A golfer was in a serious but stable condition in hospital last night after falling 30m down a cliff while looking for his golfball.

A 6-year-old boy was killed when fire ripped through a Whanganui house last night.

Nearly a million 111 calls last year were from people bumping the phone, kids playing or prank calls.

Three teenagers were killed and two others left fighting for their lives after their small car collided with a bus yesterday on a notorious stretch of State Highway One.

Agnes was perched on the boot of a car with a mate when her best friend started the engine. For whatever reason, the pair didn't get off.

Police yesterday sealed off a suburban Auckland street after a woman barricaded herself in her home and threatened to release nerve gas.

A 15-year-old's quick reactions and CPR expertise ensured a happy ending to a cardiac emergency.

A police officer knocked unconscious at a call-out last night has barely any memory of the attack, say police.

Police have named the motorcyclist who died when his bike collided with a patrol car which was doing a U-turn at the time.

Police have lifted a cordon set after a bomb threat was made against a central Auckland bank today.

More than half of the people injured in house fires went back into their burning home to fight the blaze or grab possessions.

A freak accident that left a bike brake lever embedded in a mountainbiker's hand had hospital staff running - for their cameras.

The grieving families of two teenage boys killed in separate crashes have spoken of their loss.

A quick-thinking hero who pulled a driver from a fiery crash which claimed the lives of two people, including a baby, said the man stank of alcohol and didn't know what day it was.

Several sheets of glass fell on men unloading a shipping container, one breaking and causing fatal wounds to a worker yesterday, police say.