Tonight's cricket test between New Zealand and England at Lord's is the first being played in front of fans in the UK in nearly two years. It's the first of two tests before New Zealand play India in the final of the ICC test championship in Southampton later this month. Christian Smith is at Lord's.

Teenagers worried about the cost of getting to the ball now have a helping hand, in the form of two modern-day fairy godmothers.

Whakatane residents are breathing a sigh of relief that the city's mill has been sold.

Testing is being carried out on the Ashburton bridge tonight to see if light vehicles are able to use it, and closed roads in the region have blocked key delivery routes

Who is the clearest of them all? That's the question asked by the judges of the Plain English Awards - entries open tomorrow, and people are asked to submit examples of clear communication.

In Melbourne there are three new cases of Covid linked to private aged care facilities

Canterbury Civil Defence regional duty officer Andrew Howe, and Ashburton mayor Neil Brown give Lately an update on the flooding situation across the region.

Wellington's intrepid music selector Finn Johansson joins Karyn with his insights into new releases from near and far. Tonight Finn's drawing fine lines from Anthony Joseph, Marco Papiro, and Pickle Darling.

What is a Self Portrait? In the simplest terms it's a portrait of an artist created by that artist. Karyn speaks with Viky Garden who challenges the assumption that portraiture is no longer relevant in contemporary art.

There's a code red warning for Canterbury and MetService says about 200 to 300 millimetres of rain could fall on the Canterbury high country and foothills with between 80 to 100 millimetres on the plains and coast over the next three days. The rain is expected to cause dangerous river conditions and significant flooding and the warning is valid for 44 hours from 3pm tomorrow - Saturday to 11am on Monday for the area south of Ashley in North Canterbury. Karyn speaks with Raewyn Thomas from the Ashley Hotel.