A young girl is in serious condition after a water incident in Miranda, Hauraki District.

Warnings about torrential rain and possible hail as a severe thunderstorm watch goes in place for much of the North Island.

The official summer holiday period has included flooding, crashes and now ends with traffic at a standstill in some areas.

OPINION: New Zealand is falling behind in world heritage sites. Is it time we lobbied for recognition of our unique cultural history?

The former St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, built in 1877 from local schist stone, is an architectural icon in Clyde.

The incident is the second gun-related callout of the day for Auckland police following the arrest of five people in a separate event.

About 90 home support workers will strike for three days demanding more guaranteed hours and better sick leave.

A protester says a security guard was "banging and pushing me with his gut" during the confrontation.

Fire has left a house in ruins, but its sole tenant appears to have made a hairy escape.

A police investigation has been launched after a woman's body was found in bush in east Auckland. The death is being treated as "unexplained".

Up to 1.5 hectares of forest and bush is alight, north-east of Whangārei.

A young girl has died in an incident in the water at Lake Rotokawau in Rotorua.

Fairmont Joseph Wiringi now thought to be in a coma, but stable, after a double shooting that's sparked fears of tit-for-tat violence in Canterbury’s underworld.

He just wanted a Guinness but was served "racial incompetence" instead.

She's too young to watch The Queen's Gambit, but that's OK, Isabelle is focused on her own moves.

Shane Evans-Rautahi reckons there is a couple of meals in the wild salmon he caught by jumping into Bluff Harbour.

The park manager's Christmas-Day football injury has put the business into temporary closure during the high season.

He believes the more likely cause of the trouble were Mongols and Comanchero gang members, five of whom were deportees from Australia.

“Extreme caution” urged around the Waimate District as it reels from the effects a severe thunderstorm.

Despite having nine freezers, ice creams nearly ran out at the Teahouse on the Lake at Pukekura Park on New Year’s Eve.