There are reports of a large shark swimming off the coast of Mount Maunganui today.

Animal activists have gathered at today's Warkworth Rodeo protesting the event as cruel entertainment.

There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a man despite initial reports of a neighbour claiming she heard someone yelling "I killed him".

A teenager is in hospital with critical head injuries, after falling off a cliff on Auckland's North Shore.

A large fire in New Plymouth is thought to have been started by fireworks.

An unconscious man has been found in a critical condition in Auckland Domain overnight.

An attempt to firebomb Social Development Minister Anne Tolley's office to protest the TPP is likely to result in arrests, she says.

Mother's grief as man who ended her daughter's life sentenced to 250 hours community work.

WATCH: An Auckland man has footage of a driver who damaged his motorcycle in a hit-and-run incident - and he wants your help to identify him.

Armed Offenders Squad hunting for man who riddled police car with bullets.

More arrests have been made in relation to the murder of Lee Rata on New Year's Eve in Kaitaia.

An elderly woman who fell asleep at the wheel veered off a road and crashed in to a ditch in Hawke's Bay.

Police in Wellington will continue to speak to residents in the suburb of Newtown today after a woman's body was found in a house last night.

Onlooker at long weekend display at wharf says a pontoon site might have avoided injuries.

All people feared to be inside a house that was on fire in Hamilton are safe and accounted for.

As most Kiwis head home, some have no homes to go to - but that is changing in Hamilton, which aims to end homelessness this year.

An Auckland family is living in fear after being burgled twice and having two cars broken into in the past six weeks.

A public fireworks display in Auckland was cut short last night after hot embers started showering down on people who had gathered to see the spectacle.

The blaze appears to have started in the kitchen and spread quickly into the ceiling of the building.

A belt of intense rain hit parts of Auckland this afternoon, although the the central city missed the most heavy falls.

Neighbours near Yates Park in Mangere say they have seen drug dealing in the park where three men were shot last night.

A 75-year-old woman was violently assaulted, allegedly by a relative, at an East Auckland rest home yesterday.

Highways around the North Island appear to be free-flowing on the first day of the Auckland Anniversary Weekend - though stormy weather could pose problems later.

A car linked to a group of international thieves who stole more than $770,000 of jewellery five years ago is still parked at Wellington Airport.

Children waved small photocopied Syrian flags as New Zealand welcomed its first extra intake of refugees from the war-torn nation at Mangere today.

WATCH: Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the "Ladder Bomb".

Holidaymakers are set to clog up the roads.