Rock stars U2 have waded into the European Union referendum debate by declaring: “Don’t go — we’d miss you.”

New Zealanders have chosen a design for a possible new flag that features the country’s iconic silver fern next to the stars that make up the Southern Cross constellation.

The prime minister of New Zealand has said the Irish Examiner’s tribute to Jonah Lomu shows the country needs a new flag.

New Zealand media toasted the All Blacks’ victory over Australia in Saturday’s final, hailing the achievements of a “phenomenal” team many are calling the best of all time.

New Zealanders now have a fifth option to choose from when deciding whether to change their flag after a popular campaign for a geometric design called Red Peak prompted politicians to amend the rules to add it to the original four finalists.

New Zealand prime minister John Key has apologised for pulling the ponytail of a waitress who accused him of bullying, media reported.

An anonymous blackmailer threatened to poison infant formula in New Zealand to protest the country’s use of poisonous baits for pest control, and sent dairy giant Fonterra packets of milk powder laced with pesticide, police said.

New Zealanders will vote twice over the next two years on whether the country should change its flag, the government has said.

New Zealand Prime Minster John Key wants the nation to vote next year on changing its flag.

Former National Security Agency (NSA) systems analyst-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden has said the US agency is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore system.

Australian TV star and former model Charlotte Dawson, who became an anti-bullying activist after she was targeted online, has been found dead at age 47.

James Cameron will shoot three sequels to sci-fi blockbuster 'Avatar' in New Zealand.

New Zealand police are investigating a gang of young males who boasted online about stupefying underage girls with alcohol then having group sex with them.

Australia is offering moral support for a military strike in Syria while New Zealand says it needs more information, after US secretary of state John Kerry personally called each country’s foreign minister.

World leaders joined in the welcome of the new royal baby as his arrival continued to spark a global tidal wave of interest.

A bankrupt New Zealand coal company has been ordered to pay compensation to the families of 29 miners, including two Britons, killed in a 2010 methane explosion - though they may receive just a fraction of the payout.

Relatives of an Irish tourist killed in an aircraft accident in New Zealand have joined others in writing to the country’s prime minister to urge him to bring in stronger safety enforcement.

A six-storey office building that collapsed and killed 115 people in New Zealand’s devastating earthquake last year was poorly designed, inadequately constructed and should never have been issued with a building permit, a government report said today.

Wilson Whineray, acclaimed by many as the All Blacks’ greatest ever captain, has died in Auckland after a battle with cancer. He was 77.

In a reversal, Mike Tyson has been denied entry to the country whose indigenous Maori people he says inspired his facial tattoo.

Asia-Pacific nations including China, the US and Japan promised measures to boost growth yesterday and rejected limits on food exports to try to revive the flagging global economy.

New Zealand is to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan earlier next year than planned, prime minister John Key said today.

Thirteen children were among 19 people killed in a fire in one of Qatar’s most upmarket shopping malls, the interior ministry said.

Residents of New Zealand are panic buying Marmite.

New Zealanders are voting in national elections today, with popular prime minister John Key seeking to propel his centre-right party to the country's first outright parliamentary majority in years.

An operation to extract oil from a container ship that is stranded on a reef near New Zealand is set to begin.

NEW ZEALAND rugby fans have been urged to abstain from sex to help the national All Blacks win the World Cup, which kicks off next month in Auckland.

A group of young Israelis caught up in the deadly Christchurch earthquake were investigated for possible links to Israeli intelligence, but no connection was found, New Zealand’s prime minister said today.

The bodies of some victims of New Zealand’s devastating earthquake may never be recovered because they were pulverised by the buildings that collapsed around them, police said today.

Residents held open-air prayers for the dead and missing today on the lawns of churches cracked and shattered in New Zealand’s earthquake while teams continued their search through debris of one of the country’s worst disasters.

Hopes faded of finding more survivors today in the collapsed towers of New Zealand’s quake-shattered Christchurch, as officials said the death toll rose to 98 with grave fears for more than 200 missing.

NO one knows how many people are trapped in the rubble left by a powerful earthquake that struck one of New Zealand’s largest cities, but rescuers know they are there.

Rescuers were continuing a desperate search for survivors throughout the night amid the ruins of the New Zealand city of Christchurch after a massive earthquake that killed at least 65 people.

New Zealand’s prime minister has said at least 65 people have been killed in the earthquake that hit the city of Christchurch.

New Zealand’s prime minister John Key put rugby before politics today, telling the nation he had fixed a general election date after the world cup.

New Zealand held a national remembrance service today for 29 coal miners killed in an explosion last month, with a line of 29 black-draped tables each bearing a fallen miner’s helmet, lamp and name serving as the centrepiece.

ALL 29 men missing in a New Zealand coal mine died after a powerful second blast tore through the pit, plunging the country into mourning.

Police said today 29 people were believed to be dead after a second blast inside the New Zealand mine where they were trapped.

New Zealand’s prime minister warned his nation to prepare for the worst today as 29 coal miners remained trapped and unreachable five days after a massive underground blast.

New Zealand’s prime minister said today hope was fading for 29 coal miners missing for four days underground after an explosion.

Anguished relatives of 29 workers missing after an explosion at New Zealand coal mine grew frustrated over delays in the rescue operation today, as officials prepared to drill a small hole through hundreds of feet of rock to test for levels of deadly gases.