Author: Nick Perry

WELLINGTON, New Zealand • Some 477 pilot whales have died after stranding themselves on two remote New Zealand beaches over recent days, officials say. None of the stranded whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanized in a “heartbreaking” loss, said Daren Grover, the general manager of Project Jonah, a nonprofit…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand • The United States won a legal battle on Tuesday to seize a Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji and wasted no time in taking command of the $325 million vessel and sailing it away from the South Pacific nation. The court ruling represented a significant victory for the U.S. as it encounters obstacles…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand • When is a potato not a potato? When it’s a tuber of a gourd, according to Guinness World Records. A New Zealand couple who believed they had dug up the world’s largest potato in the garden of their small farm near Hamilton have had their dreams turned to mash after Guinness…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand • Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Thursday against letting tensions in the Asian-Pacific region cause a relapse into a Cold War mentality. His remarks on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum came weeks after the U.S., Britain and Australia announced a new security alliance in the…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand • A powerful magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck Friday in the ocean off New Zealand, prompting thousands of people to evacuate and triggering tsunami warnings across the South Pacific. The quake was the largest in a series of tremors that hit the region over several hours, including two earlier quakes that registered magnitude…