Wellington Region

Severe heavy rain and gale warnings have been issued for parts of the lower North Island and much of the South Island, from Saturday into Sunday.

"It's the worst I've ever seen it, but it's often bad," an Upper Hutt resident says about roads in his neighbourhood.

An investigation ordered by Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has found five councillors breached the council's code of conduct regarding a publicly excluded briefing on the Courtenay Place Precinct.

The decision about whether to decrease the commercial rates differential from $3.7 to $3.25 stirred heated debate.

Wellington public servants out of a job could become a resource for councils looking for staff, according to a Wairarapa mayor.

Residents of a Kāinga Ora housing complex in Avalon have been evacuated after a blaze started in one of the units.

Crews are expected to carry out a repair later this evening, given the pending afternoon traffic and isolatation of power utilities around the leak.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside Parliament's steps to call on the new government to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Passenger train services in Wellington could be cut drastically if something is not done about the rail network's chronic underfunding, the regional council says.

The first meeting of the new Parliament will finally take place this morning, 52 days since the election.

Police searching for items in connection to the death of Baby Ru in Lower Hutt now say they believe they were deliberately removed from the scene, which was 'cleaned' before officers arrived.

Cordons have been lifted in central Wellington after two suspicious packages were left outside buildings, nearby the US and Israeli embassies.

Wellington ratepayers can breathe a sigh of relief that the central library rebuild is not going the way of the Town Hall upgrade.

A Wellington wastewater treatment plant is breaching consent with a foul odour after a biofilter media was changed.

A resident at Pūkaha since 2005, Kahurangi was the only one of her species held in captivity anywhere in the world.

She said prostitution was "natural for a girl's body" and told her daughter she should not be scared.

NZ Post services will be making a return after a reduction in services across Lower Hutt in recent years.

Over half of those who responded to consultation on the plan oppose or strongly oppose it - with many of the concerns coming from healthcare workers.

A year before Loafers Lodge fire victim Michael "Mike the Juggler" Wahrlich died, he was beaten for almost 20 minutes in his apartment by a man who wanted a cigarette.

An organiser said the accident at the Avondale Christmas Parade last weekend in which six people were injured after a car rolled into the crowd was a factor in the decision.