Wild weather to hit upper North Island, an ex-Labour leader runs for Wellington mayor, and the fastest growing areas in NZ are revealed.
1 Heavy downpours and strong winds forecast as wild weather looms
MetService has issued Orange strong wind warnings for Northland and Auckland, while the former is also subject to an orange heavy rain warning.
Beginning Wednesday night, damage to trees, powerlines and unsecured structures are possible, with heavy rain watches expanded across the North Island.
2 Andrew Little to run for Wellington mayor
Former Labour leader Andrew Little has announced he's standing to be the next Wellington mayor.
He joins current mayor Tory Whanau, councillor Ray Chung, Rob Goulden, Kelvin Hastie, Karl Tiefenbacher and Graham Bloxham in putting their names forward.
3 Two major banks drop some fixed mortgage rates
Major banks are continuing to jockey for rate advantages following last week's OCR cut.
Many of the major banks were quick to adjust floating home loan rates and rates for savers after the Reserve Bank reduced the Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points last week.
4 One of the world's largest planes lands at RNZAF Base Ohakea
Plane-spotting enthusiasts will be delighted as the world's largest planes has touched down at RNZAF Base Ohakea.
The Antonov AN-124 arrived at the air base just before 12.40pm, after flying nearly five hours from American Samoa.
5 New Stats NZ figures reveal fastest growing areas in New Zealand
New figures have revealed the areas growing their populations the fastest in New Zealand as well as those with very low growth or decreases in population.
It also revealed the North Island's population now tops four million.
ONE POWER BILL EXPLAINER
Even before it got colder, power bills in New Zealand and Australia were going to spike because regulators are increasing charges for the use of pylons, substations, poles and wires.
But should they be? Energy economics experts Richard Meade and Magnus Söderberg explain.
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