The Government should act now and appoint a chief inspector of mines to improve mine safety standards, says a mine safety expert, amid revelations calls from inside the Pike River mine went to answerphone and subsequent fires at other coal mines.
The draw for rugby's ITM Cup for 2011 is as follows:
Police say they are following up leads in their hunt for the man who abducted a Palmerston North schoolgirl this week.
The weekend road toll climbed to three last night, with a Central canterbury crash that left one person dead and a woman with serious injuries.
Police have arrested a second young man allegedly involved in a road rage shooting incident in Nelson.
A medical expert says it was "bizarre and unusual" that the Kahui twins were not taken to hospital after one of them stopped breathing and turned blue, despite four adults being present at their home.
An unemployed man has been charged with stealing a 300-year-old ship's bell used to call parishioners to worship in the small King Country town of Otorohanga.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said the airline "won't make money" in the six months to June 30, but flights will be full during the Rugby World Cup.
The body of a man with his hands and feet nailed to a wooden cross and a crown of thorns on his head has been found in an abandoned stone quarry, South Korean police say.
A team of mountaineers led by a veteran Sherpa guide has flown to Mt Everest to begin an expedition that aims to clear away tonnes of rubbish left on the world's highest peak.
India's new national census puts the population at about 1.21 billion people, or 17 percent of the world population, the census commissioner said on Thursday.
Lindsay Lohan rejected a judge's offer to end a felony grand theft case on Wednesday, signalling the actress intends to fight a case filed over a necklace she has been accused of stealing from a upscale jewellery store.
A spokeswoman for Jewel says the pregnant country singer was involved in an auto accident but appears to be fine after being checked out at a hospital.
The two opposition parties that triumphed in Ireland's election, conservative Fine Gael and left-wing Labour, have agreed to form the country's next coalition government after compromising on plans to repair the debt-battered economy.
Egypt's prime minister-designate has named a caretaker Cabinet to help lead the country through reforms and toward free elections after the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
A motorist has run his car through a crowd of about 100 pro-bicycle activists in southern Brazil, hitting and injuring at least 16.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has shuffled his Cabinet's top diplomatic and security posts, jettisoning his foreign minister, who has been roundly criticised for her ties to Tunisia's ousted regime.
Former champion Pakistan overcame an early wobble before powering to victory over struggling Kenya on Wednesday, underlining the strength of the subcontinent's teams at the World Cup.
A Bill that changes the laws around Crown pastoral land leases passed its first reading in Parliament today.
The Highlanders team to play the Hurricanes in a Super 15 match in Wellington on Friday night was named today.
