APNZ

A Mount Maunganui teenager spent Christmas Day in the burns unit of Waikato Hospital after surviving an explosion that blew out almost all of the windows in her family home.

Manslaughter charges have been laid against the driver of the car in which two teenage sisters were travelling before they died on Christmas Day.

One person was killed and four others seriously injured when two cars collided on the Desert Rd in the Ruapehu District this afternoon.

A three-year-old child was seriously injured when he was struck by a four-wheel-drive south of Levin this morning.

Alcohol and speed are the two contributing factors identified in a coroner's report on the death of a man whose car crashed on State Highway 2, north of Otane in Hawke's Bay.

The Attorney-General is seeking court costs of almost $14,000 from the cameraman at the centre of the "tea tapes'' saga.

Hours before she was killed with her sister in a Christmas Day crash, a girl posted a moving message to her late grandmother and talked about the fun she was having with her family.

Emergency crews were sent on a wild goose chase this afternoon after an an emergency beacon on a boat was inadvertently activated between Coromandel and Auckland.

A widow who lost her husband in a holiday drowning tragedy has called on people to drop their "bulletproof'' attitudes to water safety.

Boxing Day shoppers were out in force yesterday with transaction figures up 6.9 percent this year compared with last year.