Police are disgusted after a crashed driver stole a car belonging to an elderly couple who had stopped to help him.

New Zealand could face strong winds and rain from a tropical cyclone battering the Pacific Islands with winds of up to 225km/hr.

Nzherald.co.nz is celebrating the best things about New Zealand. Today surfer Daniel Kereopa shares his favourite NZ beaches. What do you think?

Roads and vehicles must be "more forgiving" to curb a road toll which averages more than one death a day, the AA says. Figures released by the Ministry of Transport today show 371 people died on the roads over the past year.

A senior member of Whakatane's Maori university, Mark Laws, drowned yesterday at the East Cape settlement of Te Kaha.

Crowd control at Gisborne's Rhythm and Vines festival is being improved after boisterous partygoers forced organisers to shut down bus services last night.

The two men arrested for attacking a police officer on the East Coast are facing more serious charges of threatening to kill him after appearing in Gisborne District Court today.

A Wairoa policeman attacked by two men in Mahia on Boxing Day is keen to get back to his job, Police Minister Judith Collins says.

The Crown and Ngati Porou today signed a Treaty settlement giving the iwi $110m and the return of approximately 5898 hectares of land.

There is extra security at Gisborne Hospital following a gang brawl between Black Power and the Mongrel Mob last night.

Peter Dunne has defended the timing of the announcement of eight job losses at the IRD in Greymouth.

Another 80 job losses announced today in a third sawmill unable to profitably export timber suggests the wood industry is in crisis, says a union representing workers in the sector.

More than 50 sawmill workers at two North Island sawmills have been told they will lose their jobs.