Focus on the big picture

The Southern Steel have fallen agonisingly short of an upset win over the Queensland Firebirds in Invercargill.The Firebirds have won the match 61-60 after a last second long range shot f...

New Zealand are still without a medal after two days of the canoe sprint world cup in Poland, but for Teneale Hatton fourth place was as good as gold.Hattons fourth in the B final of the ...

It was a clean sweep for the South Islanders at the national three-day equestrian event in Taupo over the weekend, filling the first five places in the CCI3* class.Emily Cammock won the t...

Tomorrows final race will decide the winner of the Venice leg of the Americas Cup World Series championship as its tight at the top of the fleet race leader board after three days of raci...

Witnesses say children tipped into a powerful current when their familys dinghy capsized this afternoon were desperately calling for help as they clung on for dear life.An adult and a chi...

If or when policymakers finally decide Greece should leave the euro, the exit could happen so quickly that new drachma currency notes might not be printed in time.

The Queensland Firebirds have survived a furious final quarter fightback from Southern Steel in Invercargill to hold on for a thrilling 61-60 win.

Ford driver Will Davison has staved off Holden's Craig Lowndes to win a thrilling V8 Supercar race at Phillip Island on Sunday and re-take the championship lead.

A golden-point field goal from rookie halfback Adam Reynolds has sealed a deserved 19-18 NRL win for Sydney Rabbitohs over St George Illawarra at Kogarah.

A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of northern Italy today, causing at least three deaths and collapsing rural factories and ancient bell towers in towns.

One Direction singer Niall Horan admits his first kiss was very nerve-wracking

Rescuers have called off the search for an adult and a child feared dead.

Kurtley Beale kicked the game-winning penalty as the Rebels beat the Force.

The Queensland Firebirds earned a hard-fought 61-60 win over the Southern Steel in Invercargill tonight.

A retired engineer says the corrugated iron in Auckland's stormwater network is unreliable.

All Whites World Cup hero Winston Reid is heading back to the Premier League.

Swimming New Zealand has been told it can't just cherry pick recommendations from a damning report into the organisation.

Veteran All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu is in doubt for next month's three-test series against Ireland, thanks to the calf injury that has kept him out of the Blues.

The Wellington City Council is busy identifying earthquake prone buildings around the capital.

The Korean government is sending a high-level delegation to New Zealand to investigate allegations of violence, sexual harassment and wasteful fishing practices aboard foreign charter ves...

The Southern Steel have fallen agonising short of an upset win of the Queensland Firebirds in Invercargill.

The Hawke's Bay Hawks have won the national basketball league regular season for the first time in franchise history, defeating the Manawatu Jets 78-69 in their final game of the season.

Another sizeable aftershock in Christchurch.

The Northern Mystics have collected a rare win across the Tasman in netball's ANZ Championship, downing the Vixens 49-45 in Melbourne.

A 23-year-old man has appeared in the Hamilton District Court after allegedly stabbing a man at a 21st birthday party on Friday night.

PHR Israel warns that long-term hunger strikers will need to be re-fed under strict hospital supervision to avoid life endangering complications.

Detainee Ayman Sharawne has urged the Egyptian government to put an end to the Israeli violations of the Egyptian-brokered prisoners’ exchange deal after he was arrested only three months...

Since 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, more than 700,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel, approximately 20% of the total population in th...

The Minister of Educations refusal to say how much extra top teachers would earn under a performance pay system raises questions about whether the governments real agenda is to cut the te...

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Ministry of health in Gaza warned that the lives of 404 kidney patients are at risk because the stock of bloodlines, an essential dialysis machine consumable, is running...

An adult and a child remain missing after a dinghy carrying five people capsized on Manukau Harbour, while another child has serious injuries.

Two earthquakes, with magnitudes of 4.8 and 3.6, have been felt in Christchurch, but there have been no reports of damage.

At about 12.45pm on Sunday 20 May 2012, Michael Peter RYAN, aged 65 years, has gone missing from the vicinity of 191 Blenheim Road, Christchurch.

Three cafes in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington had customers spilling onto the streets today, as nearly a thousand people mobbed the businesses in support of their Fairtrade coffee. For...

One positive sighting of a car belonging to homicide victim Derek Round has been seen in Whanganui but police say more help is needed.

OPENING SALVO: Next week is a job interview for Russel Norman - the Green co-leader who is increasingly warming to business. read more

Stewart says the buck stops with him - but won't say would it would take for him to resign. read more

PLUS: The local government minister has some advice for the Christchurch council, promises post-Kim Dotcom donation reform; and suggests Auckland Mayor Len Brown has been over-stepping t...

Education Minister Hekia Parata defends $10,000 salary gap - but says performance pay would close it. read more

The Wall Street bank - one of 11 underwriters - was tapped an emergency fund to keep the price above $US38. Not helping matters, GM says its $10 million Facebook campaign didn't work, an...

The 14 Green MPs will today officially be given their new portfolios and itll mean a smaller workload for all caucus members.

