Far North District Council will next week go back to the table on Māori wards as its Te Ao Māori lead forces an extraordinary meeting on the subject.

National grid operator Transpower says the hydro lake levels are 67 percent of where they would normally be at this time of year, but there is no cause for worry yet.

India's Covid-19 death toll surged past 200,000 as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new cases of the virus.

It was Hurricanes hooker Ben Strang versus Chiefs halfback Ben Strang at the opening Super Rugby Aotearoa under-20 match in Taupō, RNZ reporter Ben Strang writes.

The High Court has ordered a foreign land investor who breached investment rules to pay nearly $50,000.

The lawyer for the Crown has told the jury in the murder trial of a Whanganui woman that she was killed by her boyfriend after enduring nine months of abuse and threats.

Health Minister Andrew Little has been told it will take more than a multi-million dollar investment for a new urgent care ward, to fix all the problems at the ageing Waitākere Hospital.

Matariki will be celebrated in Christchurch this year with a two-week light show leading up to a fireworks display.

Work is already under way to have Fiordland recognised as a Dark Sky Park, with hopes it would bring domestic and international visitors to the region.

A well known sportsman who is facing methamphetamine charges will lose name suppression next week unless he takes his case to a higher court.

A light plane crashed this morning in Glentui.

Associate Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall says the government has a clear plan to ensure that everyone aged 16 and over will be vaccinated by the end of the year.

A drunk police officer has been disqualified from driving after crashing his car while on-duty.

Northland residents are questioning how a traveller from Perth was allowed into NZ, but immigration says the trans-Tasman travel bubble relies on people's honesty.

Fish & Game will modernise and implement the 35 recommendations of a scathing independent review prompted by scandal and criticism of governance, according to its chairperson.

A woman who rolled her car into Otago Harbour while drunk was lucky she did not drown, a judge says.

A lack of funding is forcing doctors to tell osteoarthritis sufferers to wait on surgery rather than speak with exercise therapists or dieticians.

The mother of a woman fighting to survive after being discharged from an eating disorder service is desperate for her daughter to be readmitted - and a dietitian says she's not the only one struggling to access help.