Wanganui-Manawatu, New Zealand News

Recent belts of rain have resulted in some minor slips across the SH5 stretch between Napier and Taupo.

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two flies over the Mojave Desert in California near the end of last month.

Wanganui High School has been approved by the international Confucius Institute in Beijing to set up a Confucius Classroom - one of only four in New Zealand secondary schools and only 400 worldwide.

Suzuki riders swept the New Zealand Superbike Championships - winning the premier superbike and 600cc supersports classes - and now the Wanganui-based company has enticed 600cc-class runner-up Hassan to join them.

A UCOL postgraduate student has started up a group-oriented community health initiative for overweight individuals in the Manawatu District.

Whakarongo has been identified by Palmerston North City Council as the preferred location for residential growth in the city - now Council is calling for formal submissions on Proposed Plan Change 6 that will rezone land at Whakarongo.

Emergency services respond to the chemical spill which injured 21 workers at Tasman Tanning's Castlecliff plant in November last year.

Let's put behind us the shame of John Cleese and his "thoroughly bloody miserable time", and the pride at Jeremy Clarkson's assertion that if God had got it right then "Jesus would have been from Palmerston North". Let's forget about Lord Palmerston, the man who gave you that great name and let's move on.

Ben Lund with the radial engine he came across in Rough Creek, Mt Aspiring. Photo by Mark Price/Montage by Hayden Smith.

In the past year they have released an album, opened for international acts and won fans from as far away as Sweeden.

Calls for a review of the fluoridation of Palmerston North's water supply make up the biggest single issue facing the city council in consultation on its draft annual plan.

TrustPower Limited has reached agreement to purchase the key assets of Energy Direct New Zealand, often referred to as Energy Direct or EDNZ, for $13.65 million .

Canoeing down the Whanganui River, snorkelling in the Bay of Islands, mountaineering in Nepal - no, it's not the dream school holiday; it's all part of education for Palmerston North schoolkids taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Hillary Award programme.

The last time Tina Grant talked to her husband, Corporal Doug Grant, she was looking out the window at the rare sight of snow on the ground outside.

Palmerston North police are cracking down on pre-loading drinkers hitting town, after a "slight" increase in alcohol-fuelled crime.

A bushfire that burned through a Rangitikei reserve could cost ratepayers an estimated $28,000 so that a 400-metre-long fire-damaged fence can be restored and shrubs replanted.

NEW Zealand's sheep are the butt of jokes overseas, but a woman on the nation's North Island has found they can also be dangerous.

New Zealand's sheep are the butt of jokes overseas, but a woman on the nation's North Island has found they can also be dangerous.

The male driver appeared to have gotten off lightly with cuts to his face. The condition of the cow is unknown.

Short-staffing in two Palmerston North City Council units is helping to pay for unbudgeted spending on the Totara Rd wastewater treatment plant.