A heated argument between two men acting "like a couple of strutting peacocks" which ended in a chase with a chainsaw at a petrol station is condemned by a judge.

The victim of an alleged sexual assault by fugitive Paul Bennett has spoken of her relief at hearing he was in police custody after 10 months on the run.

A group of Dunedin flatmates say they picked up 550kg of glass after a party they hosted on their street which attracted 1000 people.

Queenstown man Verdun Waghorn was a UFO sceptic - until he photographed one. Now he wants to know if the truth is out there.

''I try to pick up the broken glass every Sunday morning, but it was just too bad.'' 1000 revellers helped plaster a Dunedin street in glass - to residents' disgust.

A man who fell from a van travelling at 100km/h between Clyde and Cromwell last weekend has died in hospital.

The twin sisters of Cromwell teen Rachel Clark have had genetic tests after the head girl's sudden death.

Two Korean nationals are dead after a horror smash at Blackhead, Dunedin, yesterday.

Some new software released in Dunedin yesterday will be a breath of fresh air for breast-feeding mums.

Hundreds of overseas tourists caught freedom camping illegally in the Queenstown Lakes area are leaving the country without paying the $200 fine.

A fugitive couple on the run from police sold their getaway vehicle in Dunedin, the man offering a $50,000 bounty for their capture says.

A young man is in critical condition after falling from a van on a "joy ride" travelling at 100 kmh through the Cromwell Gorge.

Shandelle Battersby checks into a remote Central Otago lodge that's worth the journey.

The death of a puppy found inside a suitcase in a Milton cemetery is being treated as suspicious, a SPCA Otago inspector says.

Trouble has again hit the Melilla 201. It's been tied up at a Dunedin wharf for two years, and nearly ran aground as it tried to leave yesterday.

'The time has come for reality to sink in,' said a judge as he ordered an Invercargill woman to dispose of 22 of cats.

Department of Conservation gives warning as ground crews launch another onslaught against a large scrub fire ripping through more than 300ha at Arthurs Pass.

An Australian tourist driver who had his car keys taken from him by a member of the public while driving on the Lindis Pass earlier this month has been fined.

A teenage farmhand became an accidental hero after keeping a potentially disastrous scrub fire at bay.

He spent 18 months without power after his electricity supplier refused to reconnect him after a storm. Now he's won an out-of-court settlement - and an apology.

An Invercargill woman went to great lengths to hide her face yesterday during a court hearing over the 25 cats she keeps on her property.

A Taiwanese visitor who drowned at a Central Otago lake last week has today been named by police.

As hot, dry weather threatens to create a drought, farmers are preparing for the worst.