Cantabrians who lived through the devastating Christchurch earthquakes 10 years ago have been given a message of hope and optimism, amid a day of tears and remembrance.

'Flippant', 'opaque' and 'lacking mayoral leadership' - Wellington city councillors are increasingly frustrated with the management style of Mayor Andy Foster.

The Otago Regional Council is investigating what killed hundreds of fish in a Dunedin stream over the weekend.

Three RNZ reporters working in Christchurch on 22 February 2011 tell of their experiences on the day the earthquake hit, in part one Rachel Graham explains how she was mid-interview when the studio rocked violently.

Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis is not taking a judge's ruling that inmates at Auckland Women's Prison were treated in a "degrading" and "inhumane" way at face value, and wants more information.

More than 40 long-finned pilot whales that were stranded on a remote beach at the top of the South Island have been refloated.

The Teaching Council has deregistered a primary school teacher who deliberately pursued and married a vulnerable former pupil 34 years younger than himself.

A man has told a court he believes his drink was spiked by what he called a "predatory" businessman before being indecently assaulted by him.

The Canterbury District Health Board has come in for criticism over the way it handled the care of a 3-year old boy who died.

Auckland will drop from Covid alert level 2 and join the rest of New Zealand at alert level 1, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.

Standing hand in hand, survivors who escaped the collapse of the CTV building, gathered at Latimer Square today for a separate, memorial picnic.

Air New Zealand will trial a new digital health passport that will store health information, including Covid-19 test results and vaccinations, once international travel picks up again.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern remembers those who died in th Christchurch earthquake and talks to survivors of hope and optimism.

One of the men on trial over the shooting and robbery at the Red Fox Tavern more than 30 years ago practised firing a gun at the vineyard where he'd been staying, a jury has heard.

Three RNZ reporters working in Christchurch on 22 February 2011 tell of their experiences on the day the earthquake hit, in part two Jessica Maddock describes the frightening and unrelenting day that unfolded before her.

On the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, a memorial service is acknowledging all those affected by the quakes and those who helped in the aftermath.

The aluminium smelter at Bluff has stockpiled more than 100,000 tonnes of cyanide-laced hazardous waste less than 100 metres from a fast-eroding Southland beach.

Water restrictions have been re-introduced to parts of the Tasman District as dry weather returns.