Green Party co-leader James Shaw has decided to run in Wellington Central again in 2017.

New Zealand is in for a relatively dry day today with areas of morning cloud and isolated showers in the north, clearing around midday and becoming mostly sunny.

A further public health message has been issued for quake affected communities.

Plans for a ferry between Whanganui and Port Motueka have been revisited. And pending a feasibility study by the council, could have the Mayor's support. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

A number of schools have been closed due to flooding, affecting some students due to sit exams after afternoon.

Thieves stole a number of firearms from a South Island house while the occupants were evacuated due to yesterday's tsunami warning.

Most schools will open tomorrow, following hundreds of closures after the quake.

As New Zealand wakes up to reports of the series of earthquakes to have shaken the country overnight the rest of the world is also coming to grips with the news.

Heavy rain and wind is forecast to batter the upper South Island and lower North Island this afternoon.

Lotto players in Auckland, Paraparaumu, Nelson and Dunedin got a pleasant surprise tonight.

Lotto excitement has hit fever pitch, with more than two million tickets expected to sell before tonight's record $44-million draw.

Duane Major and Adam Gard'ner set their sights on keeping a 6ha site at Tukurua Beach in Golden Bay, in Kiwi hands.

Police are looking for a mustachioed man who was caught on CCTV robbing a service station in Nelson. The Z service station on Halifax

A dog attacked Gordon Jenkins' wife. He responded by stabbing it 43 times in the neck.

More than 6000 sign up to become first-time blood donors

A group of schoolchildren made a lucky escape before their school bus was completely gutted by fire in Nelson this afternoon.

Father hid cellphone in bathroom laundry basket to film people naked while they showered, according to court report.

The standard Kiwi home is earning more than the average worker makes from their job in seven of the country's 12 districts.

A woman was indecently assaulted by a teenager who talked his way in to her Nelson home saying he needed to use the toilet.

A man has been rescued by helicopter after his float plane crashed in the Marlborough Sounds this evening. The Nelson Marlborough

A man who continually sexually assaulted a drunk French tourist despite her repeatedly telling him to stop said the victim was "into it".

The girl injured herself while tramping with her family at Upper Travers Hut late on Sunday afternoon.

Lorna Subritzky enjoys a winning bach in acclaimed surroundings.

Passengers and crew walked away safely from an Air New Zealand plane, after an emergency at Nelson Airport last night.

A male pedestrian has died after being hit by a logging truck pulling out of a gas station near Nelson.

Laura McGoldrick updates us on today's cracker Paralympics medal score!

Cycling is kept to a minimum and feasting to a maximum on this Tour de Nelson.

A message in a bottle found in the Chatham Islands has helped solve the mystery of another letter in a bottle found on Nelson's Boulder Bank more than a decade ago.

The peaceful natural beauty of Wainui Inlet has Fergus Blakiston waxing lyrical.

A 15-year-old mountain biker was winched to safety by a rescue helicopter yesterday.