A Monday morning storm surge caught many Aucklanders off guard, with floodwaters breaching roads, businesses and backyards.

A rāhui has been placed along a stretch of North Cape after four people died at sea after the fishing charter boat they were on sank last night.

While Wellington Water is falling short in the capital city, other councils in the region say they are managing the water company just fine because they are spending more.

Students from West Papua are facing a difficult time in New Zealand after Indonesia said it would no longer fund their scholarships and wanted them repatriated home.

The volcanic alert level has been raised to two.

The Ministry of Health says one of the nine Covid-related deaths include a person in their 20s.

Thomas Phillips reassured his family during the visit that he and his children were well.

Police are wanting to speak to anyone who was on SH1 in Invercargill on Saturday and saw an incident which ended with a man being shot by police.

A fourth body has been found in a search and rescue operation off North Cape at the top of the North Island.

The Dux de Lux pub in Christchurch could be set to open its doors again if enough money can be raised to restore it.

The clamour to ditch vaccine passes and change the traffic light setting is poorly timed, an epidemiologist says.

Nearly half a million New Zealanders have now officially had Covid-19. Health correspondent Rowan Quinn talks to a pregnant nurse, a parent and an immunocompromised student about their experiences.

Households are facing extra costs to run a vehicle, under a proposed revamp of road funding.

Police have revealed more details of a "very serious" assault that took place in Upper Hutt on Saturday night.

Several Auckland schools have closed and some houses in Northland are flooded after a deluge of heavy rain and lightning hammered the regions.

Researchers have found big holes and major discrepancies in records of how almost half a billion dollars is spent propping up the country's public health system.

The small isolated communities along Tairāwhiti's East Coast say they are putting in the hard mahi as Covid-19 cases rise.

The Green Party has blown the whistle on secret talks aimed at boosting enrolments to the country's three residential special schools.