Heavy rain is pelting Christchurch - where people have been warned to prepare for flooding as stormy weather sweeps the country.

The police are appealing for sightings of a 73-year-old Waiheke Island man who disappeared almost a week ago.

A man has been arrested over death threats made to National MP Simeon Brown.

Employers with migrant staff will need to complete a job check before they or their workers can apply for a visa, in the biggest change to work visas in a generation.

The search for five fishermen who jumped from their boat near Fiji after an alleged beheading has ended.

The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine has been given the official tick to allow it to be used after longer storage times at normal fridge temperature.

A father and son were the two victims of a house fire in in Coatesville, north of Auckland, earlier this week.

Lawyers demanding action on climate change say recent landmark class action wins overseas will affect how the court sees the issues here.

The single-vehicle crash occurred on the Glenbrook-Waiuku Road at a service station just after midnight.

Radiation therapy for cancer patients is likely to be back on stream at the Waikato District Health Board by the middle of next week as it starts restoring its IT services.

The Horowhenua towns of Ōpiki and Tokomaru have been denied their requests to ditch the district and become affiliated with Palmerston North City.

RNZ journalists have won seven Voyager Media Awards tonight, dominating the podcast categories and taking home the Best Team Investigation prize.

New Zealanders are being warned not to sign up for vaccine vacations, as countries with ample supplies start to advertise themselves as destinations to overseas markets.

The most significant rainfall in 10 years is predicted to fall in the Canterbury region this weekend.

The ransom demand for Waikato DHB's hacked data would likely be in the millions or even tens of millions of dollars, and only payable by cryptocurrency, a cyber-security expert says.

College of Midwives put out a message on Thursday for midwives to tell mothers using private wells to get their water tested.

Contact tracers are chasing up 500 recent arrivals from Melbourne to tell them they are required to isolate and get tested for Covid-19.

Rocket Lab has been ordered to pay almost $100,000 for unjustifiably dismissing an engineer.