A prominent Dunedin surgeon is appealing to a "scumbag" to return his laptop containing medical research - but more importantly, a speech for his daughter's wedding later this week.

Kingston residents say they are fed up with the mess left by freedom campers at the lakeside village and want the Queenstown Lakes District Council to take "direct action" in tackling the problem.

A woman used a stick on her nine-year-old grandson when he refused to complete chores leaving extensive bruising, a court was told today.

The New Zealand Stock Exchange expects to launch its first dairy futures market in June, initially offering whole milk powder contracts but eventually extending it to other dairy products.

Ratepayers are being asked to underwrite about $40 million to cover the cost of redeveloping Eden Park which is being revamped for the 2011 rugby World Cup.

They could be accused by farmers of overoptimism, but farming leaders remain upbeat about the future of red meat production, while warning that investment was needed in marketing and markets diversified.

British soldiers died in a bombing in southern Afghanistan, officials announced today, raising Britain's death toll in the conflict to 255 - the number of Britons lost in the Falklands war of 1982.