Speed, alcohol and driver fatigue all appear to have been contributing factors in a crash on SH1 at Horotiu, north of Hamilton, today that has left two young men fighting for their lives.

A man was left fighting for his life after a stabbing in Whitianga in the Coromandel early today.

Queues of New Year's Eve traffic are beginning to build around the country.

Liquor bans are in place and police numbers are being boosted in many of the traditional New Year's Eve hot spots.

Hamilton police are appealing for help in identifying a limping man who leapt from a bridge into the Waikato River today.

The death of a man found on top of a fire heap near Hamilton today is not being treated as suspicious.

A 20-year-old man remains in a serious condition in Waikato Hospital's intensive care unit after a crash in the Waikato last night.

Residents of the Claudelands area of Hamilton East are being urged to contact Waikato Hospital if they find any medical referral letters in their rubbish.

Two boys aged 14 and 16 have been charged with attempted murder after a police officer was attacked with a knife and a machete.

Hamilton Zoo have had an early Christmas present this year - four meerkats from Auckland Zoo.

A selection of Christmas church services in the main centres.

Temperatures were in the late twenties across the top half of the north today, with the humidity making it feel more like the thirties in Auckland.

Rainfall over the past few days has made a Waikato farmer's "wishes come true", but he warns its effect will not be immediate.