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.

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

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

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.

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.

Police have confirmed a Nelson man suffered a "very violent attack" which led to his death.

The victim of a suspicious death in Nelson lived on a boat often seen in the area where his body was found.

The victim of a suspicious death on a Nelson boat was a man of European descent, police say.

Elisabeth Easther explores a piece of paradise, at the top of the South Island.