APNZ

The executive director of SPCA Auckland has stood by controversial comments that ethnicity plays a part in the high number of dog attack convictions in South Auckland.

A young man is dead and another is in custody following a violent incident in Whangarei last night.

Police are investigating after a staff member from The Warehouse in Henderson was held up at gunpoint early this morning.

Labour leader Andrew Little and Prime Minister John Key are both gearing up for their state of the nation speeches on Wednesday in which Mr Key is expected to flesh out National's new social housing policy while Mr Little will set out to woo Aucklanders and business.

A veteran yachtsman spent two cold, wet hours perched on the mast of his heritage yacht after it hit rocks and sank in the middle of the night.

Searchers were last night re-evaluating efforts as two young men remain missing, feared drowned, at a popular East Coast surf beach, and in the Waikato River.

Today's fifth Laneway Festival in Auckland is a sell-out.

A large scrub fire which threatened homes in Auckland last night is being treated as suspicious.

A man was rescued off the Northland coast overnight after a yacht struck rocks and sank.

A young man is feared drowned after he and a friend tried to cross the Waikato River in Hamilton last night.