OPINION: Right-wing political commentator Matthew Hooton recently tweeted to say that his favourite New Zealand left-wing politicians of recent times have been Laila Harré and Sue Bradford. He explained: “they are highly intelligent,…

Auckland’s Sky Tower is set to dazzle and delight in celebration of 80 per cent of Kiwis being fully vaccinated. The Sky Tower will be seen from across the city, bathed in brilliant blue and white light tomorrow and Saturday evening,…

An independent review of the Mycoplasma bovis eradication programme has found it is on track to rid New Zealand of the cattle disease.The review found that the programme, a partnership between the Ministry for Primary Industries…

One person is in a serious condition after a water incident at Omaha this afternoon. St John was called to the incident at 3.11pm. A St John spokesperson said one patient is being airlifted to Starship Children’s Hospital and…

Wellington City councillors have decided on an interim fix for Island Bay’s controversial cycleway after a gruelling and, at times, confusing meeting. The decision was made with emotions running high, one councillor saying that…

Three people charged over the fatal shooting of a Covid-infected Auckland father are self-isolating, while a fourth person accused of murder is still on the run. Two men and a woman jointly charged with the murder of Robert “Robbie”…

More than one million lightning strikes erupted across Australia in the past 24 hours as thunderstorms swept the country.

Weatherzone detected 1.37 million lightning pulses across central and eastern Australia overnight.

These included both cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.

READ MORE: Flood warnings across east coast as rain bomb spreads

It comes after severe thunderstorms across most of Australia.

Heavy rain has inundated the Australian outback, cutting off roads and flooding some creeks and rivers.

The Todd River in Alice Springs is surging today after 140 millimetres of rainfall in the past three days.

Around 100 millimetres of rain occurred in the territory on Wednesday which was the heaviest daily rain in more than 20 years.

READ MORE: US and China make surprise pledge

More rain and storms are on the way for parts of central, southern and eastern Australia.

A low-pressure system will produce heavy rain and thunderstorms across Queensland, NSW, the ACT, Victoria and South Australia today.

Flood watches and warnings as well as severe weather warnings are already in place.

READ MORE: Russian hospitals overwhelmed as COVID-19 rages

Residents are warned not to drive through floodwaters.

"Some of Thursday's rain will be falling over already saturated ground, so flooding is likely," Ben Domensino, from Weatherzone, said.

"Check the latest warnings in your area for up-to-date details and never drive through floodwater."

The Auditor-General has lambasted the Ministry of Health over its handling of a $60 million contract for saliva testing, raising questions over whether bias or ulterior motives played a role. The ministry has faced constant criticism…

It’s ineffectual, interferes with judges, and is out of fashion overseas.That’s Justice Minister Kris Faafoi’s view on the contentious three-strikes law , and three reasons he cited today for discarding the law.Faafoi announced…

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