Hobbiton has put Matamata on the map, but with production of The Hobbit shifting overseas, the town's future as a tourist hub is in jeopardy.

Greg Meads enjoyed his final months of freedom in a plush beachfront home with another woman before being convicted of murder.

Kimberley White remembers her stepfather Greg Meads enforcing silent meals at the family dinner table as he watched television.

A shooting victim told her husband days before her death that she wanted to move out of their home and move on with her life, a court heard.

The furore over The Hobbit is the normal process of a union trying to talk to an employer who is refusing to talk back, says actor and director Ian Mune.

Kerry and Lynne Martin are unsure about swimming in Samoa after losing their two daughters in the tsunami.

The horseracing identity charged with killing his wife was allegedly distraught at the thought he wouldn't be able to see their daughter.

A woman has been shot dead in Matamata this morning.