The Rimutaka Hill Road and the Desert Road have reopened after snow forced their closure this morning.

Snow was falling in the hills around Wellington this afternoon as a strong southerly blast snow that brought snow down to sea level moved up the country.

A Dunedin woman having a bite to eat found something extra crunchy and unwelcome at the bottom of her packet of chips.

A Dunedin Casino guard sacked after finding cannabis and flushing it down the loo was unfairly dismissed.

A strong magnitude 5.3 earthquake has rocked much of the West Coast and Otago this morning.