The June 30 deadline for Silver Fern Farms and Chinese food group Shanghai Maling Aquarius will be missed.

The fallout from Silver Fern Farms' decision to axe the bobby calf kill at the co-operative's Fairton plant impacts Mid Canterbury region.

A large gang fight in Ashburton involving weapons has resulted in police making nine arrests.

If Ashburton Council doesn't halt sale of land with aquifer, residents will take ECan to the High Court for a judicial review.

A person has died after being struck by a freight train in Mid Canterbury this morning.

The driver of a stolen car was caught by police after crashing into a KFC in Ashburton.

Pilot who was forced to make emergency landing accidentally starved chopper of fuel and had not flown aircraft for five years.

CCTV footage of masked gunman Russell John Tully from inside the Ashburton Work and Income bloodbath can be shown for the first time.

A trial for the man accused of last year's Work and Income shootings in Ashburton, which was due to begin on Monday, has been delayed until next year.

Friends, colleagues and community members gathered this morning to mark one year since two women were killed during a shooting in Ashburton.

Four men were arrested after a bar-side brawl in Ashburton during the early hours of this morning.

A motorist who died in a fatal crash near Ashburton on Friday night has today been named by police.

Ashburton mother Cindy George and her three children were farewelled at an emotional service this morning.

A woman interviewed over a murder nearly two decades ago wants to change her police statement.

The Cook Islands community are rallying around to help the grieving family of Ashburton mum Cindy George and her three children as they prepare to say goodbye.

A poisons expert says carbon monoxide could be an "insidious" killer, leaving its victims little or no time to act.

The grief and shock of devastated family and friends as they crossed the red and white police emergency tape on Thomson St was shared throughout the small township today.

When Sid Bentley died he may have been broken in spirit, heart and body, but he died surrounded by friends.

The Ministry of Social Development has pleaded not guilty this morning to charges over the deadly Ashburton Work and Income shootings.

The man accused of killing two women at Ashburton’s Work and Income office last year appeared via video link at the Christchurch District Court this morning.

Two men were arrested after gang-related disorder in Ashburton yesterday.

WorkSafe has filed a charge against the Ministry of Social Development following the Ashburton Work and Income shootings last September.

A review of security at the Ministry of Social Development, prompted by last year's deadly shooting at the Ashburton Work and Income office, has found tighter security would not have prevented the incident.

A shed storing vintage steam engines in Ashburton was seriously damaged in a suspicious fire early today.

Life in the quiet Mid-Canterbury farming hub of Ashburton takes a step closer to normality today when its Work and Income office reopens for the first time since September's double-shooting tragedy.

A suspicious fire in an Ashburton garage where a family of three were sleeping was reported by a distressed child in the dead of night.

For rural friendliness and city fun, this gem has it all, finds Elisabeth Easther.

Nearly 100 jobs are set to go at Work and Income - but the government says even more new roles will be created.