The government has spent more than $6 million bringing home New Zealanders who were stranded overseas at the start of the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that the travel pause with New South Wales will end at midnight tonight, even though the Australian state has extended its Covid-19 restrictions for one week.

A family who made a public appeal for help in a 10-year search for a missing plane in the Canterbury High Country has received hundreds of messages.

Ellie Haines is a Canterbury influencer who ditched her weight loss website to celebrate generous bodies on Instagram.

The Security Intelligence Service says it has been "quite open" about the importance of data to detect and mitigate threats.

Four new species of lizards are believed to have been found during an intensive search of the South Island mountains this summer.

A long-awaited cervical screening test that women can do themselves and will reduce the need for smear test will be funded by the government, and changes to breast cancer screening could screen more women.

The Covid-19 vaccine is being offered to all residents in a small West Coast town, while overstayers who get the vaccine will not have their details shared and a new ad campaign has launched targeting Māori, authorities say.

The Police Commissioner and his top executives have undertaken a crash course on Islam for the first time.

There have been two cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation reported today, ahead of the resumption of flights from Sydney tonight.

Eight construction workers have been detained following an immigration raid on government building projects.

A woman has told the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care about the physical and sexual abuse her parents subjected her to, and how the state did nothing to help.

A woman who lost her job after Covid-19 border restrictions were put in place has won $8000 in compensation, after the Employment Relations Authority ruled she was unjustifiably dismissed.

A new marine protection area has been confirmed near Mōtītī Island, off the Bay of Plenty coast.

A Lower Hutt company that makes prefab classrooms is in voluntary administration but the Education Ministry says it is working with it.

With the government set to announce an extension of its free lunches programme to 2023, Justin Latif spoke to parents, teachers and the businesses delivering the service about how the scheme is working so far.

The travel pause with New South Wales will lift tomorrow, subject to no further significant developments in NSW, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says.

Breakfast in bed, homemade cards and small, thoughtful gestures - these are all things mums want for Mother's Day, but there is one thing they want above all else.