At least 10 people have been hurt, one critically and three seriously, after five serious crashes on Waikato and Bay of Plenty roads today.

A car has gone into the Waipawa River in central Hawke's Bay.

A motorcyclist has collided with a van in the suburb of Otangarei in Whangarei.

A pedestrian has died after being hit by a car outside Palmers Garden Centre in Remuera, Auckland.

The family of the man arrested over the stabbing of French tourist in Australia's Northern Territory are distraught, as the victim's wife is released from hospital.

Six fire crews are battling a "well involved" Nelson house fire and searching the property to see if anyone is inside.

A Wairarapa woman who died of injuries suffered while trying to rescue her cat from a cabbage tree had been stuck in its branches for up to two hours.

A woman in her 40s is fighting for her life after she was hit by a truck at Turua near Thames.

Police have today pulled a body from the Takaka River - that of missing man James Rano Dick, known locally as Hemi.

A fellow boatie said he had laid complaints about skipper Bill McNatty's competence.

Central Hawke's Bay College is on lockdown due to the threat of toxic smoke from a fire at the derelict Waipukurau Hospital's nurses' quarters.

Naked, with two lifejackets pinned under each arm, Iripa Iripa crawled up Muriwai Beach.

A survivor of the Kaipara Harbour disaster was too big for the lifejackets, and desperately clung to the flotation devices while he swam to shore badly injured.

Police have suspended the search for the man still missing from yesterday's Kaipara Harbour tragedy until 5.30am tomorrow, because

The search for the last victim of the Kaipara charter boat tragedy is under way this morning.

Tongan cousins Alipate "Pate" Manumu'a and Sunia "Junior" Ungo'unga died in the charter boat tragedy.

A sixth person has died almost a week after Melbourne was hit by an unprecedented thunderstorm asthma outbreak.

A seven-year-old boy whose head got stuck in an electric gate near Auckland's Botanic Gardens yesterday is in a stable condition in intensive care.

Onlookers desperately tried to free a 7-year-old boy whose head became stuck in an electric gate near Auckland Botanic Gardens this afternoon.

A pregnant woman is in hospital after suffering critical injuries when the car she was driving and another vehicle collided in the Dome Valley.

Two Canterbury fires are being treated as suspicious after being discovered one street apart in the early hours of Saturday morning.

One person is in a critical condition follow a two-car crash on State Highway 1, just north of Tirau.

Panicked driver called emergency services, desperately seeking help, as his car hurtled along a motorway for eight minutes before the call ended abruptly.

Canterbury Civil Defence hopes to reopen one lane of the Inland Rd into Kaikoura tomorrow afternoon.

A man has died in a single car crash in Ahipara south east of Kaitaia.

A woman who was in one of the cars crushed when a 30m tree fell at Cornwall Park has been reunited with the man who came to her rescue.

More than 25 police staff remain in Kaikoura and the surrounding area offering reassurance to locals and offering their assistance.

Three workmen were hospitalised after a gas pipe was cut at Massey University in Palmerston North today.

Police have pulled a body from the Waikato river after a group of people lost sight of their friend in the waterway earlier.

A Fire Service spokeswoman said eight trucks were at the scene, and they were notified of it at 8.30pm.