New Zealand

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Sheep, Sex, Rugby Don't Mix: New Zealanders

Run-up to Rugby World Cup has some marketing people trying too hard

(Newser) - What do bikini-clad models herding sheep and no-sex campaigns have to do with rugby? Not a lot, but those are two of the wacky promotional ideas that have New Zealanders in a huff in the run-up to next month's 2011 Rugby World Cup, reports the AP . Organizers had wanted...

Auckland Sees Snow for 1st Time in 80 Years

Other parts of New Zealand also affected for first time in decades

(Newser) - Downtown Auckland is seeing snow for the first time in 80 years today, as a "once in a lifetime" blast of winter weather hits New Zealand. "If Auckland is getting reports of snow flurries now at the warmest point of the day that makes you wonder about what...

Tiny Island to Mint Star Wars Currency

Luke, Yoda will be on legal tender for first time

(Newser) - Move over, Queen Elizabeth: Luke Skywalker and friends will soon be sharing a spot on the currency of a tiny Pacific island. Yoda, Leia, and Darth Vader also will appear on the flip side of the soon-to-be-minted coins for the island of Niue. It’s the first time Star Wars...

120K Following Penguin Via Webcam

Happy Feet doing well, to be released soon

(Newser) - Happy Feet is now a creature of the Internet age. The wayward emperor penguin, discovered on a New Zealand beach six weeks ago, will soon be returned to the wild —but not before he picked up an online following of more than 120,000. That's how many unique...

Alfred Hitchcock's First Film Found

Silent movie from 1923 discovered in New Zealand vault

(Newser) - Here's a plot twist Alfred Hitchcock likely never envisioned: The earliest feature film he worked on has finally been discovered in the vaults of a New Zealand archive. A nitrate film expert found the long lost 1923 British movie White Shadow, which credits the then-24-year-old Hitchcock as writer, assistant...

New Zealand Bans "Lucifer"
 New Zealand Bans 'Lucifer' 
Jul 20, 2011 8:16 AM CDT

New Zealand Bans 'Lucifer'

...but you can still name your kid Luke

(Newser) - Stumped on what to name your kid? Well, if you live in New Zealand, you have one less choice. The country's Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages has effectively blacklisted the name "Lucifer" after blocking three requests for the name by new parents. Lucifer joins a list of...

Wayward Penguin Better After Surgery

'Happy Feet' had been eating sand and wood

(Newser) - New Zealand's favorite penguin visitor is more lively and eating fish after undergoing endoscopic surgery today to remove some of the beach sand and twigs it swallowed, apparently mistaking it for snow. Full recovery for the young emperor penguin—nicknamed Happy Feet—may take months, and officials are still...

Lost Emperor Penguin Moved to Wellington Zoo
 Lost Penguin Moved to NZ Zoo 
Jun 24, 2011 4:02 AM CDT

Lost Penguin Moved to NZ Zoo

Health is suffering after 2K-mile trek from home

(Newser) - Conservation officials in New Zealand have decided against letting nature take its course with a young Emperor penguin who turned up on a beach 2,000 miles from his Antarctic home. The penguin—nicknamed "Happy Feet"—was moved to a zoo in Wellington after his health appeared to...

Penguin Spotted 2K Miles From Home

Emperor penguin likely got lost hunting for food

(Newser) - A young Emperor penguin took a rare wrong turn from the Antarctic and ended up stranded in New Zealand—the first time in 44 years the aquatic bird has been sighted there in the wild. The penguin is about 10 months old and stands about 32 inches high, experts say....

Quakes Rattle Christchurch
 Quakes Rattle Christchurch 
Jun 13, 2011 1:21 AM CDT

Quakes Rattle Christchurch

5.2, 6.0 shakers rock city already destroyed by massive quake

(Newser) - Two new serious earthquakes rattled tremblor-weary Christchurch today, sending boulders plunging down hillsides and injuring residents. The 5.2 and a 6.0 quakes struck just 20 minutes apart around lunch time, sending panicked New Zealanders into the streets. Two men were rescued from rubble that collapsed on top of...

Hollywood to New Zealand: Get Your Own Sign

City plans to build 'Wellywood' sign on hillside

(Newser) - Sequels are one thing in Hollywood, blatant rip-offs are another—especially when it comes to the town's iconic sign. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is prepared to take legal action against Wellington International Airport in the New Zealand capital as it announced plans to build a giant "Wellywood"...

Air Hose Blows Trucker Up 'Like a Balloon'

NZ driver survives freak accident

(Newser) - A New Zealand trucker was "blown up like a balloon" in a freak air hose accident—and lived to tell the tale. Steven McCormack slipped on the plate between his truck's cab and trailer, ripping the hose away from the compressed air reservoir that powered his rig's...

Separated in WWII Camp in 1945, Man Finds Family

George Jaunzemis had no idea he was taken from Germany as a toddler

(Newser) - A man who was separated from his mother at the end of World War II and raised in New Zealand is meeting his German family for the first time after discovering his true identity. George Jaunzemis, 69, was only a toddler when he was separated from his mother at a...

NZ Pol Tweets About Breaking Her Own Law

Melissa Lee votes for strict file-sharing law, tweets about listening to mixtape

(Newser) - This week's installment of "lawmakers ignoring their own laws" comes to you from New Zealand, which recently passed one of the world's strictest file-sharing laws. Melissa Lee voted for the "three-strikes" law, which says people can be fined up to $15,000 and lose Internet access...

Antarctic Adventure Takes Deadly Turn

Support crew, boat missing after storm

(Newser) - Three members of an Antarctic expedition are missing and presumed dead and the two survivors will have some tough questions to answer when they return to their native Norway. The survivors were dropped off by a yacht and planned to ride quad bikes to the South Pole, but were forced...

One in 3 Buildings Face Demolition After NZ Quake

Hundreds of suburban homes might come down as well

(Newser) - Just how powerful was that earthquake in New Zealand? One structural engineer assessing the damage estimates that one in three buildings in the city center of Christchurch might have to come down, reports BBC . In addition, hundreds of suburban homes look to be doomed as well. Damage from the 6....

Quake Survivor Marries Fiance—Who Rescued Her

New Zealand couple marries 3 days after her ordeal

(Newser) - Emma Howard married Chris Greenslade today. What's so special about this wedding? Three days ago, the bride didn't know whether she would live to see it. Howard was at work when her building collapsed after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Buried under the rubble, she sent a text message...

New Zealand Quake Has Sober Message for California

Even modern safety codes can't stand up to a powerful tremor

(Newser) - Look out, California. Some of the buildings brought down by this week's earthquake in New Zealand were relatively modern, reinforcing the notion that a big quake with the right characteristics can wreak havoc even where safety codes are up to snuff, reports the Los Angeles Times. "We still have...

Text From NZ Rubble: 'Mommy, I Got Buried'

Family holds out hope even though texts stopped

(Newser) - Stats about the missing and the dead say so much about tragedies like the one that struck New Zealand—the reality comes through in harrowing texts, like that from 23-year-old Louise Amantillo. "Mommy, I got buried" she texted on Tuesday from the rubble of her collapsed language school in...

New Zealand Losing Hope for 223 Still Missing

Nearly 100 already dead in Christchurch earthquake

(Newser) - The devastating earthquake that hit New Zealand has already claimed 98 lives, but as rescuers comb through ruins in Christchurch, officials fear there may be no hope for the 223 still missing. The wreckage of the Canterbury TV building, under which 120 people were trapped, and Christchurch cathedral is thought...

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