Organisers of the NZ surf lifesaving championships in Gisborne blasted through the penultimate day's programme yesterday in a bid to keep ahead of the storm expected to slam into the area.

There were emotional scenes on the East Coast north of Gisborne yesterday afternoon as divers located and recovered missing Malaysian man Kuan Loon Loh.

An English tourist jumped in the water to try and save a man who jumped off the wharf at Tolaga Bay - but he was swept away by a wave.

A Napier motorcycle rider who suffered serious head injuries in a crash on Friday afternoon in the Wharerata Hills south of Gisborne has died of his injuries.

There's a famous Ngati Porou saying that the tribe's lonely mountain, Hikurangi, does not move anywhere.

Two young men who drowned at a popular surf beach north of Gisborne on Saturday were "really neat kids", their father says.

Two brothers who drowned at a popular surf beach north of Gisborne on Saturday have been named by police.

Two young men suspected of drowning at a popular surf beach north of Gisborne yesterday were brothers.

Rhythm and Vines music festival organisers say they expect changes for the better after this summer's mayhem at BW campgrounds on New Year's Eve.

The son of an elderly couple who died in a house fire on Friday morning has paid tribute to his parents.

An elderly couple house-sitting a recently renovated property for their son were killed early yesterday when it went up in flames at Tolaga Bay, 50km north of Gisborne.

Seventy years ago today, a German submarine went on an unsuccessful search for ships to sink in New Zealand waters.

Eighteen of the young men arrested in Gisborne after mayhem at the beachside BW campground on New Year's Eve will face court action.

A 20 year-old man is dead after he tried jumping from a light pole into a swimming pool last night.

Here are TimeOut's picks of the big gigs bringing in 2015.

Economists have written them off and their educated young are leaving. Still they refuse to die quietly. Some are reinventing themselves in a bid to breathe life into our zombie towns.

A 18-year-old male called for help early this morning after suffering from a minor injury while tramping near Gisborne.

Gisborne was never officially named Gisborne, the New Zealand Geographic Board has revealed.

A 54-year-old man who suffered critical head injuries in an alleged baseball bat assault in Gisborne last month is reported to be making progress in his recovery.

Police are trying to trace the movements of a car believed to be linked to a serious baseball bat assault that put three Gisborne people in hospital with serious injuries.

Gisborne's oldest and only locally owned and operated hire business is being sold as a going concern in leased premises.