Three people in critical conditions have been airlifted to hospital after a boat overturned at Pauanui beach in the Coromandel.

A witness believed about 15 to 20 people had been aboard the boat shortly its engine room was engulfed in flames.

Guests say calls and emails to the holiday rental company have gone unanswered, in some cases for days.

Carl Bromley, a vocal anti-vax mandate churchman, thought his home had been burgled. But it was a police raid in response to his suitability to hold a firearms licence.

A body has been recovered from Waikato River after days of searching.

Armed police and emergency services wearing hazardous material suits attended a fatal crash on State Highway 65 after a substance was found at the crash scene.

Police have named the four Northlanders who died in fatal crashes in the past fortnight.

Four people escaped from Te Au Rere a te Tonga​ on December 29. While one was found on January 2, the other three remain at large.

He was 30-year-old Patuki Hunia Pene Te Kaha Hati Tairua, of Matawaia

Up to 55 firefighters and four helicopters are working on all four flanks of the fire on Wednesday, as temperatures reach 29 degrees.

Despite no missing reports being made to police, inquiries continue after a man and a child reportedly went missing in the surf at Waihī Beach on Tuesday.

The girl was one of five children – aged 10 to 13 – seriously injured in the one-vehicle crash on December 27.

A shortage of parking is causing some "silly decisions" from holidaymakers trying to get on the water.

The number of cases linked to an Auckland brothel continues to grow.

About 1250 managed isolation rooms in March and April are set to go on offer, but anyone coming from Australia is already locked out.

Police are looking for a driver involved in an incident in which a pedestrian was hurt in Wairarapa.

Afternoon temperatures of 25.2 degrees Celsius were recorded at Brooklands Zoo in New Plymouth.

A 14-year-old boy who went missing from his Southgate home on Wednesday afternoon home has been found.

Emergency services and a helicopter were sent to a remote location in Whirinaki Forest Park after reports of an incident involving a child at Mangamate Falls.

Guillermo del Toro and Paul Thomas Anderson have new movies, while Will Smith and Kristen Stewart are earning plaudits aplenty for their latest roles.