Motorists are being urged to take care while driving with severe black ice affecting roads around the country.

A 13-year-old boy has gone missing and police are appealing for the public to help find him.

A 63-year-old man is in Waikato Hospital with serious head injuries after falling down a bank in Taupo last night.

Huka Lodge's owner is appealing a High Court decision that ordered him to pay US$25m to his former business partner.

A man has appeared in Manukau District Court facing charges of bestiality and indecent assault of various animals.

Two high-flying Alexes have been in the legal headlines in the past week: Huka Lodge owner Alex van Heeren and former Heart of the City boss Alex Swney.

An anti-violence group has called for the country to take a lasting stand against domestic abuse following the killing of a Taupo mother.

A post-mortem examination is being held in Auckland today to establish the cause of death of 47-year-old Katrina Rose Drummond.

A hammer is understood to have been found near the body of a Taupo woman allegedly murdered by the father of her three adult daughters.

Elisabeth Easther enjoys the grotto and more at a lakeside retreat in Taupo.

The first time she attempted a skydive, London woman Gwendolyn DeSilva heard the engine cut out and had to make a daring mid-air escape before watching the plane plummet.

The engine of a skydiving plane, which is suspected to have failed over Lake Taupo, will be sent to Canada this week for analysis.

The pilot of a skydiving plane which suffered a suspected engine failure over Lake Taupo was on his first day of flying unsupervised when he made the call to abandon the aircraft.

Skydive instructor on his escape from the plane that nosedived into Lake Taupo this week - and how he felt jumping out of a plane today.

'I survived a fricking plane crash. Nope, not even kidding.' One of the survivors of the Taupo skydive plane crash is glad to be alive.

The type of New Zealand-built aircraft involved in yesterday's skydiving crash has never been in an accident due to a mechanical error before, its maker says.

"Exiting a plane at low altitude to get out and activate parachutes and have them open normally and land safely is amazing."

A man has died while kayaking on Lake Taupo following a suspected heart attack on Monday.

Mighty River Power and the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board have signed a deal over water in Lake Taupo, the terms of which the electricity generator says are confidential.

A Waikato woman was amazed when a last-minute airfare to travel from Taupo to Nelson cost her $445 - more than a return flight to Sydney.

The family of a teenage girl who lost two teeth after being shoved by a police officer at a party is "considering the options" after it was found police exceeded their powers.

A truck driver was hospitalised after chemicals leaked from his truck near Taupo overnight, the fire service says.

A crash near Taupo this morning may have been caused by black ice.

Conservatives leader Colin Craig has won an eleventh-hour High Court scrap over his exclusion from a televised political debate.

Overseas sale of 13,800ha station would be a tragedy, says Conservative leader

A Dutch couple coming to New Zealand to visit their Taupo-based daughter on a "trip of a lifetime" were among those killed on MH17.