A kayaker who drowned in a New Zealand river at the weekend was pictured in front of the raging water just hours before he lost his life.

New Zealand wakeboarder Brad Smeele has suffered a setback since his serious accident almost two weeks ago.

A Taumarunui mum is serving a life sentence. Her gut instinct told her it wasn't safe to hold her baby in her lap and put the carseat in the boot , but Mary Navacilla did it anyway, just this once.

Two families will never be the same again. Shane Summerfield lost his wife, Sally, and his 12-year-old daughter, Ella; Sam Summerfield lost his mother and his little sister.

It is like Pauly has died again and we are in that huge emotional hole of shock and absolute despair.

Black ice has caused several crashed on State Highway 5 this morning, with parts of central North Island experiencing temperatures well below zero.

A person has died after a motorbike crash north of Auckland.

One person was taken to hospital in a critical condition after a crash on Auckland's Tamaki Drive this morning.

New Zealand journalist Alexi O'Brien this morning described the scene as horrendous. O'Brien is in the Ukraine for Al Jazeera.

"We have every expectation our son will be getting off a plane in Wellington tomorrow," says Wendy Ayley, mother of Otaki man Robert Ayley, who was on flight MH17.

A fate as horrific as that of the 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 invites a thorough rethinking of a number of cherished notions.

News organisations have forever struggled with determining the line where news value ends and shock value and sensationalism begin.

A New Zealand woman has been confirmed as being among the victims of the Malaysia Airlines crash. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully confirmed the death and said another person, a British citizen who had been living in New Zealand, was also killed. The New Zealand woman, a longtime resident of Australia, was travelling with her husband, a Dutch citizen."Our thoughts are with the families and friends of those involved," says Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

Crash victim Shane Summerfield has been in “unbearable pain” since losing half his family, he told a court today.

A Napier truck driver negotiating the steep Otira Viaduct for the first time probably experienced brake failure, a coroner has ruled.

Just over two months ago, a battered Phoenix Ruddell lay in an induced coma at Starship Hospital with injuries so serious that doctors expected a long road back to recovery.

Motocross rider Todd Mullinder is alive today because he had emergency surgery on the back of a ute.

A 28-year-old mother swept to her death in a flood-swollen Bay of Islands river screamed for five minutes as she clung to a fence but the raging waters pulled her under.

In the aftermath of the tragic death of Jordan Kemp, we examine the way parents are increasingly turning their back on rugby to keep their children safe.

An inquest in Gloucester has heard how a plane crash that killed a British pilot in the Congo may have been caused by passengers panicking over an escaped crocodile.

As the parents of Jordan Kemp raced to hospital, they assured themselves the teen couldn't die from a rugby injury.

The family of New Zealand's top wakeboarder have been told he is a quadriplegic after a devastating accident - but remain hopeful that he will defy the odds.

Hundreds gathered in stormy weather to say haere ra to a young Northland rugby player - four days after he died from a head injury he suffered while playing for his club.

Everyone needs good neighbours - and Kevin Walker's got the best. He is alive only because Sam Woolford gave him CPR for 10 minutes after he went into cardiac arrest.