A body believed to be missing Alexandra man Wayne Hammond has been found in the Clutha River.

House well ablaze on main road between Ranfurly and Patearoa in Otago.

Emergency services were called to the empty house, in the Kāpiti Coast town of Paraparaumu, on Wednesday evening.

The local board agreed they would not advocate for the island to be open for visitors before the new traffic light framework takes effect.

REVIEW: Expect copious snooker balls to the face, plenty of Xmas toy product placement and the gratingly repeated use of the wrong plural for Lego.

The three children attend a school in Woolston and have been moved to MIQ in Christchurch after their mother tested positive for Covid-19.

Business owners say they are eager to get moving with the new Covid traffic light system, despite still getting to grips with how it will work.

REVIEW: Told in almost forensic detail by the “hobby” cavers themselves, this is a step-by-step, soup-to-nuts look at a seemingly impossible mission.

Portia Deluen, 14, died while enjoying a day swimming with friends at one of Auckland's west coast beaches.

REVIEW: Filled with stunning outfits, a superb cast and a soupcon of subversive humour, this 2015 tale is one of the best Aussie movies of the past decade.

Great Barrier has no hospital and a helicopter would be needed to transport Covid patients – but fewer than four in five have had their first dose.

The small but fierce Kangaroo Island assassin spider was only known to live in a small area razed by the 2019/20 Australian bushfires.

Most travellers to the South Island will soon need to be double vaccinated or have a negative Covid-19 test result if they want to get in.

Teacher says school staff and others protesting against the Covid jab outside school are "self-motivated".

1309 unvaccinated DHB health workers have been stood down across NZ. They were required to have their first Covid-19 vaccine dose by Monday.

Queenstown Lakes is the first council in Southland and Otago to hit a 90 per cent full vaccination rate.

Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt says he's been forced to soldier on with a “barely functional” phone because he was considered incapable of using all the features of a new one.

Plunket Shield leaders looked in big trouble on day two, but dig deep with the bat to earn unlikely win over Northern Districts.

Shelley Grierson flew from England to New Zealand after hearing her sister had “days to weeks at most”. Now she is battling to get out of managed isolation to see her sister before it is too late.

Pike River families say the discovery of bodies deep within the mine is not unexpected but it brings home the gravity of what happened.