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.

A South Auckland intersection that claimed 50 casualties in a decade has topped a list of the country's 100 most dangerous intersections.

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.

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.

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.

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

Two weeks ago, 38-year-old New Zealander Paul Weeks kissed his wife Danica goodbye at the airport.

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.

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.

Stephanie May was buying her husband a card for their 46th wedding anniversary when she received a phone call telling her he had died while motor racing.

Leading Canterbury apprentice jockey Ashley Frye was in an induced coma in Christchurch Hospital last night after a race fall at Ashburton.

A teenager drowned swimming across an artificial lake after seeing his mates having fun on the other side.