New Zealand

For decades, New Zealand has tried to reduce the populations of destructive, non-native predators. Now the country has a more ambitious goal: eliminating invasive rats, stoats and possums by 2050.

Inky the octopus escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand and into Hawke's Bay. NPR's Scott Simon celebrates his ingenuity, and second-guesses the octopus's inclusion on his dinner plate.

Ten months and 10,000 flag submissions later, New Zealanders decided to just keep what they had.

For decades, the people of New Zealand have debated whether to change the design of their flag — and if so, what the new design should be. They've now entered the final round of voting.

The flock of more than 150 sheep blocked a road, doing what road spikes couldn't and bringing a 90-minute chase to an end.

The lawmakers were ordered to leave after speaking about their experiences and calling for an apology from the prime minister over controversial remarks he made a day earlier.

Defending champion New Zealand will face off against its rival, Australia, in London. You can watch the game on NBC at noon ET.

The Rainbow Warrior, on a mission to protest French nuclear testing in the Pacific, was destroyed by an underwater mine in New Zealand's Auckland harbor.

NPR's Philip Reeves recently visited the earthquake-battered cathedral in New Zealand built by a 19th-century ancestor. He found his family history entwined in a fierce contemporary controversy.