The area around Parliament has been the scenes of a full-day ordeal of violence as police removed protesters whose behaviour prompted the Prime Minister to say there were "words I cannot use in this environment for what I saw".

A "mix of outrage, disappointment and despair" is some health workers' reaction to news a court injunction has been filed to prevent their strike action.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she is saddened and angered by the protesters' actions today, and that parliament's grounds have been desecrated. Watch her media briefing live here.

There have been multiple fires, the sound of explosions and violent clashes between police and protesters in the grounds of Parliament this afternoon.

Tents were set alight on Parliament grounds today, protesters clashed with police and three officers have been taken to hospital, after bricks were torn up and thrown at them.

It's been a bumpy opening for the new Bluff oyster season.

A shipment of 613 kilograms of methamphetamine - with what police say is a retail value of more than $245 million - was stopped at Auckland Airport last Thursday.

Lucky is originally from a farm in Burke's Pass in South Canterbury and he knows a few tricks - in fact, he knows so many his owner needs a list to keep track of them all.

DIA digital child exploitation team manager Tim Houston said the volume of cases had been much higher than in previous operations, but he was not sure if it was just the tip of an iceberg.

Former rugby league star Manu Vatuvei has been sentenced to three years and seven months in prison for importing methamphetamine worth $200,000.

There have been 22,152 new community cases of Covid-19 reported in New Zealand today, with 405 people in hospital, including 10 in intensive care.

The Employment Court will tomorrow consider an injunction to stop a planned strike by thousands of health workers this Friday.

Police believe a Northland man who died in December drank poisoned wine left in his letterbox.

A Dunedin doctor says the government has repeatedly failed to deliver the tools frontline health workers need to do their jobs.

In the early hours of this morning, before the sun had risen, police geared up for an operation to "restore order" to the streets of Wellington, 23 days into an anti-Covid protest on Parliament grounds.

Residents may face water restrictions as soon as next week as the river supplying the city's water is at risk of running low.

Today's police actions against protesters on Parliament ground began early this morning. See how the events earlier today unfolded with RNZ's live updates.

Plans to potentially treble the Stewart Island visitor levy are back on the table, but the local community board did not want the levy bumped above $10.