Debbie Porteous

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull says the Dunedin City Council is "taking each day as it comes" with regards to what to do about the protesters camping in the Octagon.

A senior Dunedin police officer has spoken out about the police decision not to evict protesters from the Octagon, saying local police are "between a rock and a hard place", and it would be irresponsible of police to risk having to pay out thousands of dollars of public money to the protesters.

Southern police think they have stopped a "reasonably steady supply" of methamphetamine coming into the South with the arrests of three South Otago men yesterday.

Lisa Lamb really would just like 2011 to be over.

Three people who remained living at a Bush Rd, Mosgiel, house allegedly attracting a steady stream of young runaways and criminal activity, have been moved to different addresses - but that does not mean they will not be back, police warn.

The family of a 6-year-old who died when her mother drove the car they were in into an oncoming truck while she was drunk, say they were shocked police did not visit the woman after a lengthy *555 call about her erratic and dangerous driving an hour before the crash.

Residents of an otherwise quiet Mosgiel street say Housing New Zealand should evict the tenants of one of its houses on the street, where they say parties and easy access to drugs and alcohol are attracting runaways, criminals - and, increasingly, the police.

An 18-year-old man had to be cut from a car that was crushed when it slammed into a power pole while its driver was fleeing police in Dunedin early yesterday.

The University of Otago says it is "very disappointed" with the fire-lighting behaviour of students in Dunedin on Saturday night, and blamed it on a "dangerous combination" of circumstances that in the past have also heralded problem weekends.

The Fire Service has condemned the behaviour of people who lit dozens of rubbish fires in the student quarter on Saturday, during what is traditionally one of the Fire Service's busiest nights of the year.

A mostly trouble-free Guy Fawkes in Dunedin was marred by a few people throwing fireworks from cars, at people and into mailboxes, police said.

If you think user names and passwords are sufficient to protect you from someone hijacking your email, bank accounts or website, think again, police say.

Rubber-like strips alongside railway tracks crossing Wharf St in Dunedin should be replaced within two weeks to make cycling there safer, the Dunedin City Council said.

A University of Otago student is in Dunedin Hospital with serious injuries after being hit by a car in North Dunedin early yesterday.

A Dunedin City Council engineer will visit the site of a bicycle crash in Wharf St yesterday, to check if rubber strips alongside the railway tracks need to be replaced for cyclists' safety.