NZ@Noon: Young hero and mistaken identity

Keith Thorsen, Carterton, reads a World War I letter from an 8-year-old New Zealand boy to Major General Alexander Godley, asking if he could be allowed to serve in the army.

A young hero's brave words in Carterton and visitors upset by unexpected site in Hawke's Bay are just two of the stories making headlines around the regions today.

"I wood like to go and fite," - the touching words of an 8-year-old boy from 1914 have been read aloud at the Carterton RSA.

"Like a row of bodies" - Korean businessmen were left "traumatised" by an unexpected vision at a development site.

A "menacing trio" who have been on a crime spree through Ruakaka and Whangarei are still at large.

A prank gone wrong left a young Taihape man near death after a fire extinguisher went off in his face.

The 14-year-old who died in a quad bike crash south of Kaikohe last week has been described as a "lovely young man" by locals.

A Tinui man has finally been reunited with a precious family "taonga" after it was tracked down in Australia.

Tauranga apparently has one of the top 10 most dangerous pedestrian railway crossings in New Zealand - and Kiwirail want it closed.

And finally, Rotorua police will appear on a popular TV show in hopes of tracking down the culprits of a vicious assault.