Good evening. It's been a day of anticipating wild weather in the South Island and some some welcome news regarding food prices.
1 Up to 800mm of rain expected to pound South Island's Westland
A red heavy rain warning has been issued for Westland on the South Island's West Coast.
MetService expects 600mm to 800mm of rain about the ranges, possibly more in some localised areas and 100mm to 200mm about the coast.
The heaviest rain is expected from late Friday morning where rainfall could reach up to 35mm/h.
To read more, click here.
2 Lifeguards verbally abused, 'forcefully grabbed' in Mt Maunganui
A surf lifeguard was verbally abused by a man in Mount Manganui earlier this week, while another was "forcefully grabbed" during an incident Surf Life Saving New Zealand has called "completely unacceptable".
The man reportedly brought one of the lifeguards "to tears" during the incident,and followed her to a patrol tower while he continued to hurl foul language.
SLSNZ Eastern Region lifesaving manager Chaz Gibbons-Campbell said no level of abuse is acceptable to surf lifeguards who are simply trying to perform their duty.
3 Food prices fall for fourth month in a row — Stats NZ
Food prices are 4.8% higher than a year ago but were cheaper last month compared to November, Stats NZ said today.
This is the fourth consecutive monthly fall, with food prices 0.1% lower in December compared with November.
Stats NZ consumer prices manager James Mitchell said the largest contribution to the annual change was restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food, which increased in price by 7.1%.
4 Chris Bishop demands Kāinga Ora fill empty social houses
Housing Minister Chris Bishop has written to the board of Kāinga Ora Homes and Communities to make it clear he expects social homes to be occupied as much as possible.
He said he was "shocked" to discover about 5% of New Zealand's total housing stock was vacant.
To read more, click here.
5 Five ASB branches to close across the country
Five ASB branches are set to close across the North Island as the bank says customer preference continues to grow for self-serve banking.
Executive general manager of personal banking Adam Boyd said the bank would invest more in digital and phone banking over the next five years and put more staff into busier branches.
To read more about the closures, click here.
ONE PERSONAL ACCOUNT
Angela Barnett would never have considered herself the type to steal from stores. But then she met a new group of friends.
To read about her self-described "shoplifting phase", click here.
ONE SET OF INSTRUCTIONS
Aucklanders are being urged to brush up on their recycling etiquette as new national standards come into effect at the beginning of next month.
To read about the identical guidelines which come into force on February 1, click here.
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