Big dry - nation at risk
Rain forecast for this week is unlikely to offset a soil-parching big dry that has put much of the country at serious fire risk and begun to hurt farmers in hot-spot…
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Leading Headlines
Traffic fine defaulter owes $37,523
Almost $9 million in parking and traffic fines has gone unpaid in Auckland in the past year, and the worst offender owes nearly $38k.
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Small child dies after car hits power pole
Emergency services say a small child who was trapped in a car that had hit a power pole south of Tauranga was taken to hospital, but later died.
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Djokovic wins fifth Australian Open
Novak Djokovic has rewritten tennis history with yet another Australian Open final triumph over Andy Murray on a drama-charged night at Melbourne Park.
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Opinion: A long knight in politics
How did John Key get away with honouring Prince Philip, but Tony Abbott hasn't? Political editor Audrey Young outlines her theories.
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Isis: 'Let the nightmare for Japan begin'
Japan says the death of journalist Kenji Goto is an 'atrocious act' as Isis threatens to kill a Jordanian pilot if a female prisoner isn't returned by Friday.
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Toddler loses both kidneys to cancer
Fourteen-month-old Riays Asiata has lost both kidneys to cancer and now she must wait at least two years before she can have a transplant.
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Thrilling final tops off Nines event
The NRL Auckland Nines ended on a high last night, with crowds treated to a thrilling extra-time final at Eden Park.
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Updated 58 min ago
Australian reporter released by Egypt
Al Jazeera reporter Peter Greste will return home to Australia after being released from an Egyptian jail following a 400-day ordeal.
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Boy, 3, shoots dad, pregnant mum
A three-year-old was able to remove a loaded handgun from his pregnant mother's purse, before shooting his father in the lower backside, mum in shoulder.
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Andrew Little's rating best since Clark
Labour leader Andrew Little heads into a two-day retreat with his caucus today, only mildly buoyed by the latest poll results and the shock success of Labor in Queensland…
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You're thinking about fitness all wrong
Instead of calling it quits for the year, what if you resolved to change your mindset about fitness?
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Latest
News
Editors' Picks
Hole-in-heart girl's lost Bunny
Did Djokovic play-up injury?
Ko's on top of the world
Tips for first day at school
Timberlake's 'great news'
Sideswipe: Time machine?
The Eurotaur
Editorial: UE wake up call
Quizzes
Herald daily quiz: February 2
National
Dunedin-bound flight struck by lightning
''Just out of the blue there was this really loud bang and a flash of light on the right side of the plane."
Air NZ's Dreamliner 787-9 arrives
Video
Laptops, tablets add to cost burden
Nearly four in five Auckland secondary schools now ask or permit students to bring a device such as a laptop or tablet - potentially adding hundreds of dollars to back-to-school…
Farms remain deadliest work sites
Kiwis' trip more than a Sunday drive
Business
Milk supply dip should lift prices
Reduced dairy production is expected to translate into higher prices at Wednesday's GlobalDairyTrade auction.
NZX looks at conflict after buy
Sharemarket operator NZX is reviewing its governance structures to ensure conflicts of interest - or the perception they exist - do not arise from growth in the company's…
Fonterra, Danone to fight behind closed door
Fonterra will be spared having its multimillion-dollar fight with French food giant Danone spilling back into the public arena this year.
Peter Lyons: Global financial hangover and us
As we congratulate ourselves on the buoyancy of our rock star economy, we need to appreciate that we are firmly locked into the global economy, writes Peter Lyons.
World
'Homemade' bombs explode in Bangkok
Two "homemade" bombs exploded near a popular shopping mall in downtown Bangkok last night, leaving one man with minor injuries…
Five houses evacuated in bomb scare
Back to school - where dozens died of Ebola
The government has promised to disinfect it. But parents are wary as their children are sent back to school in what was recently an Ebola isolation centre.
Election rout a setback for Abbott
Greek leader vows to pay nation's debts
Politics
Little's strong start reflected in poll
Support for both Labour and National has gone up in the latest TV3 poll, the first major poll of the year, which reflects…
Green MP won't reveal any leadership plans
West Coast-based Green Party MP Kevin Hague has not revealed whether he hopes to become his party's new co-leader. Russel Norman announced on Friday that he would stand…
Has Key met his match?
A poll has revealed 55% of voters think Little is potentially a better match for PM John Key than his Labour Party leader predecessors.
Paul Little: Key and Plunket prove Catton's point
Is Eleanor Catton a traitor? Does Sean Plunket have a brain? Has the Prime Minister read The Luminaries? Who would have thought an obscure Indian literary festival could…
196CommentsLife & Style
Study offers hope in obesity fight
Kiwi scientists have found a curious new way to combat obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in an antioxidant linked to Chinese medicine…
Future Auckland: Recreation key to healthy life
Cosmetic surgery's like burqa - Vatican
Women who undergo plastic surgery are wearing a "burqa made of flesh", according to a Vatican document.
Anti-flu drug useful, study finds
French put knife in with own best eatery list
Video
Video
Game of Thrones: season five trailer
Check out the first full-length trailer for the fifth season of Game of Thrones.
Video
Justin Timberlake shares baby news on birthday
Justin Timberlake shares a picture on Instagram of a bulging belly presumably belonging to wife Jessica Biel. It was the singer's 34th birthday, and wrote he was getting…
IS militants acknowledge defeat in Kobani
VideoNRL Nines: Warriors lose in thriller
VideoEntertainment
Damon Albarn's Gorillaz launch comeback
Gorillaz are back. After a three year hiatus, the cartoon collaboration of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewllet has been resurrected…
Laneway: Little Dragon brings Swede music to NZ
Shock split: Celeb duo separate after seven years
After seven years together, one of Auckland's most beautiful couples, Carly Binding and Matthew Ridge, have separated.
Katy Perry's Super Bowl secret guest revealed
Fifty Shades of Grey: 'Raunchiest film of the decade'
Travel
Tasmania: Spooky tales of a sinister history
Stories of supernatural sightings enliven the nightly ghost tour at Port Arthur, writes Paul Rush.
Hobart: Criminal past, contemporary culture
Botswana: Plains of passage
John Coomber meets Africa's most majestic animals in their own environment and is lucky to see elephants following an ancient waterhole trail.
Daytripper: Stand-up paddleboarding at Matakana
Waiheke Island: Wind down on Waiheke
Opinion
Matt Heath: Disgusting crime came as a bolt from the loo
Matt Heath writes: Break-in apparently just to use the dunny proved to be a total head-scratcher.
2CommentsMatt Heath: Separation anxiety gets shorter by the century
Editorial: Catton funding money well spent
If Eleanor Catton was a politician she might be in some difficulty today. For it turns out that while she vented her feelings about New Zealand's "very shallow, very…
58CommentsBernard Hickey: What would Mr Lee do?
67CommentsHeather du Plessis-Allan: We like winning, but just don't diss us
44CommentsSport
NRL: Off-field incident overshadows Nines
An off-field incident has overshadowed the NRL Auckland Nines. Manly's investigating alleged anti-social behaviour by prop…
Best pics: NRL Nines
Photos
Kim Sears - Team Murray's one winner
Kim Sears brought her A-game to Melbourne Park on Sunday night. Unfortunately the same couldn't quite be said of her fiance Andy Murray, who became the first man in…
