Auckland teenager Rose started smoking synthetic cannabis with a friend two years ago just to "hang out".

After returning to NZ I remember putting the phone down after an interview and saying out loud to myself, "this is the Wild West", writes Diana Clement.

I was sick to my stomach when I read the graphic details of the awful demise of 82-year-old Maureen Quinn

Two weeks ago, tourists Michaela Brand and Niki Honda arrived in Auckland, excited and ready for the trip of a lifetime around New Zealand.

The Ministry of Business, Employment and Innovation has been forced to backtrack on a policy which offered staff the opportunity to dob in colleagues to a tip-off line run by UK-based Crimestoppers.

A young Cambodian girl adopted by a Kiwi couple has qualified for New Zealand citizenship after a five-year battle.

Brody Sheppard is doing what any newborn should, even though his due date is not for another three weeks.

A "financial coaching" company which can avoid new mortgage-lending limits placed on banks is offering 100 per cent finance to families wanting to buy their first home.

An aspiring transgender model has vowed to take to the catwalk tomorrow night despite a row over whether she was eligible to enter a beauty contest.

The NRL judiciary has come down hard on Jordan McLean, suspending the Melbourne Storm prop Jordan McLean for seven weeks for a lifting tackle on Alex McKinnon that left the Newcastle back-rower with a devastating spinal injury.

A little over six years ago, Selwyn College in Auckland was struggling.

Homeowners could save more than $90,000 over the life of their mortgages by shopping around, according to an analysis of 95 floating home loans.

Aviation safety authorities have been urged to clamp down on Australia's burgeoning unmanned aerial vehicle market.

Labour leader David Cunliffe has ejected MPs from the caucus room to turn it into a war room, moving all key political staff into a vast open-plan office.

New Zealand's first environmentally sustainable public "third pipe" scheme, planned to serve thousands of homes with recycled storm water, has been plugged.

An Auckland Council contractor has been earning tens of thousands of dollars a year from a fitness programme installed at 10 council leisure services.

Police are launching a month-long blitz on red light runners on Auckland roads. After an eight-week Auckland Transport "red means stop" warning campaign, police have begun cracking down on drivers who still haven't got the message.

John Key has branded criticism of the release of royal routes as "nonsense", and the man responsible for the remarks "an idiot".

Police believe residents could do more to protect themselves from theft and property break-ins, which remain Auckland's most commonly reported crime.

New Zealand internet sensation Jamie Curry and charismatic Kiwi The Mad Butcher are behind two anti-bullying campaigns aimed at teens.

Prime Minister John Key acknowledges the New Zealand Wars as an important part of the country's history but says a national holiday to commemorate them is unlikely.

The woman in charge of equal employment opportunities is set to "crack the whip" on government departments for failing to close the gender pay gap.

Radio New Zealand stalwart Geoff Robinson has signed off Morning Report for the final time after a last show filled with tributes.

The grieving mum of a New Zealand wingsuit pilot killed in an accident in Switzerland said her son "died doing what he loved".

Auckland ratepayers have paid $5200 to provide a personal gym for Mayor Len Brown in the Auckland Town Hall.

An Auckland woman who spent more than three weeks in hospital with influenza is lucky to have survived, her doctors told her.

Migrant workers who were housed in central city offices with no bathroom or kitchen facilities are taking their former employer to court over unpaid wages.

A couple who paid $913,000 for a leaky Meadowbank house fought for four years to get it reclad after an earlier repair continued to let water into the home.

Leading Australian academics have warned that humans could face extinction from massive global health crises, plunging food production, and other damage.

The Blues might as well cut their losses on the Benji Marshall experiment before his alleged rugby union education causes a calamity, writes Chris Rattue.