Sarah Lang gets on her bike for her health – and a slice of history.

A total fire ban is across Otago as authorities warn of extreme risk of a major blaze which could take weeks to put out.

As temperatures soar above 30C across parts of the country, so has demand for firefighters as tinder-dry conditions create the perfect environment for forest and scrub fires.

Police are investigating after an elderly Dunedin couple was found dead in their home this morning.

Justine Tyerman cycles to Paradise ...

Auckland are two from two and rolling along nicely in the domestic 50-over competition after cleaning up Canterbury at Eden Park yesterday.

The Cromwell community is reeling in shock at the sudden death of a 17-year-old who was recognised as a young leader with huge potential.

A taxi firm boss whose driver was racially insulted by an off-duty Queenstown policewoman says the company is relieved she has resigned.

A police officer who racially abused a taxi driver in Queenstown last year has resigned.

Silver Fern Farms faces a bill of up to $3 million after it was ruled it made more than 100 Dunedin seasonal meat workers redundant.

A surge in the supply of methamphetamine is being pushed by gangs on a "willing market" in the south, police say.

The family of an Otago man beaten to death in a prolonged and brutal attack cried out with pain and relief as his ''gutless'' killers were found guilty of murder.

Police have apologised to two Central Otago teens falsely accused of petty crime and then subjected to alleged harassment by officers.

An osteopath who left electric acupuncture needles in a patient's backside while he went to a cafe for sausage rolls has been found to have discredited his profession.

Dunedin motorists were stunned to see a man sitting on a couch and holding on to the rear of a moving car as it left a trail of sparks behind him.

A male and female constable were attacked in Dunedin's CBD and police say it shows why the city's bars need to close earlier.

A Kiwi researcher is studying how children exercise restraint from tempting lollies - and what it says about their likely self-control later in life.

Two men wanted in relation to an alleged kidnapping in Queenstown last week have been remanded in custody.

Queenstown police have located the third person wanted in connection with an alleged kidnapping.

The father of a Queenstown woman caught up in an investigation into an alleged kidnapping has called for her safe return.

Friends and family have paid tribute to the man killed in a tractor accident near Waikouaiti earlier this week as a "hell of a good guy".

A 68-year-old woman who died after slipping and falling about 40m from a walking track near Wanaka has been identified as Maureen Anne Schofield.

A researcher's tireless efforts to ensure every Kiwi can have a safe, warm and dry home has been rewarded with the country's largest prize for science.

Police have named the 24-year-old man killed when he was thrown from the cab of a tractor that rolled north of Dunedin.

The father of the 22-year-old Queenstown man at the centre of an alleged kidnapping has asked for privacy to allow his son to recover from the ordeal.