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.

Bamyan, Afghanistan  - Nowhere else in the eastern military command sector in Afghanistan do foreign troops patrol in baseball caps instead of helmets.

While the eastern epithet is more administrative than physical - the mountainous Bamyan province is about as central as you can get in the country - and despite the occasional roadside bomb, it's a pocket of relative peace in a country mired in conflict.

"Bamyan is still the most stable and secure province in Afghanistan," said Colonel Richard Hall, commander of the 140-soldier Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) from New Zealand that is deployed here. "This allows us to get on with our job instead of worrying overtly about the security situation."

Paris/Wellington  - Three people died and four were missing and feared dead in the crash of an Airbus A320 jet on Thursday into the Mediterranean Sea during a test flight.

The aircraft plunged into waters just off the French coast after taking off in late afternoon with a crew of seven from Perpignan, France, where the plane was being overhauled.

The plane belonged to Air New Zealand and had been leased to the German carrier XL Airways for the last two years. It was to have been returned in the coming days to Air New Zealand.

Wellington  - Air New Zealand confirmed Friday that one of its Airbus A320 jets had crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off France with seven people aboard.

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.