Introducing a ''living wage'' for all Dunedin City Council's low-paid employees could cost the council at least $34,000.

Approval for a 10-house affordable housing development in Arrowtown could be given by the Queenstown Lakes District Council as early as the end of next month.

The Minister of Conservation has granted West Coast coal mine developer Bathurst Resources roading access for its controversial Denniston plateau development, in return for a $22 million compensation package for a neighbouring area.

Police are appealing for information about a street brawl outside a Christchurch bar last night that has left one man in hospital.

Maori MPs say police have escaped punishment for illegal actions after a landmark report finally confirmed that some operations during raids at Ruatoki were "contrary to law, unjustified and unreasonable".

British police have arrested two more people in a hunt for accomplices of two British men of Nigerian descent accused of hacking a soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries.

Australia has lost a brave, wonderful and community-spirited woman with the death of Hazel Hawke, say tributes to the ex-wife of former prime minister Bob Hawke.