Firefighters in Canterbury are preparing to spend their Christmas Day battling a blaze that has so far burnt nearly 60 hectares of trees and pasture.

New Zealand's road to the 2012 London Olympic begins in Adelaide this weekend at the Oceania track championships.

A nurse has been struck off the register for punching a "vulnerable" elderly man in the mouth while she was working at a resthome.

A NZ woman has died after being ravaged by swine flu for three months. The 43-year-old had no other health conditions when she became ill.