Wellington  - Two Japanese climbers were stranded 3,700 metres up New Zealand's highest mountain on Wednesday as police waited for the weather to lift before launching a rescue attempt.

Severe winds again prevented a helicopter from lifting the pair off Mount Cook, where they have been stuck for a week, but it was able to drop them an emergency pack with survival gear, food, cooking equipment and a radio.

The men are holed up in a tent on a ridge near the summit of the mountain, in the Southern Alps, unable to move because of gale force winds, driving rain and low clouds.

Police said forecasts indicated it could be Friday afternoon before conditions improved enough for a rescue attempt.

Wellington - Searchers failed to rescue two Japanese mountaineers overdue on New Zealand's highest peak, the 3,754-metre high Mount Cook, on Tuesday, but established that at least one of them was alive, news reports said.

Two helicopters searching for the pair, who entered the Mount Cook National Park on Wednesday and were due off the mountain on Saturday, spotted a tent near the summit and one man came out and waved.

Wellington, Nov. 29 : Ten New Zealanders are still unaccounted for in India, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) says there are no fears for their safety.

According to a New Zealand Press Association (NZPA) report, MFAT had received inquiries regarding 193 New Zealanders in India in the wake of gunfire and explosions rocking a luxury Mumbai hotel early on Saturday, with 183 confirmed as safe as well.

"We are still making inquiries about 10. Not all the 10 are necessarily in Mumbai. At this stage we have no reason to be concerned about any of the 10," MFAT said in a statement.

Wellington  - A New Zealand surgeon who blamed the alcoholic hand wash he used to scrub up after operations for failing a breathalyser test was convicted Friday of a drunk-driving charge, news reports said.

Ian Denholm, 53, head of orthopaedic surgery at Wairarapa Hospital, north of Wellington, said he had only two glasses of wine and blamed an extraordinary ability to absorb alcohol in the hand wash gel because of eczema for putting him over the limit.

Wellington, November 27 : A 28-year-old Christchurch man may have created a Guinness World Record for the Longest Journey by Skateboard after travelling 12,159km.

Rob Thomson completed his journey in two-and-a-half years.

He had worn out three pairs of shoes, three sets of wheels, and three skateboard decks by the time he arrived at his parents'' Halswell home.

He had also endured three crashes over the 12,159km expedition.

Thomson spent 15,000 dollars during the 850-day trip, and returned home with a debt of 1000 dollars, which he planned to pay off by writing a book about his adventures.