First it was creepy clowns, now people dressed as monkeys are terrorising people.

The police have called off searches for Yuri Santana, eight days after he was last seen, but his parents haven't given up hope.

There are concerns for 17-year-old Yuri Santana, who hasn't been seen for a week.

A man allegedly punched a woman in the face several times after wrestling her baby out of its stroller.

A Timaru contractor has been given the task of shepherding two Waitaki film sets to their final resting place - the landfill.

A Timaru factory has been damaged after a heating unit used for plastics moulds caught fire.

Two people have been freed after they were trapped in their vehicles in a crash at Timaru.

Heritage experts are decrying plans to demolish a prominent South Island hotel.

An application has been made to demolish a heritage Timaru building to make way for a $40 million-$42m redevelopment.

For a double Olympic medallist and world champion, Marc Ryan is a humble chap.

The last bottle of beer rolled off the old production line at the landmark Mangatainoka Tui Brewery site yesterday, bringing with it the end of an era.

A former Child Youth and Family caregiver who sexually assaulted eight victims has been jailed for 22 years, with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

A Timaru toddler who fell 150cm through floorboards in the bathroom of his home is now back to normal after his extraordinary escapade yesterday.

A Dunedin man whose hunting companion was killed after a deer stalking expedition went ''tragically wrong'' has been fined $1000 for illegal hunting.

Timaru has been revealed to have the 'worst level of air pollution' in Australasia. How does your town or city compare?

Police say four people and a chilly bin appear to be the culprits in a weird eel-throwing incident in Timaru on Sunday night.

CCTV footage captured four people throwing eels onto the front lawn of a property in Timaru.

A person was trapped for two hours inside a vehicle involved in a head-on crash on the outskirts of Timaru last night.

Four suspicious hedge fires overnight are being investigated by Timaru police.

Former long-serving North Otago rugby player Regan Laughton sought a final remand without plea when he appeared in the Timaru District Court following a fatal crash in May.

A young schoolgirl was followed home by an unidentified male after jumping off a bus after school yesterday.

The Armed Offenders Squad carried out an arrest warrant in Timaru this morning.

Great fiestas, beaches and eateries abound, says Elisabeth Easther.

A person is dead and another seriously injured after a crash in south Canterbury this afternoon.

Geoffrey Lang's first sighting of a 33m cement storage tank in front of his house was also the first time he heard his wife swear.

Members of a family injured in a crash which killed a young girl on Friday night remain in hospital.

A man injured in a serious crash between a car and a truck in South Canterbury this afternoon has died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.