The family of a girl, 5, found dead last month had to be restrained when the man accused of sexually violating her appeared in court today.

They may not be able to exchange wedding rings, but a couple who survived a four-car smash will be united forever by matching scars.

Roads and vehicles must be "more forgiving" to curb a road toll which averages more than one death a day, the AA says. Figures released by the Ministry of Transport today show 371 people died on the roads over the past year.

The holiday road toll has risen to six after a fatal crash on the Napier-Taupo highway this afternoon.

A chronically ill Hawkes Bay girl has been put on experimental drugs to stop her body rejecting transplanted organs.

Matisse Reid's celebration of her 10th birthday and Christmas Day came to a halt when she was taken back into intensive care.

This is the face of the latest New Zealand child to die as a result of alleged abuse. Five-year-old Sahara Jayde Baker-Koro was found dead in her bed in Napier early on Tuesday.

The mother of a girl, 5, found dead in her bed after an alleged assault was trying to escape violence in her life.

A man has been remanded in custody after he appeared in court charged with assault over the death of a girl, 5, in Napier.

Power has been restored to Napier after a felled tree shortcircuited a cable supplying electricity to more than 21,000 people.

From Napier to New York, Nga Waiata's striking jewellery is making some waves.

9-year-old Matisse Reid - the girl who can't eat - was yesterday in a bad way in a Pittsburgh hospital.