Globs of fat spilled on to the road, into drains and the Ahuriri Estuary after a truck carrying a tankful of fat ruptured a valve, leaking 6000kg to 8000kg of fat.

A Wairoa woman has been charged with manslaughter following the death of a Napier mother of three.

After the excesses of Christmas and New Year celebrations, Joelle Thomson investigates North Island walks for you to check out on your holidays.

Peter Beckett will be in the dock at Canada's highest court this week, when jury selection starts before he stands trial for murder, accused of killing his wife.

Every ski run is an act of raw go-it-alone courage.

A motorist drove a car into a policeman at a roadside checkpoint, leaving the officer with injuries to his legs, face and arms.

Central Hawkes Bay's controversial Ruataniwha Dam irrigation scheme received a setback yesterday.

Central Hawkes Bay's controversial Ruataniwha dam irrigation scheme received a setback today with High Court ruling that the board of inquiry that approved the project made errors when evaluating it.

A man who killed a sickness beneficiary with a taiaha has today been sentenced to 17 years jail.

Sexual predator and former St John officer Christopher King has admitted assaulting two girls, as more evidence of his sinister past is revealed.

A former St John officer convicted of sexual offending has pleaded guilty to more charges.

A Hastings woman has been referred to Child, Youth and Family after leaving her 6-month-old baby on the floor of a Hastings KFC restaurant yesterday.

A principal who formed a sexual relationship with a teacher and threatened her if she told anyone he'd made her pregnant has been found guilty of serious misconduct.

A Muslim man is calling on "souljahs of Allah" to make their way to Hawke's Bay and join him in forming the "Islamic State of Aotearoa".

The police national dive squad will today search for a snorkeler who went missing from a Hawkes Bay beach.

A man being treated for drinking petrol was killed after he jumped from an ambulance and into the path of a truck in the Hawkes Bay, police say.

A Hawke's Bay mechanic says he found two women - one unresponsive, the other trapped and covered in blood - as he rushed to the scene of a serious crash near Hastings yesterday.

An ambulance officer accused of eight sex crimes claims a teenage patient was "huffing" gas in his ambulance, a place he described as "safe".

A forensic scientist says she has "extremely strong scientific support" a teenage girl's DNA was found on the fingernails of the ambulance officer accused of sexually violating her.

A Hawke's Bay Muslim man has come out in support of terror group Isis, and is trying to spread his beliefs through social media.

The home of sunshine has a lot of activities to offer away from the usual charms of beach and blue sky, writes Julie Haines.

A Hastings primary school is in lockdown, with pupils told to stay indoors, as police search for a gunman in the area.

"It was horrible, I've never seen so much blood." Two women have described rushing to help a boatie who was deeply cut in the groin by a propeller.

A strong quake has shaken the lower east coast of the North Island this morning.

A 17-year-old boy was airlifted to hospital after suffering multiple injuries in a crash in the Hawkes Bay this morning.

An elderly bus driver was jailed today after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting girls on his bus.

Flaxmere streaker Rose Kupa says she's knocked off one task on her bucket list, but the All Blacks are not impressed.

New Zealand's best produce is world class and a first-rate reason to travel, writes Nadia Lim.