A severe weather warning has been issued as heavy rain and gales are expected to hit areas across the country.

Two Christchurch women were rescued by helicopter from Arthur's Pass National Park today.

A West Coast man has been acquitted of murder but found guilty of the manslaughter of his friend, following a four-day trial.

Jill Worrall discovers a settlement that time forgot.

Jill Worrall explores the region that was home to the legendary bushman and prospector.

The Reefton winner of a $10.6m Lotto prize initially figured he must have read the Lotto numbers wrong, so put his ticket aside.

A keg of beer was pulled from the wreckage of a sports car which crashed head-on into a milk tanker, killing two teenagers.

An obese tramper died of a heart attack while wedged in an ice crevasse on Franz Josef Glacier, a coroner's court heard.

A young man drowned in the Grey River in an attempt to avoid a drink-driving conviction, Coroner Richard McElrea has told an inquest.

The deaths of five local men and four overseas tourists makes it one of New Zealand's deadliest plane crashes.

Kyle Scott and Liz Blatch still had their wedding at Darfield's Oak historic homestead only hours after the 7.1 earthquake.

A fiery plane crash that killed nine people in Fox Glacier today happened just metres from the town's chief fire officer's house.

Better an utter, total if humiliating backdown than a messy compromise that keeps the mining issue alive into election year.