A new department will focus on Christchurch's recovery from its devastating earthquake but concerns are already being raised that locals will not have enough of a say as Wellington bureaucrats make calls on how to go ahead.

Plutonium has been detected in soil samples taken from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

It's been an exhausting week for members of the Charlatan Society.

The central North Island has been shaken by an earthquake this morning.

A "worst-case scenario" tsunami for Auckland would swamp the Viaduct and make Devonport an island, a council report shows.

Police are half way through recovering thousands of cars from the Christchurch central business district devastated by the February 22 earthquake.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Chancellor, George Osborne, this week delivered a Budget that was unambiguous in backing business to lead the nation out of the economic doldrums.

More than 510 businesses, or 2000 people, have been granted access to buildings within the cordoned area.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Burma has killed up to 10 people overnight.

Workers loaded trucks with boxes of bottled water to distribute across the city today after residents cleared store shelves following warnings that Tokyo's tap water had elevated radiation coming from Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear complex