A message from Pope Francis will be delivered this weekend to Kiwis affected by last month's Kaikoura earthquake.

A Christchurch builder who shone a laser pointer at an international passenger jet carrying 121 passengers, dazzling flight crew, has today been jailed for 10 weeks.

Nicole Smith has been found safe on a rural road west of Timaru.

The Kaikoura Earthquake will cost the Government up to $3 billion, the Treasury estimates.

Primary school children in earthquake-hit Kaikoura returned to school and a sense of normality today.

INTERACTIVE: Dams created by landslides in this month's 7.8 quake have been pin-pointed on a detailed new map created by GNS Science and Environment Canterbury.

An HIV-positive Christchurch nursing assistant is accused of having unprotected sex with Grindr dates.

When Stevie arrived and saw Richie McCaw standing in front of a helicopter she was "gobsmacked, speechless", her mother said.

This cutie was amazingly discovered five days after the 7.8 magnitude quake.

A truck and car were involved in a serious accident north of Christchurch this morning.

The signs of summer are among us with pohutakawa trees flowering already and forecasters say the official first day of the season on Thursday will be calm and dry.

Compared to other fibres, yak wool is more sustainable because yaks aren't farmed specifically for wool.

An 18-year-old university student cycled over two hours along Kaikoura's quake-stricken coastline driven by one goal - to catch a flight.

The Government will urgently pass quake recovery laws which allow landslips in the South Island to be cleared into the ocean without consent.

A Dunedin mother-of-three missing since Thursday last week is in Australia, police have confirmed.

All Black Aaron Smith has been pictured in public with his partner Teagan Voykovich for the first time after his toilet incident earlier this year.

COMMENT: Earthquakes make New Zealand great. We would not have a country without them.

COMMENT: The shaking may have shattered homes, dreams and livelihoods, but the spirit of the people remains unbroken.

A stark image of three cows stranded on an island created by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake near Kaikoura captured global attention last week.

Women are being branded an untapped resource in filling the national trades shortage, as a new company seeks to get women into the construction industry.

Canterbury Civil Defence hopes to reopen one lane of the Inland Rd into Kaikoura tomorrow afternoon.

More than 25 police staff remain in Kaikoura and the surrounding area offering reassurance to locals and offering their assistance.

Holidaymakers are being urged not to write post-quake Kaikoura off as a destination.

Several hundred people have gathered to pay their respects to Kaikoura man Louis Edgar, who perished in last week's earthquake, is to be held this afternoon.

The state house where John Key famously grew up is being sold by the Government.

Wanted man using social media to avoid police, says detective.

A mum and her two young children narrowly missed a landslide last night, watching debris and dust come down in her car's rear vision mirror.

Mt Lyford residents have limited use of Kaikoura's Inland Rd.

It may be time to put away the togs - scorching temperatures on Wednesday aren't likely to be repeated today, the MetService says. While

Canterbury police are appealing to the public for help finding a 34-year-old man with multiple warrants for his arrest.