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.

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 standby to fly to the Thai military airbase of U-Tapao, about 150 kilometres east of Bangkok.

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  - New Zealand consumers, who have kept their wallets closed as the economy moved into recession for the first time in nearly 10 years, will fire a gradual recovery when they start spending again next year, an influential think tank predicted on Tuesday.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) forecast the recession to continue through the current fiscal year ending in March with economic activity contracting to its lowest point of 0.1 per cent

It would recover slowly during next year, with private consumption stimulated by lower petrol prices, falling interest rates and tax cuts from October 2008 and anticipated tax cuts in April 2009, NZIER said in its scheduled quarterly predictions.

Wellington  - New Zealand consumers, who have kept their wallets closed as the economy moved into recession for the first time in nearly 10 years, will fire a gradual to ecovery when they start spending again next year, an influential think tank predicted on Tuesday.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) forecast the recession to continue through the current fiscal year ending in March with economic activity contracting to its lowest point of 0.1 per cent

It would recover slowly during next year, with private consumption stimulated by lower petrol prices, falling interest rates and tax cuts, and then accelerate from 2010, NZIER said in its scheduled quarterly predictions.