New Zealand

New Zealand (/njuːˈziːlənd/ new-ZEE-lənd, Māori: Aotearoa [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa]) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses – that of the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu – and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of animal, fungal and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Somewhere between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that were to become New Zealand, and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, became the first European to sight New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the British Crown and Māori Chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, making New Zealand a British colony. Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 4.5 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, with English predominant.

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165.25 million square kilometers (63.8 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined.

The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).

The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans in the early 16th century when Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and discovered the great "southern sea" which he named Mar del Sur. The ocean's current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacifico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means "peaceful sea".

Bering Sea

Coordinates: 58°0′N 178°0′W / 58.000°N 178.000°W / 58.000; -178.000

The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves.

The Bering Sea is separated from the Gulf of Alaska by the Alaska Peninsula. It covers over 2,000,000 square kilometres (770,000 sq mi) and is bordered on the east and northeast by Alaska, on the west by Russian Far East and Kamchatka Peninsula, on the south by the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands and on the far north by the Bering Strait, which connects the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean's Chukchi Sea. Bristol Bay is the portion of the Bering Sea which separates the Alaska Peninsula from mainland Alaska. The Bering Sea is named for Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in Russian service, who in 1728 was the first European to systematically explore it, sailing from the Pacific Ocean northward to the Arctic Ocean.

The Bering Sea ecosystem includes resources within the jurisdiction of the United States and Russia, as well as international waters in the middle of the sea (known as the "Donut Hole"). The interaction between currents, sea ice, and weather makes for a vigorous and productive ecosystem.

#MTMSC 2 Resolving our differences: the individual...

See more photos of pacific seabird group

photo: AP / Guillermo Arias

Two men lie dead on a street after being murdered by unknown gunmen as police investigators work on the crime scene in Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, Monday, April 12, 2010.

Crime in Mexico: Murder Rate Reaches Record High and Nobody Is Talking About It

Edit Newsweek 22 Jun 2017

reveal that one person was murdered every twenty minutes in Mexico in May, the highest monthly murder rate recorded in 20 years ... Guerrero citizens resorted to form vigilante groups to protect their families and the gold mines from rival drug cartels -- Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos -- who fight for control of drug trafficking routes and extort money from the mine owners ... The highest monthly murder rate on record was registered in May....

photo: Public Domain

Arab states send Qatar 13 demands to end crisis, official says

Edit The Times of India 23 Jun 2017

DUBAI. Four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television and reducing ties to their regional adversary Iran, an official of one of the four countries said ... The countries give Doha 10 days to comply, failing which the list becomes 'void', the official said without elaborating ... Qatar has denied the accusations ... RELATED. From around the web ... Lonny....

photo: AP / Eraldo Peres

Workers prep poultry at the meatpacking company JBS, in Lapa, in the Brazilian state of Parana, Tuesday, March 21, 2017.

In major blow to Brazil, US suspends meat product imports

Edit Rocky Mount Telegram 23 Jun 2017

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In a major blow to Brazil, the United States on Thursday announced the immediate suspension of all imports of beef products from Latin America’s largest nation because of safety concerns. The decision by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue came three months after a major scandal into allegations of bribed meat inspectors shook Brazil’s meat industry and prompted several countries to temporarily halt imports ... ....

photo: AP / Koji Sasahara

Staff of Ueno Zoo Mikako Kaneko points a giant panda ShinShin holds her newborn cub in her mouth at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Monday, June 12, 2017.

'It's a girl!': Tokyo zoo announces baby panda's sex

Edit DNA India 23 Jun 2017

A baby panda recently born in Japan is a girl, a Tokyo zoo said today, adding that the little cub appeared to be in good health. Tokyo's Ueno Zoo celebrated the first birth of a baby panda in five years on June 12, prompting rolling television reports and setting off panda fever nationwide ... ....

photo: AP / Andrew Harnik

In this Jan. 21, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump, background, speaks at the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va.

Former CIA Officer Charged With Spying For China

Edit WorldNews.com 23 Jun 2017

Kevin Mallory, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was arrested on Thursday at his home in Leesburg, Virginia and faced preliminary charges of espionage and lying to federal officers, according to Politico. Mallory, 60, faces charges that he sold top-secret U.S ... attorney in Alexandria and the acting head of Justice’s National Security Division, in a press release ... Green also described finding one message that allegedly read....

search tools

You can search using any combination of the items listed below.

Language:

Sort type:

Arrived Within:

Search Type: