A witness who saw the ferry on fire off the coast of Whakatane said everybody got to shore safely.

International model Danielle Hayes isn't bothered by comments made over her "too thin" frame.

A local resident said Carlos Tauhou Ngamoki got on well with everyone and they were all taking it pretty hard.

A 28-year-old man is in critical condition after allegedly being stabbed in the chest by his partner in Kawerau.

Whakatane police pull over driver who was more than eight times the legal limit.

Another offender has spent nearly two days on the run after slipping his electronic monitoring bracelet while on home detention.

The family of Rangimaria White are preparing to farewell the 14-year-old who was fatally struck in an Opotiki hit-and-run overnight on Saturday.

Family and friends of Rangimaria White, killed in an alleged hit-and-run in Opotiki, have been left shell-shocked.

The school attended by a teenage boy who shot himself in a tragic hunting accident will close on Thursday as a mark of respect.

Jamie Johnston never got the chance to give his mother Ginny her Mother's Day present after a duck hunting trip went horribly wrong.

A 16-year-old boy is dead after a hunting incident at Matata this morning.

People living in provincial New Zealand have been urged to use new air services to Auckland or risk losing them completely.

A wounded hunter has described the moment he was accidentally shot by a friend - a feeling he likened to having a “hot, sharp metal rod” smashed across his back.

A Kawerau man has admitted ripping another man's scrotum with a metal hook.

Three people were taken to hospital after a car and truck collided on State Highway 2 in the Waioeka Gorge, south of Opotiki, last night.

A businesswoman, who is a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, has appealed an order requiring her to return $11.2 million to a Maori land trust.

A Whakatane police officer who shot a dog with an arrow has now been charged - after police reversed an earlier decision not to charge the man.

A misguided dive onto a bed has left a former top volleyball representative not knowing if she will walk again.

A humble road in central Kawerau has been revealed as a bargain hunter's dream, laying claim to the cheapest stretch of residential real estate anywhere in New Zealand.

He did a Superman dive onto his bed the day he died - family mourns teen Charles Tareha, who refused to let cancer define him.

A farmer has suffered serious injuries after he was attacked by a cow in Opotiki.

Some 22 whales that had restranded on a beach near Ohope overnight have all died - some of natural causes and the remainder after being euthanised.

Exclusive: The Warriors are caught up in an investigation into a Maori tourism qualification involving alleged overpayments of $6 million of taxpayers' money.

The two front-runners for the Waiariki seat say there are no hard feelings as they battle for the crucial electorate that could determine any Maori political gains.