Almost 800 long-buried bodies may have been rediscovered by an archaeologist in Central Otago.

The main offender in a black market paua operation worth tens of thousands of dollars has admitted responsibility, part-way through his trial in the Dunedin District Court.

A suspected "bomb" found at Hampden, North Otago at the weekend turned out to be just a downed weather-monitoring device.

In a positive development for Dunedin's tertiary education industry, Otago Polytechnic predicts higher student numbers later this year.

A bright "sparkly" silver object seen falling from the sky in Otago on Sunday afternoon was probably a rarely seen daylight meteor.

Southern police have unwittingly disclosed sensitive information about a major drug bust, but say it has not compromised the privacy or safety of those involved.

Two students who fell off the roof of the same Dunedin flat within minutes of each other say the incidents are a reminder for students to think before they act.

What caused a Hororata pilot to fly his glider into the side of a mountain near Omarama in a fatal crash in January last year may never be definitively known.

Elisabeth Easther gets a taste of the 'Fruit Bowl of the South'.

A man who died when a dinghy capsized near Dunedin on Tuesday was a keen fisherman who loved to spin a yarn.

Two Fulton Hogan workers had a lucky escape when their ute rolled into an oxidation pond.

The risks of illegal drug use have been highlighted by a South Island coroner in his findings on the death of a 48-year-old man who had injected morphine.

The body of a person, believed to be missing Clutha teenager Blake Sinclair, has been found today.

Police have charged a Whangarei man after a high-powered green laser light was shone into the cockpit of the Northland rescue helicopter as the crew prepared to land.

The family of missing teenager Blake Sinclair will carry out their own private search of the Clutha River after the official search was scaled down, police say.

The search for missing South Otago teenager Blake McKenzie Sinclair will today become a recovery operation, police say.

An extensive search of the Clutha River has failed to locate a teenager who disappeared while kneeboarding yesterday afternoon.

One of the four men who were winched to safety off the coast of Dunedin today says it took only a minute for their boat to go down.

Two Dunedin students rescued from remote bush say the biggest lesson learned from their ordeal is to always carry a locator beacon in the backcountry.

Those responsible for shooting five domesticated goats, one of which took five days to die, are being warned by police.