A 12-year-old boy is thought to have died after playing a game which involves young people choking themselves to get a sudden rush.

Bay of Plenty iwi say land confiscations in the 1860s could scuttle any chance of gaining customary title to tracts of the foreshore.

Travellers between Tauranga and Christchurch, and Invercargill and Wellington, are the big winners in Air New Zealand's latest boost to domestic capacity.

A heavily bleeding shot man managed to escape to the doorstep of a stranger, who tended to him inside his home despite advice not to.

Port of Tauranga has reported strong rises in forestry-related exports and in imports of grain and dairy food supplements.

The former wife of a police officer was today jailed for four years for offending that was described in court as a "huge web of deceit".

An outraged gay community has lashed out at a Tauranga radio station for using the word "poofter" live on air.