Canterbury

Dark Sky International has granted international dark sky park accreditation to the 11,350-hectare Oxford Forest Conservation Area.

Friends and family of David Bridgwater will hold a cricket match in his honour and to raise money for his children later this month.

The company behind the plant in Christchurch is assuring residents it will be designed to manage any unpleasant smells.

Building control officers in Christchurch have caught a private company's compliance manager forging fire safety certificates, including for a school.

Increasingly warmer seas could see new types of marine mammals beaching on New Zealand's shores, experts say.

A Christchurch residents' association says it wants to see for itself whether the council's new organics processing plant will emit a smell.

Three crews remain on site after fire spewed significant amounts of thick smoke in Bromley.

Two people have died after a truck collided with a car on SH1 near Oamaru, in the Waitaki District.

Two people died in the Canterbury collision, but a baby in one of the cars was not badly injured, police say.

Rachel Jordan says she's not the same person after the devastating crash.

The whale got stuck on a sandbar in the shallow estuary at Moncks Bay.

Two people died after a crash involving three vehicles on State Highway 1 in Canterbury this afternoon, police say.

Firefighters continue to battle the blaze which has destroyed a farm building by the Hurunui River, near Cheviot.

A fight between gang members in Christchurch Hospital has highlighted the importance of having extra security guards in emergency departments, Te Whatu Ora says.

They but have been monitored attacking nesting colonies of natives birds and are also known to attack newborn lambs and calves, and other vulnerable livestock.

The Oxford Observatory has cashed in on a successful year to buy some new equipment, as it awaits decision on the community's application for dark sky park status.