New Zealand National News
- A sweet $5.5m for Princes Wharf penthouse - A recird price for an Auckland apartment has provided a ray of light in the housing market gloom.
- Nat look to shift towards private health care - Investigative journalist Nicky Hager says National's health policies have gone publicly unnoticed, but involve a shift back to 1990s free-market reforms.
- Serious injuries as stag party van ploughs into cattle - A van carrying nine people from Timaru to Dunedin for a stag party early this morning ploughed into a small herd of cattle which had wandered onto a road, injuring all the occupants.
- Vigilante with machete gets home detention - A self-proclaimed vigilante is on home detention for attacking a group of youths with a machete because they were intimidating commuters at a train station.
- Southland migrants isolated and ignored - One thousand Filipino workers are among an influx of migrant workers to descend on Southland during the past six months, leaving the region struggling to meet their needs.
- Powerball jackpots to $30m this week - Nobody picked up the massive $25 million Lotto Powerball jackpot last night, which means $30m goes into a must-be-won draw on Saturday.
- Early puberty causes school sex education 'national crisis' - A top research scientist is calling for high-level action from schools and health authorities to help children cope with the early onset of puberty.
- Wireless internet users risk porn trap - Thousands of internet users are at risk of becoming embroiled in child pornography trafficking because of insecure security settings on their wireless connections.
- New Plymouth pensioner injured by bomb - A pensioner in New Plymouth has been injured after a home-made bomb was shoved through his cat door.
- Crash at Auckland college after police chase - A man had to be cut from his car after he crashed into the grounds of Auckland's Sacred Heart College following a police pursuit this morning.
- Boys leaving school in droves - report - Boys are quitting school early at almost twice the rate of girls, new figures reveal.
- Robbery foiled in Palmerston North - Palmerston North police say passersby have nabbed two of three youths involved in an armed robbery of a dairy in the city.
- One dead, two hurt in Auckland crash - A woman is dead after a car crashed into a tree in Auckland this morning.
- Firefighter prefers test of stamina to posing topless - Firefighter Manu Clarkson would rather climb six flights of stairs carrying a 40kg weight than pose topless but he "sucked it up" for the annual firefighters calendar.
- Thaw with US military slips out on website - After decades of cold-shoulder treatment, United States military brass are now saying a US-New Zealand military partnership is vital to meet security challenges in the Pacific region.
