Today we look at the five highest earning musicians whose work is still generating millions of dollars post-mortem.

The cat population at Auckland SPCA has reached critical levels and families willing to adopt pets are urgently needed.

TVNZ Breakfast star Ali Pugh confirmed to The Diary she is engaged to her partner of seven years, Jo Barus, a musician from rock band The Dukes.

Professor White is at the centre of a large international research programme into an experimental drug, darapladib, which has been shown to halt the progression of the necrotic core, the gunk, in heart-artery plaques.

Finance Minister Bill English's next big target will be getting New Zealand's record debt level down, now the Government's books are back in the black.

Scientists have discovered the world's oldest sperm: a "giant" of a cell belonging to a species of tiny shrimp that lived 17 million years ago in what is now modern-day Australia.

The parents of the German teenagers presumed drowned in Foveaux Strait are returning home and say they know they are leaving their daughters behind.

More than 90 per cent of New Zealand rental homes inspected in a pilot warrant of fitness test failed to pass.

Auckland Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse says it is time to decriminalise natural cannabis because it is safer than the synthetic versions that were banned last week.

It won't matter if you spill red wine on the shag-pile carpet and white sofas in this $2.65 million luxury launch — it just slides right off the specially made fabric.

Views from a businessman, parents, migrants, homebuyers, a retiree and a student.

He's the player many coaches would love to have. But 135kg, 18-year-old Tongan-born prop Taniela Tupou can't represent NZ at schoolboy rugby level.

An Auckland restaurant serving duck eggs with developing embryo has been cleared by the SPCA for possible cruelty against unhatched ducklings.

People will always blame the weatherman when the forecast is wrong. For WeatherWatch head analyst Philip Duncan, it's part and parcel of what he does.

Here are the most read news stories today, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about tomorrow.

National has focused its Budget on traditional Labour concerns such as education and welfare, because it needs to be seen as ideologically centrist, writes Bryce Edwards

Jay-Z has reportedly been seen shopping for jewellery with his sister-in-law Solange Knowles, the day after a video emerged showing her viciously attacking him in an elevator.

Willie Apiata has moved on from his job helping at-risk youth - and is now being handled by Richie McCaw's management team.

Police are willing to enter talks with the two biggest gangs in the country about turning their backs on crime as Black Power and Mongrel Mob leaders meet to broker a peace plan.

Deep in a glacier crevasse with a broken arm and ankle, Sabine Hellenbrandt expected to take her last breath trapped in the ice. Then she heard members of the South Westland Alpine Cliff Rescue call to her.

A community group wants what it says is Auckland City's deepest quarry filled in before new houses are built in the pit deep below ground level.

Here are the most read news stories today, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about tomorrow.

Inner-city suburbs out of your reach? Maybe not. A new data-crunching tool helps renters to look at how affordable their living situation is when transport cost is factored in.

Six Game of Thrones addicts give their thoughts on last night's epic sixth episode of the fourth season, The Laws of Gods and Men.

Beyoncé's sister viciously attacked Jay Z at the Met Gala after-party in New York City last Monday, security footage shows.

Little is known about high-roller Zhao Li, except that he is - or was - fabulously rich. So rich a Melbourne casino lent him $14m for a one-day gambling spree.

Tim Finn, OBE, has been making great Kiwi music for more than four decades, first with Split Enz, then in Crowded House and as a solo artist.

Kiwi wine connoisseurs may be in for a new trend - blending their own wine.

A Salafist imam who taught two men who were stopped from leaving New Zealand to join the war in Syria says he is no terrorist.