A potential disaster was narrowly avoided at a Hamilton petrol station last night after an agitated man allegedly set fire to a car and assaulted a man.

A man who admitted to assaulting a lone Kawhia police officer has been sentenced to nine months in prison, but will walk free later today.

A woman who was hit by a car in Hamilton early this morning has died of her injuries.

An 18-year-old man was due to appear in Hamilton District Court this morning following the stabbing of two teenagers in Hamilton yesterday morning.

A section of the country's main highway has been shut down due to a gas leak in Hamilton.

Police are still searching for the weapon a 19-year-old relative allegedly used to kill a 38-year-old man who was at his Hamilton home yesterday.

Police investigating a murder in Hamilton are interviewing a 19-year-old man who handed himself in to police in Auckland this morning.

A Hamilton teenager who allegedly used an air rifle to shoot a man in the back and another in the buttocks on different days outside a pizza store has been remanded on bail.

By this time next year, the first buildings could be going up in Wanaka's single-biggest commercial and residential development.

St John's Ambulance have described the attack on a sole female officer who was assaulted after she responded to a fake call for help in Hamilton as "absolutely despicable''.

Police say they are appalled that adults supplied a young boy with alcohol and concerned he was re-victimised when footage of his antics was posted on YouTube.

A scrub fire has forced a halt to train traffic outside Hamilton.

A Hamilton bistro has been destroyed by a fire today, devastating its owners.

A Hamilton business owner is in an induced coma after being attacked on Friday evening when he tried to break up a drunken argument.

A domestic stabbing in Hamilton this morning has led to warnings of the volatile mix of alcohol and increased Christmas financial pressure.

Danielle Wright takes her family on a nostalgic trip back to 50s New Zealand at a vintage car museum in Hamilton.

A body recovered from the Waikato River yesterday has been formally identified as missing Australian Paul Arber.

A body recovered from the Waikato River today was found by a group of teenage rowers from Hamilton Girls High School, police say.

The parents of a missing Australian tennis coach believe their son is still alive and have made a desperate plea for help from the public to find him.

A close friend of missing Australian tennis coach Paul Arber says a sighting of him in the Waikato River early on Sunday has given him hope that he is still alive.

Hamilton mayor Julie Hardaker says people are over the fluoridation issue and just want decisions made about their drinking water.