Police are hunting an arsonist after a fire gutted a childcare centre in the Auckland suburb of New Lynn yesterday.

About 45 firefighters battled a "major" blaze at a childcare centre in the Auckland suburb of New Lynn.

Phillip Bannan bought three bottles of wine and - after several afternoon drinks - decided to drive 87km from Akaroa to Christchurch.

A massive blaze at the building of a Wellington film effects studio linked to Sir Peter Jackson's movies took three hours to put out.

An unlicensed drink driver who fled police and ran a red light before crashing into a car, killing two, has pleaded guilty to their manslaughter.

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As ambulance officer Masina Reid attended to a seriously ill patient, a thief was stealing her bag from the back of the ambulance.

West Coast police are investigating the suspicious death of a 38-year-old man whose body was found this morning.

Emergency services have cordoned off an Upper Hutt business and are decontaminating about 20 of its staff after white powder was found.

Wild weather is continuing to cause disruption across NZ, closing roads and causing power cuts.

Raging squalls shook houses and cut power to thousands yesterday in what forecasters called a 'lull' in the storm ravaging NZ.

Two people died when the car they were travelling in crashed after fleeing from police last night in Auckland.

Two people were killed and two others seriously injured in a crash after a police chase in an Auckland suburb last night.

A man used his cellphone camera to take a photo of people at the scene of the alleged arson of a 4WD vehicle near Te Puke.

The Government has announced details of legislation to be pushed through Parliament to help speed up the recovery process in quake-devastated Canterbury.

Several Christchurch hotels have slashed room rates in the wake of Christchurch's "horrendous" magnitude 7.1 quake, with one hotel chief saying everybody needed to "chip in".

E. Coli has been found in water from Kaiapoi, reinforcing the need for residents to boil their water after last week's earthquake.

The Govt says it will not know how big its bill for the Canterbury earthquake will be until its Recovery Commission has drafted a recovery plan.

A looter is being held in custody after admitting breaking into a house damaged in the earthquake.

The Governor-General has expressed his shock over the devastation after last Saturday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Canterbury.

Most Canterbury schools today reopened after the September 4 magnitude 7.1 earthquake, but aftershocks continue.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says Christchurch will take years to return to normal.