U.S. President Barack Obama has followed up his description of himself as America's “first Pacific president” by sending the largest and highest-ranking U.S. delegation ever to a meeting of Pacific leaders.

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) opened Wednesday with a passionate plea from Kiribati for help staving off rising seas caused by climate change, while discontent festered over Fiji's ban from the summit.

For rugby fans, the “red zone” lies close to the posts, where the likes of England's Jonny Wilkinson can kick valuable points. But in Christchurch it has a more menacing connotation.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that visiting Pacific nations threatened by rising seas had reinforced his belief that climate change was real and posed a genuine threat to humanity.

A report reviewing New Zealand's carbon-trading scheme will be released later this month and will look at how to link with neighboring Australia's carbon-pricing program, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith said on Monday.

New Zealand is increasing its minimum driving age from 15 to 16 in an effort to make its roads safer.

It's been 10 months since the first big earthquake struck New Zealand's second-largest city. It's been nearly five months since a far more devastating one killed 181 people and crippled the downtown.

High winds and thunderstorms are hitting New Zealand, with authorities warning that tornados could strike along the coast.

A powerful 7.6-magnitude undersea earthquake triggered tsunami alerts for New Zealand and Tonga Thursday but warnings were canceled as the quake proved less destructive than feared.

A powerful earthquake struck New Zealand's North Island on Tuesday but there are no immediate reports of casualties or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.