Mike Mather

Many of the sketches were created by fantasy illustrators John Howe and Alan Lee, whose works had proved inspirational to filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson - so much so, he hired them to work on the movies as concept designers.

The biggest acts and the brightest stars are on their way to Kirikiriroa.

On Saturday morning he was represented by lawyer Max Simpkins, who applied for bail on his behalf to an address in Auckland. This was opposed by the police.

Mike Mather A North Island animal trainer who kicked a horse in its genitals and then attempted to choke it has received a discharge without conviction in court.

A man accused of shooting another man dead in the Coromandel ranges and injuring a further person can now be named.

Edmondson, described as a farmer in police documents, is renowned both locally and internationally for his deep affinity with the semi-wild pigs that have gathered on his family property for decades.

The driver of a fleeing car from which shots were fired at the police - hitting the bonnet of a pursuing patrol car - has been jailed for five years and three months.

The man who fired those shots, Jarvis Gage, 20, was sentenced to nine months of home detention when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday.

A Waikato man who had just bought and been handed a McDonald's meal expressed his gratitude to the worker who served him by shooting him with an air rifle.

Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said her main lesson from 2024 was to “to keep the optimism and positivity to get through the tough times ... As a