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.

Primary responsibility for civil defence emergency management at a local level rests with your local council.

It's beginning to feel like summer in some parts of the country, with pohutukawa bursting into bloom. "People have been getting a

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.

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.

Police have seized items from the homes of elderly women in Wellington and Nelson which has sparked criticism of political interference from a voluntary euthanasia group.

Changes undermine value of national bowel screening programme, expert says.

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

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.

More than half of New Zealand's 41,000 homeless people are now families with children, according to new Otago University research.

A police investigation into a birthday cake laced with cannabis, which was served at a Nelson restaurant to unsuspecting diners, has been inconclusive.

The man, who is a local and was known to the victim, was arrested and charged during the weekend.

A 52-year-old man has been charged with the murder of John Murray Morton whose body was found in the rear of a boat in Nelson two weeks ago.