A gunman armed with grenades has opened fire on a square packed with children and Christmas shoppers in the eastern Belgian city of Liege, killing three people and wounding 75.

A British radio announcer has landed herself in hot water after questioning on air the existence of Santa Claus.

Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper looks at the changing of the guard in the Labour Party in todays Political Report

Low level industrial action by the Fire Service has effectively become a media blackout on emergency news.

Christchurch has been rattled by a 4.8-magnitude quake this evening.

A Christchurch dad whose 13-year-old daughter disappeared was so worried he rang the Sunday Star-Times seeking media help.

Helicopters have been drafted in to search for a missing Christchurch mother and daughter.

Crusaders winger Zac Guildford has been handed an All Black reprieve, but whether there's one coming for Hosea Gear too remains up in the air as new coach Steve Hansen ponders his wing op...

A technical issue is stopping Orcon customers from logging into their email accounts.

Is it time to treat cats like dogs and introduce a curfew?

Do you support performance-related pay for teachers?

RadioLIVE Daily Poll results, 17th May 2012. We asked Dunedin "Do you think teachers' pay should be linked to performance?"

So you're anti-gay marriage. Great. Here six things to challenge yourself with then.

Who will the increased prescription costs most affect?

A search for a man and one of his children who are still missing after falling from their dinghy in Manukau Harbour has been halted for the night.

An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least four people and caused thousands of others to flee into the streets.

Celebrations are taking place in East Timor to mark 10 years of independence, just hours after a new president was sworn into office.

Police say they have a lead in the investigation into the killing of the veteran journalist Derek Round after a member of the public saw his car being driven around Whanganui on the day h...

Christchurch has been rocked by a 4.8 magnitude earthquake on Sunday evening.

The owners of Masterton's oldest buildings are ignoring fears by the district council their buildings could be wiped out by a Canterbury-sized earthquake.The council says it's disappointe...

The position of a green overlord who, among other things, would be paid to oversee the installation low-energy light bulbs and help the Masterton District Council become more environmenta...

Wairarapa's oldest school caretaker, Brian Marriott, is giving up his job at Solway Primary but hasn't got time to either "lay down and die, or retire".Relinquishing his job of 27 ...

A charity golf tournament for a South Wairarapa schoolboy paralysed in a recent car crash has raised more than $26,000.On Saturday the Martinborough Golf Club hosted an Ambrose tournament...

The need for food has increased in Masterton families in the past three months with the foodbank giving out more food parcels than this time last year - and it ...

The killer of veteran journalist Derek Round drove around Whanganui for hours in his blue Jaguar after bashing him to death.

Businesses have been buying access to Prime Minister John Key through an Olympic fundraiser.

A person has been injured in a car crash on State Highway 1 near Wellington.

Making an original short film in 48 hours takes ingenuity, creativity, the ability to operate while sleep deprived and a lot of good humour.

Denis Gadd couldn't have picked a more beautiful place to die than the remote slopes of Mt Ngauruhoe.

A 23-year-old man is to appear in court today on an assault charge for allegedly stabbing a man in the back at a 21st birthday party.

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic have got themselves back into the top four of the trans-Tasman netball competition.

The mother of a girl fighting for her life in Waikato Hospital has reached out to the 20-year-old driver charged with causing the crash that put her there.

Student flats have been identified as major culprits when it comes to Hamilton's explosive cat population.

The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church (The instrumentum laboris for the XII ordinary general assembly of the Synod of Bishops)

Here is the full text of the instruction The Service of Authority and Obedience, published on May 28 by the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apos...

The Church leaders' statement made in support of the call for more action issued by the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, "Aroha tatahi ki tatahi - Let us look after each ...

Here is the letter written by Benedict XVI concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four bishops of the Society of St Pius X that were ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The Vatican has given the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X a formal doctrinal preamble listing several principles they must agree with in order to move toward ful...

Craig The Lion Man Busch has told of his pride and joy in being back with his big cats, at the renamed Kingdom of Zion wildlife park.

A memorial of three life-sized miners will rest in the middle of a Greymouth lake to honour the hundreds of men who have lost their lives in mining accidents on the West Coast.

More debris from the stricken Rena washed ashore on Coromandel beaches, with crews cleaning up along the Mercury Bay coastline yesterday.

District health boards are snapping up a British National Health Service initiative to improve productivity in hospital wards and operating theatres.

Gifted Maori children are being overlooked in the classroom because teachers are failing to recognise their unique genius, says a researcher.

For the third year in a row Elaine Alexander has donned her firefighting gear and climbed 51 flights of stairs to the top of Auckland's Sky Tower to raise money for a cancer charity.

Teleision presenter Ali Mau wants homophobic Kiwis to wake up.

Increasing numbers of fed-up parents want schools to get tough on discipline.

American student Stephen Houseman was in New Zealand to follow his dreams, but now he's living with the fact a moment's inattention killed three of his friends in a horror crash last Satu...

