AUCKLAND, New Zealand: Security will be heightened ahead of Thursday night’s opening Women’s World Cup game after a gunman killed two people at a downtown construction site in Auckland, roughly 12 hours ahead of co-host New Zealand’s match against Norway.

KATHMANDU, May 26: CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is leaving here for New Zealand today for a week-long visit.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, May 19: A 7.7 magnitude earthquake Friday in the far Pacific created small tsunami waves in Vanuatu.

On January 19, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made a surprise announcement to resign from the post and retire from politics. Speaking at a news conference, Ms Ardern said she didn’t believe she had the energy to seek re-election in the upcoming polls which will be held in October and said she would step aside for a new leader.

WELLINGTON, Jan 19: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday made a shock announcement she had "no more in the tank" to continue leading the country and would step down no later than early February and not seek re-election.

WELLINGTON, August 30: New Zealand on Monday reported what authorities said was the country's first recorded death linked to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

New Zealand has long been associated with “The Lord of the Rings” but with the filming of a major new television series suddenly snatched away, the nation has become more like Mordor than the Shire for hundreds of workers.

WELLINGTON, April 8: New Zealand on Thursday temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.

WELLINGTON, Jan 25: New Zealand on Monday confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in the community in months in a 56-year-old woman, but said close contacts of the recently returned traveller had so far tested negative.

WELLINGTON, Jan 5: Skipper Kane Williamson smashed his fourth test double-hundred while Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell notched up centuries to fuel New Zealand’s bid for a 2-0 series sweep in the second and final test against Pakistan on Tuesday.

CHRISTCHURCH, Aug 24: New Zealand’s prime minister says the lockdown of Auckland will last an extra four days as authorities try to stamp out an outbreak of the coronavirus.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Aug 12: Health authorities in New Zealand were scrambling Wednesday to trace the source of a new outbreak of the coronavirus as the nation’s largest city went back into lockdown.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Aug 9: New Zealand on Sunday marked 100 days since it stamped out the spread of the coronavirus, a rare bright spot in a world that continues to be ravaged by the disease.

Stressed out while working at a bank in New Zealand, Junelle Kunin began searching for music paired with teachings from the Dalai Lama to calm herself down and allow herself to focus.

WELLINGTON, June 8: New Zealand has eliminated transmission of the coronavirus domestically and will lift all containment measures except for border controls, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, making it one of the first countries to do so.

WELLINGTON, April 20:  New Zealand will extend the lockdown measures in place to beat the coronavirus by a week, after which it will move to a lower level of restrictions, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, April 3: About 100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand since it began a lockdown last week were starting to fly to their home countries Friday.

WELLINGTON, March 26: A suspected white supremacist accused of killing 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand’s worst mass shooting changed his plea to guilty in a surprise move on Thursday.

WELLINGTON, March 25: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told New Zealanders on Wednesday to behave as if they had the coronavirus and cut all physical contact outside their household when the country heads into a one-month lockdown at midnight.

WELLINGTON, Jan 26: India’s bowlers highlighted the balance of their side as they set up an easy seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the second Twenty20 international at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

KATHMANDU, Jan 26: New Zealand has won the toss in the 2nd T20 International match, being played at the Eden Park ground in Auckland, New Zealand. The Kiwis will be looking to post a big total to help put up a strong contest against the impressive Indian team, after their loss in the first match of the series.

KATHMANDU, Jan 23: The wicket keeper's position in the Indian Cricket Team has once again come under the spotlight as the 'Men in Blue' continue to test and try a multitude of players and positions to try and replace the stalwart that is Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ever since the World Cup in England, the former Captain of the team has been left out of all the shorter formats of the game that India has played in.

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Nathan Lyon grabbed four wickets as Australia completed a crushing 247-run victory on day four of the Boxing Day test against New Zealand on Sunday that gave the hosts an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

MELBOURNE, Dec 26: New Zealand’s pacemen struck twice in the first session at the Boxing Day test on Thursday, removing both Australia’s openers to leave the home side at 67 for two at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

WHAKATANE, New Zealand DEC 15: A second land search of New Zealand’s volcanic White Island on Sunday failed to locate the bodies of the last two victims of an eruption that has now claimed 16 lives, most of them tourists.

