The man accused of murdering Auckland man Austin Hemmings in a central Auckland street will stand trial in a year's time. A trial date of November 1, 2010 was yesterday set for Pauesi Leofa Brown. The High Court at Auckland...

A grant of $340,000 has been awarded to Canterbury University's Department of Communication Disorders for research into preventing hearing loss during ear surgery. The grant was made by the Oticon Foundation, a charitable trust...

More than 100,000 credit cards may be replaced as a result of thieves hacking into payment machines at the Downtown carpark in central Auckland.Auckland IT consultant Steven Ellis yesterday said service desk staff at ASB Bank...

The young age of two attackers convicted of the brutal killing of an elderly retired man left police and the family of the victim with a sense of disbelief.Courtney Pauline Churchward, 18, and Lori-Lea Waiora Te Wini, 15, were...

A remark in a Newmarket barber shop may prove instrumental in costing rail passengers more money to catch electric trains.Transport Minister Steven Joyce has acknowledged being tipped off by his barber to the fact that it costs...

Singer Tina Cross yesterday spoke of her distress at losing her most precious possession, a whalebone tiki, in a smash-and-grab robbery in AucklandThe tiki, which belonged to her late father, was in her handbag, taken from her...

Young, highly skilled graduate workers can come to New Zealand under a new visa policy which would eventually lead them on a pathway to becoming permanent residents.Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said the new Silver Fern...

Sparkling green, white and red bits of tinsel, shining fairy lights and little chubby men dressed in red - it must be Christmas.A Christmas Wonderland has been put together at the Rawene Centre in Birkenhead, in North Shore.Yesterday...

One of New Zealand's highest-paid executives came face to face with poverty yesterday when he helped serve breakfast to about 100 hungry children in Mt Roskill.Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier, reported to have been paid...

He's an 81-year-old retired former accountant but Doug Bates still has a competitive streak which can sometimes land him in trouble.Mr Bates had planned to race in this weekend's 160km Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge and at...

Transport Agency contractors intend using YouTube to reduce the chance of drivers being distracted by the $215 million Newmarket Viaduct construction project and its eyecatching huge blue gantry.As the first of eight sections...

Tony Kelly spent so much time in the water friends and family described him as amphibious."He could have had gills on the side of his neck," said good friend Ross Johnson. "Tony was always swimming or surfing ... or playing waterpolo."But...

Police are warning of another scam in which victims are paid in fake travellers cheques for a product or service they are advertising.The scammers, believed to be from England, contact the person by email about items advertised...

A bungled law change means new police recruits in the past year have not been sworn in properly, and has cast doubt over their powers.Legislation was rushed through Parliament last night to amend last year's Policing Act. It was...

A senior National MP has been using a front company to maximise the amount of taxpayer-provided cash he can claim from the accommodation allowance paid to members whose home is outside Wellington.Lindsay Tisch's arrangement meant...

Thousands of cyclists will start their descent on the central North Island today for this weekend's Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.From humble beginnings when 26 people rode the 160km circuit around the lake in 1977, the event has...

An armed offenders squad officer fired twice at gunman Stephen McDonald - hitting the windscreen and the cab of a truck - before firing a third shot that killed Halatau Naitoko.The officer, known only as officer A84, was standing...

Sending cancer patients to Australia for radiation therapy now seems like a thing of the past.New Zealand's six state-owned cancer centres at last seem to be coping with the year-on-year increases in demand for radiation therapy...

Fonterra says the San Lu tainted milk scandal which killed at least six children in China has been "a terrible tragedy", after authorities there executed two men for their role in lacing milk with melamine.Fonterra farmers held...

A plan by businessman Mike Pero to charter a Boeing 747 to Antarctica in January to allow people to pay their respects to victims of the Erebus disaster has "deeply disturbed" Air New Zealand.Mr Pero, managing director of SafeKiwi,...