Kurt Bayer

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.

A market gardener who stabbed a young Christchurch mum to death in front of her three-year-old daughter has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Attempts by the former directors of Pike River Coal to shift responsibility for the tragedy onto their managers is "disgraceful" and highlights the need for stronger mine safety laws, the miners' union said today.

A judge has called for a psychiatric report into the mental health of a killer just two days before he was due to be sentenced - casting doubt over whether the hearing will go ahead.

Talkback host Willie Jackson has been cleared of inciting violence against Ports of Auckland workers, the Broadcasting Standards Authority said today.

A woman who claims she saw a man photographing children at a Timaru primary school just hours before a 9-year old boy was allegedly abducted will be interviewed by police today.

A neighbour says she is distraught that she didn't report a "suss looking" man taking photographs outside a Timaru primary school just hours before a 9-year old pupil was abducted.