Five councils - Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Queenstown and Christchurch - will be affected by new policy released by the Government this afternoon.

Firefighters have brought a large blaze at a recyling plant in Hamilton's industrial district under control.

A Hamilton taxi driver jailed for sexually assaulting two female passengers has had his appeal against his conviction and sentencing dismissed.

Sonny Bill Williams has made the only fair and sensible decision, rejecting the Chiefs and joining the Blues, writes Chris Rattue.

State house tenant with two disabled adult children will be able to stay in her house after Work and Income paid her rent arrears this morning.

Housing NZ is evicting several tenants in Hamilton, just as Aucklanders are being offered $5000 to move into state homes there and in other provincial cities.

A fairly innocuous traffic safety issue turned into a dramatic short chase through Hamilton streets this morning.

Two people in Hamilton have been injured, one critically, after an aggravated burglary in the early hours of this morning.

Hamilton mental health patient went on to drown himself in Waikato River.

Hamilton Zoo's newest baby chimpanzee has been given a name befitting of a "chatty little animal".

A Whanganui woman was so ensconced in her gambling addiction that she faked paternity documentation to get Working for Families benefits.

A Hamilton man says he must have fallen asleep after celebrating his birthday before veering off the road and crashing head-on into a car, killing its passenger.

Morrinsville and Fairfield colleges closed for a week, and Nelson school students monitored after teenager who recently visited Hamilton contracted the disease.

An elderly Hamilton woman whose house was crashed into on Mother's Day suffered a heart attack just hours later, and died on Tuesday.

The husband of the Hamilton Zoo curator who was killed by a tiger last year is said to be unhappy at the support shown for his late wife's family by Hamilton City Council.

Hamilton Police are appealing to the public for any sightings of Hamilton woman Helen Seffert who is missing after going for an early morning walk.

Two teenagers and one man have been arrested following an incident during which a police dog was kicked and an officer assaulted.

Police warning over man's actions when he talked to 10-year-old girl in Hamilton.

A blaze which severely damaged a Hamilton bakery was caused by a deep fryer being left on.

Fire fighters took 30 minutes to battle a fire which appears to have started in the Flagstaff Bakehouse kitchen and spread to the neighbouring roast shop.

Just seven months after new valuations were set for Hamilton homes, some are already fetching up to $205,000 above those figures.

Police are asking for the public's help in tracing the movements of a Hamilton man before his body was discovered in a car found crashed in a stream.

The sister of the man who died after his car crashed into a Waikato stream overnight has posted a moving tribute to her brother.

Eric Gerritsen was fined $115,000 for impeding the WorkSafe's investigation into the collapse of the "Mammoth Slide", which left a number of children injured.

Up to one in four property sales in parts of provincial NZ are now to Aucklanders, with many buyers forced from city as prices spiral beyond their means.

A Hamilton apartment block that severely damaged by fire early today is believed to have started after an occupant fell asleep smoking a cigarette, neighbours say.

A 10-month-old is in hospital with head injuries after a domestic violence incident at his Hamilton home which also left his mother nursing injuries.

Close to 20 per cent of homes and businesses in the Waikato city are now connected to ultra-fast broadband.