At least 30 road signs worth $10,000 have been vandalised or stolen in the Grey district in the past three weeks.

A two-bedroom state house in Queenstown has sold for $665,500 at auction today.

The body of a deceased 27-year-old man has been found in a Christchurch reserve this morning.

Renee Duckmanton, whose body was burned and dumped on a rural Canterbury road, was last seen in Christchurch's red light district on Saturday night.

This afternoon on NZ Herald Focus, we have the latest on the woman found dead on Main Rakaia Rd - Renee Duckmanton.

Timaru has been revealed to have the 'worst level of air pollution' in Australasia. How does your town or city compare?

Michael Stark said he would "get a gun and kill him'' when speaking about his court case.

The Greymouth fishing boat that suffered $350,000 of damage in a suspicious blaze while moored at the wharf early last week, is about to be towed to Nelson for repairs.

Shandelle Battersby gets a taste of tramping through the bush, with the luxury of home.

A homicide inquiry has been launched after a woman's body was found yesterday on a rural Canterbury road where firefighters were battling a series of suspicious fires.

Police say the woman found dead in Rakaia had been missing for a while.

A "chubby" thief dropped five-dollar notes all over the floor as he made off on foot after robbing a Dunedin dairy armed with a screwdriver.

Southland couple who have lost four babies - each about 20 weeks after conception - are appealing to find a woman willing to be a surrogate mother.

Investigations are ongoing after multiple fires near Selwyn River, south of Christchurch.

Police have arrested a man in his 30s following a fire at St Margaret's Church in Christchurch this morning.

A St John spokesman said an ambulance was called to the accident on Harington Point Rd, near Wellers Rock, just before 1pm.

A Dunedin student has undergone a successful surgery to his hands after a flat fire at 660 Castle St yesterday.

Wild winds sweeping the country have caused serious disruption to flight schedules, caused power outages and closed roads this evening.

Three teenage boys have been arrested and a female teenager referred to Youth Aid today following a string of car thefts and drive offs from petrol stations across the South Island.

A scene investigation's underway south of Nelson after a milk tanker went off the road this afternoon, killing the driver, after he'd been stung by a bee.

MetService has issued severe weather warnings for some South Island areas as a large trough, preceded by a strong northerly flow, bears down on the country.

Students will be the big losers out of a decision to cancel two high school after-balls in Mid-Canterbury.

Dunedin resident Hayden Smith is "shocked'' he will have to foot the bill for repairs to a retaining wall damaged by last June's downpour.

A volunteer fireman, paged to attend a car fire, was shocked when he stepped out of his house and realised it was his own vehicle ablaze.

Ngapuhi leader Sonny Tau has admitted concocting a story with his daughter's partner about who shot five protected wood pigeons (kereru) last year.

Compared with the cauldron of scrutiny that is Parliament, club rugby seemed a walk in the park to Michael Woodhouse - or should that be run.

An unbelievably one-sided Dunedin premier rugby game was ended in mercy yesterday. One of NZ's greatest whistle-blowers suspects it's a world first.

A young woman had to fight her way free from an attempted abduction in Dunedin yesterday afternoon.

A man is understood to have died in a house fire in South Otago this morning.