Blues head coach Sir John Kirwan talks about the team named to face the Chiefs in a pre-season hit-out in Rotorua on Friday. Courtesy Blues/YouTube

The stranding of nine orca in Southland is only the third such mass stranding of the species recorded in New Zealand, a specialist researcher says. Orca Research Trust founder and principal scientist Ingrid Visser said nine of the creatures, including a calf, its mother and at least one adult male, died after stranding themselves

Supermarket giant Countdown - already facing a consumer backlash over its Australian parent's ban on New Zealand products - is accused of blackmailing New Zealand suppliers into paying to keep their products on its shelves.

There was no weekend lie in for a handful of Blues players as they got up early for hill sprints up Western Spring's renowned Bullock Track...18 times. Courtesy Blues/YouTube

Video highlights of the Blues' 33-12 loss to the New South Wales Waratahs in a pre-season hit-out at Allianz Stadium on Friday February 7. Courtesy Blues/YouTube.

Alex de Jong and Miles Davis take an irreverent look at the Premier League…the world’s most exciting, glamorous and action-packed football competition. The team at Premier League BackPass is committed to bringing you all the action and most of the gossip, not that long after it happens! Goals! Scandals! Skills! Giveaways! Italians! From glorious action to shameless stupidity, discover the best, and worst the Premier League has to offer, and find out just what makes it the finest competition, in the greatest game on earth…

Dunedin students have long been known for dressing up their headquarters in various themes. One of the latest flats to follow the trend may have taken the idea to a new level. The flat has been named after a peanut butter company and is another example of a student flat gaining from commercial exposure

Look closely at this Canadian advertisement for the Peoples Jewellers, this "Balloons Proposal" looks a lot like Auckland in New Zealand, Albert and Victoria parks are covered in 'snow' and the Sky Tower seems to have disappeared.

Prime Minister John Key said it would be good to get an apology from Japan for one of its whaling fleet entering New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone, but he doesn't know if he will get one.

The University of Otago has become the first university in New Zealand to sign on as a major sponsor of a Super Rugby franchise. The deal between the university and the Highlanders was announced at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday afternoon. Many of the Highlanders staff and players have studied at Otago, and both organisations feel the partnership will be beneficial.

In Operation Castle, HMNZS Otago undertakes fisheries patrols in the frigid Ross Sea around Antarctica.

Chris Cairns talks to The Crowd Goes Wild Breakfast on Radio Sport about the ICC's investigation into alleged match fixing, as well as Jesse Ryder's issues

Fans attending the annual Auckland Lantern Festival, the NRL Auckland Nines and rapper Eminem's concert are well assured that ATEED and its major stakeholders are well prepared for a smooth running, fun filled, weekend ahead. NZ Police Inspector Gavin MacDonald wants to remind people that there will be no-tolerance for public alcohol consumption and people who are clearly intoxicated will be refused entry.

Schapelle Corby has been released from jail more than nine years after she was arrested for smuggling 4.2 kilograms of cannabis in a boogie board bag into Bali.

They came by the thousands in body paint, drag costumes and even rainbow-coloured onesies to celebrate their sexuality at New Zealand's largest gay pride event.

Fans from the Wellington Sevens tournament have gone to great lengths for the 2014 tournament, supporting many teams and perhaps inbibing early on day one.

Celebrations for New Zealand's biggest costume party are under way for die-hard sevens fans. Revellers in the Capital have begun to file into the Cake Tin, lighting up the streets with colourful and patriotic costumes.

Here are the best highlights from BOWL-A-RAMA Wellington 2014.

Waitangi protests were muted from past years, but still activists wanted the politicians to hear them and local Maori were keen for the media to stay back and not film.

The Black Caps will keep an unchanged eleven for tomorrow's first test against India in Auckland. Herald sports experts Andrew Alderson and Wynne Gray come in off the long run up to give their opinion in the chances for both teams.

Prime Minister John Key offered a challenge of his own to protesters at what he said was one of the quietest pre Waitangi Day visits to Te Tii Marae in many years. Winston Peters also felt their was a time and a place for protest which was at Parliament and not on New Zealand's national day.

Protesters opposed to deep sea drilling and mining in Northland were promising a torrid welcome at Waitangi this year. The protesters who arrived a couple of hours before PM John Key did had a hikoi of about 70, included Green Party Co-Leader Metiria Turei.

Prime Minister John Key talks to Newstalk ZB's Leighton Smith about Len Brown, and whether he'll look into changing legislation to allow mayors to be impeached.

See this newly released YouTube clip from Jockey NZ 'behind the scenes' at the new Jockey All Blacks shoot, here are the nine AB's for your viewing pleasure.

This 2012 BERNAS commercial will move you to tears; the year of the horse begins with a Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner, which is often regarded as the most important dinner for Chinese families, it's customary for children to travel home to kick off the Lunar New Year with family.

A newly released Hubble Space Telescope mosaic image shows the nearby spiral galaxy M83 in rich detail, Also known as the Southern Pinwheel, the galaxy lies 15 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. Bold magentas and blues indicate the galaxy blazes with star formation, and the galactic panorama depicts stellar birth and death on a vast scale of 50,000 light-years. courtesy Space.com

Prime Minister John Key talks to Newstalk ZB's Leighton Smith about the upcoming elections, the possibility of working with Winston Peters, and his pledge to see out another full term if elected.

Prime Minister John Key would want the largest party with the vote to form a government and would have a 'moral mandate'to do so, He feels the NZ public would want the largest party to have 'first crack' at forming that government.

Mark Richardson, Andrew Mulligan, Martin Devlin, Kent Johns and D'Arcy Waldegrave from Radio Sport share their thoughts on the Black Caps' recent successes over West Indies and India.

For most New Zealanders, fear about being spied on is unnecessary, author and investigative journalist Nicky Hager says.