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I was looking at an image of New Zealand from space, and I noticed a bright blue lake on the South Island. I was pretty sure why it was blue (suspended glacial flour, like Lake Louise in Banff), but I checked to make sure. Turns out, as are many bright blue scenic mountain lakes around the world, this is a scenic spot. If I ever take a trip to New Zealand, I'm pretty sure I'd run out of time before I ran out of places to see! So here's a variety of views of that lake, New Zealand's Lake Pukaki....

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Police launched an international search for two New Zealanders who allegedly took the money and ran after a bank mistakenly put 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million) into their account. The couple, who operated a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 ($6,000) overdraft, but 1,000 times that amount was paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.

Wellington - New Zealand authorities are baffled by a mystery cache of machine guns, bullets, grenades and mortar bombs found in a shipping container from China in the South Island port of Dunedin, according to news reports on Wednesday.

<p>WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand's health minister says 10 students who were recently in Mexico have tested positive for influenza. He said the cases are "likely" to be swine flu.</p> <p>Tony Ryall said there was "no guarantee" the students had swine flu, but that health officials were taking precautions.</p>

PM Netanyahu spoke at the annual remembrance day of the Holocaust in Yad vshem. Netanyahu directed a personal question at Swiss president Hans-Rudolf Merz, who earlier in the day defended his decision to meet Ahmadinejad in Geneva, prior to the opening of the conference. "I turn to you, the Swiss president, and ask you: How can you meet someone who denies the Holocaust and wishes for a new holocaust to occur?" Netanyahu praised "important countries" that chose to distance themselves from the conference, mentioning the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, Australia and New Zealand. Netanyahu called Ahmadinejad a Holocaust...

These days, you have to travel far to find a national leader who is talking about market-based approaches to the global recession. All the way to the other side of the world. "We don't tell New Zealanders we can stop the global recession, because we can't," says Prime Minister John Key, leaning forward in his armchair at his office in the Beehive, the executive wing of New Zealand's parliament. "What we do tell them is we can use this time to transform the economy to make us stronger so that when the world starts growing again we can be running...

A New Zealander was arrested at the Manzai Fort checkpost in South Waziristan on Wednesday. He was taken to Tank police station and handed over to personnel of a secret agency. Investigators suspect that Mark Taylor may have links with Al Qaeda and Taliban. Tank’s District Coordination Officer Barkatullah said the foreigner possessed valid documents and “he told us he was going to Wana. He was in a passenger coach and was detained by paramilitary forces during a routine check at the post. According to Barkatullah Taylor told police he was going to Waziristan to get married. He said he...

A pair of prisoners, who were handcuffed together, attempt to escape from court in Hastings, New Zealand. But, a lamp post gets in their way, and they slam into each other before being taken back into custody.

Two hardened suspects on New Zealand's North Island tried to make a break from a courthouse Wednesday, still tied together by handcuffs. But before they could run across the street in Hastings, they were hit by pepper-spray — and that’s where their bolt for freedom went horribly wrong. Stumbling onwards, the hapless criminals appeared to forget they were tied together — and ran on either side of a streetlamp. They slammed into each other, fell to the ground, and collapsed in a heap. The first prisoner, Regan Reti, 20, had just been jailed for more than two years after being...

A New Zealand man who bought a second-hand MP3 player that contained U.S. military files on personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq handed it over to U.S. officials on Wednesday, New Zealand media reported. Chris Ogle, 29, bought the $10 MP3 at a thrift shop in Oklahoma but when he plugged it in discovered it contained 60 U.S. military files ... *snip* The files contained the names and personal details of American soldiers, including ones who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing, said One News.

Man 'finds US troop data' on MP3 A New Zealand man says he found confidential data about US military personnel on an MP3 player he bought from a thrift shop in Oklahoma. Chris Ogle, 29, said: "The more I look at it, the more I see and the less I think I should be looking." The files included names and telephone numbers of American soldiers, according to reports by TV New Zealand. One expert says the files are unlikely to compromise security, as most of them are from 2005. Some included a warning that the release of its contents is...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A captive reptile in New Zealand has unexpectedly become a father at the ripe old age of 111 after receiving treatment for a cancer that made him hostile toward prospective mates. The centenarian tuatara, named Henry, was thought well past the mating game until he was caught canoodling with a female named Mildred last March ... Tuatara are indigenous New Zealand creatures that resemble lizards but descend from a distinct lineage of reptile that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.

