A Dannevirke family have been left with nothing after a suspicious fire destroyed their rural home on Saturday night.

Dannevirke's reputation as one of New Zealand's luckiest Lotto towns has been cemented by a $14.1 million Big Wednesday win.

A 25-year-old soldier was injured after falling 5 metres into a dry riverbed near Dannevirke.

Three divers needed rescuing after drifting out to sea on an inflatable boat without lifejackets, a radio, cellphones or an anchor.

A hunter was winched out of a steep ravine by a rescue helicopter after being stranded for a night in bush on the East Coast.

A Dannevirke man has been told by a local health board his stomach pain may have been caused by a hysterectomy - the surgical removal of a woman's uterus.

A Palmerston North jury has found David Bourke not guilty of murdering his brother Timothy while on the run from police last year.

The trial has begun of a freezing worker accused of shooting dead his brother and driving around the lower North Island with him in the back seat, avoiding police during a two-day manhunt.