An aspiring councillor has taken legal advice over an alleged smear campaign involving photos taken from her Facebook site and emailed to a number of residents.

Police say the state of a body found during the hunt for missing Wanganui woman Marice McGregor is hampering identification.

Police looking for Marice McGregor have found a body down a ravine in dense bush but are unable to confirm it is the missing Whanganui woman.

Police have found a vehicle they believe is linked to the disappearance of Whanganui woman Marcie McGregor.

A 6-year-old boy was killed when fire ripped through a Whanganui house last night.

Detectives have refused to rule out abduction or homicide in the case of Whanganui woman Marice McGregor, who disappeared on April 19.

Police have widened their search for Whanganui woman Marice McGregor to the Manawatu after evidence her cellphone was switched on in the region a day after she vanished.

The family of a woman missing for 12 days say they are going through a "slow living nightmare" as police admit something untoward may have happened to her.

Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws says signs advising travellers they were approaching "Whanganui" were erected in a "deliberate and provocative" act by NZ Land Transport.

Mayor Michael Laws must accept scrutiny of his private life, according to his radio station colleague John Tamihere.

The partner of controversial Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws has moved out after he called police to their home.

The official warning over a tsunami that threatened the entire east coast of New Zealand today has been downgraded to an advisory, but there is still a threat from ocean surges.