Aviation businesses face an uncertain wait and the prospect of financial losses after the grounding of the type of helicopter involved in a fatal crash last week.

A motivational speaker who lost his legs in a train accident as child has begun cycling the Central Otago Rail Trail this weekend.

A five-year-old girl died in a fatal crash in North Otago last night.

Two people have been injured in a head-on collision on a country road.

Four men were jailed for at least 17 years for murdering a farmhand in North Otago but sentencing marred by hurling of abuse.

Most of the 25 cats owned by Invercargill woman Averil Gardiner have been rehomed to meet a court's deadline.

Dunedin residents are angry after they lost power for eight hours a week earlier than expected - saying the power company's attitude to the mistake was 'cavalier'.

An annual party at a sponsored student flat has been cancelled after more than 3000 people indicated they would attend.

Kiwi fugitive Paul Bennett has appeared in a Sydney court today and entered no plea after 10 months on the run ended in Australia last night.

A group of Dunedin flatmates say they picked up 550kg of glass after a party they hosted on their street which attracted 1000 people.

Queenstown man Verdun Waghorn was a UFO sceptic - until he photographed one. Now he wants to know if the truth is out there.

''I try to pick up the broken glass every Sunday morning, but it was just too bad.'' 1000 revellers helped plaster a Dunedin street in glass - to residents' disgust.

A man who fell from a van travelling at 100km/h between Clyde and Cromwell last weekend has died in hospital.

The twin sisters of Cromwell teen Rachel Clark have had genetic tests after the head girl's sudden death.

Two Korean nationals are dead after a horror smash at Blackhead, Dunedin, yesterday.

A 40 metre elm tree is driving its owner and neighbours mad - but Dunedin's Council says "nuisance factors" aren't sufficient justification for taking it down.

Plans for a huge expansion of New Zealand's most luxurious golfing and lifestyle resort have been unveiled today.

Some new software released in Dunedin yesterday will be a breath of fresh air for breast-feeding mums.

Hundreds of overseas tourists caught freedom camping illegally in the Queenstown Lakes area are leaving the country without paying the $200 fine.

A fugitive couple on the run from police sold their getaway vehicle in Dunedin, the man offering a $50,000 bounty for their capture says.

A young man is in critical condition after falling from a van on a "joy ride" travelling at 100 kmh through the Cromwell Gorge.

Horse racing trainer Steve Anderton has died in hospital after a freak accident at the family stables near Mosgiel yesterday.

No charges will be laid in relation to the death of a man in Otago Corrections Facility four years ago.

Shandelle Battersby checks into a remote Central Otago lodge that's worth the journey.

The death of a puppy found inside a suitcase in a Milton cemetery is being treated as suspicious, a SPCA Otago inspector says.