Wellington  - New Zealand's Reserve Bank announced Thursday a record 1.5 per cent cut in its benchmark interest rate to 5 per cent - the lowest level in five years.

Wellington  - Fears were rising for two Japanese climbers stranded in New Zealand's Southern Alps for a week as appalling weather ruled out another attempt to airlift them to safety on Thursday.

A bag of emergency supplies, including a radio, was dropped to the climbers, who are holed up in a tent 3,700 metres up New Zealand's highest peak Mount Cook, on Wednesday but a Conservation Department spokeswoman said it was not certain they had retrieved it.

Wellington, Dec 3 : Office Christmas parties not just bring celebrations and gaiety among workers, but also trigger infidelities among people indulging in festival pleasures, warns a Kiwi private investigator.

Private investigator Kerrie Pihema has cautioned that infidelities are "rampant'''' among staff members going to work Christmas parties this season.

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 - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced Tuesday that he had ordered an air force transport plane to fly to South-east Asia in preparation for a mercy mission to rescue New Zealanders stranded in Bangkok.

Key told a news conference that the Hercules C130 would go to Singapore or Malaysia on Wednesday and be put on stand by to fly to the Thai military airbase of U-Tapao, about 150 kilometres east of Bangkok.

He said he was not satisfied that up to 300 New Zealanders believed to be stranded by the anti-government protest which has closed Bangkok's international airport for a week would be able to leave by commercial carriers.

Wellington - Somali immigrant Asha Ali Abdille was sent for trial Tuesday charged with New Zealand's first aircraft hijacking after a two-day preliminary hearing in the Christchurch High Court.