A portrait by renowned NZ artist Charles Frederick Goldie is expected to sell for close to $250,000 when it goes up for auction in Auckland.

An eyewitness to an attack on school principal and councillor Hawea Vercoe, told a court his head was kicked like a rugby ball.

Maori told the parliamentary tobacco inquiry today that their marae were being undermined by tobacco smoking and associated early death.

St John Ambulance launch an internal investigation into why it took staff 22 minutes to reach a dying man in Taupo.

Rain eased in Gisborne overnight and surrounding roads reopened after flooding and slips caused evacuations.

Summer has ground to a spectacular halt in a number of regions over the past week - is it going to get even worse?