New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda agreed Wednesday to cooperate on global warming, security and other areas but failed to make progress on signing a free-trade agreement, according to a joint statement issued after their summit in Tokyo. Clark and Fukuda failed to report any progress on a FTA despite New Zealand's desire for a deal that would promote agricultural exports to Japan. During the meeting, Clark proposed that the two countries launch a joint study to explore a bilateral FTA, Japanese officials said.

Four countries have entered a race to become the world

Over GM crop trial: The anti-GM lobby group in New Zealand has challenged the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) for approving 10-year-field trials for genetically modified brassicas.

Livestock auctions are not normally the stuff of headlines, but then it's not every day that cows as unusual as Dundee Paradise and Dundee Paratrooper are going under the hammer. The dairy cows were due to be sold at Easter Compton cattle market near Bristol, UK, last month, but at the last minute their owner withdrew them, reportedly unsettled by negative media coverage and local opposition. The problem? The cows' mother was a clone, conceived in a laboratory from a cell taken from the ear of a prize-winning Holstein in Wisconsin.

Ten Students Missing In New Zealand River Flood NEW ZEALAND: April 16, 2008 WELLINGTON - Ten teenagers are missing after being swept away in a raging river in New Zealand as violent storms caused widespread flooding in the country's North Island, local media and police said. The students were taking part in an activity with the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre when they got into trouble at the Mangatepopo Gorge, said police.

Once upon a time, houses made of wood inhabited real spaces and not the glossy confines of lifestyle magazines. The states of Kerala, Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, blessed with abundant timber, were particularly known for their refined architectural traditions in wood.

People switched off lights across the world on Saturday, dimming buildings, hotels, restaurants and bars to show concern at global warming.

New Zealand "living dinosaur', the tuatara, is the fastest evolving animal on Earth, a new study has revealed.

A rare and threatened species of tiny frog has been found breeding in a New Zealand animal park, meaning its future may now be more secure, researchers said. The 13 finger nail-sized Maud Island froglets were discovered clinging to the backs of male frogs at the Karori wildlife sanctuary in Wellington, said researcher Kerri Lukis. The frogs are found only on two islands in New Zealand's South Island. "Maud Island frogs have never been found breeding' before, even on their home island.

Philippines recently ordered Novartis to pull out its anti-arthritis painkiller from the country. It is feared that the drug lumiracoxib, also sold as prexige, causes liver damage. The Bureau of Food

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