Liquor bans are in place and police numbers are being boosted in many of the traditional New Year's Eve hot spots.

A 6-year-old girl was found home alone in her Tauranga house yesterday after both of her parents had left for work.

Lifeguards have closed Mt Maunganui beach after a surfer's close encounter with a shark.

A mother dog howled all night after she fished her six dead puppies out of an estuary after they had been dumped in a shopping bag.

The family who adopted Trooper - the puppy that was rescued after being found outside the Gate Pa shops, in Tauranga, with its ears chopped off - say he is settling in to his new home very well.

Santa Claus is coming to town - and the weather is looking fantastic for his long ride down from the North Pole.