The taxi driver racially abused in an alarming outburst caught on camera has returned to work, but the unsavoury incident has persuaded him to leave the industry.

A Pakistan-born taxi driver was subjected to a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse - and it's all been caught on camera.

A woman will appear in court today after a suspicious Invercargill house fire where firefighters pulled out an unconscious occupant.

A woman was just moments from death when she was rescued from a house fire in Invercargill early this morning, one of the firefighters who saved her says.

A "neighbourly dispute" involving a gun sparked a callout for members of the Armed Offenders Squad in Invercargill.

An alarming increase in thieves breaking car windows in broad daylight to steal valuables has sparked a warning from police that iPods and laptops left on seats are an "open invitation".

An Invercargill high school has lost two new classrooms and a vehicle, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, in a large fire today.

An octogenarian from Canterbury says her Lotto First Division win this week was written in the stars, but the astrological advice for today is not to spend up large.

A young man has been killed following a serious car crash in Southland this morning.

The Bluff woman whose company owned the fishing boat Easy Rider, has been remanded again on charges relating to the vessel's sinking in March.

A huge fire that raged for almost 24 hours south east of Invercargill has destroyed more than 400ha of an internationally recognised scientific reserve.

Helicopters will join efforts to control a large bushfire this morning that has already burned more than 400ha of conservation land near Invercargill.

A sexual assault victim faced her attacker in court and described how his "depravity" had robbed her of her childhood.

An Invercargill meat company has been ordered to pay its former chief executive more than $100,000 in unpaid bonuses, compensation and other costs.

Three teenaged men have been arrested following an alleged serious assault on an Invercargill man that left the victim with a broken nose and fractured eye socket.

Charges have been laid against the widow of the skipper of the Easy Rider over its sinking in Foveaux Strait in March, with the deaths of eight people.

This month's toll of job losses is striking - but it's a reflection of a slowing of the Chinese economy. It's time to look for jobs that have a future.

A Cromwell man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for raping and indecently assaulting a girl over a nine-year period some 40 years ago.