THIS week Australia assumed responsibility for a new state: the poor, unstable and violent nation of East Timor. Our 1300-strong troop intervention has been triggered by the failure of East Timor's political system, a crisis within its armed forces, an internal ethnic rift between east and west regions and the combination of an inept Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, and an immobilised President, Xanana Gusmao, who cannot work together but who have made a joint appeal for Australian help. This is Australia's largest ground force intervention since the 1999 Interfet operation, the international force authorised by the UN Security Council that...

Tuatara fossil props up Moa's Ark theory for NZ animal life Wed, 21 Jan 2009 9:09p.m. The discovery of a tuatara fossil in the South Island is helping prop up the "Moa's Ark" theory that some parts of New Zealand have always stayed above the sea surface. Scientists said the fossil provided strong evidence that the ancestor of the present-day tuatara covered the Zealandia landmass as it split from Gondwana, 82 million years ago.

A Muslim cafe owner in New Zealand evicted two customers because they were Israeli. Mustafa Tekinkaya, a Muslim from Turkey, heard Natalie Bennie and Tamara Shefa speaking Hebrew at his cafe in Invercargill on the South Island earlier this week and ordered them out. “He heard us speaking Hebrew and he asked us where we were from,” Mrs Bennie told the local newspaper. “I said Israel and he said ‘get out, I am not serving you’. It was shocking.” Tekinkaya said he was protesting Israel’s action in the Gaza Strip. “I have decided as a protest not to serve Israelis...

An Israeli family in New Zealand stopped into a local cafe to get lunch for their children, before placing their order the family was speaking in Hebrew. Hearing this the owner who is a Turkish Muslim asked them where they were from.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A falling chunk of glacier crushed two brothers to death at a popular tourist spot, and one remained buried under ice blocks the size of large vehicles, police said Friday. The two Australians apparently ignored rope barriers set up to prevent hikers from wandering into dangerous areas.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Dec. 19, 2008 – A unit of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team had a new mission in Afghanistan recently when it teamed up with Afghan and New Zealand forces to combat crimes in the eastern part of the country. Army Sgt. Kevin Swackhamer of the Task Force Warrior security force examines the ankle of an injured Afghan man during a mission in Afghanistan’s Bamyan province, Dec. 10, 2008. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. After an increase in robberies and other insurgent activities in parts of Bamyan province, a team...

Update (16:00 PST Dec. 14th): Eyewitness accounts are becoming more detailed, if you were in the Auckland area at 10pm (December 13th) and you saw something, please let me know (by leaving a comment below). Please give as detailed an account as possible, including your location and the direction at which you saw the meteorite. Hopefully we’ll piece this event together… A fire erupted in an Auckland warehouse shortly after several eyewitness reported seeing a meteorite over the North Island of New Zealand. One witness (named “Mike”) even went as far to say that he watched the fiery object hit...

Yesterday New Zealand woke up to the dawning of a new Era. It was Sunday and, as usual, conservative Kiwis of a religious persuasion awoke, scrubbed up, got the kids ready for Sunday School, and went to church to worship. And sometime during the Service we thanked our Creator for the deliverance He granted us the night before. And those of us conservative Kiwis of lesser religious persuasion slept in, grateful for the hangover arising from Saturday evening's libations. For them the sleep of the Righteous would be lengthened by knowing that their sore heads were well-earned in good service...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand entered a new era of conservative rule Sunday, with incoming Prime Minister John Key promising to be a moderate amid fears some of the country's policies on global warming and indigenous people could be rolled back. Voters on Saturday elected the wealthy former currency market trader to lead them through a recession worsening because of the global financial meltdown, handing long-serving Prime Minister Helen Clark and her central-left Labour Party a crushing defeat. Key said Sunday he hoped his National Party and coalition partners would be sworn into government within about a week...

