Thirteen people were treated for injuries after a crash between a car and a van on the Waikato Expressway, just 1km south of the Meremere Dragway this afternoon.

An Auckland woman smashed a 77-year-old man in the head and set his legs on fire, before closing the door to his bedroom and leaving him to die, a court has heard.

Six people have been taken to hospital injuries after a deck collapsed during a family function in West Auckland this afternoon.

Horrified swimmers describe seeing a huge shark in Australian waters after man killed in front of them.

When the Kaingaroa Forest Volunteer Fire Brigade membership dwindled to just four, the station was faced with closure.

A crash driver has been found guilty today of causing the death of his friend and leaving him to die on the side of the road — but not guilty of a more serious charge that alcohol was likely behind the fatal crash.

A person is dead following a house fire in Wanaka overnight.

A man was taken to hospital with a knife still embedded in his chest after an attack in Auckland last night.

A driver caused a crash that fatally injured his mate, then left him to die by the roadside before fleeing to the Gold Coast, a court was told today.

A pedestrian is critically injured after being hit by a truck in west Auckland this afternoon.

'It was a wonderful flight, we were having a great time.' An American couple have spoken about the day their scenic Lord of the Rings flight turned deadly.

A young man has died after his car hit a power pole in Hawke's Bay overnight.

The son of a pilot killed in a light plane crash yesterday has paid tribute to his “hero” father’s actions in saving his two passenger’s lives.

A Queenstown man has died at the scene of the light plane crash in the Poolburn area in Central Otago this afternoon, police said.

A body was found inside a Christchurch house overnight in what police are at this stage treating as a suspicious death.

Two people remain hospitalised following a school bus crash on the East Coast yesterday.

Thirteen people including teenagers were injured when a school bus crashed into a ditch on State Highway 2 near Gisborne this afternoon.

The man killed while pruning a tree in Feilding today was apparently crushed against the trunk by safety equipment, police say.

A man who says he was "sleep-driving" when he allegedly crashed a car into a Wairarapa property last year has made a brief appearance in court today.

A St John Ambulance trial in which nurses call people back to assess their condition before sending an ambulance is being criticised by patients.

Lives were put at risk from couch fires lit too close to houses in Dunedin's student quarter, Dunedin police and the Fire Service have warned.