Motorists travelling north for the long weekend should expect delays, police say.

A man found dead on a rural Taupo road yesterday has been identified as 62-year-old Graham Orringe from Napier.

A fire in Ashburton gutted a local industrial building early this morning.

A man has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm after a member of the public reported seeing someone waving…

One person is dead and another seriously injured after a car fled police in Greymouth last night.

Schools say they know who their top teachers are and have already put some of them in the "expert" roles just announced…

1. video John Key: NZ schools overhauled (3:53)

A $1 million-plus sculpture of a state house is expected to adorn the Auckland Viaduct - and ratepayers may have to contribute…

1. Artists create cultural melting pot

In a case with similarities to the Roast Busters, two teens had sex with a girl who was "almost comatose" from alcohol…

1. Slow Roast Busters progress

The Govt has spent more than $600m acquiring properties to make way for its flagship Roads of National Significance programme…

1. Car-poolers show their hand

Act leadership contender and former MP John Boscawen says he will spend the next week trying to highlight…

1. PM dismisses Dotcom's Internet Party

A New Zealand police training project about to start in the troubled Indonesian territory of West Papua this year has been…

1. Namibia aim for clean sweep in group stages

"Last night," ranger Mike Ogle said, "things went better". By better, he meant just one pilot whale out of 49 that volunteers…

1. Meet the dolphin's ancient relative

At the start of 1985, Maire Leadbeater took her two children for a January break on Kawau Island.

1. Sculptor Chris Booth shares past and present

The West Papuan farmer showed me scars on his head he claimed police caused nearly two years ago. His eyes were still bloodshot…

1. Asylum 'cruises' to NZ touted

Herald journalist David Fisher has refused to release documents related to Kim Dotcom after a request…

1. John Drinnan: Giving Dotcom a closer look (53 comments)

A teenage girl caught in a rip had stopped breathing by the time lifeguards plucked her, limp and grey, from the sea.

1. Sisters brave big seas to save five

Lorde has revealed the Grammy that would mean most to her is for best album. Speaking at an awards preview in Los Angeles…

1. video Lorde beams on brink of Grammy awards (1:57)

On the cover of a new history of New Zealand, change creeps in from the corner. The black and white image, taken in 1969…

1. Things we believe make us Kiwi

A state primary school has recommended that children have an iPad for the upcoming school year, as an increasing number…

"Does a leopard change its spots? It's an interesting question," says Dr Paul Wood, 37, in his downtown…

1. Bain had convicted killer as groomsman

As part of his platform for last year's local body elections, Mayor Len Brown said he would push for a 2016 start to Auckland's…

1. video Len Brown: Paying for Auckland (17:54)

Rapid changes in technology as well as new fitness trends have seen the growth of new jobs unheard of even five years ago…

1. Facebook shares soar - new billionaires minted

The PM's about-turn on working with Winston Peters was utterly predictable and is further evidence he'll do whatever it…

1. John Armstrong: Parties set agendas in lieu of election (30 comments)

Winston Peters' summer went rather well for him and so has his start to the political year.

1. video PM on coalition with NZ First (3:15)

If Peters does a deal with National after the election - and he will, for reasons that will become obvious…

1. John Roughan: Epsom knows the value of Act (67 comments)

The Weekend Herald 's award-winning chief photographer Brett Phibbs spent time at the greyhound races to capture the speed…

A West Coast woman severely hurt when her vehicle collided with a train near Inangahua, east of Westport, yesterday suffered…

Alastair Thompson has resigned from the Internet Party less than two weeks after he stood down as Scoop's chief executive…

1. Bryce Edwards: Political roundup: Dotcom's Internet Party - can it succeed?

A service to remember slain Dunedin children Bradley and Ellen Livingstone tomorrow will be a bright and colourful celebration…

1. video Bodies found in Dunedin house (1:06)

Labour leader David Cunliffe has been welcomed on to Ratana Pa for the first time as the party leader…

1. video Cunliffe’s Kiwi dream (9:29)

Is this the beginning of the end of the War on Drugs?…

1. Paul Thomas: Harsh lessons that come back to bite

Hundreds of thousands of Auckland households face rates rises bigger than the 2.4 per cent average hike being proposed by…

1. video Len Brown: Will you stand again? (2:45)

'I sat where I was told.' A senior Australian politician has brushed off her minor breach of Maori protocol at the opening…

1. Abbott's Govt faces hard stretch

Coffin in capping stunt "Among my brother's many friends at university was the son of an undertaker," writes a reader…

1. What more could you want? (40 comments)

A current international trend at music festivals is pamper zones. Splore festival on February 14-16 at Tapapakanga Park…

1. Splore's plan to be NZ's greenest festival