Wellington, April 6: Suffering from sleep apnoea? Well, the humble banana may prove to be your ultimate saviour, according to a study.

Obstructive sleep apnoea sufferers experience recurrent choking when the throat closes during sleep. Therefore, it is a potentially life-threatening disorder.

However, an Australian research team has found that downing an unconventional nightcap of a banana smoothie may help keep sufferers'' throats open and reduce the risk of choking.

Wellington  - A rescue operation was launched Monday to save two Italian sailors stranded on a crippled yacht in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Chile.

An oil tanker was diverted to their aid, but New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre said it was 800 nautical miles from the 10-metre yacht and would not reach them for nearly three days.

Wellington - A rescue operation was launched Monday to save two Italian sailors stranded on a crippled yacht in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Chile.

An oil tanker was diverted to their aid, but New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre said it was 800 nautical miles from the 10-metre yacht and would not reach them for three days.

Wellington- New Zealand joined international condemnation of North Korea's satellite launch on Sunday, saying it had not helped efforts to build peace and stability in the region.

"North Korea's actions are provocative, despite their claim that the satellite launch was for peaceful, scientific purposes," Foreign Minister Murray McCully said in a statement.

He said the launch ran contrary to clear messages given to North Korea by United Nations Security Council resolutions following missile and nuclear tests in 2006.

Wellington, Apr 5 : New Zealand coach Andy Moles has rubbished suggestions that Jeetan Patel should be picked regardless of whether a pitch favours spinners or seamers.

"We always look at the surface first and the team is selected based on that. Jeetan bowled really well in Napier and there's no doubting that when the wicket suits two spinners, we are lucky to have someone of his quality ready to play," Moles told Sunday News.

Wellington  - The head of New Zealand's main returned servicemen's organization urged young people to stay away from annual World War I commemorations in Turkey because they are damaging the environment and disrespecting the dead, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of young New Zealanders and Australians go to the Gallipoli peninsula every year to mark the anniversary of their ancestors' disastrous landing on April 25, 1915, to fight Turkish troops.