Spyridia filamentosa, you are to blame.

Three drivers fled from Northland police within hours of each other, with one allegedly setting the stolen car he was driving on fire.

The Napier-Taupo Road has now reopened after a van plunged 6m down a bank early today.

Holidaymakers heading back to the grind in the Super City have one thing to smile about tonight, for most, it's a clear run home on the roads.

Swathes of the beach at Waipu Cove in Northland are covered in smelly red algae, blighting the spot's usually pristine golden sand.

A neighbour who tried to save the life of a preschooler hit by a car in a farm driveway near Tokoroa was too distressed later to talk about the fatality.

Police are still appealing for sightings of slain mother of two, Jo Pert, and her alleged attacker.

Opito was worth the journey, even if Eveline Harvey didn't get to sample its scallops.

A man in his 20s is now in a stable condition after being stabbed at a West Auckland address early this morning.

The motorcyclist who lost both legs in a crash with a truck remains critically unwell in Auckland City Hospital.

A motorcyclist involved in crash with a truck in Taranaki this afternoon has died.

WATCH: Weta Workshop has lifted the covers off the construction process of Gisborne's new statue of Footrot Flats figures Wal and Dog.

The woman killed on her morning run through the leafy Auckland suburb of Remuera is being remembered a "kind and gentle person".

Four people have been arrested after they allegedly fled police in a stolen car and crashed into a lamp post while trying to avoid road spikes in Raglan last night.

Two men will appear in the Palmerston North District Court on a number of charges after a high speed chase in the city.

Hutt Valley police have finished their search at a property where a people were seen with firearms yesterday.

An Auckland couple chased down two men who crashed while fleeing from a burglary, and held one down until officers arrived.

A 70-year-old man was winched to safety after injuring his ankle while tramping in the Ruahine Range in Manawatu.

A man has received critical head injuries after presenting a fake gun at people inside an Auckland home, police say.

Emergency services are at the scene of yet another water emergency.

A fire at Cambridge Middle School has been extinguished but firefighters are treating the blaze as suspicious.

"They dragged him out and he collapsed" - Man rescued from rip at Cathedral Cove.

Two North Korean doctors died over the weekend, after they got drunk that their wives injected them with some mystery liquid to counteract the alcohol.

A 30-year-old woman was air lifted to a North Island hospital yesterday after she became tangled in a rope swing.

Police have charged a 22-year-old Northland man with the murder of Lee Rata as they continue to investigate whether others were involved in the fatal attack.

A disabled Gisborne man has been arrested after allegedly deliberately driving into a marae, before attacking a passer by's car and threatening to set himself alight at a petrol station.

A yachtie is helpless to stop opportunist thieves helping themselves to prized possession on board his stricken yacht - 11 days after it ran aground.

An 18-year-old Aucklander who loved sport and kapa haka is the youngest victim of the holiday road toll.

An investigation has been launched into racist comments and allegations of sexual assault at a New Year's Eve beach party in Mount Maunganui.

Firefighters had to rescue an elderly driver after her car crashed through a fence at Auckland shopping mall.