Seismic activity is continuing at the Popocatepetl volcano near Mexico City and authorities say they have readied shelters and identified evacuation routes in case they should be needed.

There are hotel suites worldwide that are so fancy they can command an eye-watering annual wage to stay for just one night.

Authorities have blasted the actions of a group of yachties in Tauranga after a cargo ship had to take evasive action to avoid them.

Seat-of-the-pants expedition filmmaker Brian Armstrong has an eye for weird and wonderful alcoholic concoctions.

Forget plates piled high with nachos. Here are five yummy Mex dishes that locals swear by.

Bored of an evening? You could always create an Algae Biofuel Lab as one 17 year old student in the US did to win a $100,000 science prize.

Prime Minister John Key went a tad off-script in a speech in Santiago yesterday, and delivered New Zealand's economic history via a parable of wine.

When Prime Minister John Key lands in Mexico tomorrow it will have been more than a decade since the last New Zealand prime minister toured Latin America, and he concedes the region has been neglected in favour of Asian economies.

The crystal skulls have spoken: The world is not going to end.

Here are some of the world's key doomsday destinations and other places marked by fear and fascination.

As Michael Juhran discovers, Chichen Itza is a genuine architectural and mathematical masterpiece that the builders, the Mayas, achieved.

Revellers celebrate Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) - when Mexicans traditionally visit the graves of dead relatives and leave offerings of flowers, food and candy skulls - in Mexico and the US.

The Mexican engineer whose wife and baby daughter fell 26 floors to their deaths is holding on to hope the tragedy could have been an accident.

Amy Rosenfeld finds herself entranced by the vibrant chaos of one of the world's most-populated cities.

As mining makes a political comeback Catherine Masters finds strong local opposition to the prospect of a Northland gold rush