NEW Zealanders will decide the fate of Prime Minister Helen Clark tomorrow following an election campaign branded "ugly" by global standards. The latest polls show Ms Clark, whose Labour Government has been in power for nine years, is fighting for her political life. She is up against National Party leader John Key who has doggedly pursued two boyhood ambitions – one to make a million dollars, the other to become New Zealand's prime minister. The first he's managed with ease. His career as an investment banker has helped him amass a fortune of $NZ50 million ($43.7 million). The second for...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday. Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital, Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday, conservation manager Rouen Epson said. "The nest was uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding," Epson said. "It suggests that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don't...

The View From Down Under Most Americans I think have a high regard for Aussies, based on our traditional mutual support of one another in our common wars. These positive views were I believe re-enforced recently with the rather sudden appearance of a whole bunch of first-rate Aussie movies in the 70s -- among some of my favorites would be Gallipoli and Breaker Morant. Then of course everybody loved Mel Gibson and Crocodile Dundee. Aussie culture quickly became the latest rage with the American in crowd. But Americans really don't know what Aussies think about them. And I think...

Knickers in knot over undies Beijing - The Olympic dress code applies to places never seen, it seems, with the New Zealand hockey manager banished from the field at a crucial men's match because officials objected to his players' underwear. Kevin Marr was ordered to watch the must-win match against Germany from the grandstand as punishment for three players wearing black underwear beneath white shorts in an earlier match. Initially, the officials wanted to suspend the players involved - Bradley Shaw, Simon Child and Blair Hopping - but Marr successfully argued it was unfair because he was in charge of...

A NEW Zealand court has allowed a parade of topless porn stars on motor bikes to proceed on the main street of Auckland, local media said today. Auckland City Council had sought a court injunction to stop the "Boobs on Bikes" parade, scheduled for Wednesday, saying it breached a bylaw banning offensive public events. But Judge Nicola Mathers said while opponents may find the parade offensive or tasteless, the fact that 80,000 people had gathered for a similar event last year meant a significant number of people did not agree with the critics, New Zealand Press Association said.

A newspaper report from Dannevirke featuring a comment which equates gay men with paedophiles has angered the manager of a nationwide LGBT support service. In a meeting of Dannevirke residents who oppose plans for a brothel opening in the small town's main street, the president of the Tararua chapter of the Full Gospel Business Men's fellowship - a religious group – reacted specifically to a plan by the brothel to offer a gay service. According to the Manawatu Standard, Garth Taylor announced: "Most paedophiles are homosexuals, and you know we don't want to bring that here." "This is shocking," reacts...

After her brief visit to Perth, the United States Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will fly to New Zealand tonight. Dr Rice will fly into Auckland tonight and her minders will need to be on alert after a student group announced a reward for anyone who could arrest her. Auckland University's Student Association is offering $5,000 to anyone who can make a citizen's arrest. Association president David Do says Ms Rice should be ashamed of her role in the Iraq war. "I think New Zealanders have an inherent sense of fairness and justice and they understand why we are doing...

A judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so that she could change the name she hated - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. Judge Rob Murfitt said that the name embarrassed the nine-year-old and could expose her to teasing. He attacked a trend of giving children bizarre names, citing several examples. Officials had blocked Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit, he said, but Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Midnight Chardonnay had been allowed. One mother wanted to name her child O.crnia using text language, but was later persuaded to use Oceania,...

Christopher Lee offers his voice for Smaug… won’t go back to NZ. July 13th, 2008 by Compa_Mighty In a bittersweet note, forummer DiveTwin reports this note that appeared in Cinematical:

More than 30 Indian youths have disappeared in New Zealand, where they were in transit to go to Sydney for World Youth Day, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Church said Monday. Lyndsay Freear told Radio New Zealand that a party of 220 Indian Catholics who arrived in Auckland a week ago were due to fly to Sydney Tuesday, but 32 of them had disappeared. All were billeted with church members in Auckland under a so-called Days in the Diocese programme before going to Australia, where Pope Benedict arrived Sunday for events associated with World Youth Day. Freear said all the...

