A decision on alert levels is due tomorrow; use of the Covid Tracer app may be made compulsory; and another recession may be looming.

An ancient urupa where bodies are ferried by waka is at the centre of resource consent clash in Whakatane.

A Dunedin teenager is butting heads with his high school over his hairstyle.

The interislander ferry has successfully berthed in Picton after a 12-hour journey but more ferries are still at sea.

After a clean Covid-19 run for events through the bulk of summer, some in the near future have already pulled the plug while others await tomorrow's decision.

Invercargill residents are ready for a breath of fresh air from their upcoming council by-election after months of turmoil.

Wellingtonians are divided over proposals to increase the density of housing in the central city and suburbs.

Alarmed Northland authorities are searching for the unwanted freshwater pest fish after Zeke Voschezang, age 10, reported seeing it in Kaipara's Lake Taharoa.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has lashed out at Australia for dumping responsibility for a woman and two young children detained at the Turkish border on New Zealand.

This year's Art Deco Festival in Napier has been cancelled for the first time in its history, due to Covid-19.

The council has overturned a controversial bylaw which placed heavily restrictive controls over the location of brothels.

A group working to save native trees in the Auckland suburb of Avondale say the remaining trees were poisoned last night.

Strong gusts of wind are causing damage in New Plymouth and the Taranaki region today, making it the windiest place in the country.

The identity of a man who repeatedly hid a spy camera in an Auckland gym's changing rooms will be revealed, after a Court of Appeal ruling.

There are no new cases either in the community or in managed isolation and quarantine, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says.

The Covid-19 response minister says public health is being put at risk because of attacks against border workers. Read back through RNZ's blog for 16 February.

Authorities say incoming Covid-19 community test results following the Auckland cases are encouraging, but caution in the next few days will be crucial.

Wastewater testing is being carried out by ESR in South Auckland and Taranaki to see whether the Covid-19 virus has spread further in the community.