Winter in Belgium's Ardennes will forever be linked with Nazi Germany's last great offensive of World War II.

I was having a discussion with someone the other day who predicts the weather in more of an alternative way than I do and was claiming that winter is still well and truly with us.

Super Typhoon Megi has killed 10 people in the Philippines, creating a wasteland of fallen trees in the north and sending thousands scrambling to safety in near-zero visibility.

Heavy rain has left Gisborne virtually cut off, with surface flooding closing roads and forcing the evacuation of homes.

Heavy rain is lashing the North Island's East Coast, leaving dozens of homes without power and closing rural schools and roads.

Schools have closed, houses are without power and homes have been evacuated as rain continues to lash the Gisborne region.

Storms have dumped tonnes of water on to Queensland in the last three days.

The rain has eased in Nelson and Marlborough but bad weather looms over the lower North Island.

Waikato is preparing for floods as heavy rain threatens to push already-swollen rivers past their limits.

Stadium Southland organisers have adopted the slogan "Game on 2012" after having a multi-million dollar insurance claim for their collapsed roof accepted today.

Sunday saw one of the best starts to daylight saving that I've seen in years. Not only did both the North and South Island take the national high with 24 degrees in Napier and Kaikoura, but several other centres also climbed into the 20s in