Cycling campaigners fear more deaths or injuries in downtown Auckland unless an off-road bikeway being built through Grafton Gully is extended to the waterfront.

"I've heard of other cats taking socks, but he is prolific." Like a real-life Slinky Malinki, Oscar the cat sneaks out each night to steal from his neighbours.

His 12-year tenure as the mayor of New York City has just expired, but 71-year-old billionaire Michael Bloomberg is escaping to New Zealand with longtime girlfriend Diana Taylor.

A blockade at the entrance to Hole in the Rock is being considered as part of a long-running row over money and mana.

Revelations from 3D imaging study may prompt rethink on origins of vast underwater ridge east of Auckland.

Massey University researchers are painstakingly unravelling DNA sequences in the hope of gaining valuable insight into the causes of cancer.

Pre-school teacher Nicola Fahey is one of just 0.5 per cent chosen from the original pool of people who put their hands up for a one-way ticket.

The US Coast Guard has sent a heavy polar ice breaker to assist a trapped Russian research ship - and the vessel that attempted a rescue and got stuck in ice itself.

It's a frightening figure - 11 per cent of early deaths in NZ are due to poor nutrition and obesity. So what can be done to reverse the trend?

Hayley Westenra didn't let the rain dampen her big day as she walked down a rose petal trail towards her husband-to-be.

Kim Abraham waited 52 years to call someone Dad. It felt strange at first - now it's the most natural thing in the world, the Perth-based Kiwi says.

Lorde has confessed she has been hurt by social media barbs about her and boyfriend James Lowe, but a man singled out for criticism says she needs to "harden up" and not take it personally.

The partner of a jetboater killed after hitting a tree is traumatised after a shocking high-speed tragedy marred a summer outing on a Hawke's Bay river yesterday.

Not too long ago in Whangamata, locals near the beach might have peered out their kitchen window and seen a little girl walking down the street, lugging a surfboard twice her size.

The Christmas holiday break is a great time to take stock, regroup and think about the shape of your business for the year ahead. Tax risk management should form a part of those reflections.

A 9-year-old Papamoa girl who dragged a young boy from the surf has shrugged off her hero status and says she was just doing what she has been trained to do.

Ill-prepared families are dumping elderly relatives at hospitals before going on their holidays in a practice known as "granny dumping".

Indy was given to the SPCA after her previous owners moved from a country property to a small central home where there was not enough room for her to play.

The strange debate this year about whether Dan Carter should give way to Aaron Cruden in the All Blacks led Paul Lewis to compile a XV of those either pensioned off too early or who left the stage before time.

Herald on Sunday photographers Doug Sherring and Michael Craig documented moments of joy, grief and high drama in 2013. These are some of their favourite pictures from the year.

Lying flat on the dirt in a Namibian desert, Stephen Belcher was just 30m away from a hunting leopard.

Cado is a playful puppy, full of life and energy and always smiling. He came to the SPCA in mid-2013 and is hoping to have an owner by the time 2014 rolls in.

It was the Domestic Goddess who was on trial in the Isleworth Crown Court (and in the Court of Public Opinion), rather than her former personal assistants, writes Paul Thomas.

Wet weather, a serious crash and the post-Christmas rush combined to bring bumper-to-bumper congestion on long sections of highways.

Labour's David Cunliffe faces a conundrum - how to convince New Zealand voters it's time to break away from the "old economic orthodoxies" when the data shows the country is poised for a relative boom, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

These domestic shorthair tabby kittens are playful and loveable. They get along well so would love to be adopted together.