A Gisborne teenager has died after he was critically injured after he fell from the roof of a moving car.

An elderly Gisborne woman's handbag was stolen while she took holy communion at a city church on Sunday and other church parishioners have been warned about it.

Firefighters are returning to the scene of a major scrub fire that gutted a house, destroyed a shed and forced the evacuation of baches and homes in the Hawke's Bay.

The three children aged five, eight and nine have been referred to Youth Aid.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested and charged over an alleged sex attack on a woman in Gisborne on New Year's Day.

Emergency services are battling a scrub fire in Gisborne.

A Gisborne family have made a plea for the return of their stolen husky.

Police in Gisborne are hunting a man who attacked a woman as she slept at a campground early on New Year's Day.

Big swells predicted to surge up the eastern side of New Zealand from Kaikoura to north of Mahia Peninsula

As most Kiwis were partying to see the new year in, others were being born.

The MetService is forecasting rain for much of New Zealand today, perhaps ruining plans for post-party barbecues and sunbathing.

Revellers packed out bars and party-hot spots the length of the country last night to welcome in 2017. Fine weather in most of the

A spectacular fireworks display off Auckland's Sky Tower and parties around the country herald the start of a new year.

American hip hop artist Chance the Rapper wooed a capacity crowd on the first day of Rhythm and Vines, telling the crowd he would move to NZ.

Sombre music rang out as the band opened the service with a tribute to Sione Taumalolo, 11, and Talita Moimoi Fifita, 33, killed in the bus crash.

Crash survivors still weak but 'doing okay' after their flight from Gisborne.

Road toll now equal to last summer's following death of motorcyclist.

The surviving members of the Tongan band involved in last week's bus crash will fly to Auckland tomorrow, courtesy of Air New Zealand.

Tonga's deputy prime minister is focused on getting the schoolchildren involved in a Christmas Eve bus tragedy in New Zealand home.

A teen killed alongside two young friends in a "preventable" early morning crash has been remembered in an emotional tribute urging other drivers to take care.

The 11-year-old boy who died in the Christmas Eve bus crash was "quiet, kind and smiley" his sister says.

State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Wairoa will be closed at some point over the next two days to investigate at fatal bus crash.

Her smile always made him happy, says the widower of Gisborne bus crash victim.

Don't let the morning cloud fool you - it is set to be a fine Boxing Day for New Zealanders, with Central Otago tipped as the best place to be.

Tongan community mourns two visitors' deaths in bus crash after brakes failed to work, survivors say.

The two people killed in the Christmas Eve bus crash near Gisborne last night have been named, as the driver of the bus says the brakes failed.

Two people have died after a bus carrying school bands and their chaperons from Tonga went 100m off a bank and crashed south of Gisborne.

What will start out as a cloudy morning for most of the country should clear as the Christmas day wears on, but the odd shower is in store too.

Wet weather today will clear throughout the country making way for a mainly fine Christmas weekend.

There was a record downpour in Auckland, a tornado in Taranaki and "quake lights" above Wellington. Oh, and 2016 was likely also New Zealand's hottest year on record.