A man is critically ill in an Auckland hospital after stepping into the path of a petrol tanker last night.

Prop Toby Smith will make his first start for the Chiefs in a Super 14 rugby match against the Stormers in Hamilton on Friday night.

The seaside Waikato township of Raglan is reeling after parts of the historic wharf went up in flames this morning.

The grieving family of three children killed by their father in Melbourne are fighting to have their bodies returned to NZ.

A quick-thinking hero who pulled a driver from a fiery crash which claimed the lives of two people, including a baby, said the man stank of alcohol and didn't know what day it was.

Police have confirmed today that the body found in the Waikato River at Meremere is that of missing Hamilton woman Audrey Gibson.