Two people hit by lightning yesterday have survived to describe a flash of heat, a walloping sensation and tingling.

A coroner has ruled that a 10-year-old boy committed suicide, but has banned publication of any details in a bid to protect other youngsters from copy-cat deaths.

Former Rockforte Finance director John Patrick Gardner has plead guilty to five Crimes Act charges in the High Court at Gisborne today.

Sentencing of a Gisborne driver who caused the death of a motorcyclist in a head-on collision near Opotiki last year, has been scheduled for November 7.

The new boss for the Serious Fraud Office has been named as Australian Julie Read.

Empire of the Sun are set to headline this year's Rhythm & Vines New Year's festival.

Two men were thrown from their vehicle when it crashed into a concrete wall in Gisborne last night.

A family at a Gisborne house got a nasty fright when a column oil heater exploded, showering sparks and hot oil, and sending clouds of smoke through their home.

Brandishing a ball point pen while trying unsuccessfully to force a Gisborne shop attendant to hand over the contents of her till has landed a teenager behind bars.

The infant siblings badly burned in a Gisborne car fire are likely to face dozens more operations and many weeks in hospital as they recover.

A student pilot was lucky to walk away from an emergency landing on an East Cape beach.

A Gisborne family are overnight multi-millionaires after winning more than $6.3 million on Lotto, including the $6m Powerball jackpot, on Saturday.

The family of two children who were severely burned in a car fire in Gisborne last week are maintaining a bedside vigil as the pair continue to fight for their lives in hospital.

A hero first aider has described the moments he thought a three-year-girl had died after she was pulled from a horrific car fire in Gisborne.

Two pre-schoolers who were trapped in a burning car in Gisborne remain hospitalised in a serious condition.

A relatively large earthquake struck off the coast of the North Island's East Coast overnight.

Gisborne Hospital can not rule out that more human body parts have been thrown in the garbage, after shocked rubbish workers discovered bone fragments at the dump.