'I wasn't involved,' says a man - jailed for a hostel fire in Australia which killed a tourist - whose house has been hit twice by fire in Wanganui.

A 14-year-old boy had to leap for his life in Wanganui yesterday as a car crashed through the fence he was standing in front of.

Holidaymakers heading home this weekend will be hoping a 5km queue of traffic near Whangarei yesterday will not recur.

The Wanganui man charged with helping convicted murderer and child molester Phillip Smith get a false passport met him in prison seven years ago.

Last Friday, Whanganui District Health Board members voted 9-2 to spell the name of their hospital correctly as Whanganui with an "h".

Whanganui man pleads not guilty to rape

A woman who spent 14 hours alone with the wreckage of her car after she crashed down a bank had to set her car on fire to attract attention.

A driver was stabbed by a hitchhiker he picked up near Wanganui at the weekend, police say.

This diverse river city offers adventures, galleries, top cafes and more, writes Elisabeth Easther.

A deer hunter has been hospitalised after his quad bike rolled and crushed him in remote forest overnight.

Michael Laws has been asked to take a paternity test to determine whether the son of his ex-girlfriend is his child.

Convicted sex offender Alan Rubick was highly manipulative and skilled at identifying young vulnerable boys, the High Court at Wanganui was told.

Police have given former Wanganui mayor Michael Laws a formal warning after he was accused of smacking his child.

Police investigating the homicide of Wanganui man Brett Hall have arrested and charged a man with his murder.

An Auckland man who fell 40 metres down a remote bluff into the Whanganui River on Thursday is lucky to be alive, his wife says.

One person died at today's dawn Anzac service in Wanganui.

A Wanganui dairy has gone smokefree - and business has never been better, says its owner.

A woman convicted of the 2008 murder of a Wanganui man, who was attacked in the mistaken belief he was a gang member, is being given the chance to appeal her conviction by the Supreme Court.

Three people have been killed on the roads this weekend, including a young woman who crashed into a tree after fleeing from police in Wanganui.

A woman killed in a crash after a police pursuit in Wanganui last night was caught driving drunk earlier in the evening, police say.