A man who held up McDonald's in Whanganui with a knife has been given time behind bars. And his partner who swiped a getaway car

New Zealand is now experiencing the worst of the fire season, a top officer says, with a dangerous combination of high temperatures and low relative humidity creating tinder-dry conditions across eastern hot-spots.

It's a question summer-deprived Wellingtonians couldn't be blamed for asking: Why is Australia sweltering in a heat wave while their own city hasn't broken 25C all season?

TONGUE-PIERCER: Art + Body owner Julie Paama-Pengelly watches Siobhan Mikaere demonstrate the piercing of Sunny Yu Sun's tongue. PHOTO

A bush fire near a Taupo native forest is well under control but it will take crews another few days to make sure it's completely out.

Two serious house fires have broken out in the North Island.

A large amount of offal spilled onto State Highway 2 west of Wairoa.

Police and the SPCA are on the trail of a driver seen dragging a dog at speed down a Northland highway. South African Werner Roos

A fire that ripped through a popular Rotorua restaurant last night is not being treated as suspicious. The fire was at Bistro 1284

An elderly Tamatea couple and others who live on their street are feeling so intimidated by youths roaming around and stealing things

One of the survivors of the 1997 Raurimu massacre is set to release a book about his life and his terrifying ordeal at the hands of gunman Stephen Anderson.

An Whangarei engineering firm has been ordered to pay more than $70,000 after an employee injured an index finger which had to be

Rural firefighters are running out of water with the Tikokino Fire Station needing a new pump for the first time in 15 years to reach

Tributes are pouring in for the young woman killed in a car crash last week. Emergency services were called to the scene on Te Aute

Waitangi Day will be another cracker for most of New Zealand, but Wellington again misses out on any golden weather.

The sun has come out to play and is here to stay, with a scorcher of a long weekend across the country.

A couple who survived the 1997 Raurimu massacre have opened up for the first time in two decades about the terrifying experience and the impact it has had on their lives.

15-year old Phoebe Jury has a talent for handling miniature horses. She has just been selected to be part of the New Zealand youth team, to go to Australia in April. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Road remains closed after Karapiro crash that killed two.

We can expect normal temperatures in the coming months but less rain.

Children in Levin have been risking their lives to raid a home ravaged by fire, giving the home owner more anxiety.

On February 8 1997 Stephen Anderson went on a shooting spree at his family lodge just out of the small North Island town of Raurimu.

A plan to bring our national bird back from the brink and super-charge local kiwi conservation efforts is being launched today.

There was nothing unusual about the late-night 5.1 quake that shook Marlborough and the lower North Island on Wednesday, says a scientist.

After Julian Bowlin pushed his partner to the ground, he phoned the police and told them to come and arrest him. Bowlin pleaded guilty

Volunteer firefighters used the jaws of life to free a horse suffocating under its own weight after it tried to escape from the float

Four young women have been arrested for the aggravated robbery of a Paihia dairy thanks to an alert local who noticed a suspicious

A 20-year-old student from Rotorua has come up with a novel way to get from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

A dog couldn't do it, neither could an extensive search, but a tin of tuna has caught a cat that was loose on a Bay of Islands wildlife

Police said injured woman was pinned for "a few seconds'' by a car driven by a 40-year-old man trying to angle park.