A six-story building that collapsed and killed 115 people during last year's New Zealand earthquake did not meet construction standards and was held up by significantly weak columns, according to a government report released Thursday.

A New Zealand court denied an appeal for bail Friday by the jailed founder of the file-sharing website Megaupload.

A strong 6.2-magnitdue earthquake struck beneath the Pacific off New Zealand's Kermadec Islands on Sunday, US geologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued.

New Zealand police broke through electronic locks and cut their way into a mansion safe room to arrest the alleged kingpin of an international Internet copyright theft case and seize millions of dollars worth of cars, artwork and other goods.

A light sheen of oil extended about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from a wrecked cargo ship that split in two over the weekend, but so far the damage appears small compared to the environmental disaster created when the vessel ran aground in October last year, New Zealand authorities said Monday.

A stricken container ship wedged on a reef off a New Zealand holiday spot has broken up in stormy weather but is still on the reef after running aground three months ago, raising fears of a fresh oil spill.

Safety concerns were raised yesterday over a plan to hold a hot air balloon festival in Taitung this summer after a crash killed 11 people on board a balloon in New Zealand.

A hot air balloon carrying 11 people turned into a tower of “sheer flame” Saturday after hitting power lines in a rural area of New Zealand, killing everyone aboard and horrifying residents.

A hot air balloon burst into flames and crashed in New Zealand on Saturday, killing all 11 people on board in the country's worst air accident in more than three decades.

Two further tremors rattled the New Zealand city of Christchurch on Friday as scientists predicted aftershocks from last year's devastating earthquake would last for decades.