New Zealand Prime Minister-elect John Key said Monday he had won enough support to form a new government by mid-November, after meetings with two small parties.

A new rugby trophy contested by England and the All Blacks will honour the late Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand Prime Minster Helen Clark announced today.

Doctored baby milk has killed two children and poisoned hundreds more in China, it emerged today.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has stood down from his Cabinet posts while inquiries into fraud allegations are completed.

Morning rush-hour traffic slowed to a crawl in most New Zealand cities today as hauliers snarled highways and streets with thousands of vehicles to protest higher road taxes.

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd called today for international sanctions against Zimbabwe’s brutal regime.

The New Zealand government said it will delay for two years adding liquid fuels such as petrol for cars to a national emissions trading scheme to cut greenhouse gas output because it would add to already skyrocketing prices.

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd said in China today that there were significant human rights problems in Tibet, but argued against boycotting the Beijing Olympics over such issues.

New Zealand’s prime minister said today she would sign a groundbreaking free trade agreement with China on April 7 at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

DIGNITARIES from around the world paid their respects to Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary at his state funeral yesterday.

HUNDREDS of people queued yesterday to pay their last respects to Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Mount Everest, whose body lay in state in New Zealand ahead of his funeral today.

Thousands of New Zealanders filed solemnly past the casket of Mount Everest conqueror Edmund Hillary today as they paid final respects ahead of his state funeral tomorrow.

Edmund Hillary, the man who conquered Mount Everest, will be given a state funeral, the New Zealand government said today.

Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest has died, New Zealand’s prime minister Helen Clark said tonight.

Australia and New Zealand appealed to Japan today to halt a fleet headed for the Antarctic to hunt humpback whales.

Ireland can learn lessons about multiculturalism from New Zealand, President Mary McAleese said during a visit to the two-island nation.

GERMAN chancellor Angela Merkel tops Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most powerful women for the second year in a row, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice slipped to fourth from second last year.

Kidnappers snatched a three-year-old British girl from her vehicle as it carried her to school today in Nigeria’s lawless southern oil region, officials said.

Zimbabwe’s government faced strong international condemnation after police crushed a prayer demonstration and allegedly tortured the country’s most prominent opposition leader and killed a pro-democracy activist.

The European Union presidency and the United Nations secretary-general condemned the reported arrest and torture of Zimbabwe opposition leaders after a weekend rally, and told Robert Mugabe’s government it must ensure the safety of those detained.

South Korea’s president has dismissed claims from North Korea that US nuclear weapons are deployed in the South, a news report said today.

Saddam Hussein should not be hanged despite the “horrific acts” he has committed, the Prime Minister of New Zealand said today.

A 51-year-old university worker took his place on the ornately carved wooden throne of New Zealand’s Maori monarch today, hours before his mother, the late queen, was buried on a sacred mountain.

Tribal chiefs wearing wreaths of green leaves opened a traditional mourning period today for the revered queen of New Zealand’s indigenous Maori, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, who died after a long illness aged 75.

New Zealander Mark Inglis, the first double amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest, was congratulated today by another keen climber – prime minister Helen Clark.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to discuss the Iraq war and other security issues with his Australian counterpart during an official visit, beginning today with a trip to the Commonwealth Games.

Controversial cartoon series South Park has enraged Catholic groups after producing an episode featuring a bleeding statue of the Virgin Mary.

Searchers found a New Zealand diver alive after he’d been missing at sea for three days.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other Commonwealth leaders began talks in Malta today aimed at sending a clear message to next month’s world trade talks in Hong Kong that poor countries are impatient to see benefits from global markets.

NEW ZEALAND will host the 2011 Rugby World Cup after beating Japan and South Africa in an International Rugby Board secret ballot in Dublin.

NEW ZEALAND will use the Grand Slam tour of the northern hemisphere to stake a claim to hosting the 2011 World Cup.

New Zealand’s relationship with the US could enter a new era of co-operation if the country’s opposition National Party wins parliamentary elections tomorrow.

THE best of Tiger Woods is yet to come — according to the only man to beat him in a major championship this year.

The best of Tiger Woods is yet to come – according to the only man to beat him in a major championship this year.

THE new champion looked at the trophy, tapped it, squeezed it and hugged it, as if he was trying to discover if this was for real or not.

A two-week-old scare over a deadly livestock disease on a small New Zealand island has proven to be no more than a hoax as police originally suspected, officials have said.

New Zealand’s junior Education Minister stepped down from his Cabinet posts today after students accused the former teacher of bullying them in the classroom.

Police rushed to an island near New Zealand’s biggest city today after the prime minister received a letter claiming foot-and-mouth disease had been spread among thousands of livestock there, though officials said it probably was a hoax.

Prince Charles read a sombre psalm as some 20,000 people prayed and sang hymns at dawn today in Canakkale, Turkey, to mark the 90th anniversary of the devastating First World War Gallipoli campaign.

The door to a plane carrying New Zealand’s prime minister blew open mid-flight earlier today, forcing the pilot into a sharp descent and emergency landing that left the leader badly bruised, but otherwise unharmed.

New Zealand broadcaster Paul Holmes, who gained notoriety for calling United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan a “cheeky darkie”, has quit his top-rating television current affairs show.

Floods and earthquakes that killed two people over the weekend kept hundreds of New Zealanders from their homes today, and dairy farmers on the North Island asked for urgent help moving thousands of cows from swamped pastures.

NEW ZEALAND’S prime minister launched a blistering verbal attack and slapped diplomatic sanctions on Israel yesterday after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for illegally trying to obtain a New Zealand passport.