WHAKATANE, New Zealand DEC 13 — New Zealand military specialists recovered six bodies from a small volcanic island Friday days after an eruption claimed at least eight other lives and left a toxic and volatile landscape.

SYDNEY, Dec 13:  Australia and New Zealand have launched a joint bid backed by both governments to bring the women’s soccer World Cup to the southern hemisphere for the first time in 2023.

WHAKATANE/WELLINGTON, Dec 12: Police in New Zealand are planning a mission to volcanic White Island on Friday to retrieve bodies of people killed in this week’s eruption, while the known death toll from the disaster climbed to eight, with two people dying in hospital.

WELLINGTON, Dec 11:  New Zealand authorities said monitoring equipment on the volcanic island that erupted two days ago has picked up increasing tremors on Wednesday, delaying any attempt to access the island to retrieve bodies.

WHAKATANE, NEW ZEALAND, Dec 10: Eight people were missing and presumed dead on Tuesday after a volcanic eruption covered a small New Zealand island popular with tourists in hot ash and steam, killing five people and seriously injuring about 30 more.

A volcano frequented by tourists on a small New Zealand island erupted, leaving at least five dead and several unaccounted for.

WELLINGTON, Dec 9: At least one person was killed, several injured and others reported missing in New Zealand after a volcano erupted off the east coast of its North Island on Monday, spewing a plume of ash thousands of feet into the air.

MELBOURNE, Sept 29: Sunday morning shoppers in the New Zealand city of Auckland caught glimpses of the unexpected when a store’s promotional screen played pornography over several hours.

BERLIN, Sept 27:Tens of thousands of mostly young people marched to New Zealand’s Parliament on Friday, kicking off a second wave of worldwide protests demanding swift action on climate change.

WELLINGTON, Aug 22: As New Zealand lawmakers vigorously debated fuel prices in parliament this week, speaker Trevor Mallard called for order while feeding baby Tūtānekai his bottle.

MELBOURNE, Aug 17: A 23-yeard-old man was charged late on Friday with the murder of an Australian tourist in New Zealand’s coastal town of Raglan on the North Island, the police said.

WELLINGTON, August 14: New Zealand officials admitted Wednesday that they made a mistake by allowing the man accused of killing 51 people at two Christchurch mosques to send a hand-written letter from his prison cell.

GALLE, August 14: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat in the opening test against hosts Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday.

CHRISTCHURCH, Aug 6: The scars from the nine bullets the gunman fired into Temel Atacocugu run down his left side like a knotty rope.

LONDON, July 15: England ended their 44-year wait for a maiden 50-overs World Cup title by beating a gutsy New Zealand side on boundaries after a tied Super Over amidst heart-stopping drama on Sunday.

LONDON, July 14: Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes led a controlled bowling display as an impressive England attack restricted New Zealand to a below-par 241 for eight wickets in the Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s on Sunday.

LONDON, July 14: There will be a first-time winner of the Cricket World Cup trophy when England takes on New Zealand in the final at Lord’s on Sunday.

MANCHESTER, July 10: New Zealand survived Ravindra Jadeja’s late onslaught to stun India by 18 runs in a low-scoring thriller on Wednesday and reach the Cricket World Cup final for the second time in a row.

MANCHESTER, July 10: Half-centuries from captain Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor helped New Zealand to a modest 239 for eight against India in the rain-hit first Cricket World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

MANCHESTER, July 9: New Zealand had reached 211 for five wickets after 46.1 overs against India when rain stopped play in the first semi-final of the Cricket World Cup at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

MANCHESTER, July 9: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first Cricket World Cup semi-final under overcast skies at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

KATHMANDU, July 9: In the first semifinal of ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2019, the India cricket team is facing New Zealand cricket team at Manchester’s Old Trafford stadium.

June 14:  New Zealand’s heart-breaking defeat by the Netherlands in their women’s World Cup opener had ignited an even bigger fire in the bellies of the Football Ferns ahead of their next encounter against Canada, midfielder Katie Bowen said.

CHRISTCHURCH, June 14: The man accused of the New Zealand mosque attacks smirked as his lawyer entered not guilty pleas to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges Friday before a judge who set his trial for next May.

WELLINGTON, May 21: New Zealand police said on Tuesday they were charging the man accused of murder in shootings at two Christchurch mosques in March with engaging in a terrorist act.