The scene of a fatal collision between a car and a motorbike in the Bay of Plenty has been examined by police.

An elderly passenger killed after rocks smashed into the car she was in has been identified as 75-year-old Heather Joy Thompson of New Plymouth.

An 18-month-old girl found with fatal injuries in the driveway of her West Auckland home was hit by a car - but police say it is not yet known who was driving it.

A rock fall which smashed into a car, killing an elderly passenger, shunted the vehicle about 20m along the road.

The owners of four dogs which mauled a young girl in their back garden have been charged.

Residents were allowed back into their Auckland homes after a hydrochloric acid spill this morning cleared parts of New Windsor, Mt Albert and Blockhouse Bay.

Hawkes Bay and East Coast Aero Club president Bruce Govenlock says the deaths of his friend and a UK pilot in today's plane crash were a "terrible tragedy''.

A man has died in a crash in Northland this morning.

Three people were injured after a car crashed into a power pole this morning, causing a fire.

One person has died in a crash on State Highway 5 between Taupo and Rotorua.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will continue indefinitely in the ocean off West Australia, but authorities want to be clear the effort could be fruitless.

A Northland family on a day trip and a local triathlete "jumped into action" to help save a 4-year-old boy after his father went into cardiac arrest.

A teenager who became trapped on a steep bluff in the Waitakere Ranges in darkness used the screen light from his cellphone to guide rescuers.

The Kiwi air force crew searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane were "very deflated" after they failed to find any wreckage from the aircraft.

Improving weather conditions should help the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 today, forecasters said.

A heavy backlog of traffic is expected this morning as a major route to Auckland Airport is closed following the fatal crash of a lorry overnight.

The 7-year-old mauled by dogs in Murupara has had a 10-hour operation to begin to repair the facial wounds she received during the attack.

A Civil Aviation Authority inquiry is under way this afternoon into a fatal helicopter crash in a forestry block near Gisborne this morning in which a 53-year-old local man died.

Motorcyclist Ross Blair is not just another name in the death notices. He was a farmer with a loving wife and four children.

The father of a promising young jockey, who was in an induced coma after falling on her head during a race, is confident his daughter will recover.

Surfers rescued two men who were thrown from their boat while trying to enter the Buller River off Carters Beach, Westport.

An East Coast family whose children have run free in the rugged outdoors for generations say they need to change.