Hundreds of bottles of beer were left broken and strewn across State Highway 25 south of Auckland after a truck and car collided, injuring three people, early today.

A young boy was airlifted to hospital after falling from a jungle gym at a Waikato school yesterday.

A teenage tramper was winched to safety in high winds at Raglan's Mt Karioi yesterday afternoon.

A woman in her 60s who fell and injured her ankle has been rescued from the Waitakeres using an 80 foot winch.

A female in her late teens was the sole occupant of a car which left the road and crashed down a bank in the Coromandel this morning.

An abandoned yacht is still transmitting its position at sea in the Bay of Plenty after a dramatic helicopter rescue in which its two crew were winched to safety.

A man has been taken to hospital after a hammer dropped from more than 3m onto his head.

A teenage driver who careered off a cliff in his car says he owes his life to the family he narrowly missed on the rocks below.

A teenager was airlifted to hospital after his car plunged 15m down a bank in the Coromandel this morning.

The name of an Australian woman who died after suffering head injuries in a fall on to rocks has been released.

A man has been airlifted to hospital after hurting his back sliding down sand dunes at a West Auckland beach today.

Critically injured Auckland patients have a better chance of survival on their way to the hospital with rescue helicopters in the city now carrying blood for emergency transfusions.

A man's jaw was broken when he was struck in the face with a golf ball during Labour weekend.

A man has been seriously injured after a piece of machinery fell out of the back of a ute, crushing him underneath it.

A man has been taken to Auckland Hospital after an altercation with a stingray this morning.

Shane Andrews was riding to work across a bridge when a driver distracted by the swollen Waimakariri River crossed the centre line and knocked him into the river.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown has voted to slash funding to the Westpac rescue helicopter service, three days after assuring the service he would sort out a $900,000 funding gap.

The Auckland Council has approved a $14.3 million funding package for 10 regional amenities, which includes a cut for the Westpac helicopter rescue service.

A plan by Auckland Mayor Len Brown to fill a $900,000 gap in the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust's running costs has hit a legal obstacle for council funding.

Auckland's rescue helicopter service claims it has been starved of money - but it turns out to be much better off than its fellow charities.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown was right to act to end a costly court case involving the Auckland rescue helicopter trust and the regional amenities funding body.

Len Brown has called for a funding board at the centre of a row with the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust to be scrapped after its push to slash funding for the trust.

Members of a board which yesterday agreed to halve funding to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust could find themselves in court.

A drop in funding of nearly $500,000 to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust is set to go ahead, a grant allocation board says.

The Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust said it has no option but to head to court today over its funding.

Auckland ratepayers are up for a $500,000 legal bill to defend a court case brought by the city's Westpac rescue helicopter service.