Tax, water and housing concerns were all debated at length by Bill English and Jacinda Ardern in last night's TVNZ leaders debate. The debate came just an hour after shock 1 News Colmar Brunton poll put Labour out in front. There have been fires and explosions at a flood damaged chemical plant near Houston forcing the evacuation of people in nearby homes. A block of flats in Aro Street has been evacuated after a large slip has come down behind it. After heavy rains and flooding a Mumbai building has collapsed, killing at least 23 people. Biosecurity officials say they expect to decide by the end of the year whether they will need to order the destruction of dairy herds to wipe out a cow disease that's broken out in the South Island. It's been revealed that not a single one of New Zealand's 315 police buildings constructed before 2011 have had a full earthquake safety check. People who've bought houses in Canterbury since the September 2010 earthquake and are still battling with insurance companies over repairs, have been told that if they want to take the matter to court, today is their last chance. The Government has begun urgent talks with Australia over the Queensland's state government's "discriminatory" trade policy which takes effect today. Trade Minister Todd McClay joins us.
Christchurch lawyer Duncan Webb made the shift into politics because of the people left behind after the Christchurch earthquakes. Now he's ahead of National's Nicky Wagner in the latest results.
The Christchurch City Council and the Earthquake Commission are devising a wholesale solution to the city's flood protection.
Kaikōura's struggling business community wants a container mall similar to Christchurch's re-start mall set up after the Canterbury earthquakes.
Wheelchair users say Christchurch is frustrating and difficult to navigate around since the earthquakes, especially roads and footpaths, which is leaving people feeling isolated.
The Education Ministry has apologised after a critical report from the Chief Ombudsman said the ministry failed to fully inform Christchurch schools before revealing plans in 2012 to close and merge 38 of them following the Christchurch earthquake.
A fault line on Dunedin's doorstep could cause an earthquake as destructive as 2010's Canterbury quake.
A lawyer says a District Court ruling could set a precedent for hundreds of people with PTSD. The ruling directs ACC to cover the medical costs of a Christchurch builder who volunteered in the earthquake rescue effort, but was later hit with PTSD.
Some of the families of the 115 people who dies in the CTV building during the 2011 Canterbury earthquake protested in Latimer Square yesterday over the police decision not to prosecute the designers of the CTV building. They say they do want to see a prosecution go ahead, and they are seeking legal advice about what their options are.
More than a year after North Canterbury's 7.8 magnitude earthquake forced its closure, State Highway 1 north of Kaikoura will re-open to the public on Friday. Thousands of cars and trucks have been diverted inland since one million tonnes of rubble, in the form of 85 landslides, came down on the road, which was the main route between Picton and Christchurch. It's meant a tough year for some of those based along the highway. Reporter Maja Burry checked in with locals and filed this report.
Nearly two-thirds of MPs have voted in support of a bill that would legalise euthanasia. The Government says it will consider moves to rein in rapidly rising salaries for top public servants. It's been far from smooth sailing for the new government in its first eight weeks in office, but it appears to be largely on track to deliver its hundred day plan. More than a year after North Canterbury's 7.8 magnitude earthquake forced its closure, State Highway 1 north of Kaikoura will re-open to the public on Friday.
A school pool, a BMX bike club and a music school are among twenty organisations in Christchurch that have benefitted from the final grants from an international appeal for re-building the quake-damaged city. The Christchurch Earthquake Appeal has so far raised almost 100 million dollars, and as our reporter Teresa Cowie discovered, the latest 8 million dollars that's been released from the fund is giving a welcome boost to residents.
A fruit and vegetable co-operative in Canterbury that started with just 140 members has grown to more than two thousand members in the three years since the region's earthquakes.
Former drama teacher and casting director Rosie Belton (right) has a motto she lives by: "When all else fails - cook!" Her new book Wild Blackberries explores her life through food. It's about how food enhances the feeling of celebration, and comforts in times of sadness. Having lived through nearly four years of earthquakes in her hometown of Christchurch, Rosie tells Wallace Chapman about why the kitchen and dining table provided so much solace in such unstable times.
Today the Royal couple head to Christchurch, a city with which the Prince has built strong ties, since the earthquakes rocked the region three years ago.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in Christchurch and the Solomon Islands escapes serious damage despite major earthquakes.
Geoff's eye-witness account from Christchurch on 1 March 2011
The Fire Service responds to the Coroner's criticisms over the CTV building collapse in the Christchurch Earthquakes, Teina Pora will be released on parole after 21 years inside prison for crimes he says he did'nt commit, and in Dateline Pacific, A newly elected leader in Fiji issues a challenge to Rear Admiral Franf Bainimarama.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister says Christchurch City Council must take responsibility for the city's flooding problems as it's not the government's problem to sort out.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister is denying that Christchurch flooding has become worse since the quakes, and says it's not the government's mess to fix.
Prime Minister, John Key, denies money is being held back from the Canterbury earthquake recovery to make the Government's books look better.
Despite low international coal prices, the financially troubled State-owned coal company, Solid Energy, says its time to mine for more coal. A referendum on self-rule is held in eastern Ukraine overnight, we'll have the latest on the turnout and Prime Minister, John Key, is denying money is being held back from the Canterbury earthquake recovery to make the Government's books look better.
As a cemetary near her home is cordoned off, fears for Blessie Gotingco intensify. In Christchurch, there's questions over asbestos and potential danger in the earthquake rebuild and a sub zero wake up for the south, as temperatures plummet.
A Christchurch man who's made his name battling the Earthquake Commission says he has secured a forty-five-million-dollar joint venture with a Chinese company that will regenerate Christchurch's residential areas.
A project manager for a company doing home repairs in the Christchurch earthquake rebuild says it is highly likely as many as 60-thousand people have been exposed to potentially lethal asbestos fibres.
Investigations into handling of asbestos in Canterbury earthquake repairs and a man's appeared in court charged with the murder of the Auckland woman, Blessie Gotingco.
Some Canterbury homeowners are rejecting assurances from authorities that they wouldn't have been exposed to asbestos in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes.
There's a warning that a return to pre-earthquake numbers of houses in Christchurch may not be enough to ease the city's housing crisis.
The only Christchurch street still closed following the 2011 earthquake will reopen later in 2018 only to close again in 2019 so the council can extend the route for the tram. The proposal has raised the ire of fledgling businesses along High st worried about the disruption the road works will cause them and wanting the work done now, before they open their doors to the public.
Christchurch builders are worried asbestos repairs in the earthquake rebuild will continue to cause problems for years to come.
