A Wellington diver who made headlines when he mysteriously disappeared from Titahi Bay near Porirua gave an elaborate account of being abducted when he turned up some 300km away two days later.

A man who faked his disappearance on a diving trip then turned up at a Hawkes Bay police station had claimed he'd been sexually assaulted, it emerged today as he pleaded guilty to wasting police time.

Police have named a Sydney woman who died after falling over 400 metres down a slippery ice face in the Fiordland National Park. She had planned to celebrate her 39th birthday. It was left to rescuers to tell the woman's husband of her fate

All Blacks winger Joe Rokocoko has been reinstated to the Blues' starting team to play the Chiefs on Saturday.

The Securities Commission has applied for a court order to prevent partnerships associated with Bernard Whimp from transferring shares from investors who accepted his low-ball offers.

New Zealand's military presence in Bamiyan will remain at current levels for at least a year.

That was Skeptics Society chair Vicki Hyde's response to billboards claiming the world will end on May 21.

I don't know what has happened to my formerly cherubic little girl of late.

A legal row between the widow of Sir Edmund Hillary and his children over who owns some of his treasures heads to court in Auckland today with the hope it will be settled without a full hearing.