Wellington  - The P&O cruise ship Pacific Sun, which was buffeted by a sub-tropical storm in the Pacific that injured more than 40 passengers this week, was cleared to sail again on Saturday but stayed in Auckland after forecasters warned of more bad weather.

Maritime inspectors, who conducted a mandatory examination of the vessel, found no structural damage, and cleared it to sail again on another scheduled eight-day cruise to the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia.

Wellington - More than 1,700 passengers arrived back on dry land in Auckland Friday, telling reporters they had experienced a "nightmare, like a disaster movie" on a cruise ship hit by a subtropical storm in the Pacific.

Graphic footage, showing the moment when the P&O liner Pacific Sun rolled Wednesday as it hit 7-metre swells and 50-knot winds, was screened on New Zealand's TV3. It showed chairs, crockery and glass flying and gaming machines flung from walls as passengers screamed while they were steaming 600 kilometres north of Auckland.

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, July 30 : A new study of 42 million year old fossils in New Zealand shows a greenhouse climate with warmer seas and little or no ice in Antarctica.

The study, based on analysis of fossilised micro-organisms at Hampden Beach, near the Moeraki Boulders in North Otago, suggests that Antarctica at that time was yet to develop extensive ice sheets.

Back then; New Zealand was about 1100km further south, closer to Antarctica, at the same latitude as the southern tip of South America.

But, the researchers found that the water temperature was 23 degree Celsius – 25 degree Celsius at the sea surface and 11 degree Celsius – 13 degree Celsius at the bottom.

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.