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.

Dunedin home was a "dangerous and soul-destroying" place where social worker stole the girls' childhood, plying them with alcohol and cigarettes.

It's believed fireworks caused a large fire on Canterbury's Port Hills last night.

A man who threatened to blow up staff at a Winz office has today been jailed for nearly three years.

Housing New Zealand has sold 18 state houses on the West Coast over the past four years netting $2,852,600.

Animal cruelty charges against a West Coast man accused of setting a cat on fire have been dismissed.

A woman has died after being hit by a train in Tinwald, Ashburton, this morning. Police have confirmed the woman – aged in her 40s – died at the scene and her death had been referred to the coroner.

The helicopter that crashed in Central Otago on the weekend killing Liam Edwards has been removed from the mountain.

A Christchurch man who tried to sell his employer's car was arrested in Greymouth yesterday.

An English tourist spent a cold night in the bush after "breaking several basic rules for tramping", police say.

Police in the South Island are investigating two serious assaults overnight.

Five fire crews are at the scene of a blaze that appears to have broken out in a campervan in Christchurch.

WorkSafe has decided not to prosecute Landcorp for the quadbike death of a Westport dairy assistant a year ago.

Ninety eight Canterbury homeowners have won a landmark settlement with EQC.

This year's Wildfoods Festival has been a roaring success, finishing with a $20,000 surplus.

The trial of Simon Reeve, the first person to be charged under new CAA drone rules, heard evidence from a TV reporter.

A Dunedin mother is "heartbroken'' after a memorial to her son who died last year was trashed and some of his ashes stolen.

The identity of the man whose body was found dumped near a popular lake in rural Canterbury remains a mystery.

SPCA Otago posted an SOS to its 7000 Facebook followers late this afternoon after it was told by an elderly couple they could not remember where they parked their car.