American hip hop artist Chance the Rapper wooed a capacity crowd on the first day of Rhythm and Vines, telling the crowd he would move to NZ.

Sombre music rang out as the band opened the service with a tribute to Sione Taumalolo, 11, and Talita Moimoi Fifita, 33, killed in the bus crash.

Road toll now equal to last summer's following death of motorcyclist.

The Tongan brass brand which lost two members in a Christmas Eve bus crash performed a tribute concert tonight as the holiday road toll climbed to 11.

Survivors of the deadly Christmas Eve bus crash in Gisborne will perform a tribute concert today - the same day the bus was recovered from the scene.

The surviving members of the Tongan band involved in last week's bus crash will fly to Auckland tomorrow, courtesy of Air New Zealand.

Fund will help the people injured in Gisborne bus crash.

A teen killed alongside two young friends in a "preventable" early morning crash has been remembered in an emotional tribute urging other drivers to take care.

The 11-year-old boy who died in the Christmas Eve bus crash was "quiet, kind and smiley" his sister says.

Don't let the morning cloud fool you - it is set to be a fine Boxing Day for New Zealanders, with Central Otago tipped as the best place to be.

The two people killed in the Christmas Eve bus crash near Gisborne last night have been named, as the driver of the bus says the brakes failed.

Two people have died after a bus carrying school bands and their chaperons from Tonga went 100m off a bank and crashed south of Gisborne.

Wet weather today will clear throughout the country making way for a mainly fine Christmas weekend.

There was a record downpour in Auckland, a tornado in Taranaki and "quake lights" above Wellington. Oh, and 2016 was likely also New Zealand's hottest year on record.

Final repairs were made this morning to high voltage lines which were brought down when a light plane crashed, killing the two people on board.

Now that Gisborne is out of the unexpected chaos and back to the usual Christmas mayhem, locals are reflecting on how it all started. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Now that Gisborne is out of the unexpected chaos and back to the usual Christmas mayhem, locals are reflecting on how it all started. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

More than 40,000 Gisborne residents have been asked to prepare for eight hours without power again this Sunday.

Reiha McLelland, 13, was under great pressure to keep secret her relationship with her former teacher Sam Back, an inquest has heard.

Power has been fully restored to more than 20,000 homes and businesses in Gisborne tonight, after a 33-hour outage.

Police will continue to have extra patrols on the beat in Tairawhiti tonight following three burglaries in 24 hours. The crimes

Power is expected to be restored before nightfall for Gisborne residents, the electricity company says.

As the bulk of the Gisborne district remains without power after plane crashed into high voltage lines, the residents of the region are mucking in.

The tight-knit family-owned workplace is today grieving for the loss of two valued colleagues and friends.

The father of George Anderson, whose body was removed from rural Hangaroa yesterday afternoon, was also a pilot.

A string of light earthquakes have hit several parts of the country since Seddon was rattled by a 4.7 magnitude quake last night.

The Rocket Lab's first stage booster rocket has passed a trial putting the company closer to the test launch of its Electron vehicle

Investigators will begin combing through the wreckage of a plane crash that killed two people and cut power to 20,000 homes in the Gisborne region.

The pilot who died in a plane crash near Gisborne today, George Anderson, has been described as "an extraordinary, funny, vibrant young man.

Long queues have formed at two petrol stations in Gisborne apparently driven by an earthquake predicted posted on Facebook.