Two refrigeration engineers have been convicted by a New Zealand court for depleting the ozone layer. The country's Ministry for Economic Development prosecuted the two men in the first ever case taken under a 1996 law protecting the ozone layer.

President Bush returned to the White House today (presumably from Camp David). He was accompanied by Secretary of State Rice. First Lady Laura Bush made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday with an appeal to the international community not to abandon the war-torn country in the face of resurgent Taliban violence. President and Mrs. Bush Saddened by Death of Jim McKay Laura and I were saddened to learn of the passing of Jim McKay. For a generation of Americans, Jim was more than the much-honored host of Wide World of Sports and ABC's Olympic coverage. He was a...

Humans May Have Come To New Zealand Later Than ThoughtHumans Arrived In New Zealand 1,000 Years Later Than Believed, New Study Finds WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jun. 3, 2008 (AP) Radiocarbon dating of rat bones and rat-gnawed seeds reinforces a theory that human settlers did not arrive in New Zealand until 1300 A.D. _ about 1,000 years later than some scientists believe, according to a study released Tuesday. The first settlement date "has been highly debated for decades," said Dr. Janet Wilmshurst, a New Zealander who led the international team of researchers in the four-year study. The team carbon dated rat...

Road workers in a small New Zealand town got their wish granted when a woman stripped saying she was fed up with their wolf-whistles.

A man in New Zealand has been charged with using a hedgehog as a weapon, the New Zealand Herald has reported. Police said William Singalargh, 27, had hurled the hedgehog about 5m (16ft) at a 15-year-old boy. "It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," said Senior Sgt Bruce Jenkins, in the North Island town of Whakatane. It was unclear whether the hedgehog was still alive when it was thrown, though it was dead when collected as evidence. The police spokesman said the suspect was arrested "for assault with a weapon, namely...

Fresh protests in New Zealand on Monday have highlighted concerns about China's treatment of Tibet. They come as Helen Clark leaves on an overseas trip which will see her sign a free trade agreement with the giant dictatorship. In Dunedin and Wellington, pro-Tibet protesters were demanding that human rights be respected by China and demanding that the PM rethink her free trade deal. "I think that Helen Clark should not be doing it especially when the situation is like this," says one of the protesters. The situation in Tibet is sensitive for China as it prepares to host the Olympics....

NZ's Pamplona Sheep Run..lol Sheep have raced along the streets of a New Zealand town as it tries to imitate Spain's Pamplona bull run.

Aug. 4, 2004 21:16 | Updated Aug. 4, 2004 22:01 New Zealand passport scam takes Canadian twist By HERB KEINON The New Zealand passport flap is thickening, with Canada trying to determine whether one of the Israelis allegedly involved in the scam who managed to leave New Zealand is traveling on a stolen Canadian passport. Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman Reynald Doiron confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that the Canadian police and other federal agencies are investigating whether Ze'ev Barkan, one of the men New Zealand suspects of involvement in the scandal but who has reportedly left the country, is traveling...

China will sign its first free trade pact with a developed country on April 7 when it inks a deal with New Zealand, according to reports here Sunday. ADVERTISEMENT Details of the agreement, the result of three years of negotiations, will not be released until after the signing ceremony. The New Zealand government has confirmed the date and Prime Minister Helen Clark will lead a delegation of 150 business and government representatives to Beijing for the ceremony, the New Zealand Press Association said.

SYDNEY — A New Zealand man has been sentenced to community service after telling police he was raped by a wombat and the experience had made him speak "Australian".[snip]Cradock pleaded guilty in the local court to using a phone for a fictitious purpose. He was sentenced to 75 hours' community work. Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer told the court alcohol played a large role in Cradock's life.

