Bishop Brian Tamaki's right-hand man has turned his back on Destiny Church to become a pastor - the latest of several high-profile departures.

A man has been arrested in relation to the assault on Lance Michael Scullin in Tauranga on Saturday.

Auckland councillors have passed the first stage of a new bylaw to make the wearing of lifejackets compulsory in small boats.

Lance Scullin was "always there in times of trouble", but after a violent clash with a group of youths he turned down offers of help. 12 hours later, he was dead.

Pride and patriotism hasn't succumbed here, even in the face of lost lives and livelihoods, and the daily battle to get things back to the way they were before October 29, 2012.

A peek inside Auckland's Wynyard Quarter residences gives an idea of how the 1500-apartment precinct could look. And there's one big thing missing...

A push to make the wearing of lifejackets compulsory on small boats is another case of "Nanny State" and won't reduce drownings, a boating club says.

'It's important to remind people how fragile life is," says the keeper of a food stall a few metres from the ghostly ruins of Xuankou Middle School.

When 81-year-old Lois Kennedy woke to desperate cries for help from her neighbour, she leapt out of bed and ran - grabbing a hearth brush as she rushed to the door.

Auckland's most expensive house, the seven-bedroom mansion on exclusive Paritai Drive partly financed by former Hanover Finance director Mark Hotchin, has been sold to a businessman for $39m.

NZ can look forward to cheaper broadband or higher data caps after National was yesterday left with no mates in Parliament to support its proposal to override price cuts.

At 95, Lilian Robinson is blazing a new path for older Kiwis who want to stay out of rest homes.

Elderly people needing home care in north and west Auckland are waiting up to a year to get help - ironically because a new, improved assessment system takes longer.

Business reporter Hamish Fletcher talks to Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners

A claimed sighting of the South Island kokako, a bird declared extinct six years ago, has fuelled hopes the species could still be alive.

Market changing, report finds, and while numbers are growing future is in visitors who want to stay longer.

A successful building plan will result in a 10,000-home oversupply in Auckland, says NZIER.

"It's not a commodity you're dealing with, it's humans." Lloyd Dean fears the Edmund Hillary Retirement Village in Remuera failed to learn the lessons of his dad's death.

Friends of the four dead people say it was a miracle the collision over Auckland killed no one else.

Long-term care for elderly New Zealanders is becoming a byproduct of the property development business.

A caregiver says elderly residents at a rest home in the Wellington area were dressed again in dirty continence pads to save money on new pads.

A two-month Herald investigation of rest homes has found some major failings - including a confused married woman "mauled" by a resident and a 9-month scabies outbreak.

The All Blacks completed their first perfect season as a last-gasp try by Ryan Crotty and an Aaron Cruden conversion defeated Ireland 24-22.

Do you remember where you were when you heard my father had died, asks Holly Donald, daughter of Rod.

Retired air force warrant officer Frank Bailey, MBE, has never been a complainer. But when he speaks of his late wife, Lilian, he chokes up.

Competition is heating up in the $5.6b credit card market, with two major banks releasing new offers in the past week.

In this exclusive extract from a new book written by David Fisher, Kim Dotcom relates how he met his future wife Mona - and the efforts to woo her.

The Remuneration Authority has approved a "restrained" pay rise for MPs, giving each backbencher $3,500 more a year and raising PM John Key's salary by $9500.