New Zealand is on its fourth day with no new community cases reported as the country awaits news on a possible alert level shift, with Cabinet meeting to discuss restrictions tomorrow.

Police arrested two people in Christchurch and charged one of them after an online threat to Linwood Islamic Centre and Al Noor Mosque.

Wellington City Council has finalised its budget for the next 10 years, proposing a rates increase next year of 13.53 percent, and plans to slash projects while pumping money into others.

One of the world's biggest shipping companies is being told to use New Zealand crew to move empty containers from Auckland to the South Island.

Researchers have found giant atmospheric rivers in the sky have coincided with the country's costliest floods.

Dozens of rare ducks took to the sky today, but not under their own wing power.

Protests against the memorial disrespect those who died in the 1979 tragedy, a family member says, and mana whenua Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei expressed full support.

"We have no system to monitor therapeutic non-equivalence and in my opinion this cannot be discounted as a root cause of the deaths."

The government is taking action to acquire a building which is standing in the way of Christchurch's new sports stadium.

Watercare says a majority of the heavy rain in the last couple of days in Auckland has been soaked up by the dry ground rather than running off into the storage lakes.

Wellington Airport is seeking an urgent meeting with the councillors after it accused them of making a decision based on the "wrong information".

A prison reform advocate says distressing findings of how an inmate was treated should lead to significant change within the criminal justice system.

If approved, Silverlight Studios' film studio, sets and the South Island's only purpose-built stage facility could create up to 1000 jobs in the region.

A man who jumped onto the Trentham Racecourse in the middle of a race on Wellington Cup Day has been sentenced to 100 hours community work, one year supervision and ordered to pay $8880 in reparations.

Wellington City Council has reversed its previous proposal to partially privatise the central library.

One person has died following a crash near Tamahere in the Waikato region.

RNZ's Katy Gosset was in a shopping mall with her baby when the quake hit. She then had to take a long and circuitous route home negotiating debris, detours and nose-to-tail traffic.

Thunderstorms have hit Whangārei and are due to sweep across much of Northland, Auckland and the central North Island until evening.