in Tonga last year that he would go to the polls under Fiji's existing constitution before March.