The Government expects to pay contractors about $120 million to help sell its controversial asset sales plan message.

Wellington complaints on the rise despite decibel higher limits

Kicks and punches were thrown at Upper Hutt Mall - all in good fun.

Daniel Simmions Ritchie to work on Manila's Phillippine Star.

Asia New Zealand brings young leaders together in forum

Artist sets sights on $10,000 for Pike River families.

The first-ever transgender contestant in the Miss Universe Canada pageant has lost her bid to win the title.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has updated his status to "married".

Cheryl Balkan finds it slightly odd that Phil Denmeade has never let go of her sister's disappearance.

Unexplained bombing at Italian school kills 16-year-old girl, triggering protests across the country.

Most legitimate businesses do not need ''bazooka-proof'' wire mesh and bulletproof windows.

Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrives in New York, after his escape to the US embassy in Beijing last month sparked a diplomatic crisis.

Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa has signed papers to free his political rival General Sarath Fonseka from prison - three years after the civil war ended.

A small number of British soldiers could remain in Afghanistan after forces withdraw in 2014, a senior UK government official says.

An explosion in a road tunnel being constructed in central China's Hunan province kills at least 20 people, state media say.

A suicide bomber kills at least 10 people, a number of them children, at a checkpoint in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, officials say.

Four people have died and four others remain missing from a fishing boat that sunk near the southern tip of New Zealand after being hit by a "rogue wave," the police said Friday.

The captain and second officer of a container ship that ran aground last year resulting in New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a range of char...

The founder of the shuttered file-sharing site Megaupload appeared in a New Zealand court Monday, as the U.S. Department of Justice seeks to extradite him and other company officials on c...

A U.S. research vessel was expected to reach a stricken South Korean ship near Antarctica on Wednesday evening after a fire raged through the fishing vessel killing three seamen and sever...

The stern of a cargo ship that ran aground last year on a reef off the coast of New Zealand has slipped further underwater, officials said Tuesday, spewing nearly 10 more tons of oil into...

Chinese activist touches down at Newark a month after escape from house arrest and vows to continue fight for human rights The blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has arrived to begin...

Fans defend singer's freedom of speech as Philippines protests threaten star's concerts Christian groups in the Philippines have called for a ban on Lady Gaga's Manila concerts, alleging...

British food and drink producers and retailers are proving there really is a market for selling tea to China British favourites such as baked beans and cream of mushroom soup have proved...

The US president, Barack Obama, welcomes the leaders of the G8 countries to a summit at Camp David in Maryland Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti,...

US state department confirms Chinese activist and his family have left Beijing on flight for Newark, New Jersey Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist whose escape from a rural vill...

The Wiggles, children's music group formed over 20 years ago in Sydney, Australia and whose popularity has seen them play sold-out stadium shows perform one of their hits.

An Australian runner has completed a half-marathon while travelling in a hot air balloon above Canberra, Australia.

The original Wiggles - the multi-coloured finger-wagging foursome touted as the world's first rock band for children - shall be no more.

An Australian school head teacher has warned parents she will expel students under 13 who do not delete their Facebook accounts.

China has criticised a new permanent American military base in Australia, accusing the two countries of having a "Cold War mentality.

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident, arriving in New York on Saturday shortly after he landed at Newark Airport.Chen Guangcheng, the blind lawyer whose escape from house arrest j...

Zhou YongkangZhou Yongkang completed a tour of the volatile region of Xinjiang last week, a sign that he still had a firm hold on his post despite having opposed the purging of Bo Xilai.

Lt. Jason Davis of Greenville, S.C., leading a combat patrol last month in Kandahar Province.When President Obama joins other NATO leaders Sunday and Monday, the full extent of how his Af...

A round-up of news from across India.

"State of grace," a backwater church in Alappuzha, Kerala, one of many houses of worship for Syrian Christians in the southern state.A novelist discovers his ancestral homeland, Kerala, w...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - NATO leaders gather in Chicago on Sunday for a summit that will chart a path out of Afghanistan, as Western nations seek to fend off fissures in their alliance and ens...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone on Saturday and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a gl...

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) - Leaders of the Group of Eight major economies raised the pressure on Iran on Saturday, signaling their readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quic...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday and declared "equality and justice have no boundaries" after China let him leave a Be...

BONDENO, Italy (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rocked a large swathe of northern Italy early on Sunday, killing at least four people, injuring dozens and seriously damaging historic build...

Departure of Chen and his family brings to an end the worst diplomatic spat between Beijing and Washington in over a decade

The Pentagon report says the country will continue to be an ‘aggressive and capable’ collector of sensitive US technological information

Sales from mainland buyers halved at Sotheby’s spring auctions, which CEO Kevin Ching blames on Beijing’s tightening of access to credit

The blunt nationalist, who has divided opinion, will have to get things done in his city if he is to retain the backing of Japanese voters

Kumari Mayawati faces investigation after local police found evidence that construction prices were inflated to build $1.8bn statue park