APNZ

A 3-year-old boy is in a critical condition in Christchurch Hospital after being bitten in the throat by a dog in Ashburton today.

A logging truck has crashed on State Highway One just outside Warkworth causing 9km traffic jams.

A young woman has drowned after falling into a swift-moving irrigation ditch off the Waimakariri river in Canterbury today.

A boy is dead after a car accident near Te Teko in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Emergency services attended a four-car pile up between Rolleston and Templeton just south of Christchurch this afternoon.

Napier, Nelson, or Timaru -  Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder is philosophical about where his team plays its first home Super Rugby match.

Shops, offices and a hotel in central Wellington were evacuated for almost an hour and a half this morning after a suspicious package was found.

Hastings residents are reporting "havoc'' at the scene of Hawk Packaging last night, as heat melted tyres and shattered the windscreens of fire-trucks.

Sophisticated growing techniques have led to super-strength strains of cannabis, with some of the most potent dope coming from Northland, says a senior drugs investigator.

Cancer patients needing radiation or chemotherapy should not be waiting for treatment for more than a month when new national health targets kick in from July.