Navigation for News Categories
New Zealand
New Zealand headlines with summaries.
-
Community cheers as booze back on tap at hotel bar
19 Dec 2025A popular Wairarapa coastal watering hole is back in business.
-
Principals say ERO not giving schools credit for challenges
19 Dec 2025Leaders at one school said ERO reviewers told them they had witnessed excellent teaching but could not say that in the school's report because its attendance and achievement rates needed to improve. Audio
-
How to clean your kids' backpacks and lunch boxes now it's school holidays
19 Dec 2025Leaking water bottles, pen ink, the rotting juice from an old banana, school backpacks and lunch boxes can get pretty grotty.
-
New financial support scheme for schools facing asbestos sand clean-up
The Ministry of Education says a fixed sum has been set aside for a "one-off, time-limited" support scheme for schools facing hardship because of contamination costs.
-
Man who killed five in Loafers Lodge fire handed life sentence
19 Dec 2025Esarona David Lologa will spend at least 22 years in jail.
-
Fears over plan to ditch flu tracking tool
The Ministry of Health is not renewing its contract for the FluTracking tool, which surveys about 40,000 people year-round, in a bid to cut costs. Audio
-
3000 hectares returned in one of country's longest land disputes
18 Dec 2025Māori landowners will have the land returned, and receive $420 million in compensation, in a landmark agreement with the Crown, ending questions going back to the 1830s. Audio
-
Labour, National clash over what economic rebound shows
'Better times are ahead,' the finance minister says, while Labour is arguing things are still worse.
-
Banks hike fixed home loan interest rates
18 Dec 2025More banks are joining in as banks move to raise some mortgage rates.
-
The big switch: Should households still use gas?
Faced with dwindling gas supplies, manufacturers are shutting down, but more than 2000 homes were hooked up this year.
-
Why Auckland Airport will look a little different this Christmas
The tens of thousands of people expected to pass through Auckland Airport in the next weeks may notice a few changes. Audio
-
Man killed, second person injured at Hamilton address
Cordons are in place after a man was fatally injured at a Hamilton Lake address.
-
Why McSkimming's prosecution was so 'unique'
The disgraced former deputy police commissioner was sentenced to home detention after pleading guilty to the possession of child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.
-
'This year's been diabolical': Oyster farmers still waiting for compensation package
18 Dec 2025More than a thousand cubic metres of sewage overflowed from a Watercare pump station in late October. Audio
-
Corrections boss ordered to obey law or face contempt of court
18 Dec 2025Under New Zealand law, prisoners are entitled to at least one hour of physical exercise a day. Audio
-
Gloriavale Christian School registration cancelled
18 Dec 2025The school board said it would challenge the decision by the Secretary for Education.
-
John Campbell returns to RNZ as Morning Report co-host
He'll join Ingrid Hipkiss on the flagship news programme next year.
-
Concerned family roster themselves on to care for elderly relative
18 Dec 2025The family of an elderly woman with severe dementia say they had to be at hospital every day to ensure she was fed, medicated and showered. Audio
-
Profile of killer released weeks after death of Hastings woman
18 Dec 2025This was a targeted act of violence, police say.
-
Struggle with cliffside rescue 'tip of the iceberg', firefighters says
18 Dec 2025Trouble getting a chopper to help a girl trapped on a cliff face was not an isolated incident, the firefighters union says. Audio
-
Ice avalanche likely killed Aoraki/Mount Cook climbers
18 Dec 2025Items of climbing equipment were found within a known icefall hazard zone on the upper Linda Glacier.
-
Person critically hurt after 'disturbing instance of extreme violence'
18 Dec 2025Hutt Valley Police are investigating what they are calling a disturbing instance of extreme violence, which has left someone with critical injuries.
-
Popular walking tracks closed as police search for wanted man
18 Dec 2025Locals told RNZ the Mangapurua and Kaiwhakauka tracks are closed while police are in the area, as well as several huts along the route.
-
Councillors oppose plans for fast-tracked sand mining project
18 Dec 2025Whangārei district councillors voted unanimously against the proposal which would see 8 million cubic metres of sand removed over a 35-year period.
Top News stories
- 'Devastating in all ways': Sand dune ecosystems on Tokerau Beach being destroyed by vehicles
- UK author David Walliams dropped by publisher after harrassment allegations
- Can my child get a Community Services Card? - Ask Susan
- Winston Peters offers advice to anyone thinking of rolling a Prime Minister
- NZ's first onsite 3D-printed home
