Kurt Bayer

A young driver who mowed down a pedestrian, killing him instantly, before speeding off narrowly avoided jail today in what a judge described as "a tragic day for all".

Christchurch teachers have today voted to strike in protest against radical Government education reforms in the rebuilding city.

The widower of a woman who initially survived the CTV building collapse but died before she was rescued has today has criticised a disjointed rescue mission which had "more chiefs than indians".

A former Catholic brother and convicted paedophile has been arrested in Christchurch after returning to New Zealand from Sri Lanka.

A woman trapped in the debris of the collapsed CTV building could hear her distraught husband shouting her name as he searched for her, an inquest was told today.

The Government has rejected claims that a failure to officially lodge a scathing report into the Erebus disaster has resulted in New Zealand not meeting its international aviation safety obligations.

A teenage gang member who ambushed a struggling, quake-affected Christchurch dairy owner repeatedly stabbed him as he tried to rob his day's takings.

A convicted fraudster and blackmailer who racked up more than 100 offences during an Invercargill crime spree will stay behind bars until she is sentenced at the High Court next March.

The royal commission of inquiry into the Canterbury earthquakes has been completed today, with the third and final part of its report handed to the governor-general.

A solo mum who was three times the drink-driving limit when she ploughed into a power pole with three pre-schoolers in the back of the vehicle avoided jail today.