The country's top military leader has publicly apologised to the family of an airman killed when an old artillery round unexpectedly exploded.

One witness has told a murder trial the accused was kissing his girlfriend before he crashed into a car, and another that they were arguing.

A man accused of murdering a woman by deliberately swerving into her car said he "might as well" kill himself, a court had been told.

Two occupants of a plane which crashed near Ohakune this morning have survived unscathed.

A man has admitted killing his two friends when he sped away from police and crashed into two power poles.

Police say they are "devastated" by the Labour Weekend road toll, which closed at eight - the same number as last year.

A widow wants pilots to stay away from a helicopter involved in 30 crashes in six years in which nine people have died, including two this month.

Fellow hunters have expressed "disgust" at the actions of a man who shot dead a woman after he mistook her for a animal.

The principal of a tiny school in the Hutt Valley faces the heart-breaking task of telling pupils a popular teacher was shot dead at the weekend by a hunter stalking deer at night.

Six people have died in five separate Labour Weekend accidents in Wanganui, Southland, Canterbury, Hawke's Bay and the Waikato.