Friends of a boy buried beneath a mound of dirt ran to neighbouring homes to ask for help yesterday.

Senior students went to the rescue of a year 9 rowing team when their skiff was hit by a powerboat driven by a coach in Otago Harbour this morning.

Dunedin musician Mike Moroney was "a little bit dumbstruck" when he arrived home on Wednesday evening to find that burglars had stolen seven of his stringed musical instruments.

A North Otago man beaten to death had earlier told friends he feared he would be knee-capped over a drug deal gone wrong, a court was told.

New homes being built on the Otago Peninsula could soon come with a strict new planning rule - no cats. But what would a cat ban involve?

A Chinese tourist had her rental car contract torn up and rewritten by a rental company yesterday after she was pulled over for alleged dangerous driving.

The body of a 65-year-old cyclist has been recovered from a bank near an Otago cycle track today.

A man who choked his victim in the toilet of a Dunedin bar has been sentenced to five years in prison, for the manslaughter of Ryan Court.

As an inquest begins into the death of Rutger Hale from a mystery object that smashed through his car windscreen, his family say they believe someone knows what happened.

Reaching the peak is easy when you have snowshoes, discovers Andrew Louis.

One of two suspects sought after a police pursuit in Central Otago a week ago involving a driver who fled at 140km/h, swerving past road spikes, is a man in a wheelchair.

They were meant to relocate a blackbird's nest and eggs from a central Dunedin traffic light. Instead the contractors dropped the eggs.

New Zealand's best produce is world class and a first-rate reason to travel, writes Nadia Lim.

A man was killed yesterday after a controlled burn-off on a 13,000 ha station in Otago, which was so big it was visible from the town of Cromwell.

A police officer denies allegations she racially abused a taxi driver in Queenstown last year while affected by a cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol.

An explosion injured as many as six people last night when a large steel grass roller blew up after it was put on a Mosgiel bonfire.

A man has been arrested after he started a chainsaw during a heated argument at a service station and advanced on another man with the chain running.

The body of a 21-year-old climber who slipped and fell to his death on Mt Aspiring last night has been recovered by a search team.

A father has today admitted abducting his young son from Dunedin and driving away at speeds of up to 170km/h north of Christchurch.

On a scenic flight in the south, Elizabeth Carlson gets into the pilot's seat.

Intrepid trampers or a bunch of softies? Pam Neville puts the case for guided walks.

Pamela Wade finds the unspoiled beauty of New Zealand's southeast is wasted on some.

'It was a wonderful flight, we were having a great time.' An American couple have spoken about the day their scenic Lord of the Rings flight turned deadly.

Pam Paterson mercifully remembers little of the night two strangers broke into her home and viciously bashed her.