Canterbury

A legal appeal has been dropped but uncertainty remains over when the Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre will be completed and how much it will cost.

The Christchurch man was found guilty of murdering childhood friend Michael McGrath in what a judge called an "execution style killing".

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority found bar staff continued to serve the man alcohol despite his level of intoxication.

A college principal says she is horrified at what has happened to her school's building project - even though it is supposedly a top priority.

Emergency services are responding to two serious crashes, within half an hour of each other, on a major highway south of Christchurch.

A suite of roadworks that will disrupt travel on major highways has prompted warnings for motorists to plan ahead.

Anthony Otworowski, 63, of Australia has been named as the person who died at Lake Benmore.

Police say anyone touching downed lines could be badly hurt or killed.

Some councillors opposed adopting the draft Long Term Plan, saying the table was "tone deaf" to what ratepayers are facing.

Five Christchurch teenagers involved in a string of "highly premeditated and extremely violent" attacks on gay men have been sentenced to supervision and ordered to pay reparations.

Fire-proof walls helped contain a major blaze in an apartment unit in Christchurch, Fire and Emergency says. Audio

Councillors have overwhelmingly supported going to the public with a 13 percent rates rise, despite concerns the long term plan did not do enough to address water infrastructure needs.

The high school was evacuated this afternoon when students deliberately lit two fires inside a school building.

The aftershock pattern was in keeping with a moderate earthquake with the largest aftershock measuring magnitude 3, GNS Science says.

It is the one major concern still lingering over the planned organics processing plant for a Christchurch suburb, residents say.

Ashburton's Chinese market garden settlement will be officially opened on Sunday and will be open to the public from Monday.

More than $6 million has been set aside to clean up four vulnerable dumps.

Fire crews have been digging out and extinguishing hot spots identified by drones in the Christchurch Adventure Park.

New Zealand's biggest one-day music festival is on in Christchurch's Hagley Park on Saturday, RNZ takes a look at five must-see acts.

A man who held an elderly woman at knifepoint in her retirement village home and stole her car has been sentenced to five years and seven months in prison.