The Government says Petrobras is following DOC guidelines to minimise the disturbance to marine mammals while it looks for oil off the East Cape.

A body has been pulled from the water after a light plane crashed into the ocean near Orewa Beach, north of Auckland. Pieces of the wreckage are washing up on the beach.

A pregnant New Zealander living near a nuclear power plant in quake-stricken Japan has managed to flee to safety.

The national drowning toll for the first two months of the year rose to 35, after 15 drownings in February.

Thirty-five jobs may be up for the chop but affected staff are being consulted before any decisions, Niwa says.

A contractor has smashed through a major underground cable in Christchurch, leaving the southern suburbs on back-up power and nearly killing himself twice in the process.

Police today released the names of six more people who died in Christchurch's February 22, magnitude 6.3 earthquake, while Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced 110 schools in the region will have reopened by next week.

Vulnerable Christchurch residents are anxiously awaiting information on whether their neighbourhood may need to be abandoned.

The latest James Cameron film dives into new territory, both underwater and underground. Russell Baillie talks to director Alister Grierson

Wouldn't it be nice to know that your kids can swim? Even being able to dog paddle would do, because drowning often takes only a few seconds.

Police searching for a missing Roxburgh man have found a body in the Clutha River.

A 52-year-old man who drowned at Muriwai Beach west of Auckland last night paid the ultimate price for not heeding the warning signs at the notoriously dangerous swimming spot.