Their weapons may not sound like much: two belts, a newspaper and a rose-pattern blanket. But six Chinese immigrants from Chamblee all but gift-wrapped an international fugitive for authorities recently, ending a five-month manhunt for a self-described martial arts expert twice featured on "America's Most Wanted." Nai Yin Xue had sought cover in Atlanta's Mandarin-speaking community. There, he encountered a scrappy band of cooks and deliverymen whose possessions, though few, include a good memory and a keen sense of justice. Now the "Chamblee Six" await final details of a sizable reward from New Zealand police. Today, the five men and...

New Zealand dolphin rescued stranded whales Last Updated: 6:10pm GMT 12/03/2008 A dolphin led a pair of stranded whales to safety on Monday after all efforts by a human rescuer had failed. Mr Smith said he was 'not aware dolphins could communicate with pygmy sperm whales' The pygmy sperm whales, a 10ft female and her 7ft male calf, were seen to be in trouble off a New Zealand beach. They appeared to have become confused by a sandbar near the beach and could not find their way back to open water. Conservation Officer Malcolm Smith was called to Mahia beach,...

Moko is well known locally for playing with swimmers in the bay A dolphin has come to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand. Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea. The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said. But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety....

Press Release: New Zealand Government Strategic assets to be protected in national interest Greater protection for New Zealand’s major strategic assets will be delivered by new Overseas Investment provisions announced by Finance Minister Michael Cullen today. A new regulation under the Overseas Investment Act 2005 was introduced by Order in Council today. The regulation will bolster the factors Ministers may take into account when considering overseas investment applications that affect a very narrow range of strategically important assets. The changes have been made in response to the uncertainty and debate that have emerged surrounding the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board’s...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - 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 Monday. The 13 finger nail-sized Maud Island froglets were discovered clinging to the backs of full-grown male frogs at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital Wellington, said researcher Kerri Lukis. The frogs are normally found only on two islands in the Malborough Sounds region of New Zealand's South Island. "Maud Island frogs have never been found breeding" before, even on their home island, said Lukis, a masters...

Hijacker 'wanted plane taken to Australia' Posted 10 hours 54 minutes ago Updated 7 hours 37 minutes ago The 33-year-old woman allegedly threatened to blow up the 19-seat plane and stabbed two pilots. (Reuters) Video: View video and pictures of the arrest (TVNZ) Video: Hijacker wanted plane taken to Australia: police (ABC News) Audio: Woman stabs pilots, attempts hijacking in NZ (PM) Related Story: NZ hijack attempt highlights security fears: Pyne Related Story: No bombs found after NZ hijack attempt Police say a Somali woman charged with trying to hijack an Air New Zealand flight this morning wanted the...

Woman wounds pilots on New Zealand plane Fri Feb 8, 12:27 AM ET A knife-wielding woman tried to hijack a regional domestic flight in New Zealand Friday, stabbing both pilots and threatening to blow up the twin-propeller plane before she was subdued, police said. The wounded pilots were able to land the plane safety in Christchurch, causing chaos at the popular tourist city's airport as police and emergency crews rushed onto the tarmac to arrest the suspect, evacuate the six passengers and search the plane for bombs. The airport was closed for about three hours. Air New Zealand, the national...

The 33-year-old woman allegedly threatened to blow up the 19-seat plane and stabbed two pilots. Police say a Somali woman charged with trying to hijack an Air New Zealand flight this morning wanted the plane taken to Australia. The 33-year-old allegedly threatened to blow up the 19-seat plane and stabbed two pilots in the cockpit - one in the hand and the other in the foot. Police say she claimed two bombs were on the twin-engine Jetstream aircraft, which was travelling from the South Island town of Blenheim, but none have been found. The woman was to appear in court...

Kiwis have most suicidal thoughts Feb 7, 2008 10:44 AM A global study shows suicidal thoughts are most common among New Zealanders. The largest ever study of such behaviours found that 9.2% of the world's population has contemplated suicide, but fewer than 3% actually make an attempt. And while the percentage of people who have considered suicide varies considerably from country to country, the overall risk factors - being female, having less education, being younger, being unmarried and having mental disorders - were the same across all of the 17 nations included in the analysis. "Suicidal thoughts are not so...