Govt to open up more land for houses
Prime Minister John Key says fast-tracking the supply of land will help solve the housing affordability crisis.The Government is to work with councils to open up more land for development as it seeks...
View ArticleLucky escapes after weekend smashes
A 59-year-old Hawkes Bay man was lucky to escape serious injuries or death when the car he was driving hit trees and flipped in Hastings at the weekend.Photos of the car wreck on Ormond Rd, known as...
View ArticleWoman admits $62k benefit fraud
A Rotorua woman has admitted more than $62,000 worth of benefit fraud over 16 years.Jacquilynne Hiria Mahara aka Turner, 46, homemaker, has appeared in the Rotorua District Court and pleaded guilty to...
View ArticleNZ at Noon: Drinking Blood, Killer Whales, Identity Theft
Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include Freemasons joking about having secret handshakes and drinking blood, killer whales looking for lunch in Hawke Bay and how easy is it for a...
View ArticleAngry birds attack power workers
"Aggressive" nesting magpies have attacked a group of power network maintenance workers in New Plymouth.Lines company Vector has advised staff to wear hard hats to protect themselves from angry birds...
View ArticleIllegal spying investigation launched
Senior police have launched an investigation into the Government Communications Security Bureau's illegal spying on Megaupload millionaire Kim Dotcom, the Green Party says.Green Party co-leader Russel...
View ArticleGood progress on Rena clean-up
The amount of steel removed from the Rena wreck now totals 730 tonnes.According to the latest update, the salvage crew lost two work days last week because of poor weather, but on the remaining days...
View ArticleUrewera Four lose appeals
The so-called Urewera Four have lost their appeals against conviction and sentence.In a decision released this afternoon, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal by Tame Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara,...
View Article'Two brave guys' trap bank axe accused
Two quick-thinking bystanders barricaded a rampaging, axe-wielding man inside a Whangamata bank until police arrived.A man walked into the BNZ on Port Rd yesterday morning with an axe and smashed a...
View ArticleBob Jones: Market system has costs but it's the best on offer
The handwringing about our exchange rate wrongly describes it as "over-valued". These complaints reflect ignorance of the market economy.In a free-floating system the exchange rate by definition is...
View ArticleJohn Armstrong: National's affordable housing package lacks any substantial...
Package? What package? No wonder National avoided over-selling the contents of their plan to make housing more affordable. The plan looks more like a rough first draft.As Annette King, Labour's housing...
View ArticleFamily 'lucky' to escape blaze
A Hawke's Bay family of two adults and five children escaped their burning house with just the clothes they were wearing.Napier fire service senior station officer Bryan Dunphy said the three-bedroom...
View ArticleDeath risk from copper thievery
Thieves in Wanganui are risking death by cutting copper wire from live electricity networks.Powerco's network in Wanganui was the target of a spate of copper thefts on Thursday night.The thieves had...
View ArticlePrison for Wanganui embezzler
A judge has told a former Wanganui businessman who stole thousands of dollars from clients that an apology for his crimes was "self-serving at the 11th hour".Yesterday, in the Whanganui District Court,...
View ArticleSwarm of quakes has Wanganui rocking
A mini-swarm of earthquakes continued to shake the River City yesterday.All the quakes occurred at the same spot, 30km southwest of Wanganui but at different depths.Six earthquakes struck near Wanganui...
View ArticleFlatmate row ends in stabbing
A stabbing in Kaeo was the result of a dispute between flatmates, police say.A man in his 20s was airlifted to Whangarei Hospital after being stabbed four or five times in the arms and back on Saturday...
View ArticleConservation scare on Whatupuke Island
Sniffer dogs were used to check predator-free islands off Northland's coast after a boat broke a mooring and drifted onto rocks, sparking a conservation scare.A 6.5m boat, formerly used as a commercial...
View ArticlePlastic gun prompts armed police call-out
A Masterton teenager with a plastic gun sparked an armed police call-out and cordon after he was seen brandishing the toy at passing motorists.The 15-year-old was seen on Opaki Rd coming into...
View ArticleSentence delay for elderly man's teen thief
Sentencing for the teenage girl who stole 82-year-old Gavin Hayes' car has been put off so an electronic sentence can be considered.Janaya Ashby, 17, appeared in Rotorua District Court before Judge...
View ArticleEarthquake shakes Hawke's Bay
A 4.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded 20 km north-east of Waipukurau this morning at a depth of 34km.GNS Science said the quake struck at 8:34am. People commenting on Twitter said they felt the...
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