An Invercargill high school has lost two new classrooms and a vehicle, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, in a large fire today.

An octogenarian from Canterbury says her Lotto First Division win this week was written in the stars, but the astrological advice for today is not to spend up large.

A young man has been killed following a serious car crash in Southland this morning.

A vintage motorcycle buff kept his $20.5 million-winning Lotto ticket hidden in his sock drawer before claiming the prize because he "wanted the magic" to continue.

A huge fire that raged for almost 24 hours south east of Invercargill has destroyed more than 400ha of an internationally recognised scientific reserve.

Helicopters will join efforts to control a large bushfire this morning that has already burned more than 400ha of conservation land near Invercargill.

A sexual assault victim faced her attacker in court and described how his "depravity" had robbed her of her childhood.

An Invercargill meat company has been ordered to pay its former chief executive more than $100,000 in unpaid bonuses, compensation and other costs.

Three teenaged men have been arrested following an alleged serious assault on an Invercargill man that left the victim with a broken nose and fractured eye socket.

This month's toll of job losses is striking - but it's a reflection of a slowing of the Chinese economy. It's time to look for jobs that have a future.

A Cromwell man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for raping and indecently assaulting a girl over a nine-year period some 40 years ago.

A drunk driver was suffocated between his car door and roof after swerving onto the wrong side of the road to hit a “ferret”, evidence given to a coroner says.