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Idiot throwing nails onto highway could face serious charges, warn police.

Two people have been freed from the wreckage of a truck and car collision near Blenheim.

A large vegetation fire that came within five metres of a new Blenheim subdivision and forced the evacuation of 60 homes was deliberately lit, authorities have confirmed.

Crews battling a suspicious vegetation fire near Blenheim are facing challenging conditions.

A bush fire which threatened homes near Blenheim this afternoon is being treated as suspicious.

Residents on Gascoyne, Budge, Henderson and Gardiner streets should stay inside, police say.

A woman jailed after she hijacked an Air New Zealand flight is warning she will do it again when she is released.

Firefighters are battling three scrub fires near Blenheim this afternoon.

Police are concerned for the safety of a teenage boy missing from Blenheim.

The father of George Anderson, whose body was removed from rural Hangaroa yesterday afternoon, was also a pilot.

Eight properties in Marlborough have been identified as being too badly damaged to be entered.

Businesses in quake-hit areas will be paid to keep on staff for at least eight weeks, the Govt says.

As Govt announces its relief package, Kaikoura businesses spell out what they need to survive.

West Coast police today advised motorists to take extra care when driving through the Lewis Pass and Maruia Valley on SH7 and SH65 as traffic numbers build up.

Police are checking that people have a legitimate reason to be in quake-hit areas.

New aerial photos show there is much work to be done after Monday's 7.8 quake.

A mercy mission into rural quake-hit Marlborough has led to donations for farming communities and offers of help.

The Clarence River has burst its banks, with residents being told to move to high ground immediately, as aftershocks continue to rock the country.

Scott Watson has always claimed he is innocent of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope.

A man who was beaten up as he walked home from work says two men attacked him simply because he was wearing a pink shirt.

Victim had been at the intersection when he was confronted by a man holding a knife.

A winemaker is hooked on pinot and the land where it's grown, writes Stephanie Holmes.

A message in a bottle found in the Chatham Islands has helped solve the mystery of another letter in a bottle found on Nelson's Boulder Bank more than a decade ago.

Demonstrations calling for the release of convicted murderer Scott Watson were held in Christchurch and Blenheim today by people protesting his innocence.

A 20-year-old woman is desperately searching for her father with a Bob Marley jersey possibly providing a vital clue.

There has been a death at a level crossing in Blenheim this afternoon.

Police have found 82-year-old Eileen Stewart and say she is fit and well.

No one was injured in the fire on Mountainview Rd.

A 48-year-old woman has been charged with murder, after the discovery of the body of a 20-year-old woman at a residential Blenheim address.